Sluys v. Gribetz, 93 Civ. 6704 (CLB).
| Decision Date | 31 January 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 93 Civ. 6704 (CLB).,93 Civ. 6704 (CLB). |
| Citation | 842 F. Supp. 764 |
| Parties | Peter W. SLUYS, and Arthur R. Aldrich, Plaintiffs, v. Kenneth GRIBETZ, as District Attorney of the County of Rockland, and Kenneth Gribetz, Personally, Peter Modafferi, John T. Grant and Six Other Unknown Conspirators, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
Peter W. Sluys, pro se.
Dornbush Mensch Mandelstam & Schaeffer, New York City, for Kenneth Gribetz and Peter Modafferi.
Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler, New York City, for John T. Grant.
This civil rights action was filed pro se on September 24, 1993, by plaintiff Peter W. Sluys. Arthur R. Aldrich was permitted to become an additional plaintiff by order dated November 16, 1993.
The defendants are the Hon. Kenneth Gribetz individually, and as District Attorney of the County of Rockland, State of New York, in this District; Peter Modafferi, individually, and as a criminal investigator employed in the office of Mr. Gribetz; and John T. Grant, the County Executive of the County of Rockland through December 31, 1993.
By order issued November 17, 1993, by the Court on its own motion, and returnable December 1, 1993, the parties were, "invited to show cause why this action should not be dismissed by this Court as moot by reason of intervening events". By motion dated November 15, 1993, defendant Grant moved pursuant to Rule 12(c) F.R.Civ.P. for judgment on the pleadings. This motion was fully submitted for decision as of December 8, 1993 following a dispute because plaintiff was willing to discontinue against Mr. Grant "without prejudice", and counsel for Mr. Grant demanded a dismissal "with prejudice". The "six other unknown conspirators" mentioned in the caption of the case remain unknown, and there is no persuasive evidence that any such exist.
The Plaintiffs are editors and/or publishers affiliated with Community Media, Inc., which owns three local newspapers known as Our Town, The Clarkstown Courier, and The Rockland Independent, which papers circulate in the County of Rockland. Mr. Sluys is a former member of the Bar. By his complaint filed February 24, 1988, plaintiff alleged that defendants Gribetz and Modafferi, acting under color of state law because of their official positions, caused him to be invited to the Office of the District Attorney for an interview on August 2, 1993. At this interview according to plaintiff, Sluys (¶ 21 et seq. of Complaint) was told by defendant Modafferi that he was, "going to jail unless you turn over on Knight (another editor for Community Media, Inc.) and Aldrich"; that he was in "deep shit", and that as a "predicate felon" plaintiff would go to jail for quite some time unless he immediately confessed to taking a bribe from Orange & Rockland Utilities.1 Plaintiff Sluys alleges (¶ 27) that he was, "asked to wear a wire and meet with Linda Winikow (then an executive with Orange & Rockland Utilities)", and to tell Winikow on the wire that, "I know you have been bribing us", or alternatively, "I know we have been blackmailing you." Plaintiff refused to do either.
The District Attorney's Office obtained voluntarily from Community Media all files having to do with advertising of Orange & Rockland Utilities. The Complaint details additional efforts to obtain the assistance of plaintiff and of Aldrich as witnesses, or in the case of plaintiff, as an undercover investigator, and it is alleged that Modafferi threatened to ruin Aldrich's reputation (¶ 38). The Complaint also alleges a "conspiracy" and that the actions of Modafferi and Gribetz were, "initiated or acted upon at the request of defendant Grant ... in part as punishment for the fact that Community Media newspapers had been supporting Samuel Colman against Grant in the 1993 Democratic primary for County Executive."
The Complaint continues, alleging further activities said to be in violation of the civil rights of the plaintiffs, or the First Amendment Rights of Community Media, Inc. Before proceeding further with the Complaint, however, some additional background is necessary.
Ms. Linda Winikow, not a party to this action, formerly served as a Democratic Member of the New York State Senate representing parts of the Counties of Rockland and Westchester. Thereafter, she accepted full time employment with Orange & Rockland Utilities, a regulated public utility which provides electric and gas service in parts of Rockland County. Thereafter, and at all relevant times until her suspension with pay on August 17, 1993, Ms. Winikow served Orange & Rockland Utilities as Vice President for Corporate Policy and External Affairs.
A contested primary in the Democratic party developed in 1993 between defendant John T. Grant and one Samuel Colman, a member of the New York State Assembly and not a party to this action. Mr. Colman's candidacy was supported by Ms. Winikow and also by these plaintiffs and their publications. Mr. Gribetz, it is alleged, was partial to the candidacy of Mr. Grant. Mr. Grant was the victor in the primary by a narrow margin and, as is so often the case following such internecine strife in a political party, he was defeated at the general election by the Republican candidate and departed the Office of County Executive on December 31, 1993.
The release continued, and pointed out that Grand Jury Subpoenas had been issued, and that the utility was, "one of the largest advertisers for Community Media, Inc."
Other newspapers printed the release, and radio news broadcasts repeated the charge that Sluys was guilty of commercial bribe receiving.
Contemporaneous publicity releases by Orange & Rockland Utilities denied any inappropriate arrangements with Community Media and noted that the utility, "buys ads from time to time from many different media outlets". (Donovan press release attached to complaint).
At the same time that all of this was going on, Ms. Winikow was also under investigation by the District Attorney for having caused vendors of Orange & Rockland Utilities to make payments in goods or services to the Colman primary campaign as a condition for the continued receipt of business from the utility, and to have engaged in other diversions of funds of her employer. These activities are alleged in some detail in companion litigation pending in this Court in the nature of a Class Action by ratepayers (Feiner v. Orange & Rockland Utilities, Inc., et al., 93 Civ. 5796 (CLB)), and a RICO action brought by the utility itself against Ms. Winikow and others, 93 Civ. 6038 (CLB). In the latter case, Orange & Rockland Utilities as plaintiff charged Ms. Winikow and other employees of Orange & Rockland with having participated in the affairs of the enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962 in that Winikow and others, with the aid of corrupt vendors, defrauded the utility by diverting funds totaling over $125,000 to enrich the individual defendants, or pay their personal expenses or engage in political contributions, including $5,000 to United States Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut; $10,000 in printing services for New York State Assemblyman Sam Colman and defraying the costs of the engagement party for Winikow's son, Jeffrey, the printing of business cards and stationery for her son's law firm; printing for advertisements for one Hansen, a candidate for the Rockland County Legislature; and, contributions to various other candidates for public office, many of them in trivial amounts.
The Complaint alleges that the District Attorney also investigated allegations that certain school districts had given legal advertising to Community Media and its newspapers, "in order that Community Media not publish unfavorable articles about them", and also investigated a purported extortion of Dr. Richard Alcott.
The Complaint alleged that these investigations were improper as a matter of law and caused in whole or in part not by a good faith belief that there had been any violation of the criminal law, but rather were done at the instance of Grant, or Grant's supporters and "operatives". (¶ 53). The Complaint alleges (¶ 58) that the investigations were intended, "to effect sic the reporting of stories about County Executive John...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Cohen v. Stevanovich .
...for conspiracy also requires an alleged agreement between at least two defendants “to effectuate an unlawful purpose.” Sluys v. Gribetz, 842 F.Supp. 764, 767 (S.D.N.Y.), aff'd, 41 F.3d 1503 (2d Cir.1994). Other than general and conclusory allegations that certain unspecified defendants ente......
-
Ajaj v. U.S.
...or taunting, even if there was evidence to support such a claim, no constitutional violation has been shown. Sluys v. Gribetz, 842 F.Supp. 764, 765, n. 1 (S.D.N.Y. 1994), aff'd, Sluys v. Gribetz, 41 F.3d 1503 (2d Cir.1994); Shabazz v. Cole, 69 F.Supp.2d 177, 199-200 (D.Mass.1999) ["Although......
-
Sackman v. Liggett Group, Inc.
...an unlawful purpose. This assumes an agreement to so act, either by express assent, or by inference from conduct." Sluys v. Gribetz, 842 F.Supp. 764, 767 (S.D.N.Y.), aff'd, 41 F.3d 1503 (2d Cir.1994), cert. denied, 514 U.S. 1005, 115 S.Ct. 1316, 131 L.Ed.2d 197 A claim for civil conspiracy ......
-
Bennekin v. Baugh, C/A No. 4:14-cv-4004-BHH-KDW
...Collins v. Cundy, 603 F.2d 825, 827 (10th Cir. 1979)); Batista v. Rodriguez, 702 F.2d 393, 398 (2d Cir. 1983); Sluys v. Gribetz, 842 F. Supp. 764, 765 n.1 (S.D.N.Y. 1994). Verbal abuse of a prisoner is not actionable under § 1983. See McBride v. Deer, 240 F.3d 1287, 1291 n.3 (10th Cir. 2001......