In re Naples

• Citation: 972 F.Supp.2d 373
• Decision Date: 18 September 2013
• Docket Number: No. 12–CV–4460(JS)(ARL).,12–CV–4460(JS)(ARL).
• Parties: James V. NAPLES and James C. Naples, Plaintiffs, v. Philip STEFANELLI; Joseph Parisi; David Parisi; Environmental Services, Inc.; Suffolk County (New York) Police Department; County of Suffolk (New York); New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Police Department; New York State Department of Environmental Conservation; State of New York, and John Does 1–100, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York

972 F.Supp.2d 373

James V. NAPLES and James C. Naples, Plaintiffs,

v.Philip STEFANELLI; Joseph Parisi; David Parisi; Environmental Services, Inc.; Suffolk County (New York) Police Department; County of Suffolk (New York); New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Police Department; New York State Department of Environmental Conservation; State of New York, and John Does 1–100, Defendants.

No. 12–CV–4460(JS)(ARL).

United States District Court, E.D. New York.

Sept. 18, 2013.

Harry R. Thomasson, Jr., Esq., Law Office of Harry Thomasson, Wantagh, NY, for Plaintiffs.

Arlene S. Zwilling, Esq. Suffolk County Attorney's Office, Hauppauge, NY, for Defendants Stefanelli, Suffolk County Police Dep't, Suffolk County.

Glen B. Gruder, Esq., Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman LLP, Hauppauge, NY, Paul B. Sweeney, Esq., Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman LLP, East Meadow, NY, for Defendants Joseph & David Parisi, Envtl. Servs., Inc.

Gregory J. Nolan, Esq., N.Y. State Office of the Attorney General Environmental Protection Bureau, New York, NY, for Defendants State of New York, N.Y. State Dep't of Envtl. Conservation Police Dep't, & N.Y. State Dep't of Envt. Conservation.

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

SEYBERT, District Judge:

Plaintiffs James V. Naples (“James”) and James C. Naples (“Jimmy,” and together with James, “Plaintiffs”) commenced this action on September 6, 2012 against Defendants Suffolk County (the “County”), the County Police Department, and Philip Stefanelli (collectively, the “County Defendants”), the State of New York, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC”), and the DEC Police Department (collectively, the “State Defendants”), Environmental Services, Inc. (“ESI”), Joseph Parisi, and David Parisi (together with ESI, the “ESI Defendants”), alleging violations of their constitutional rights pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”), 18 U.S.C. § 1961 et seq., and of various New York state statutory and common laws arising out of an alleged conspiracy to drive Plaintiffs' corporations out of business.

Pending before the Court are the following motions: (1) the County Defendants' partial motion to dismiss the Amended Complaint for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Docket Entry 13); (2) the State Defendants' motion to dismiss on the grounds of sovereign immunity under to Rule 12(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6) (Docket Entry 18); and (3) the ESI Defendants' motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6) (Docket Entry 19). For the following reasons, the County Defendants' motion is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART, the State Defendants' motion is GRANTED, and the ESI Defendants' motion is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.

BACKGROUND¹

James and Jimmy Naples, who are father and son respectively, at all times relevant hereto, were the owners and operators of Island Biofuel, LLC and JNS Industries, LLC (together, the “Naples Corporations”). (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 3, 4.) Island Biofuel is a domestic limited liability corporation that “servic[es] the biofuel and biofeed industries by and through, inter alia, the collection and re-sale of waste vegetable/ kitchen oil.” (Am. Compl. ¶ 3.) JNS Industries is a limited liability corporation that provides rendering and trucking services to the biofuel and biofeed industries in conjunction with Island Biofuel. (Am. Compl. ¶ 3.) The Naples Corporations were formed by Plaintiffs in 2006, and they operate out of a building in Center Moriches, New York that contains offices, a storage facility, and a garage. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 3, 16.)

Plaintiffs, through the Naples Corporations, would enter into contracts with restaurants on Long Island to collect their used vegetable and other kitchen oil. Upon entering into a contract with a new customer, Plaintiffs would provide the restaurant with containers to store its used oil pending Plaintiffs' scheduled pick-up. ( See Am. Compl. ¶ 29.) Each container had a lock, and all of Plaintiffs' locks used the same key. ( See Am. Compl. ¶¶ 29, 32.)

Defendant ESI is a domestic corporation, owned and operated by Defendants Joseph and David Parisi, that is also engaged in rendering to the biofuel industry on Long Island. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 6–8, 17.) ²

I. ESI's Alleged Theft of Plaintiffs' Customers, Containers, Oil, and Locks

According to the Amended Complaint, in or around 2010, ESI began targeting Plaintiffs' customers and inducing them to breach their contracts with Plaintiffs and hire ESI instead. (Am. Compl. ¶ 18.) If ESI was successful in convincing one of Plaintiffs' customers to sign a contract with ESI, ESI would remove Plaintiffs' containers and locks from the premises and replace them with ESI's containers and locks. (Am. Compl. ¶ 20.) Occasionally, ESI would inform Plaintiffs via letter that it was in possession of their containers (Am. Compl. ¶ 20 & Ex. A), but “they were always offered to Plaintiffs for pick up while empty, drained by ESI of Plaintiffs'contracted waste vegetable oil” (Am. Compl. ¶ 21). Plaintiffs were not permitted to retrieve their containers from ESI unless they signed a release. (Am. Compl. ¶ 82.) The Amended Complaint further alleges that, at some point in 2011, the ESI Defendants obtained a key to Plaintiffs' locks and “utilized the impermissibly obtained key to siphon the contents of Plaintiffs' containers.” (Am. Compl. ¶ 32; see also id. ¶ 31 (stating that it “became commonplace by 2011” to “find open, undamaged locks at the bottom of near-empty containers”).)

The Amended Complaint estimates that between 2010 and May 2012, the ESI Defendants stole in excess of twenty thousand gallons of oil worth approximately $50,000, containers valued at $15,000, and $100,000 in lost profits from Plaintiffs' customers. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 23, 27–28.) Plaintiffs also assert that, even if they retrieved their containers from ESI, the locks were always gone. (Am. Compl. ¶ 30.) The Amended Complaint does not, however, estimate the value of those locks.

II. Jimmy's Arrest and Prosecution

On or around September 7, 2011, Plaintiff Jimmy Naples was pulled over by one or more Suffolk County police officers, including Defendant Officer Stefanelli, while he was driving a truck to collect waste cooking oil from Plaintiffs' customers. (Am. Compl. ¶ 33; see also ESI Defs. Mot. Ex. 6.) It is unclear from the Amended Complaint why Jimmy was pulled over, but he was immediately arrested, handcuffed, and locked in the back of a police car for nearly two hours while Suffolk County police officers, including Officer Stefanelli, searched the truck. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 34, 38.) Jimmy was not read his Miranda rights, and the police did not obtain his consent nor did they have a warrant to search his vehicle. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 34, 38.) While conducting their search, the police found a pair of bolt cutters that they seized.³ (Am. Compl. ¶ 39.)

Although Jimmy was handcuffed, he still had access to his cell phone, and he used it to call his father, Plaintiff James Naples, to the scene. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 41–42.) Upon arrival, James attempted to approach Jimmy in the police car, but stopped when he was threatened with arrest by Officer Stefanelli if he did not return to his own car. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 43–44.) James complied but remained on the scene. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 44–45.)

The timeline of events on September 7, 2011 is somewhat unclear; however, at some point, Officer Stefanelli called Defendant David Parisi to the scene. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 36–37, 45, 69.) This was allegedly witnessed by both James and Jimmy. (Am. Compl. ¶ 45.)

After their search was complete, Officer Stefanelli uncuffed Jimmy and asked him to drive his truck to the Knights of Columbus up the street. (Am. Compl. ¶ 46.) Officer Stefanelli informed Jimmy that he had called the Suffolk County Motor Carrier Safety Division (the “County Safety Division”) and that officers from that division would meet him at the Knights of Columbus to perform a more thorough search. (Am. Compl. ¶ 46.) Jimmy complied with Officer Stefanelli's request and followed him up the street to the Knights of Columbus parking lot. (Am. Compl. ¶ 47.) Eventually officers from both the County Safety Division and the DEC arrived to inspect Jimmy's truck; at some point, Defendant Joseph Parisi also appearedat the site to take pictures. ⁴ (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 50–52.) Plaintiffs believe that Officer Stefanelli also called the DEC and Joseph Parisi to the scene. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 69, 74.)

Island Biofuel was ultimately charged with violating Section 140.00 of New York Vehicle and Traffic Law for operating a commercial vehicle in violation of the state's safety requirements (ESI Defs. Mot. Ex. 6)—specifically, for having a broken windshield wiper blade and an expired “insurance health card” (Am. Compl. ¶ 55). Jimmy was also ordered to drive the truck back to the Naples Corporations' garage in Center Moriches and not to drive the truck again until the wiper blade was fixed. (Am. Compl. ¶ 55.) DEC Officers followed Jimmy back to the Naples Corporations' garage to make sure he complied. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 55–56.)

Upon arriving at the Naples Corporations' offices, a DEC officer informed Jimmy that he was going to inspect the garage. (Am. Compl. ¶ 57.) He did not have Jimmy's consent, he did not have a warrant, and the garage was not otherwise visible to the public. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 57, 59, 62.) When Jimmy complained that the DEC “had no right to conduct the inspection,” the DEC officer replied that he was “just following orders.” (Am. Compl. ¶ 60.) After inspecting the garage, the DEC ordered that the garage be closed, ticketed Jimmy and Biofuel for operating a waste facility without a permit in violation of N.Y. Comp.Codes R & Regs. tit. 6, § 360–1.7(a)(1)(i), and ticketed Biofuel for violating the New York Department of Transportation's regulations governing the...