Lewis v. Newburgh
| Decision Date | 20 December 2021 |
| Docket Number | 20-CV-7973 (CS) |
| Parties | REGINA LEWIS, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF NEWBURGH, NEWBURGH ARMORY UNITY CENTER, JOSEPH DONAT - City Manager, RAMONA MONTEVERDE - City Council, TORRANCE HARVEY - Mayor, PATTY SOFOKLES - City Council, KAREN MEJIA - City Council, ANTHONY GRICE - City Council, ROBERT SKLAREZ - City Council, OMARI SHAKUR - City Council, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
Paul E. Svensson
Hodges Walsh & Burke, LLP
Before the Court is the motion to dismiss of Defendants Joseph Donat, Ramona Monteverde, Torrance Harvey, Patty Sofokles Karen Mejia, Anthony Grice, Robert Sklarez, Omari Shakur (collectively, the “Individual Defendants”), and the City of Newburgh, (ECF No. 26.) For the following reasons, Defendants' motion is GRANTED.
I accept as true the facts, but not the conclusions, set forth in Plaintiff's Amended Complaint, (ECF No. 24 (“AC”)), Initial Complaint, (ECF No. 2 (“IC”)), and memorandum in opposition, (ECF No. 30 (“P's Opp.”)). See Washington v. Westchester Cnty. Dep't of Corr., No. 13-CV-5322, 2015 WL 408941, at *1 n.1 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 30, 2015) (); Braxton v. Nichols, No. 08-CV-8568, 2010 WL 1010001, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 18, 2010) ().[1]
A, Facts
Pro se Plaintiff Regina Lewis is the Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) of two legal entities: (1) Mothers Against Institutional Negligence (“MAIN”), which has been incorporated since November 19, 2010; and (2) The Newburgh Enrichment Center (“NEC”), which has been incorporated since December 10, 2009. (See IC at 2.) As the CEO of MAIN, Plaintiff advocates for New York State prisoners who have been wrongfully incarcerated and who experience “unconstitutional prison conditions.” (Id.) As the CEO of NEC, Plaintiff has proposed “a viable economic development plan” to assist “at-risk underserved young Black African American males.” (Id.) Defendant Donat is the City of Newburgh City Manager; Defendant Harvey is the City of Newburgh Mayor; and Defendants Monteverde, Sofokles, Mejia, Grice, Sklarez and Shakur are members of the City of Newburgh City Council. (AC at 1.)
Plaintiff alleges that, since 2009, she has “made numerous requests for legislative advocacy” to further her organizations. (IC at 2.) Plaintiff claims that Defendants have refused “to engage in meaningful communication” with her and have failed to provide funding to either of her organizations “through community constituent services.” (Id.) Specifically, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant Donat, a “high-ranking decision maker, ” (AC at 1), refused to permit his scheduler to make an appointment with Plaintiff, (IC at 2). Plaintiff also contends that the Individual Defendants refused to place a meeting with Plaintiff on their agenda. (Id.) Plaintiff asserts that Defendants, instead, support an organization operating in Westchester County, Rockland, and Yonkers, known as the “Ruff Ryders.” (AC at 1.) The Ruff Ryders hold themselves out as “caring community driven support groups, ” but Plaintiff believes the organization “is a front for Federal Agents . . . to infiltrate poor Black Inner Cities and arrest scores of Black Youth” under federal laws. (Id.) Plaintiff believes that Defendants are focused on providing “incentives to non-African American [individuals] to take up residency in the City of Newburgh, with an incentive of tax abatement and really cheap property and funding.” (IC at 2.)[2]
Plaintiff brings claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C § 1983 and she names the Individual Defendants in both their official and individual capacities. (AC at 1.) Specifically, Plaintiff alleges that Defendants Harvey and Donat are liable for failing to meet with her. (Id.; IC at 3-4.) Further, Plaintiff alleges that Defendants' refusal “to do business” with her constitutes discrimination on the basis of her “status as a Minority Business Owner, ” and on the basis of her race, disability, expression, gender, and class. (AC at 1; see IC at 2.) Plaintiff also claims that “defendants have violated [her] first amendment right to pursue happiness, ” and have thus deprived her of her constitutional rights and privileges under 18 U.S.C. § 242. (AC at 2.) Finally, Plaintiff asserts that Defendant Newburgh Armory Unity Center infringed on her intellectual property by implementing a “Drone project” that she had proposed to Defendants. (Id. at 1.)
B. Procedural History
On September 25, 2020, Plaintiff filed this action against City of Newburgh, Joseph Donat, Sean Patrick Maloney, James Skoufis, and Johnathan Jacobson. (ECF No. 2.) After the claims against Maloney, Jacobson, and Skoufis were dismissed, (see note 2 above), the U.S. Marshals Service served the remaining Defendants, (ECF Nos. 14-15). In December 2020, the case was reassigned to Judge Katherine Polk Failla and then to me.
On January 11, 2021, pursuant to my Individual Practices, Defendants filed a pre-motion letter requesting that the Court either schedule a pre-motion conference in anticipation of their motion to dismiss or direct Plaintiff to amend her Complaint. (ECF No. 11.) That same day, Defendants' request was mailed to Plaintiff. (ECF No. 12.) The Court granted Defendants' letter motion for conference, scheduled a telephonic conference for February 11 at 2:30 p.m., and directed Plaintiff to respond to Defendants' letter by February 4. (ECF No. 13.) A copy of that Order was mailed to Plaintiff on January 11. (Docket Entry dated Jan. 11, 2021.) The Court did not consult either side when setting the date and time for the conference.
On January 20, 2021, Plaintiff filed a document titled, “Motion for Pretrial Conference Pursuant to Rule 16, ” in which she recognized that there was an upcoming conference on February 11. (ECF No. 16 at 2.) The document also appeared to be a response to Defendants' pre-motion letter. (Id. at 1-5.) In response to Plaintiff's submission, in which she suggested that Defendants were in default because they had not answered, (id. at 2), the Court on January 21 issued an endorsement explaining that: 1) under its Individual Practices, the request for a premotion conference stayed the time to answer and thus that Defendants were not in default; and 2) next steps would be discussed at the February 11 conference, (ECF No. 17 at 2). This endorsement was mailed to Plaintiff on January 22. (Docket Entry dated Jan. 22, 2021.)
On February 8, 2021 Plaintiff emailed my Courtroom Deputy - as she had done several times even after being informed that emailing correspondence does not constitute filing it -requesting a postponement of the conference and enclosing an affidavit seeking my recusal. In her affidavit, Plaintiff complained about alleged ex parte communications between the Court and Defendants. But Plaintiff was the only party in this action who was engaging in ex parte communication, as she contacted the Court by email without copying Defendants, and had separately left a substantive phone message for the Court. The Court received a hard copy of Plaintiff's affidavit in the mail on February 10, but it was never properly filed.
The Court held the scheduled pre-motion conference on February 11, 2021. Plaintiff did not appear, but I issued a ruling declining to recuse myself. (See Minute Entry dated Feb. 11, 2021.) I also rescheduled the pre-motion conference for February 24, 2021, (ECF No. 19), and a copy of the rescheduling order was mailed to Plaintiff on February 12, (Docket Entry dated Feb. 12, 2021).
The Court held the scheduled pre-motion conference on February 24, 2021, but Plaintiff again did not appear. (See Minute Entry dated Feb. 24, 2021.) In my Order dated February 24, 2021, I noted that I would have dismissed Plaintiff's case because of abusive messages she had communicated to the Court, her violation of my order that she not call chambers, or her failure to prosecute - but for the possibility that Plaintiff is incompetent. (See ECF No. 21.) Instead, I raised the question of Plaintiff's competency sua sponte. (Id.)
The Court held a competency hearing and pre-motion conference on March 18, 2021. (See ECF No. 37.) For the reasons stated on the record, I found Plaintiff competent to proceed. (Id. at 31-34.) I also granted Plaintiff leave to amend her Complaint to clarify the nature and basis of her claims against Defendant Donat and the City. (Id. at 34-35, 38-40.)
Plaintiff filed her Amended Complaint on March 25, 2021, adding additional defendants, (AC), which the Court had not granted permission to do. On April 29, Defendants filed the instant motion. (ECF No. 26.) Plaintiff filed a letter on May 6, (P's Opp.), which I construe as Plaintiff's opposition.[3] Defendants filed their reply on May 12. (ECF No. 32 (“Ds' Reply”).)
“To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.'” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id. “While a complaint attacked by a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss does not need detailed factual allegations, a plaintiff's obligation to provide the grounds of his...
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