ROBERT N. CHATIGNY, District Judge.
Plaintiff Paul Eric Lewis, proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis, initiated this case by way of a complaint filed on October 27, 2014 (ECF No. 1). He has since filed several amended complaints.
The statute that authorizes the Court to permit a plaintiff to proceed in forma pauperis requires the Court to "dismiss the case at any time" if it "determines that . . . the action . . . 1) is frivolous or malicious; 2) fails to state a claim on which relief may be granted; or 3) seeks monetary relief against a defendant who is immune from such relief." Title 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B).
For reasons that follow, the Court concludes that plaintiff's complaint fails to state a claim on which relief may be granted. Accordingly, all the claims will be dismissed, although some will be dismissed without prejudice.
Plaintiff's amended complaint, charitably construed, alleges the following facts. In 2008, plaintiff was enrolled as a graduate student at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU). On July 3 of that year, he received a telephone call from Joe Dooley, chief of campus police. Chief Dooley told plaintiff he was banned from SCSU's campus because he had provided a false ID to campus security. Plaintiff had no chance to be heard in connection with the ban.
This event was not plaintiff's first run-in with SCSU officials. He was also banned from campus in 2005, although he was not informed of this at the time and suspects "it was added later and applied retroactively in a cover-up."
Plaintiff did not contest his mistreatment until October 2013, when he wrote a letter to the Connecticut Board of Regents for Higher Education inquiring about the campus bans. He received a reply from R. Thomas Clark, assistant counsel to the Board of Regents, stating that the bans were valid and plaintiff, by failing to contest them in a timely manner, had waived any right to a hearing he might have enjoyed.
Plaintiff alleges that defendants discriminated against him for impermissible reasons. He states that he was disfavored by campus officials because he was believed to be homosexual, because he is "older," because he is disabled, and because he engaged in protected speech. On this basis plaintiff brings claims against Herron, Clark, the Board of Regents, SCSU Vice President for Student Affairs Tracy M. Tyree, and SCSU Deans of Student Affairs Jules Tetreault and Christopher M. Piscitelli.
Plaintiff asserts a litany of claims against all defendants. These fall basically into two groups. The first focuses on the summary nature of the decision to bar him from campus. This forms the basis of plaintiff's due process claim, in which he asserts he was deprived of a protected interest in accessing the campus. The second group of claims focuses on the defendants' reasons for taking action against plaintiff. This group includes claims under the First, Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution; Titles II and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000a et seq. & 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq.; the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12111 et seq. (ADA); the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 701 et seq.; the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, 42 U.S.C. § 6101 et seq.; Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq.; the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq. (IDEA); the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act, Conn. Gen. Stat. § 46a-60 eq seq. (CFEPA); and Connecticut's public accommodation statute, Conn. Gen. Stat. § 46a-64.
Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e), the Court must dismiss plaintiff's complaint if it fails to state a claim on which relief may be granted. To survive review under § 1915(e), "a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to `state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.'"
The claims against defendants Board of Regents, Herron, Tyree, Tetreault and Piscitelli arise out of three incidents: plaintiff's first ban from SCSU's campus in 2005, harassing telephone calls plaintiff received in 2006, and plaintiff's second ban from campus in July 2008. These claims must be dismissed because they are barred by the applicable statutes of limitations.
The statute of limitations is generally raised as an affirmative defense. Nevertheless, a court may appropriately dismiss a claim as time-barred when the "plaintiff pleads himself out of court by alleging facts sufficient to establish the complaint's tardiness."
In this case, plaintiff alleges that he was harassed by telephone in 2006 and notified of his bans from campus in July 2008. His causes of action therefore accrued in 2006 and 2008.
Plaintiff's claims are clearly time-barred because none of the statutes on which he relies has a limitations period longer than four years, and most are shorter.
Plaintiff alleges he wrote to the Board of Regents to inquire about the campus bans in October 2013. Clark, who is assistant counsel to the Board, replied by letter a month later stating that the bans were valid and plaintiff had waived any right he might have had to contest them. In so doing, plaintiff alleges, Clark "covered up the crimes" committed by the other defendants and prevented the Board from lifting the bans. ECF No. 75, at 11-12. Most of plaintiff's claims against Clark, which arise out of events that occurred in November 2013, are not time-barred.
Plaintiff asserts that Clark committed a crime by obstructing justice and seeks Clark's prosecution. But "crimes are prosecuted by the government, not by private parties."
Plaintiff alleges that Clark denied him his right to "a speedy and public trial" under the Sixth Amendment and his right to due process under the Fifth. The right to a speedy and public trial applies only in criminal prosecutions. Plaintiff is not being prosecuted, so this case does not implicate the Sixth Amendment.
Plaintiff alleges that he was deprived of a liberty interest without due process of law when he was banned from SCSU's campus without a hearing. A Fourteenth Amendment procedural due process claim is composed of two elements: 1) the existence of a property or liberty interest and 2) deprivation of that interest without due process.
Plaintiff's remaining claims are brought under the First Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, the Age Discrimination Act, Title IX, IDEA and CFEPA. Though the elements of these claims differ in their particulars, each depends on plaintiff's showing that he is a member of a protected class
Though the complaint is not perfectly clear on this point, plaintiff appears to allege that Clark was motivated by unlawful animus when he wrote the letter explaining that the bans were valid. Specifically, plaintiff seems to allege that Clark affirmed the validity of the bans, thus "cover[ing] up the crimes" of the other defendants, because of plaintiff's protected speech, because plaintiff is "older," because plaintiff is disabled, and because he believed plaintiff to be homosexual. For reasons discussed below, plaintiff's allegations do not support a plausible inference that plaintiff is entitled to relief.
A private citizen asserting retaliation in violation of the First Amendment must allege that "1) he has an interest protected by the First Amendment; 2) defendants' actions were motivated or substantially caused by his exercise of that right; and 3) defendants' actions effectively chilled the exercise of his First Amendment right."
Several of plaintiff's statutory claims are predicated on the suggestion that Clark discriminated against him because he is "older." All these claims require plaintiff to plausibly allege a causal connection between his age and Clark's actions. Plaintiff has failed to do so. The complaint does not suggest that younger people received different treatment from Clark or that Clark made any statements or engaged in any conduct reflecting animus toward older people. Indeed, the complaint does not even state that Clark knew plaintiff was "older." Accordingly, the claims of discrimination based on plaintiff's age will be dismissed without prejudice.
Plaintiff seems to allege that Clark discriminated against him because Clark thought him to be homosexual. But read as charitably as possible, the complaint asserts only that 1) Clark thought plaintiff was homosexual, and 2) Clark wrote plaintiff a letter stating he had been validly banned from campus. Nothing in the complaint suggests the existence of a causal connection between plaintiff's perceived sexual orientation and the letter. Accordingly, this claim will be dismissed without prejudice.
Finally, plaintiff alleges that Clark mistreated him because of his disability. But plaintiff has alleged that he is disabled only in the most conclusory terms.
Accordingly, plaintiff's claims against defendants Board of Regents, Herron, Tyree, Tetreault and Piscitelli for violations of Conn. Gen. Stat. § 46a-64 and Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 are hereby dismissed with prejudice. The claims against Clark for obstruction of justice, violation of the Fifth and Sixth Amendments, and violation of the Due Process Clause's procedural guarantee are likewise dismissed with prejudice.
The other claims against defendants Board of Regents, Herron, Tyree, Tetreault and Piscitelli are hereby dismissed without prejudice because they are time-barred. The other claims against Clark are hereby dismissed without prejudice because plaintiff has failed to plausibly allege that he was treated differently from similarly situated persons due to his protected speech or a protected characteristic.
If plaintiff believes his claims against defendants Board of Regents, Herron, Tyree, Tetreault and Piscitelli are not time-barred because an exception to the statute of limitations applies, he may replead to allege facts supporting the exception. Similarly, if plaintiff is aware of facts supporting a reasonable inference that Clark mistreated him because of his protected speech, disability, age or perceived sexual orientation, he may assert those facts in an amended complaint.
Plaintiff is reminded that a legal pleading need not contain lengthy narrative or argument. Indeed it should not. All that is required, and all that plaintiff should submit, is a "short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief." Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2).
So ordered.