B.A. ex rel. M.G. v. City of Schenectady Sch. Dist., 1:13-CV-1257

209 F.Supp.3d 515

B.A. ON BEHALF OF M.G., JR., a minor, Plaintiff,

v.CITY OF SCHENECTADY SCHOOL DISTRICT, Marianne Cristello in her individual and official capacity, Barbara Coffey in her individual and official capacity, Patricia Paser in her individual and official capacity, John Yagielski in his individual and official capacity, John Doe(s), and Jane Doe(s), Defendants.

1:13-CV-1257

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

Signed September 19, 2016

BOSMAN LAW FIRM, LLC, Attorneys for Plaintiff, 201 West Court Street, OF COUNSEL: AJ BOSMAN, ESQ., DANIEL W. FLYNN, ESQ., Rome, NY 13440

GIRVIN, FERLAZZO LAW FIRM, Attorneys for Defendants, 20 Corporate Woods Boulevard, OF COUNSEL: DANIEL RUBIN, ESQ., PATRICK J. FITZGERALD, III, ESQ., Albany, NY 12211

MEMORANDUM—DECISION and ORDER

DAVID N. HURD, United States District Judge

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff B.A. ("B.A." or "plaintiff") has filed this civil rights action on behalf of her son M.G., Jr. ("M.G.") against defendants City of Schenectady School District (the "District"); Marianne Cristello ("Mrs. Cristello"), a first-grade teacher at the District's Woodlawn Elementary School ("Woodlawn"); Barbara Coffey, the Principal of Woodlawn ("Principal Coffey"); John Yagielski, the District's Interim Superintendent ("Superintendent Yagielski"); Patricia Paser, the Assistant to the Superintendent ("Assistant Paser"); and John and Jane Does (the "Does") (collectively "defendants").

B.A.'s operative complaint asserts two federal claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the first alleging a violation of M.G.'s Fourteenth Amendment right to substantive due process during an in-school incident with his first-grade teacher while the second is based on a later instance of discipline allegedly meted out in retaliation for First Amendment-protected activity. Plaintiff's complaint includes related state law claims for assault and battery, various theories of negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and retaliation.

Defendants have moved pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure ("Rule") 56 seeking summary judgment on all of B.A.'s claims. The motion has been fully briefed and will be decided on the basis of the submissions without oral argument.

II. BACKGROUND¹

During the 2011-2012 school year, M.G. was a student in Mrs. Cristello's first-grade class at Woodlawn. On Friday, December 16, 2011, M.G., who had recently turned six years old, attended the annual Woodlawn holiday concert with his parents. Although M.G. wanted to go home after the concert ended around 11:00 a.m., both parents had to go back to work and instead returned M.G. to Mrs. Cristello's classroom. Before B.A. left, she explained to Mrs. Cristello that "I won't be able to take him today" and warned her that "[h]e's going to be a little upset."

B.A.'s instincts proved correct. Even though his parents had just refused to take him home with them, M.G was still set on leaving school for the day and continued to express this desire to all those who remained with him in Mrs. Cristello's classroom. Soon enough, G.A., a classmate's parent who had also attended the holiday concert that morning, overheard M.G.'s pleas and offered to let him use her cell phone to call his mother. M.G. accepted G.A.'s offer and began to dial plaintiff.

Mrs. Cristello was not present when this initial exchange between M.G. and G.A. occurred, but when she saw M.G. using a cell phone she grabbed M.G. by the shoulders "so hard that you could see red marks from where her fingers had been," shook him while screaming at him "maybe 13" or "like 20 times" to "stop crying," and forcefully pushed him into a seated position on a chair.² According to M.G., Mrs. Cristello then forced him to stay seated in this chair while the other children were allowed to sit on a rug on the floor of the classroom and play hangman.

G.A. witnessed the incident and alerted B.A., who called M.G.'s father and directed him to immediately return to Woodlawn to pick up M.G. When M.G.'s father arrived at Woodlawn's attendance office a short time later to sign M.G. out of school for the day, Mrs. Cristello entered the office, visibly upset, and spoke with M.G.'s father. Although M.G.'s father does not recall the precise details of this confrontation, he claims Mrs. Cristello "tapped her chest" and stated something to the effect of "I don't have time for this, or I have a classroom full of kids, I don't have time for this" before walking out.³ Over the weekend, M.G. suffered from nightmares about the cell phone incident and was reluctant to return to school the next week because "he was afraid of [Mrs.] Cristello and her yelling."

The following Monday, December 19, 2011, B.A. went to Woodlawn to discuss the cell phone incident with Principal Coffey, who met with plaintiff and Mrs. Cristello. At that time, plaintiff demanded an apology from the school, but Principal Coffey and Mrs. Cristello refused to apologize. Later that day, plaintiff reported the incident to Assistant Paser, who initiated an investigation. At some point thereafter, plaintiff also e-mailed Superintendent Yagielski about the incident, reported the encounter to Child Protective Services, and informed the local police.⁴

On January 4, 2012, Assistant Paser's investigation concluded that Mrs. Cristello had not touched M.G. during the incident. Nevertheless, Superintendent Yagielski decided an outside investigation was also warranted. This investigation was conducted in early January 2012 by Stacy Barrick, an attorney with Whiteman, Osterman, and Hannah LLP.

Attorney Barrick interviewed a number of witnesses and likewise determined that although Mrs. Cristello had "raised her voice" to M.G., "the allegation that Mrs. Cristello grabbed [M.G.'s] arm could not be substantiated." Attorney Barrick concluded that "no actions need to be taken with respect to Mrs. Cristello and that the investigation [should] be closed."

On January 27, 2012, Superintendent Yagielski presented M.G.'s parents with the findings from Attorney Barrick's investigation and offered to move M.G. into a different first-grade classroom. M.G.'s parents declined this offer. The parties agree that, aside from this cell phone incident, "neither [M.G.] nor any other person had ever made an allegation of child abuse or any other kind of complaint against Mrs. Cristello," who had been a teacher at Woodlawn for thirty-seven years by that time.⁵ M.G. continued to attend Mrs. Cristello's class at Woodlawn.

On May 24, 2012, M.G. was near a stack of plastic bins in Mrs. Cristello's classroom when one of the bins fell and hit him on the head. Sharon Clark, the classroom aide, escorted M.G. to the school nurse's office as a precautionary measure. When M.G. returned from the nurse's office, his classmates were engaged in a recess period outside. However, neither Mrs. Clark nor Mrs. Cristello would allow M.G. to participate in this free period. Instead, they made him sit on a bench in "time out" as "discipline" for his behavior.⁶ According to M.G., he was forced to sit out for about ten to fifteen minutes of this thirty-minute recess.

Five days later, on May 29, 2012, B.A. complained to Superintendent Yagielski that when she had picked her son up from school the day the bins had fallen on his head, M.G.'s face was red from the sun "because Mrs. Clark would not allow him to play with his friends" during recess. Notably, however, when the nurse had followed up with M.G. about his head injury that day, he had "neither complained of nor exhibited symptoms of sunburn."

III. LEGAL STANDARDS

A. Summary Judgment

The entry of summary judgment is warranted when "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett , 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986) (citing FED. R. CIV. P. 56(c) ); see also Anderson , 477 U.S. at 247, 106 S.Ct. 2505.

A fact is "material" for purposes of this inquiry if it "might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law." Anderson , 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505 ; see also Jeffreys v. City of New York , 426 F.3d 549, 553 (2d Cir.2005). A material fact is genuinely in dispute "if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party." Anderson , 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505.

The moving party bears the initial burden of demonstrating that there is no genuine issue of material fact to be decided with respect to any essential element of the claim. Anderson , 477 U.S. at 250 n. 4, 106 S.Ct. 2505. The failure to meet this burden warrants denial of the motion. Id. However, in the event this initial burden is met, the opposing party must then show, through affidavits or otherwise, that there is a material issue of fact for trial. Id. at 250, 106 S.Ct. 2505.

When deciding a summary judgment motion, a court must resolve any ambiguities and draw all inferences from the facts in a light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Jeffreys , 426 F.3d at 553. In sum, summary judgment is inappropriate where "review of the record reveals sufficient evidence for a rational trier of fact to find in the [non-movant's] favor." Treglia v. Town of Manlius , 313 F.3d 713, 719 (2d Cir.2002) (citation omitted); see also Anderson , 477 U.S. at 250, 106 S.Ct. 2505 (summary judgment is appropriate only when "there can be but one reasonable conclusion as to the verdict").

B. 42 U.S.C. § 1983

"The purpose of § 1983 is to deter state actors from using the badge of their authority to deprive individuals of their federally guaranteed rights and to provide relief to victims if such deterrence fails." Wyatt v. Cole , 504 U.S. 158, 161, 112 S.Ct. 1827, 118 L.Ed.2d 504 (1992). However, "[s]ection 1983 itself creates no substantive rights; it provides only a procedure for redress for the deprivation of rights...