Mele v. Hill Health Center

• Decision Date: 31 March 2009
• Docket Number: No. 3:06cv455 (SRU).,3:06cv455 (SRU).
• Citation: 609 F.Supp.2d 248
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut
• Parties: John P. MELE, Plaintiff, v. HILL HEALTH CENTER, et al.,<SMALL><SUP>1</SUP></SMALL> Defendants.

609 F.Supp.2d 248

John P. MELE, Plaintiff, v. HILL HEALTH CENTER, et al.,¹ Defendants.

No. 3:06cv455 (SRU).

United States District Court, D. Connecticut.

March 31, 2009.

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John P. Mele, New Haven, CT, pro se.

Brenda M. Green, U.S. Attorney's Office, Bridgeport, CT, Richard L. Gross, Hill Health Corp., New Haven, CT, for Defendants.

RULING ON MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND MOTIONS FOR RECONSIDERATION

STEFAN R. UNDERHILL, District Judge.

John P. Mele brings this civil rights action pro se and in forma pauperis. Mele's second amended complaint asserts variously that defendants' actions violated his rights under the Constitution and federal statutes including the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act, and violated confidentiality laws concerning patient treatment records. His claims for deliberate indifference to medical needs and disclosure of medical information were dismissed on January 8, 2008 (doc. # 53). Defendants have filed a motion for summary judgment on the remaining claims (doc. # 60). Mele has filed a cross-motion for summary judgment (doc. # 63) as well as motions seeking to reinstate his claims for disclosure of medical information and deliberate indifference to medical needs (docs. ## 62, 69). For the reasons that follow, defendants' motion is GRANTED and Mele's motions are DENIED.

I. Mele's Motions for Reconsideration

Mele has moved to reopen his claims for disclosure of medical information and deliberate indifference to medical needs, which were dismissed in January 2008. Because judgment has not entered, I will treat the motions to reopen as motions for reconsideration of the ruling granting the motion to dismiss.

A motion for reconsideration must be filed and served within ten days from the date of filing of the decision or order from which relief is sought. D. Conn. L. Civ. R. 7(c). Mele seeks reconsideration of a January 8, 2008 ruling in motions filed on July 31, 2008 (doc. # 62) and August 28, 2008 (doc. # 69). Accordingly, the motions are denied as untimely filed.

Mele's motions, however, would be denied even if they had been timely filed. Reconsideration will be granted only if the moving party can identify controlling decisions or data that the court overlooked and that would reasonably be expected to alter the court's decision. See Shrader v. CSX Transp., Inc., 70 F.3d 255, 257 (2d Cir. 1995). A motion for reconsideration may not be used to relitigate an issue the court already has decided. See SPGGC, Inc. v. Blumenthal, 408 F.Supp.2d 87, 91-92 (D.Conn.2006), aff'd in part and vacated in part on other grounds, 505 F.3d 183 (2d Cir.2007).

Mele has not identified any controlling decisions that I overlooked or that would alter my earlier decision. Mele has identified two additional documents and submitted them with his motions, but neither supports granting reconsideration. First, Mele attaches to his motion regarding the disclosure of medical information claim a complaint he submitted to the to the Hill Health Center in November 2006 regarding the disclosure. (Pl. Mot. to Reopen, doc. # 62, at 2-3.) Mele did not submit that complaint in his opposition to the motion to dismiss. Thus, it was not overlooked by the court. More importantly, I cannot determine whether that complaint constitutes an administrative claim sufficient to exhaust his administrative remedies and thereby fulfills a necessary prerequisite for a claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act ("FTCA"), as I required in my prior order.

Second, Mele attached to his second motion an August 2008 letter indicating that the Department of Health and Human Services ("DHHS") had no record of receiving any communications from Mele, but would permit him to submit a claim form (doc. # 69, at 5-6). In denying Mele's request to excuse his failure to exhaust his administrative remedies or to toll the limitations period for exhaustion, I noted that I was unable to determine whether any communications Mele previously sent to the agency would be sufficient to put the agency on notice of Mele's claims. I referred Mele to the agency for that determination. The letter, written several months after my prior ruling, indicates that the agency did not receive plaintiff's previous communications and therefore was not on notice of Mele's claims. DHHS's indication that it would now allow Mele to file a claim does not show that his claim in this court is timely or that he has exhausted his administrative remedies. Thus, Mele's submission of these two documents does not support reconsideration. The motions for reconsideration are denied.

II. Motions for Summary Judgment

Mele and the defendants have submitted cross-motions for summary judgment on the remaining claims. The remaining claims in Mele's second amended complaint include allegations that the defendants failed to make appropriate accommodations for his disabilities, discriminated against him, and denied him due process and equal protection of the law when they: terminated him from a drug treatment program, refused him readmission to that program, failed to provide him administrative remedies, and imposed on him an unreasonable fee for his participation in the program. I agree with the defendants that there are no genuine issues of material fact remaining for trial and that summary judgment should enter for the defendants and against Mele.

III. Standard of Review

Summary judgment is appropriate when the evidence demonstrates that "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); see also Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 256, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986) (plaintiff must present affirmative evidence in order to defeat a properly supported motion for summary judgment).

When ruling on a summary judgment motion, the court must construe the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party and must resolve all ambiguities and draw all reasonable inferences against the moving party. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505; Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986); Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 158-59, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970); see also Aldrich v. Randolph Cent. Sch. Dist., 963 F.2d 520, 523 (2d Cir.1992) (court is required to "resolve all ambiguities and draw all inferences in favor of the nonmoving party"), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 965, 113 S.Ct. 440, 121 L.Ed.2d 359 (1992). When a motion for summary judgment is properly supported by documentary and testimonial evidence, however, the nonmoving party may not rest upon the mere allegations or denials of his pleadings, but rather must present significant probative evidence to establish a genuine issue of material fact. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 327, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Colon v. Coughlin, 58 F.3d 865, 872 (2d Cir.1995).

"Only when reasonable minds could not differ as to the import of the evidence is summary judgment proper." Bryant v. Maffucci, 923 F.2d 979, 982 (2d Cir.1991); see also Suburban Propane v. Proctor Gas, Inc., 953 F.2d 780, 788 (2d Cir.1992). If the nonmoving party submits evidence that is "merely colorable," or is not "significantly probative," summary judgment may be granted. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249-50, 106 S.Ct. 2505.

The mere existence of some alleged factual dispute between the parties will not defeat an otherwise properly supported motion for summary judgment; the requirement is that there be no genuine issue of material fact. As to materiality, the substantive law will identify which facts are material. Only disputes over facts that might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law will properly preclude the entry of summary judgment. Factual disputes that are irrelevant or unnecessary will not be counted.

Id. at 247-48, 106 S.Ct. 2505. To present a "genuine" issue of material fact, there must be contradictory evidence "such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the non-moving party." Id. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505.

If the nonmoving party has failed to make a sufficient showing on an essential element of his case with respect to which he has the burden of proof at trial, then summary judgment is appropriate. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548. In such a situation, "there can be `no genuine issue as to any material fact,' since a complete failure of proof concerning an essential element of the nonmoving party's case necessarily renders all other facts immaterial." Id. at 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548; accord Goenaga v. March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, 51 F.3d 14, 18 (2d Cir.1995) (movant's burden satisfied if he can point to an absence of evidence to support an essential element of nonmoving party's claim). In short, if there is no genuine issue of material fact, summary judgment may enter. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548.

Where one party is proceeding pro se, the court reads the pro se party's papers liberally and interprets them to raise the strongest arguments suggested therein. See Burgos v. Hopkins, 14 F.3d 787, 790 (2d Cir.1994). Despite such liberal interpretation, however, a "bald assertion," unsupported by evidence, cannot overcome a properly supported motion for summary judgment. Carey v. Crescenzi, 923 F.2d 18, 21 (2d Cir.1991).

IV. Facts²

Hill Health Center's Grant Street Partnership is a federally funded program that provides transitional housing in a men's shelter and behavioral health services for individuals with substance abuse and mental health problems. Grant Street Partnership participates in the Connecticut Judicial Branch's Drug Intervention Program, which is an alternative to incarceration for non-violent drug offenders. Defendant Baltazar was a senior clinician and court liaison and defendant Kalfaian was a clinician at Grant Street...