Thomas v. Beth Israel Hosp. Inc.

Decision Date20 March 1989
Docket NumberNo. 88 Civ. 5440 (RWS).,88 Civ. 5440 (RWS).
PartiesPeter Daniel THOMAS, Plaintiff, v. BETH ISRAEL HOSPITAL INC., Judge Mary Bednar; City of New York Human Resources Administration; Special Services For Children; William Grinker; Commissioner of the H.R.A., and Herman D. Wilson, Caseworker, S.S.C., Defendants.
CourtU.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Peter Daniel Thomas, New York City, pro se.

Robert Abrams, Atty. Gen. of the State of N.Y., New York City (Abigail I. Petersen, Asst. Atty. Gen., John Sullivan, Legal Asst., of counsel), for defendant Judge Bednar.

Garfunkel, Wild & Travis, P.C., Great Neck, N.Y. (Leonard M. Rosenberg, of counsel), for defendant Beth Israel Medical Center.

OPINION

SWEET, District Judge.

Defendant Beth Israel Medical Center (named in the complaint as Beth Israel Hospital Inc.) ("Beth Israel") and defendants Judge Mary Bednar ("Judge Bednar"), City of New York Human Resources Administration ("HRA"), Special Services for Children ("Special Services"), William Grinker, Commissioner of HRA (the "Commissioner"), and Herman D. Wilson ("Wilson"), (collectively the "City Defendants") have moved under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b) to dismiss the complaint of pro se plaintiff Peter Daniel Thomas ("Thomas") and under Fed.R.Civ.P. 56 for summary judgment dismissing the complaint. The motions were submitted on November 4, 1988.

For the reasons set forth below, the complaint against Beth Israel and Judge Bednar is dismissed with prejudice and the complaint against the remaining City defendants is dismissed with leave to replead.

The Facts

According to affidavits submitted by the defendants, the police received an eyewitness report that Thomas had held his son, David, upside down by the ankles and attempted to place him inside a trash can. The police responded to that information on July 12, 1988.

Thomas alleges that he was sitting at the edge of Tompkins Square with his son David at 11:00 in the morning that day when three police cars arrived and the officers began questioning him. He denied beating and hitting his son and trying to stuff him in a garbage can. The police interrogated David separately, and Thomas observed David shaking his head. The police took David in one car and Thomas in the other to the local precinct where Thomas was handcuffed and then imprisoned. David was given food and questioned further.

Two to three hours later, Thomas claims, the police informed Thomas that they were taking David to the hospital and that a case worker would interview Thomas, after which David would be returned and Thomas released. One half hour later, Thomas was removed from his cell, handcuffed, taken to Beth Israel, handcuffed to a chair, and then interviewed for 3½ hours. After removal of the handcuffs, Thomas was interviewed by other hospital employees and then released.

Thomas alleges that he was told by the police that David was at Beth Israel, at Beth Israel he was told his son was at the Ninth Precinct, and at the Precinct he was told his son was in the custody of the appropriate City agency.

According to the defendants, when David was taken to Beth Israel, Josephina Ilano, M.D., ("Dr. Ilano"), a pediatrician on the Medical Staff of Beth Israel, a privately-owned and not-for-profit facility, examined David and observed multiple abrasions and ecchymoses (black and blue marks) on his legs. Beth Israel filed a Report of Suspected Child Abuse (the "Report") with the New York Central Register on Child Abuse, containing Dr. Ilano's medical diagnosis, signed by Dr. Ilano.

On July 13, Herman D. Wilson ("Wilson"), a caseworker on behalf of the Commissioner, filed a Neglect Petition in Family Court, County of New York, on David's behalf. The Neglect Petition alleged that David was a neglected child whose physical, mental, or emotional condition had been impaired or was in imminent danger of becoming impaired as a result of Thomas's failure to exercise a minimum degree of care and that Thomas had failed to supply the child with proper supervision and guardianship. The Neglect Petition also alleged that Thomas had been observed shaking his son upside down in a trash can, as a result of which the child sustained cuts to his arms and legs.

Thomas alleges that he waited in Family Court all day July 13, but was unable to get a hearing or to see his son. The Court set 2:00 p.m., July 14 for a hearing pursuant to New York Family Court Act § 1027. At the July 14 hearing, Thomas testified in his own behalf. During his testimony, Judge Bednar, the presiding judge of the proceeding, found it necessary to recess the hearing and order Thomas to undergo immediate psychiatric evaluation by the court psychiatrist. After the recess, the psychiatrist testified that Thomas was suffering from chronic mental illness and would benefit from psychotherapy and/or medication.

Judge Bednar denied Thomas's motion for the immediate return of his son and remanded the child's custody to Special Services. She ordered the agency to explore the possibility of placing the child with his paternal grandmother. A factfinding hearing was scheduled to be held in Family Court on September 13, 1988.

On September 13, 1988, a witness who had observed Thomas shaking his son upside down in a trash can appeared in Family Court. Thomas was also present with several character witnesses, some of whom confronted and harassed municipal defendants' witness, who then departed. The hearing was thereupon adjourned until October 14, 1988.

The Complaint

Thomas filed his complaint against Beth Israel and the City defendants on July 25, 1988, seeking to regain custody of his son and to recover damages against the defendants. The complaint constitutes a petition for habeas corpus and alleges various civil rights violations under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983, 1985, and 1986. The defendants have moved to dismiss the complaint under Rules 12(b)(6) and 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Standard for Motion to Dismiss

A court should dismiss a complaint for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6) only if it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts supporting his claim that entitles him to relief. See Dahlberg v. Becker, 748 F.2d 85, 88 (2d Cir.1984), cert. denied, 470 U.S. 1084, 105 S.Ct. 1845, 85 L.Ed.2d 144 (1985). A court must construe the complaint's allegations in the light most favorable to the plaintiff and accept these allegations as true. See Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 1686, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974); Dacey v. New York County Lawyers' Assoc., 423 F.2d 188, 191 (2d Cir.1969), cert. denied, 398 U.S. 929, 90 S.Ct. 1819, 26 L.Ed. 2d 92 (1970); 5 C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1363, at 656 (1969). In considering a motion to dismiss a complaint prepared by a pro se plaintiff, courts should apply less rigorous standards than they apply to pleadings prepared by lawyers. See Woodall v. Foti, 648 F.2d 268, 271 (5th Cir.1981).

Standard for Summary Judgment

Summary judgment is authorized if "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R. Civ.P. 56(c). Summary judgment is appropriate only in circumstances where "the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could not return a verdict for the nonmoving party." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). The moving party bears the burden of proving that no genuine issue of material fact exists. See id. 477 U.S. at 247-48, 106 S.Ct. at 2509-10; Corselli v. Coughlin, 842 F.2d 23 (2d Cir. 1988). All doubts are resolved against the moving party, and all favorable inferences are drawn in favor of the party against whom summary judgment is sought. See Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 158-59, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 1608-09, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970); Eastway Constr. Corp. v. City of New York, 762 F.2d 243, 249 (2d Cir. 1985), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 108 S.Ct. 269, 98 L.Ed.2d 226 (1988); 10A C. Wright, A. Miller & M. Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2727 (1983). The Supreme Court recently has made clear that "at the summary judgment stage the judge's function is not himself to weigh the evidence and determine the truth of the matter but to determine whether there is a genuine issue for trial." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

Dismissal of the Petition for Habeas Corpus

Thomas's present complaint constitutes a petition for a writ of habeas corpus for his son's release from state custody. A habeas writ is the remedy for obtaining release from any confinement that is contrary to the Constitution or fundamental law. See Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475, 485, 93 S.Ct. 1827, 1833, 36 L.Ed.2d 439 (1973). The statutory basis for federal habeas corpus jurisdiction is found in 28 U.S.C. § 2254, and Thomas first must establish jurisdiction under that statute to obtain a federal court order mandating his son's release. This he cannot do because federal habeas corpus jurisdiction does not extend to child custody matters and because he has failed to exhaust his state remedies.

1. Federal Habeas Corpus Jurisdiction Over State Child Custody Determinations

In Lehman v. Lycoming County Children's Services Agency, 458 U.S. 502, 102 S.Ct. 3231, 73 L.Ed.2d 928 (1982), the Supreme Court held that the state's custody of a minor child was not the type of "custody" to which the federal habeas corpus statute applied. In Donkor v. City of New York Human Resources Administration Special Services for Children, 673 F.Supp. 1221, 1223-24 (S.D.N.Y.1987), this court ruled that Lehman bars federal habeas corpus jurisdiction over state court child custody determinations involving child abuse.

The circumstances present here are no different from those in Donkor. Thomas's son has been placed in Special Service's custody pursuant to a...

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