NELSON S. ROMÁN, District Judge.
Plaintiff Melinda Luck brings this action against Defendant Westchester Medical Center ("WMC"), Megan Ward, Carmel Town Police, Jeffrey Eagan, Michael Cazarri, and John Dearman through her amended complaint filed on March 23, 2018. ("Amended Complaint," ECF No. 9.) Plaintiff asserts claims for violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and New York Vehicle and Traffic Law§ 1194(4). Presently before the Court is Defendants WMC's and Ward's motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rules 12(b)(6). (ECF No. 35.) For the following reasons, Defendants' motion is GRANTED.
The following facts
On May 15, 2015 at about 11:53 PM, Plaintiff left her apartment to go to a bar called the South Side. (Amended Compl. ¶ 1.) She arrived at the South Side at approximately 12:00 AM and began having a conversation with four individuals at the bar. (Id.) Plaintiff ordered a drink and, after about ten minutes, Plaintiff and the four individuals ordered a round of shots, one per person. (Id.) Plaintiff reported feeling woozy about ten minutes after drinking the shot. (Id.) In total, Plaintiff was at the South Side for about thirty minutes. (Id.) At or about 12:51 AM, Plaintiff, the driver, was in a serious car accident.
Plaintiff was discharged from WMC on or about May 20, 2015. (Id. ¶ 8.) On May 21, 2015, the blood draw "that was allegedly obtained" was submitted by Carmel Police to a crime laboratory for drug and blood alcohol content ("BAC") testing. This was "five days after the initial blood draw." (Id. ¶ 9.)
On October 6, 2015, Plaintiff was charged with driving while intoxicated and vehicular assault and arrested. (Id. ¶ 14.) Presumably in connection with her defense, Plaintiff submitted Freedom of Information Law ("FOIL") requests to WMC for (1) its policy and procedures ("WMC Policy") for obtaining BAC information for law enforcement and for (2) proof that a law enforcement officer was present when her blood was drawn and that the WMC Policy was followed. (Id. ¶¶ 24-25.) WMC provided its policy but responded to Plaintiffs second request by stating that the "requested information [is] not available in WMC records." (Id. ¶ 25, Ex. P.) On April 1, 2016, Defendant Ward testified before a grand jury that she drew blood from Plaintiff, who was unconscious and unresponsive at the time of the blood draw, at the request of law enforcement.
Defendants move to dismiss Plaintiffs Amended Complaint due her failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.
To survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, a complaint must plead "enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face." Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007). A claim is facially plausible when the factual content pleaded allows a court "to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged." Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). "While legal conclusions can provide the framework of a complaint, they must be supported by factual allegations." Id. at 679. In considering a 12(b)(6) motion, a court must take all material factual allegations as true and draw reasonable inferences in the nonmoving party's favor, but a court is "not bound to accept as true a legal conclusion couched as a factual allegation." Id. at 678 (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555) (internal quotation marks omitted). A court also need not credit "mere conclusory statements" or "[t]hreadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action." Id.
Further, a court is generally confined to the facts alleged in the complaint for the purposes of considering a motion to dismiss pursuant to 12(b)(6). Cortec Indus. v. Sum Holding L.P., 949 F.2d 42, 47 (2d Cir. 1991). A court may, however, consider documents attached to the complaint, statements or documents incorporated into the complaint by reference, matters of which judicial notice may be taken, public records, and documents that the plaintiff either possessed or knew about, and relied upon, in bringing the suit. See Kleinman v. Elan Corp., 706 F.3d 145, 152 (2d Cir. 2013).
Where a plaintiff proceeds pro se, the court must construe the complaint liberally and interpret it to "raise the strongest arguments that [it] suggest[s]." Askew v. Lindsey, No. 15-CV-7496(KMK), 2016 WL 4992641, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 16, 2016) (quoting Sykes v. Bank of America, 723 F.3d 399,403 (2d Cir. 2013)). Yet, "the liberal treatment afforded to pro se litigants does not exempt a pro se party from compliance with relevant rules of procedural and substantive law." Id. (quoting Bell v. Jendell, 980 F.Supp.2d 555, 559 (S.D.N.Y. 2013)).
Section 1983 provides that "[e]very person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State. . . subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States. . . to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured." 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
Although Section 1983 "is not itself a source of substantive rights, it is a method for vindicating federal rights elsewhere conferred by those parts of the United States Constitution and federal statutes that it describes." Baker v. McCollan, 443 U.S. 137, 144 n.3 (1979); see Patterson v. County of Oneida, 375 F.3d 206,225 (2d Cir. 2004). To state a claim under§ 1983, a plaintiff must allege "(1) the challenged conduct was attributable to a person who was acting under color of state law and (2) the conduct deprived the plaintiff of a right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution." Castilla v. City of New York, No. 09-CV-5446(SHS), 2013 WL 1803896, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 25, 2013); see Cornejo v. Bell, 592 F.3d 121, 127 (2d Cir. 2010); Quinn v. Nassau Cty. Police Dep't, 53 F.Supp.2d 347,354 (E.D.N.Y. 1999) (Section 1983 "furnishes a cause of action for the violation of federal rights created by the Constitution.").
Here, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant Ward, an employee of Defendant WMC, violated her Fourteenth Amendment interests in life and property by drawing her blood while she was in critical condition and without any legal justification. Treating the pro se Amended Complaint liberally, the Court assumes that Plaintiff is also raising a Fourth Amendment claim. The Fourth Amendment protects the right of individuals to be secure in their persons and property against unreasonable searches and seizures. U.S. Const. amend. IV. The Fourteenth Amendment requires that no "state. . . deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1. Neither Amendment was violated here.
Although blood tests are "searches" under the Fourth Amendment, the Fourth Amendment only proscribes those searches that are unreasonable. See Skinner v. Ry. Labor Execs.' Ass'n, 489 U.S. 602, 619 (1989); Anthony v. City of New York, 339 F.3d 129, 141 42 (2d Cir. 2003). A blood test at the direction of law enforcement with probable cause, exigent circumstances, and a reasonable examination procedure is not unreasonable. Haynes v. Brat, No. 06-CV-6188, 2007 WL 3047101, at *5 (W.D.N.Y. Oct. 18, 2007) (citing Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 759 (1966); People v. Kates, 53 N.Y.2d 591,594 (1981)); see Skinner, 489 U.S. at 625 (holding that it was reasonable for the government to require employees involved in certain train accidents to submit to a breathalyzer test to test for the presence of alcohol); Roe v. Marcotte, 193 F.3d 72, 77 (2d Cir. 1999) ("Thus, we need only decide whether the statutorily required blood test at issue comports with the Fourth Amendment's mandate that a search be reasonable."); Mac Ineirghe v. Bd of Educ. of E. Islip Union Free Sch. Dist., 05-CV-4323(JFB)(AKT), 2007 WL 2445152, at* 11 (E.D.N.Y. Aug. 22, 2007) ("Courts have upheld both urinalysis and blood tests as reasonable."); Beharry v. M.T.A. NY City Transit Auth., No. 96-CV-1203(FB), 1999 WL 151671, at *11 (E.D.N.Y. Mar. 17, 1999) (holding that a request for a blood and urine sample was reasonable and did not violate the Fourth Amendment because the plaintiff had failed to comply with the first request); see also Sack v. Lowder, Nos. 91-CV-7082, 91-CV-7111, 1992 WL 2884, at *4-5 (10th Cir. Jan. 6, 1992) (holding that a blood draw of the driver in an accident resulting in a death, which was completed in compliance with a state statute was not a Fourth Amendment violation).
Based on the face of the Amended Complaint, the blood draw was reasonable. Plaintiff was in a serious motor vehicle accident driving at an unsafe speed and left of pavement markings, after leaving a bar, so serious that she was rendered unconscious and partially sent through a windshield and that at least one of her passengers also sustained serious injuries. Law enforcement arrived at the scene and had Plaintiff airlifted to WMC for medical treatment. Once she had arrived at WMC, Plaintiff remained unconscious when Defendant Ward, at the request of a law enforcement officer, drew her blood to determine her blood alcohol content level. These allegations indicate that law enforcement had probable cause
Plaintiff's Fourteenth Amendment substantive due process arguments, that the decision to draw her blood while she was unconscious deprived her of her property and endangered her life without due process are also unavailing based on a failure to state a facially plausible claim.
"The Supreme Court has held that the taking of a blood sample while a person is unconscious by a qualified technician and in a controlled setting does not offend due process because `there is nothing brutal or offensive in the taking of a sample of blood when done. . . under the protective eye of a physician.'" Belgarde v. Montana, 123 F.3d 1210, 1214 (9th Cir. 1997) (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting Breithaupt v. Abram, 352 U.S. 432, 435 (1957)); see Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 759-60 (1966) (holding that an involuntary extraction of the plaintiffs blood at the direction of law enforcement for the purposes of testing for alcohol content did not violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and upholding Breithaupt); Robinson v. NY State Div. of Parole, No. 11-CV-4454(PKC), 2018 WL 4762250, at *6 (E.D.N.Y. Oct. 2, 2018) ("Schmerber `also rejected arguments that the coerced blood test violated the right to due process.'" (quoting South Dakota v. Neville, 459 U.S. 553, 559 (1983)); see also Makas v. Miraglia, 300 F. App'x 9, 11 (2d Cir. 2008) (vacating the district court's dismissal of the plaintiffs claim that he was subjected to excessive blood tests in violation of substantive due process and directing the lower court to analyze the claim under the Fourth Amendment).
Nothing in Plaintiffs Amended Complaint suggests that the circumstances of her blood draw violated the Fourteenth Amendment. While Plaintiff was unconscious, Defendant Ward, a registered nurse, took a sample of her blood at WMC. (Compl. ¶¶ 3, 5 & 42.) Based on the face of the Amended Complaint, there was nothing "brutal or offensive" in the taking of her blood sample; she was afforded appropriate process consistent with the Due Process Clause and New York Vehicle and Traffic Law. Accordingly, Plaintiff fails to state a plausible claim for relief under the Fourteenth Amendment.
Under New York law, a registered professional nurse is authorized to withdraw blood for the purposes of determining the alcoholic or drug content at the request of a police officer.
At the motion to dismiss stage, courts generally must accept as true all factual allegations in the complaint. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007)). However, in her Amended Complaint, Plaintiff cites to grand jury testimony from Defendant Ward which directly contradicts her allegation that Defendant Eagan was not present and did not request the blood draw. (Compl. ¶¶ 5 & 45.) She also attaches this testimony to the Complaint. (Id. Ex. O.) Defendant Ward testified before a Grand Jury that Defendant Egan asked her to draw Plaintiffs blood and was in the room with her at the time the blood was drawn.
When confronted with sworn testimony that contradicts allegations in a complaint, courts should accept sworn testimony. Thomas v. Westchester Cty. Health Care Corp., 232 F.Supp.2d 273, 279 (S.D.N.Y. 2002) ("Faced with [a] confounding contradiction [between plaintiff's allegations in her complaint and her sworn testimony], the Court has no basis for accepting as true the vague statements in [the] [c]omplaint as opposed to [plaintiff's] sworn testimony. . . ."). Defendant Ward's sworn testimony contradicts Plaintiff's allegation that Defendant Eagan was not present when her blood was drawn.
For the foregoing reasons, Defendants' motion to dismiss is GRANTED with leave to replead consistent with this Opinion at a later date to be determined by the Court.