Williams v. County of Nassau, 03-CV-6337(RRM)(ETB).

• Citation: 684 F. Supp.2d 268
• Decision Date: 22 January 2010
• Docket Number: No. 03-CV-6337(RRM)(ETB).,03-CV-6337(RRM)(ETB).
• Parties: Thomas A. WILLIAMS and Robin E. Pellegrini, Plaintiffs, v. COUNTY OF NASSAU, Thomas R. Suozzi, in his official and individual capacities, Nassau County Civil Service Commission, John H. Senko, Jr., in his official and individual capacities, James F. Demos, in his official and individual capacities, David J. Gugerty, in his official and individual capacities, Anthony M. Cancellieri, in his official and individual capacities, John Donnelly, in his official and individual capacities, Nassau County Office of Housing and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Peter Sylver, in his official and individual capacities, Bruce Nyman, in his official and individual capacities, and Patricia Bourne, in her official and individual capacities, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York

684 F.Supp.2d 268

Thomas A. WILLIAMS and Robin E. Pellegrini, Plaintiffs, v. COUNTY OF NASSAU, Thomas R. Suozzi, in his official and individual capacities, Nassau County Civil Service Commission, John H. Senko, Jr., in his official and individual capacities, James F. Demos, in his official and individual capacities, David J. Gugerty, in his official and individual capacities, Anthony M. Cancellieri, in his official and individual capacities, John Donnelly, in his official and individual capacities, Nassau County Office of Housing and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Peter Sylver, in his official and individual capacities, Bruce Nyman, in his official and individual capacities, and Patricia Bourne, in her official and individual capacities, Defendants.

No. 03-CV-6337(RRM)(ETB).

United States District Court, E.D. New York.

January 22, 2010.

Frederick K. Brewington, Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington, Hempstead, NY, for Plaintiffs.

David Bruce Goldin, Bernadette K. Ford, Carl S. Sandel, Liora M. Ben-Sorek, Nancy Nicotra, Mineola, NY, Kevin G. McMorrow, Ahmuty, Demers & McManus, New York, NY, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

MAUSKOPF, District Judge.

Plaintiffs, Thomas A. Williams and Robin E. Pellegrini, commenced the instant civil rights action asserting various causes of action against the County of Nassau, the Nassau County Civil Service Commission ("CSC"), the Nassau County Office of Housing and Intergovernmental Affairs ("OHIA"), and the following individuals, all county employees, both in their individual and official capacities: Thomas R. Suozzi, John H. Senko, James F. Demos, David J. Gugerty, Anthony M. Cancellieri, John Donnelly, Peter Sylver, Bruce Nyman, and Patricia Bourne (collectively, the "County Defendants").¹ Defendants moved for summary judgment (Docket Nos. 126-138), which motion was respectfully referred to United States Magistrate Judge E. Thomas Boyle. Now before this Court is Judge Boyle's Report and Recommendation (Docket No. 143), recommending that Defendants' motion be granted in part and denied in part, Defendants' timely objections to certain portions of the Report (Docket Nos. 145, 147), and Plaintiffs' opposition to those objections (Docket No. 146).

A. Standard of Review

Rule 72 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure permits magistrate judges to conduct proceedings on dispositive pretrial matters without the consent of the parties. Fed.R.Civ.P. 72(b). If any party timely serves and files written objections to a magistrate judge's report and recommendation on a dispositive motion, the district court must "make a de novo determination of those portions of the report or specified proposed findings or recommendations to which objection is made." 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1); see also Fed.R.Civ.P. 72(b)(3). The district court "may accept, reject, or modify, in whole or in part, the findings or recommendations made by the magistrate judge." Id. The district court is not required to review the factual or legal conclusions of the magistrate judge as to those portions of a report and recommendation to which no objections are addressed, see Thomas v. Arn, 474 U.S. 140, 150, 106 S.Ct. 466, 88 L.Ed.2d 435 (1985), and instead reviews those portions for clear error, see Covey v. Simonton, 481 F.Supp.2d 224, 226 (E.D.N.Y.2007).

B. Dismissal of Claims

First, no party has objected to those portions of the Magistrate Judge's Report recommending the grant of summary judgment with respect to the following claims alleged in the Amended Complaint: 1) Williams' conspiracy claim pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (second cause of action); 2) Pellegrini's claim for race and color discrimination pursuant to Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. (first cause of action); 3) Pellegrini's age discrimination claim pursuant to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. § 623 (fourth cause of action); and 4) Plaintiffs' whistleblower claims pursuant to the New York State Civil Service Law § 75-b (sixth cause of action.) Having reviewed the Report for clear error, and finding none, summary judgment is GRANTED as to these claims. Moreover, the Magistrate Judge recommended that OHIA be dismissed from this action on the grounds that it is an administrative agency of the County of Nassau with no legal identity separate and apart from that of the County. As no party objects, and this Court finding no clear error in the Magistrate Judge's Report, OHIA is DISMISSED as a party to this action.

C. Defendants' Objections

Defendants allege that the Magistrate Judge erred by 1) concluding that Plaintiffs' speech was made in their capacity as private citizens upon a matter of public concern; 2) failing to dismiss all claims against the County Defendants as a result of the recommendation to dismiss the conspiracy claim brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983; and 3) by denying the County Defendants qualified immunity.

Upon de novo review of the Report and the record upon which it is based, and upon careful consideration of the Defendants' objections, the Court overrules the objections, and accepts and adopts Magistrate Judge Boyle's Report and Recommendations in its entirety.

CONCLUSION

Summary judgment is GRANTED as to 1) Williams' conspiracy claim pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (second cause of action); 2) Pellegrini's claim of race and color discrimination pursuant to Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. (first cause of action); 3) Pellegrini's age discrimination claim pursuant to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. § 623 (fourth cause of action); and 4) plaintiffs' whistleblower claims pursuant to the New York State Civil Service Law § 75-b (sixth cause of action.) Summary judgment is DENIED as to Williams' and Pellegrini's claims of First Amendment retaliation pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (second and third causes of action). Defendant Nassau County Office of Housing and Intergovernmental Affairs is DISMISSED from this action, and all defendants not previously dismissed remain parties. Qualified immunity is DENIED.

The Court hereby recommits this matter to Magistrate Judge Boyle for further pretrial proceedings, including settlement discussions if appropriate. By February 12, 2010, the parties are ORDERED to file a Joint Pretrial Order, under the supervision of the Magistrate Judge, consistent with this Order and in compliance with this Court's Individual Motion Practices and Rules.

SO ORDERED.

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

E. THOMAS BOYLE, United States Magistrate Judge.

TO THE HONORABLE ROSLYNN R. MAUSKOPF, UNITED STATES DITRICT JUDGE:

Before the Court is the motion of the defendants, the County of Nassau (the "County"), Thomas Suozzi ("Suozzi"), the Nassau County Civil Service Commission (the "CSC"), John Senko ("Senko"), James Demos ("Demos"), David Gugerty ("Gugerty"), Anthony Cancellieri ("Cancellieri"), John Donnelly ("Donnelly"), the Nassau County Office of Housing and Intergovernmental Affairs ("OHIA"), Peter Sylver ("Sylver"), Bruce Nyman ("Nyman") and Patricia Bourne ("Bourne") (collectively referred to as "defendants"), for summary judgment, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56. For the following reasons, I recommend that the defendants' motion be granted in part and denied in part.

FACTS

I. Procedural History

Plaintiffs, Thomas Williams ("Williams") and Robin Pellegrini ("Pellegrini") (collectively referred to as "plaintiffs"), commenced the instant civil rights action on December 18, 2003, asserting numerous causes of action against the County of Nassau, the CSC and OHIA, as well as certain individual defendants in both their official and individual capacities.¹ Plaintiffs amended their Complaint on February 15, 2004.

By Report and Recommendation dated March 15, 2005, the undersigned recommended that several causes of action be dismissed. Those recommendations were adopted by Judge Feuerstein on March 31, 2005.² Accordingly, the remaining causes of action are as follows: (1) plaintiffs' causes of action alleging First and Fourteenth Amendment violations pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ("Section 1983") (second and third causes of action); (2) Williams' conspiracy claim pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (second cause of action); (3) Pellegrini's cause of action alleging race and color discrimination pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. ("Title VII") (first cause of action); (4) Pellegrini's cause of action alleging age discrimination pursuant to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. § 623 ("ADEA") (fourth cause of action); and (5) plaintiffs' claims under New York State Civil Service Law § 75-b (sixth cause of action).³

II. Plaintiff Williams

Plaintiff Williams is the former Executive Director of the Nassau County Civil Service Commission. (Def. R. 56.1 Statement ("Def. R. 56.1") ¶ 3; Pl. R. 56.1 Statement ("Pl. R. 56.1") ¶ 3.) Williams was appointed to that position by defendants Senko, Demos and Gugerty who, at the time, served as the Commissioners of the CSC. (Id.) Williams began his appointment on or about December 17, 2002. (Id.)

Williams' role as Executive Director was to advise the CSC regarding civil service requirements, implement "the policies made by the three commissioners ... assure that those policies were enforced and put into operation, and to handle the dayto-day operations of the commission staff." (Def. R. 56.1 ¶ 4; Pl. R. 56.1 ¶ 4; Williams Dep. 65.) In this position, Williams reported to the Commissioners, Senko, Demos and Gugerty. (Williams Dep. 66.) Although the CSC is the final decision maker with respect to civil service transactions for all of the municipal agencies within its jurisdiction, it relies on the guidance, advice and information reporting provided by its Executive Director. (Def. R. 56.1 ¶ 5; Pl. R. 56.1 ¶ 5.)

A. Complaints Concerning Williams' Conduct as Executive Director of the CSC

During mid-late 2003, in his capacity as Deputy County Executive ("DCE"), defendant...