Lynch v. Town of Southampton
| Decision Date | 27 June 2007 |
| Docket Number | No. CV 05-4499(ADS).,CV 05-4499(ADS). |
| Parties | Patricia LYNCH, Plaintiff, v. TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON and Donald Bambrick, Individually and in his Official Capacity, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York |
Leeds, Morelli & Brown, P.C., Carle Place, NY, by: Steven A. Morelli, Esq., of Counsel, for the Plaintiff.
Devitt Spellman Barrett, LLP, Smithtown, NY, by: Jeltje deJong, Esq., David H. Arntsen, Esq., Diane K. Farrell, Esq., of Counsel, for the Defendants.
Following a jury trial and verdict, the defendant Town of Southampton (the "defendant" or the "Town") moves (1) to vacate the jury award of $251,000 for plaintiffs emotional distress damages in its entirety, or, in the alternative, (2) for a remittitur reflecting an appropriate reduction of the amount of the verdict.
In addition, the plaintiff has moved for an order (1) for attorneys' fees pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988 and (2) for costs and expenses. In this decision the Court will review the new rule set forth by the Second Circuit in the Arbor Hill Concerned Citizens Neighborhood Ass `n v. County of Albany, 484 F.3d 162 (2nd Cir.2007) case decided on April 24, 2007.
The Court will address each of these motions in order.
The plaintiff Patricia Lynch is a veteran print and network television journalist and author. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including two Emmys. Ms. Lynch is also an animal lover and has four dogs herself. In October 2000, she became a volunteer dog walker for the Town of Southampton Animal Control Shelter ("Animal Shelter"), without compensation. Thereafter, the plaintiff wrote letters to the Editor of the Southampton Press criticizing certain conditions and policies at the Animal Shelter. Over the course of the next few years, she continued to write letters to the Editor; participated in a radio show; and eventually filed a lawsuit about the Animal Shelter's euthanasia policies. All this time, Ms. Lynch continued to work as a volunteer dog walker for the Animal Shelter.
On February 27, 2004, after the plaintiff filed an order to show cause in support of a request for an injunction to stop the euthanasia policy, she was approached by two or three uniformed Town Code Enforcement Officers, was directed to leave, and she was immediately escorted out of the Animal Shelter.
In this Section 1983 First Amendment Freedom of Speech claim, on February 13, 2007, a jury verdict was rendered in favor of the plaintiff and against the Town of Southampton. The jury awarded damages to the plaintiff for emotional distress to the date of the verdict, in the sum of $251,000.
Counsel for the defendant points out that "Ms. Lynch did not testify about treatment by a medical or mental professional." She contends that "plaintiff's distress caused by her love of dogs and the euthanizing of dogs is not distress which was caused by the termination of her services." Also, counsel emphasizes that there are no physical manifestations of her alleged emotional distress; there is no evidence regarding the duration of such condition; there is no corroboration by other witnesses or documentary evidence; and there is no difference in her life caused by the termination of her services, other than she no longer walks dogs at the shelter.
As to the law, counsel for the defendant cites cases where the awards for emotional distress were vacated and cases where the award was significantly reduced.
On the other hand, counsel for the plaintiff opposes the defendant's motions and asks that they be denied in their entirety. Counsel points to the manner in which the plaintiff, without prior notice, was escorted off the premises by the Town's uniformed officers and told never to return. The plaintiff testified that she was shocked and humiliated; that she feels helpless because she can no longer do some of the activities she previously enjoyed; that she feels her career and reputation as a journalist were put in jeopardy; that she had to take medication after her termination; and that she was the subject of newspaper and television accounts of her termination, which humiliated her and hurt her reputation.
Counsel for the plaintiff concluded his presentation with the comment that, accordingly, this Court should, if it must, remit Lynch's damages award to no less than $175,000.
In this case, the credible evidence of emotional distress starts with the method in which the Town of Southampton terminated the plaintiff's services as a volunteer animal dog walker. This was done shortly after the plaintiff filed an order to show cause for injunctive relief in her lawsuit against the Town.
Q After the filing of the order to show cause on the 24th of February did you go back to the shelter to volunteer?
A Yes.
Q When was the next time you went to volunteer at the shelter?
A I believe it was the day that I was removed physically.
Q And do you recall what day that was?
A That was Friday, let me see, Friday the 27th of February.
Q What was your purpose in the animal shelter on February 27, 2004?
A I did what I would ordinarily do, which is walk dogs.
Q And did you walk any dogs on that date?
A I did, Mr. Morelli.
Q How many dogs did you walk?
A To the best of my recollection I walked maybe two or three.
Q And did something happen to stop you from walking other dogs?
A Yes.
Q What happened?
A What happened was that some code enforcement officers wearing uniforms, either two or three, at least two or three and possibly at one point I thought it might have been four because I was so completely shocked at what was happened.
I had just finished walking a dog by the name of Gia and had taken her back to her pen and was prepared, I just asked permission to walk another dog, by the name of Patch, and got permission from Wendy Altieri, who was the vet tag, to walk that dog.
And I was ready to go inside to walk, to pick up Patch, who was being treated for ring worm, and before I could get a chance to go in, these men approached me. Very vigorously. Did not identify themselves initially.
I asked them who are you and do you have a business card? And one of them gave me a business card. And they told me that you must get off the premises immediately. And they handed me a piece of paper from Cheryl Kraft which basically said —
Q Just tell us what happened first.
A Okay. They hand me the piece of paper. I read the piece of paper. It was clear what they were saying, which was get out of here and don't ever come back. That was very specific.
Not stop volunteering. It was you're not allowed on this premises ever again. And I did not resist. I instead — I had no phone with me or anything of that nature.
I went out to my car. They followed me. They took me to my car. They made sure that I left. And at that point, I don't know whether you want to hear what I, how I, what happened to me at that point.
The paper handed to the plaintiff that day at the Animal Shelter (Plt. Ex. 8) was signed by Cheryl Kraft, the Town's Public Safety Administrator, on February 26, 2004, the day before the plaintiff was terminated. After thanking Ms. Lynch for her years of "volunteering and for the assistance you have given to the animal shelter in the past," the plaintiff was told: (Tr. at 135-136).
Of importance in this discussion, the plaintiffs forced departure from the Animal Shelter was well covered by the media.
Q Miss Lynch, prior to the break you were talking about the press that came about as a result of your being removed. And I'm going to ask you if there were a number of press accounts of your removal from the facility.
A Yes.
Q And where did those accounts appear?
They appeared on CableVision. Channel 12. Newsday. Of course, the Southampton Press. The Independent. The Sag Harbor Express. There was something in the Shelter Island that was sent to me. It seemed to be seen by a lot of people.
Q Did you foster any of this press coverage yourself?
A No.
Q How did this press coverage make you feel?
A The humiliation that I felt as a professional was terrible.
I was put into a defensive position to try to explain what was going on, how something like this could happen. I felt, the main thing that I felt was a hopelessness and a helplessness that I never felt working for network television, where I had some, I have the weight of a network behind me so I know that I could go after a Lynden LaRouch and do a story and have good results and change things.
Here was a situation where I was humiliated among my peers, a lot of them live on the South Fork, where I could do nothing to help the animals that I loved.
I adopted four shelter dogs, myself, excluding all the adoptions. But it was mainly the feeling of helplessness and knowing that I could never go back there again to help them again. And it was an awful experience.
I mean, I've had guns held on me by Lynden LaRouch when I did a television story, where I should have been afraid. I wasn't afraid. This to me was more poignant because of the fact these animals didn't have advocates. And I was an advocate and I was a very good advocate for these animals.
And what happened to me was very unfair, and it was unfair to the animals. It was unfair to me. I couldn't fight back. I was humiliated. Absolutely humiliated.
Q Now, Miss Lynch, do you believe that this press coverage and your removal from the facility had an impact on your standing in the...
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