Sachs v. Cantwell

• Decision Date: 04 September 2012
• Docket Number: 10 Civ. 1663 (JPO)
• Parties: JENNIFER SACHS, Plaintiff, v. WILLIAM CANTWELL, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

JENNIFER SACHS, Plaintiff,

v.WILLIAM CANTWELL, et al., Defendants.

10 Civ. 1663 (JPO)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

Dated: September 4, 2012

MEMORANDUMOPINION AND ORDER

J. PAUL OETKEN, District Judge:

Plaintiff Jennifer Sachs ("Plaintiff") filed this lawsuit asserting various claims arising out of an incident that occurred in March 2009 at the bar of Wollensky's Grill in Manhattan. Plaintiff brings suit against the City of New York, Police Officer William Cantwell, Police Officer Joseph Musa, Police Officer Alexandra Paquette, and John Doe Police Officers #1-3 (collectively, the "City Defendants"); and against Patrick Ford, Aaron Sagendorf, John Doe #4 (referred to by the parties as "Mike"), Smith & Wollensky Operating Corporation ("S&W Operating"), and Fourth Wall Restaurants, LLC ("Fourth Wall") (collectively, the "Private Defendants").

Plaintiff asserts the following claims against the City Defendants: constitutional claims under 28 U.S.C. § 1983 against all of the City Defendants for false arrest, malicious prosecution, and excessive use of force in violation of her constitutional rights; state law assault and battery claims against Officer Musa for using excessive force during Plaintiff's arrest; state law false arrest claims against Officer Cantwell, Officer Musa, and John Doe Officers #1-3; state lawmalicious prosecution claims against all of the Defendant Police Officers; and a Monell claim against the City of New York.

Plaintiff asserts the following claims against the Private Defendants: assault and battery claims against Defendants Sagendorf, John Doe #4 ("Mike"), S&W Operating, and Fourth Wall; malicious prosecution claims against all of the Private Defendants; and negligent retention claims against S&W Operating and Fourth Wall.

The City Defendants and the Private Defendants have each collectively moved for summary judgment on all claims against them. (Dkt. Nos. 88, 94.)

Plaintiff has moved for sanctions based on the alleged spoliation of evidence on the part of the Private Defendants and City Defendants Officers Cantwell, Musa, and Paquette. (Dkt. No. 77.) Both sets of defendants have opposed her motion.

For the reasons set forth below, the Court denies Plaintiff's motion for spoliation of evidence sanctions. The Court denies summary judgment on Plaintiff's assault and battery and excessive use of force claims against City Defendant Officer Musa (both under state law and under § 1983) and Plaintiff's state law assault and battery claims against Private Defendants Sagendorf, S&W Operating, and Fourth Wall. The Court dismisses the claims against John Doe Officers #1-3 and against John Doe #4. The Court grants summary judgment to the defendants on all other claims.

I. Background

A. Facts¹

The case before the Court stems from an altercation that occurred on the night of March 2-3, 2009 at Wollensky's Grill ("Wollensky's"), located at East 49th Street and Third Avenue, New York, New York. (Complaint, Dkt. No. 1, ("Compl.") at 1.) That evening, Plaintiff Jennifer Sachs was a patron of the bar at Wollensky's. (Private Defendant's Statement of Undisputed Facts Pursuant to Local Civil Rule 56.1, Dkt. No. 100, ("Private Defs. 56.1 Stmt.") ¶ 4.) Defendant Smith & Wollensky Operating Corporation ("S&W Operating") owns Wollensky's and Defendant Fourth Wall Restaurants, LLC ("Fourth Wall") manages and employs those who work there. Defendant Aaron Sagendorf was employed by Fourth Wall as a manager at Wollensky's and Defendant Patrick Ford was employed by Fourth Wall as a bartender at Wollensky's. (Id. at ¶ 2-3.)

The exact relationship among Wollensky's, S&W Operating, Fourth Wall, and the Private Defendant employees is unclear from the record. The Private Defendants contend that S&W Operating "does not employ or supervise" Sagendorf or Ford, and that they are employed only by Fourth Wall. (Id. ¶ 1.) However, there is no dispute that Fourth Wall is S&W Operating's agent for the purposes of running Wollensky's.

1. The Dispute Between Plaintiff and Defendant Ford

Sachs arrived at the bar at about 12:30 a.m. on March 3, 2009. While at the bar, Ford served Sachs one or two glasses of wine. Sachs asserts that she had nothing else to drink that night besides the two glasses of wine. (Declaration of Steve Stavridis in Support of Motion forSummary Judgment ("Stavridis Dec."), Ex. K, Deposition of Jennifer Sachs, Dkt. No. 92, ("Sachs Dep.") at 160.) Sachs claims that the altercation began when Ford propositioned her, and she refused. (Compl. ¶¶ 24-26.) Ford asserts that the altercation began when he cut her off from further drinking. (Affidavit of John Mulcahy in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment, Dkt. No. 95 ("Mulcahy Aff."), Ex. F ("Ford Dep.") at 26.) Neither side disputes that just before 1:30 a.m., Plaintiff angrily threw a glass water pitcher at Ford, which subsequently broke into pieces behind the bar.² (City Defendants' Statement of Undisputed Facts Pursuant to Local Civil Rule 56.1, Dkt. No. 91, ("City Defs. 56.1 Stmt.") ¶¶ 10-11.) Ford contends that the pitcher hit him in the side of the head and bounced off, but Plaintiff disputes that the pitcher ever hit Ford. (Ford Dep. at 26, 29; Plaintiff's Rule 56.1 Statement in Opposition to City of New York et al. Motion to Dismiss, Dkt. No. 112, ("Pl. 56.1 Resp. - City Defs.") ¶¶ 10-11.)

The parties disagree sharply as to what happened next.

2. The Dispute Between Plaintiff and Defendant Sagendorf

a. Plaintiff's Version

Plaintiff alleges that after throwing the pitcher, she walked to the door of Wollensky's and opened it. At that point, Sagendorf and a patron named "Mike"³ grabbed her and pulled her back inside the vestibule of the restaurant. She claims that they then pushed, pulled, and scratched her and slammed down her hand when she used her cell phone to dial 911. Plaintiffsuccessfully dialed 911 shortly after 1:30 a.m. Plaintiff claims that at that point either Sagendorf or Mike knocked Plaintiff on the head, throwing her to the ground, where she blacked out. At around 1:34 a.m., Sachs alleges that she lay on the ground in the vestibule while Mike punched her hand and shouted "you fucking Jew" at her. (Compl. ¶ 32.)

b. The Private Defendants' Version

The Private Defendants present a very different description of the course of events. Sagendorf asserts that after hearing the pitcher break, he turned to find Plaintiff raising her wine glass as if to throw it at Ford. (Stavridis Dec., Ex. M ("Sagendorf Dep."), at 33.) Sagendorf approached Plaintiff, asked her to leave, and held her by the shoulder to escort her to the vestibule exit. Sagendorf asserts that, once in the vestibule, Plaintiff began assaulting him by striking him in the face with her open hand and kicking him in the groin. (Sagendorf Dep. at 34-38.) To avoid being kicked, Sagendorf contends that he grabbed Plaintiff's kicking leg, at which time Plaintiff fell to the ground. Sagendorf then used his knee to pin her to the ground. (Id. at 38-39.)

Police recordings show that at approximately 1:32 a.m., while on the ground being pinned down by Sagendorf, Plaintiff called 911. (Sagendorf Dep. at 39; City Defs. 56.1 Stmt. ¶ 5.) Sagendorf directed Ford also to call 911. According to the police records, Ford's call came in at 1:33 a.m.⁴ (City Defs. 56.1 Stmt. ¶ 5.) Sagendorf asserts that after the call, he let Plaintiff stand up, but that when she tried to kick him again, he again caught her leg, causing her to fall. He pinned her down the final time by sitting on her legs. (Sagendorf Dep. at 40.) At that time,Sagendorf says that a male patron entered the vestibule and helped him subdue Plaintiff by holding her wrists. (Id. at 47-48, 62-63.) Sagendorf admits that, in the course of restraining Plaintiff, he heard the patron call Sachs "a fucking Jew" more than once. Sagendorf states that he told the patron to leave at that point. (Id. at 92-94.) Sagendorf restrained Plaintiff until the police arrived.

3. The Dispute Between Plaintiff and the Defendant Police Officers

The parties agree that as a result of the 911 calls, at around 1:34 a.m., Officers Cantwell, Paquette and Musa received a radio dispatch reporting a dispute in progress at Wollensky's. (Stavridis Dec., Ex. N, Declaration of William Cantwell ("Cantwell Dec."), ¶ 4; City Defs. 56.1 Stmt. ¶ 5.) Officer Cantwell arrived a minute or two before Officers Musa and Paquette, who arrived on the scene at approximately 1:35 a.m. (City Defs. 56.1 Stmt. ¶¶ 5, 7, 8; Stavridis Dec., Ex. N, Declaration of Alexandra Paquette ("Paquette Dec."), ¶ 5.) Plaintiff's recollection of her interactions with the officers sharply differs from the account of the City Defendants.

a. Plaintiff's Version

Plaintiff alleges that around 1:35 a.m., Officer Cantwell and three other John Doe officers arrived and witnessed Mike beating her and calling her "a fucking Jew." (Compl. ¶ 33.) Plaintiff contends that these officers did not intervene or speak to her at all. (Id.) When officers Musa and Paquette arrived a minute later, Plaintiff contends that they saw Mike and Sagendorf still on top of her. (Sachs Dep. at 147.) Plaintiff claims that upon Officer Cantwell's order to "book her," Officer Musa handcuffed Plaintiff's already-injured hands and wrists. (Compl. ¶¶ 34-36.) Plaintiff alleges that Musa then took her outside Wollensky's, where she asked why she was being arrested. Musa told her to "shut up" and kicked the back of her knee to the ground,breaking her knee, and kicked her head. Plaintiff claims that she then blacked out again. (Compl. ¶¶ 37-38; Sachs Dep. at 153-157.) She claims that when she regained consciousness at around 2:00 a.m., she was being taken into the Bellevue Hospital emergency room. (Compl. ¶ 40; Sachs Dep. at 158-160.)

b. The Defendant Police Officers' Version

In contrast, Officer Cantwell contends that when he arrived, he saw Plaintiff on the ground being restrained by Sagendorf. It is undisputed that Sagendorf informed Cantwell...