Castro v. County of Nassau

739 F.Supp.2d 153

Michael CASTRO, Plaintiff,

v.COUNTY OF NASSAU, et al., Defendants.

No. 08-CV-0297 (JFB)(ETB).

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

Sept. 13, 2010.

Michael O. Hueston, New York, NY, for Plaintiff.

Steven C. Stern and Melissa L. Holtzer, Sokoloff Stern, LLP, Westbury, NY, for the School-District Defendants.

John Ciampoli, Nassau County Attorney, by Liora M. Ben-Sorek, Deputy County Attorney, Mineola, NY, for the County Defendants.

memorandum and order

JOSEPH F. BIANCO, District Judge:

Plaintiff Michael Castro brings this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3), and New York State law. The defendants are Bernard Kaplan, Patricia Hugo, Angelo Sabatelli, Dominick Cappelletti, and Colleen Chamblee (collectively "the School-District Defendants"), as well as David DeGasperis and the County of Nassau (collectively "the County Defendants").

This case arises out of the investigation, arrest, prosecution, and acquittal of plaintiff for making a bomb threat. Specifically, on December 8, 2004, someone called 911 and said there was a bomb at Great Neck North High School ("Great Neck North"), where plaintiff worked as a security guard. No bomb was found during a search of the school.

According to the uncontroverted facts, the Nassau County Police, including defendant DeGasperis, a detective in the Sixth Precinct, attempted to determine who was responsible for the hoax. Early on in the investigation, DeGasperis played a tape of the 911 call for several school administrators. After hearing the tape, a number of the administrators told DeGasperis that they believed, with varying degrees of certainty, that plaintiff was the caller. None of them, however, would sign a sworn statement to that effect. No arrest was made at that juncture. Over a month later, DeGasperis returned to the school and played the tape for defendant Chamblee, who, like plaintiff, was a school security guard. Chamblee identified plaintiff as the caller and signed a sworn affidavit attesting to that identification. DeGasperis arrested plaintiff the next day. Plaintiff was charged with falsely reporting an incident. A jury acquitted him of this charge.

Plaintiff then filed this lawsuit. He brings claims under § 1983 for the following: (1) false arrest; (2) malicious prosecution; (3) use of excessive force by DeGasperis; (4) municipal liability against Nassau County; and (5) First Amendment retaliation by the School-District Defendants. He also brings a claim for a conspiracy under 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3) and a number of pendent state-law claims. All defendants have moved for summary judgment. For the reasons that follow, the Court grants the School-District Defendants' motion in its entirety. The Court grants the County Defendants' motion on all claims except the § 1983 excessive force claim against DeGasperis and the state-law causes of action related to that claim.

In brief, the Court concludes that plaintiff's false-arrest claim fails because, based upon the uncontroverted evidence, Detective DeGasperis had probable cause as a matter of law to arrest him. In particular, it is uncontroverted that, after listening to the 911 call, a school security guard signed a sworn written statement that she had been working with plaintiff on a daily basis for two years and that she was "positive" that the voice on the tape was plaintiff based upon her daily contact and conversations with him. Plaintiff has pointed to no information that the detective had available to him at the time of the arrest to cast doubt on the veracity of the security guard's sworn statement, and no rational jury could make such a finding. Detective DeGasperis also had prior oral statements by other school officials who believed, with varying degrees of certainty, that it was plaintiff's voice on the tape (but were unwilling to sign a written statement). However, the school security guard's statement and identification of the plaintiff's voice with certainty, by itself, would provide sufficient probable cause as a matter of law to arrest the plaintiff under the circumstances of this case. The existence of probable cause is also a complete defense to any malicious prosecution claim against DeGasperis because there is no evidence that DeGasperis learned any information following plaintiff's arrest that revealed the charges against plaintiff to be groundless. In any event, in the alternative, the Court concludes that DeGasperis is also entitled to qualified immunity on the § 1983 false arrest and malicious prosecution claims. Additionally, the Court grants the School-District Defendants summary judgment on these claims because, even drawing all reasonable inferences in plaintiff's favor, no reasonable jury could find that they were acting under color of state law with respect to plaintiff's arrest and prosecution. Even though some of the School-District Defendants interviewed plaintiff and supplied information to the police, it is well settled that merely supplying information to the police is insufficient, as a matter of law, to turn the School-District Defendants into state actors. Similarly, the Court grants all defendants summary judgment on the § 1985(3) claim because there is no evidence of a conspiracy between any of the defendants, nor is there evidence that any of the defendants bore any discriminatory intent.

With respect to the § 1983 First Amendment retaliation claim, the speech at issue—plaintiff's complaints to defendant Kaplan regarding students violating the school's parking regulations—was at the core of plaintiff's duties as a school security guard. Indeed, one of plaintiff's main responsibilities was to enforce parking regulations. As such, plaintiff was not speaking "as a citizen," and the First Amendment does not apply to the speech under Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410, 126 S.Ct. 1951, 164 L.Ed.2d 689 (2006). Additionally, no reasonable jury would finda causal connection between the speech at issue and any adverse employment action by the School-District Defendants.

The Court denies summary judgment to defendant DeGasperis on plaintiff's § 1983 excessive force claim and the pendent state law assault and battery claims. These claims stem from wrist injuries allegedly sustained by plaintiff that occurred when DeGasperis placed him in handcuffs during the arrest. Plaintiff asserts that he told DeGasperis that the handcuffs were too tight, that DeGasperis did not loosen the handcuffs, and that he suffered wrist soreness as a result. The Court, viewing the facts in a light most favorable to plaintiff and resolving all factual ambiguities in his favor, cannot conclude that these claims fail as a matter of law on the record here. Instead, there are disputed factual issues—including the extent of the alleged injury—that must be resolved by a jury.

Finally, the Court grants the School-District Defendants summary judgment on the County Defendants' cross-claim claim for contribution and indemnity.

I. Background

A. Factual Background

The following facts are taken from the parties' depositions, declarations, exhibits, and respective Local Rule 56.1 statements of facts. Where one party's Local Rule 56.1 statement is cited, the opposing party either does not deny the assertion or does not support its denial or objection with admissible evidence. Upon consideration of a motion for summary judgment, the Court construes the facts in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, here the plaintiff. See Capobianco v. City of N.Y., 422 F.3d 47, 50 n. 1 (2d Cir.2005).¹

1. The Parties' Job Responsibilities

At all relevant times, Castro was a security guard for Explorer Guard Services and was assigned to work at Great Neck North High School. (GN 56.1 ¶ 1.) At Great Neck North, plaintiff's duties included enforcing student parking and securing the school's perimeter. (GN 56.1 ¶ 2.)

Several of the defendants also work (or worked) at Great Neck North. Again, the Court will refer to these defendants as the "School-District Defendants." Defendant Bernard Kaplan is the school's principal. (GN 56.1 ¶ 9.) Defendant Patricia Hugo is an assistant principal at the school. (GN 56.1 ¶ 10.) Defendant Angelo Sabatelli, now retired, was also an assistant principal during the relevant time period. (GN 56.1 ¶ 11.) Defendant Dominick Cappelletti supervised transportation and security for the Great Neck School District. (GN 56.1 ¶ 12.) Defendant Colleen Chamblee was also a security guard at Great Neck North. She worked inside the school building and, unlike plaintiff, was employed directly by the school district. (GN 56.1 ¶¶ 4-5; Cappelletti Dep. 11:25-12:5.) Plaintiff had positive relationships with each of the School-District Defendants, although he sometimes complained to school principal Kaplan that the school administration was lax in enforcing parking rules. (GN 56.1 ¶ 8; Pl.'s Opp. 56.1(GN) ¶ 8.)

2. The Bomb Threat

On December 8, 2004, somebody called 911 and stated that there was a bomb at Great Neck North. ( See County 56.1 ¶ 2.) At the direction of Kaplan and Sabatelli, the building was evacuated. (GN 56.1¶¶ 15, 17.) The Nassau County Police responded and searched the building. They determined that there was no bomb and that the building was safe. (GN 56.1 ¶¶ 22-24.)

3. DeGasperis's Initial Investigation

The Nassau County Police then began an investigation of the bomb threat. Defendant David DeGasperis, a Nassau County police detective, supervised the investigation. The day after the incident, DeGasperis obtained a recording of the 911 call reporting the bomb and asked defendant Kaplan if he would listen to the tape. (GN 56.1 ¶ 25.) Kaplan agreed and DeGasperis went to Great Neck North to play the tape for Kaplan. (GN 56.1 ¶¶ 27-28.) After Kaplan heard the tape, he summoned defendant Hugo to his office so that she could also listen to the tape. (GN 56.1 ¶ 31; Pl.'s Opp. 56.1(GN) ¶ 31.) Several other school officials may also have been present. ( See, e.g., Pl.'s Opp. 56.1(GN) ¶...