Downey v. Coalition against Rape and Abuse, Inc.

143 F.Supp.2d 423

Teresa M. DOWNEY, Plaintiff, v. The COALITION AGAINST RAPE AND ABUSE, INC., et al., Defendants.

No. CIV 99-3370 JBS.

United States District Court, D. New Jersey.

May 2, 2001.

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Linda Wong, James K. Haney, Wong Fleming PC, Edison, NJ, Attorneys for Plaintiff.

Lisa S. Grosskreutz, Heim, McEnroe & Urciuoli, Floram Park, NJ, Attorney for Defendant Coalition Against Rape and Abuse, Inc.

Marc I. Bressman, Budd, Larner, Gross, Rosenbaum, Greenberg & Sade PC, Cherry Hill, NJ, Attorney for Defendants Board of Chosen Freeholders of Cape May County, Office of the Prosecutor of the County of Cape May, Stephen D. Moore, and County of Cape May.

John J. Farmer Jr., Attorney General of New Jersey, by George N. Cohen, Deputy Attorney General, R.J. Hughes Justice Complex, Trenton, NJ, Attorney for Defendant Raymond Batten.

Frank L. Corrado, Rossi, Barry, Corrado, Grassi & Radell PC, Wildwood, NJ, Attorney for Defendants The Herald Newspapers and Joseph R. Zelnik.

OPINION

SIMANDLE, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

This matter is before the Court on the motion of plaintiff, Teresa M. Downey, for leave to file an amended complaint in the wake of this Court's Opinion and Order dated August 7, 2000, dismissing plaintiff's initial complaint for failure to state a claim pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), Fed.R.Civ.P. The Court specifically found that plaintiff had failed to adequately specify either a colorable federal constitutional violation, or the basis for her concert of action theory of liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The Court accordingly dismissed plaintiff's claims premised on federal law, and dismissed plaintiff's pendent state law claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c)(3). This dismissal was without prejudice to the plaintiff's right to move within thirty days for leave to file an amended complaint curing the pleading deficiencies that the Court had identified in its Opinion.

Plaintiff now moves to renew her claims in this case, arguing that her proposed amended complaint strengthens and better states her causes of action, and additionally provides sufficient notice of the nature of her claims. All defendants except the Coalition Against Rape and Abuse (CARA) oppose plaintiff's motion to amend. Defendants' primary opposition is that the amended complaint, like the original complaint, would not withstand a motion to dismiss, and therefore granting leave to amend would be futile.

The main issue for decision here is whether plaintiff's amended complaint cures the defects present in the initial complaint, and specifically, whether plaintiff now states actionable claims premised on the federal constitution. For reasons discussed herein, the Court determines that the Amended Complaint has cured the pleading deficiencies the Court previously identified, and will allow plaintiff to amend her complaint consistent with this Opinion. The Court also finds, however, that two of the defendants — Stephen D. Moore and Judge Raymond Batten — have established entitlement to qualified immunity upon plaintiff's claims brought under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985, which shall be dismissed against them, for reasons explained in Part VII, below.

II. BACKGROUND

The events leading to plaintiff Teresa Downey's termination from her position as Executive Director of CARA are discussed in some detail in the Court's Opinion in this case dated August 7, 2000. The allegations of the proposed Amended Complaint are deemed true for the purposes of this motion. As previously noted, in April 1997 CARA hired plaintiff as its Executive Director in order to administer the work of the organization and to vigorously advocate on behalf of victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in Cape May County. (Amended Complaint ¶ 1.) CARA is a non-profit entity which receives public funds for counseling and other services rendered to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. (Id. ¶ 34.) At the time of her appointment, plaintiff allegedly was already well known by the defendants as an outspoken critic of local government officials, largely due to her involvement in the Susan Negersmith case. (Id. ¶ 13.) The Negersmith case involved an incident where the Cape May County Coroner changed the official cause of death of a young woman from accidental death to homicide, allegedly because plaintiff's public comments concerning officials' poor handling of the case brought immense pressure to bear on the County to reopen the investigation. (Id. ¶¶ 14-15.) Plaintiff also had in the past advocated for the elimination of the then 5-year statute of limitations for rape prosecutions. (Id. ¶ 15.)

After plaintiff was named Executive Director of CARA in April 1997, defendant The Herald published an article on May 7, 1997 about her appointment, noting that plaintiff in the past "gave freeholders fits as she criticized the county's defense of former Coroner Dr. John Napoleon's handling of the Susan Negersmith rape-murder case." (Id. ¶ 17.) A newspaper reporter also sought comment from plaintiff, and asked her how she expected to get along with the freeholders after her involvement in the Negersmith case. Plaintiff responded "The freeholders and CARA have a common goal of reducing the incidents of domestic violence and sexual assaults. We will work with them toward achieving those goals." (Id. ¶ 18.)

In and around June 1997, as part of her job, Ms. Downey submitted to the State of New Jersey Department of Law & Public Safety Criminal Justice Division several grant applications aimed at obtaining state funding. (Id. ¶ 21.) These grant proposals contained anecdotal information from CARA's clients, and were generally critical of law enforcement and the courts in Cape May County. Although the applications did not identify individuals by name, they advanced the position that Cape May County officials were not sufficiently sensitive to the needs of victims and failed to provide them with the relief to which they were entitled under New Jersey law. (Id. ¶ 22.)

Plaintiff states that she believed that a grant application was a confidential document and that it would not become public knowledge. Nevertheless, Judge Batten, Cape May County law enforcement officials, and The Herald received a copy of plaintiff's grant application as it related to criticism of government performance. Thereafter, plaintiff alleges, defendants Mr. Moore and Judge Batten, knowing that they were criticized in the grant applications, engaged in a pattern of verbal attacks on plaintiff's performance at CARA and CARA's work generally. (Id. ¶ 30.) As part of this pattern, defendants publicly and personally criticized plaintiff at meetings, and "caused local newspapers to publish and/or embellish on their criticisms of her", for the purpose of disparaging plaintiff, destroying her professional reputation, interfering with her employment at CARA, and depriving her of her rights of free speech, due process and equal protection. (Id.)

Plaintiff specifically alleges that Judge Batten and Moore verbally attacked plaintiff at a meeting of the "domestic violence working group" which was held for the sole purpose of discussing how the legal system might more effectively address the rights of victims of domestic violence. There, plaintiff alleges, defendants Judge Batten and Moore caused to have placed before each person present a copy of a newspaper story in The Herald (also a defendant in this suit) in which Moore and several Cape May County police chiefs denounced plaintiff for her criticism of Cape May County law enforcement in the CARA grant application. (Id. ¶ 32.) Plaintiff alleges that Judge Batten went on to publicly admonish her for criticizing him, asking how could she have done this to him, stating that she was being unfair, that she should personally respond to each allegation made in The Herald's story, that she had committed a disservice to everyone at the present meeting, and that he would be requesting a meeting with the board of trustees of CARA to discuss the grant application. Plaintiff also alleges that defendant Moore at this meeting stated that plaintiff did not know what she was talking about, that he considered this a personal attack against him and Batten, that he was siding with Judge Batten on this matter, and that she should respond to the criticisms she made in the grant application. (Id.)

Plaintiff also alleges that Judge Batten acted under color of state law in preparing written correspondence to her which further criticized her professionalism and her criticism of him and local officials in her grant application, and caused the publication of the letter by newspapers and others who had no reason to know of the letter's existence but for Judge Batten's transmission of the letter to them. (Id. ¶ 34.) Plaintiff alleges that Judge Batten issued this letter on official letterhead and signed it in his official capacity, "J.S.C.", so that its intended readers would be more likely to believe the letter's contents because it came from a judge. (Id.) In concert with this letter and in an effort to destroy plaintiff's position at CARA, plaintiff alleges, Judge Batten began refusing to refer domestic abuse matters to CARA, an agency to which he had regularly referred clientele before plaintiff criticized him. (Id.) CARA was the only agency designated and publicly funded to handle counseling and other social services for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. (Id.)

Plaintiff also alleges that defendants Cape May County, Batten, Moore, The Herald, and Zelnik publicly and falsely accused plaintiff of refusing to cooperate with law enforcement officials to combat domestic violence and sexual assault. According to plaintiff, these defendants falsely accused plaintiff of canceling meetings...