Kanciper v. Suffolk Cnty. Soc'y for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Inc.
| Decision Date | 23 February 2013 |
| Docket Number | No. 12–CV–2104 (ADS)(ARL).,12–CV–2104 (ADS)(ARL). |
| Citation | 925 F.Supp.2d 379 |
| Parties | Mona T. KANCIPER, Plaintiff, v. SUFFOLK COUNTY SOCIETY FOR the PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS, INC., Roy Gross, Gerald Lauber, Shawn A. Dunn, Michael Norkelun, John and Jane Does 1–10, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Alan Edward Sash, Esq., Steven Jay Hyman, Esq., Of Counsel, McLaughlin & Stern, New York, NY, for Plaintiff.
Brian Maurice Oubre, Esq., Joseph Salvo, Esq., Mercedes Colwin, Esq., Of Counsel, Gordon & Rees, LLP, New York, NY, for Defendants.
The Plaintiff Mona T. Kanciper (the “Plaintiff” or “Kanciper”) commenced this civil rights action on April 30, 2012, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, et seq. (“Section 1983”), as well as Article IV, Section 1 of the New York State Constitution and Section 30 of the New York State Executive Law, stemming from the execution of a search warrant on her property by the agents of the Defendant, the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Inc. (“SPCA”), and her subsequent arrest and prosecution. Further, the Plaintiff seeks a declaratory judgment that New York State Criminal Procedure Law § 2.10(7)—a statute pertaining to the peace officer status of the SPCA's agents—is unconstitutional both on its face and as applied. Presently pending before the Court is the Defendants' motion to dismiss and the Plaintiff's motion to amend her complaint. For the reasons set forth below, the Court grants the Defendants' motion to dismiss this action and thus need not address the Plaintiff's motion to amend.
The following facts are drawn from the complaint and construed in a light most favorable to the Plaintiff. As another district judge aptly phrased it, “[t]his case, brought under the Fourth Amendment, involves the need to reconcile human rights with the obligation to protect other species from harm caused by human activity.” Suss v. Am. Soc. For Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 823 F.Supp. 181, 184 (S.D.N.Y.1993).
The Defendant the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Inc. (“SPCA”) is a not-for-profit corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of New York. The SPCA is governed by a six person Board of Directors: the Defendant Roy Gross (the Executive Director and Chief), his wife Lois Gross, Alex Parathyrus, Herbert Kellner, the Defendant Gerald Lauber (Chief of Detectives), and William Wexler. The Plaintiff alleges that the SPCA has approximately 30 individuals who have been given Peace Officer status and are part-time agents. The Defendants Michael Norkelun and Shawn A. Dunn are “detectives” with the SPCA and in doing so, investigate, prosecute, and enforce alleged violations of the New York State Penal Law and the Agriculture and Markets Law.
The SPCA was formed in or about 1983 pursuant to the New York State Not–For–Profit Corporation Law, § 1403, which authorizes one corporation per county whose purpose is the prevention of cruelty to animals. See N.Y. NPC Law § 1403(a)(1) (). It has no oversight by any governmental body or official. Nevertheless, the SPCA is empowered under Criminal Procedure Law § 2.10(7) to grant its employees or agents “peace officer status”, which in turn, empowers these individuals to search and arrest, carry a weapon, and act to enforce the laws of the State of New York in the same manner as governmental employees.
The Defendants Lauber, Dunn and Norkelun are such peace officers. In order to qualify as a peace officer, an individual must complete a short training course sponsored by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice. However, appointed peace officers take no oath of office; they do not report to any public official; and they are not under the auspices or control of any public agency. They are accountable only to the Board of Directors of the SPCA. The peace officers are assigned to one division of the SPCA—the “Law Enforcement Division”—as opposed to the “Humane Division”, which focuses on pet clinics and programs.
Prior to August 2009, SPCA issued badges to its peace officers. According to the Plaintiff, these badges bear a virtual copy of the New York State Device of Arms and are embossed with the public officer title of “Detective”, in violation of New York General Business Law § 136. The SPCA also issues its peace officers shield numbers, patches, epaulettes, and uniforms. In addition, they issue public officer titles to allegedly give the appearance of police officer status, such as “Officer”, “Detective”, “Chief”, “Sergeant”, and “Lieutenant”.
Kanciper owns and resides on a 50–acre horse farm in Manorville, New York, which is located in Suffolk County. This horse farm is the location of a corporation called The New York Horse Rescue Corporation, which rescues discarded and unwanted horses. According to the Plaintiff, since 1998, her horse farm has rescued more than 1,500 horses, many of whom were bound for auction kill buyers. These horses were then either adopted by families or lived the remainder of their lives on the horse farm, sometimes being used to provide horseback riding lessons. Kanciper's husband, who is now deceased, was the farm's resident veterinarian. The Plaintiff's two children also live on the property.
On or about August 5, 2009, a woman called SPCA to make a complaint regarding “equine abuse” at the horse farm. The Plaintiff claims that this complaint was outrageous and untrue, and was made only because the complainant had a personal vendetta against her. Regardless, the SPCA assigned a case number to the complaint and referred it to Defendant Dunn for investigation. According to the Complaint, Dunn went to the Plaintiff's horse farm unannounced on August 18, 2009 at approximately 1:30pm. He knocked on the front door. The Plaintiff's husband answered, and Dunn announced that he was a “detective” and there to investigate a complaint about horse abuse. Kanciper's husband, who was frail and mentally impaired due to past injuries, told Dunn to come back when Kanciper was home. However, the Complaint states that Dunn nevertheless intimidated and threatened him, saying that he would lose his veterinary license if he did not cooperate. After repeatedly telling Dunn to leave because he was ill, Dunn eventually left the residence.
On August 28, 2009, Dunn once again visited the Plaintiff's horse farm. On this date, Kanciper and her children were outside the residence. Dunn allegedly approached Kanciper and her children, revealing that he was wearing a firearm and displaying an SPCA “badge” on a chain around his neck. He introduced himself as “detective”. The Plaintiff claims that she told Dunn to leave the premises and that if he had any questions, he should contact her lawyer, to which Dunn responded, “if you have an attorney, you must be guilty.” (Compl., ¶ 56.) Eventually, Dunn left the premises and threatened “We'll see about this.” He also called the Kanciper home on November 16, 2009. Dunn eventually closed the case file against Kanciper in December 2009, finding no probable cause that Kanciper or her husband was abusing horses or any other animal.
On December 23, 2009, another woman with a supposed personal vendetta against the Plaintiff called SPCA to allege that Kanciper was abusing horses. Once again, SPCA assigned a case number to the complaint, this time assigning the case to Defendant Norkelun. On Christmas Day, December 25, 2009, Norkelun made an unannounced visit to the horse farm to question Kanciper at approximately 12:50pm. He drove a vehicle with SPCA markings all over it, which the Plaintiff alleges had the appearance of a police car. He called the Plaintiff's house phone from his car and informed her that he was a “detective” waiting to speak with her about a starving horse. The Plaintiff states that she informed Norkelun that there was no starving horse, but Norkelun nevertheless requested permission to walk around the residence. Due to his persistence, Kanciper proceeded to walk Norkelun around the property, despite the fact that it was Christmas Day and her husband had recently passed away. At the conclusion of this tour, Norkelun told the Plaintiff that while he could not tell her who was making the complaints, he was familiar with the farm and knew that all the horses were fine. In his official report, he wrote that Kanciper “did show this officer several horses inside a large barn that appeared healthy.” (Compl., ¶ 81.)
Nonetheless, four days later, on December 28, 2009, Norkelun visited the home of the complainant to collect written statements. However, as to the Plaintiff, he did not interview any of the employees or tenants of her house farm, nor did he make firsthand observations. Instead, Norkelun concluded based upon the complainant's statements, that Kanciper had euthanized dogs and horses by herself without a veterinarian present. The Plaintiff alleges that these sources should not have been utilized, because the complainants' statements were riddled with hearsay and driven by a motivation to fabricate.
Between January 2010 and March 2010, the SPCA, including Gross, Lauber, Norkelun and Dunn, apparently made no efforts to corroborate, verify, or otherwise obtain firsthand accounts of the allegations made against Kanciper. Instead, they considered only the complainants' statements and prepared an application for a search warrant. Accordingly, on March 18, 2010, Norkelun applied for a search warrant pursuant to N.Y. CPL § 690 from a local district court on behalf of the SPCA. He submitted an affidavit in support of the application, which stated that he was a detective and that the source of the relevant information...
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...F.Supp.2d at 133–34. Such actions are outside the reach of the Younger doctrine. See Kanciper v. Suffolk Cnty. Soc'y for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Inc., 925 F.Supp.2d 379, 394 (E.D.N.Y.2013) (“[T]he Younger abstention doctrine is ... inapplicable because the parallel state proce......
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...F.Supp.2d at 133–34. Such actions are outside the reach of the Younger doctrine. See Kanciper v. Suffolk Cnty. Soc'y for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Inc., 925 F.Supp.2d 379, 394 (E.D.N.Y.2013) (“[T]he Younger abstention doctrine is ... inapplicable because the parallel state proce......