KENNETH M. KARAS, District Judge.
Andre Holly ("Plaintiff"), proceeding pro se, brings this Complaint against Superintendent Robert Cunningham ("Cunningham") and Education Supervisor Stacie Bennett ("Bennett") (collectively, "Defendants"), alleging that Defendants violated his rights under Title II and Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq., and § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ("Rehabilitation Act"), 29 U.S.C. § 794. Before the Court is Defendants' Motion To Dismiss Plaintiff's Complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) ("Motion"). For the following reasons, the Motion is granted.
The factual allegations that follow are derived from Plaintiff's Complaint, appended submissions, and certain documents incorporated into the Complaint by reference.
On March 6, 2013, Plaintiff filed a grievance regarding Woodbourne's alleged lack of academic programming and properly trained staff to serve visually impaired inmates. (Id. Ex. A (Inmate Grievance Complaint); see also Compl. §§ II.D, IV.D-E.) This grievance was referred to Bennett, who responded in a memorandum to the supervisor of the Inmate Grievance Program that "[a]cademic programming is available for visually impaired offenders" and that Plaintiff was on the appropriate waiting list. (Compl. Ex. A (Education Department Memorandum).) Plaintiff appealed, (Compl. § IV.E), and Cunningham issued a decision stating that Plaintiff was "on the appropriate waiting list" and that "the academic program [was] prepared to address the needs of visually impaired offenders," (id. Ex. A (Decision of Superintendent)).
Plaintiff subsequently commenced an Article 78 proceeding in New York State Supreme Court, Albany County, naming Cunningham as the respondent ("Article 78 Petition"). (Decl. of Yan Fu in Supp. of Mot. ("Fu Decl.") Ex. A ("Petition") (Dkt. No. 17); see also Compl. §§ IV.G, VI.B.)
Plaintiff commenced the instant Action on January 14, 2015. (Dkt. No. 2.) Pursuant to a scheduling order adopted by the Court on July 23, 2015, (Dkt. No. 14), Defendants filed their Motion and supporting papers on September 4, 2015, (Dkt. Nos. 15-17). Plaintiff has not submitted any response.
"While a complaint attacked by a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss does not need detailed factual allegations, a plaintiff's obligation to provide the grounds of his entitlement to relief requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do." Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007) (alteration, citations, and internal quotation marks omitted). Indeed, Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure "demands more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation." Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). "Nor does a complaint suffice if it tenders naked assertions devoid of further factual enhancement." Id. (alteration and internal quotation marks omitted). Instead, a complaint's "[f]actual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level. . . ." Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555. Although "once a claim has been stated adequately, it may be supported by showing any set of facts consistent with the allegations in the complaint," id. at 563, and a plaintiff must allege "only enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face," id. at 570, if a plaintiff has not "nudged [his] claim[] across the line from conceivable to plausible, the[] complaint must be dismissed," id.; see also Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679 ("Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for relief will . . . be a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense. But where the well-pleaded facts do not permit the court to infer more than the mere possibility of misconduct, the complaint has alleged—but it has not `show[n]'—`that the pleader is entitled to relief.'" (second alteration in original) (citation omitted) (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2))); id. at 678-79 ("Rule 8 marks a notable and generous departure from the hyper-technical, code-pleading regime of a prior era, but it does not unlock the doors of discovery for a plaintiff armed with nothing more than conclusions.").
"[W]hen ruling on a defendant's motion to dismiss, a judge must accept as true all of the factual allegations contained in the complaint." Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94 (2007) (per curiam). Further, "[f]or the purpose of resolving [a] motion to dismiss, the [c]ourt . . . draw[s] all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff." Daniel v. T&M Prot. Res., Inc., 992 F.Supp.2d 302, 304 n.1 (S.D.N.Y. 2014) (citing Koch v. Christie's Int'l PLC, 699 F.3d 141, 145 (2d Cir. 2012)). Additionally, "[i]n adjudicating a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, a district court must confine its consideration to facts stated on the face of the complaint, in documents appended to the complaint or incorporated in the complaint by reference, and to matters of which judicial notice may be taken." Leonard F. v. Isr. Disc. Bank of N.Y., 199 F.3d 99, 107 (2d Cir. 1999) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Hendrix v. City of N.Y., No. 12-CV-5011, 2013 WL 6835168, at *2 (E.D.N.Y. Dec. 20, 2013) (same).
Where, as here, a plaintiff proceeds pro se, the court must "construe[] [his] [complaint] liberally and interpret[] [it] to raise the strongest arguments that [it] suggest[s]." Sykes v. Bank of Am., 723 F.3d 399, 403 (2d Cir. 2013) (internal quotation marks omitted). However, "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." Bell v. Jendell, 980 F.Supp.2d 555, 559 (S.D.N.Y. 2013) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Caidor v. Onondaga Cty., 517 F.3d 601, 605 (2d Cir. 2008) ("[P]ro se litigants generally are required to inform themselves regarding procedural rules and to comply with them." (italics and internal quotation marks omitted)).
According to the Complaint, Woodbourne does not have programs or properly trained staff to "serve and support" visually impaired inmates, which thereby prevented Plaintiff from earning six months off of his sentence pursuant to the LCTA. (Compl. § II.D.) Plaintiff alleges that Defendants' actions in failing to provide the necessary academic programming violated his rights under Title II and Title III of the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act. (Id.)
Defendants first argue that Plaintiff cannot bring ADA or Rehabilitation Act claims for monetary damages against Defendants in their individual or official capacities. (See Defs.' Mem. of Law in Supp. of Mot. ("Defs.' Mem.") 1, 5-8 (Dkt. No. 16).)
It is well settled that "[i]ndividuals in their personal capacities are not proper defendants on claims brought under the ADA or the Rehabilitation Act." Keitt, 882 F. Supp. 2d at 426 (citing Harris v. Mills, 572 F.3d 66, 72-73 (2d Cir. 2009)); see also Garcia v. S.U.N.Y. Health Scis. Ctr., 280 F.3d 98, 107 (2d Cir. 2001) ("[N]either Title II of the ADA nor § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act provides for individual capacity suits against state officials."). Therefore, any such claims against Cunningham and Bennett must be dismissed.
"Whether individuals can be sued for damages under the ADA or Rehabilitation Act in their official capacities, however, is unsettled in th[e] [Southern] District." Jones v. Ng, No. 14-CV-1350, 2015 WL 998467, at *10 n.20 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 5, 2015) (emphasis added). Numerous courts in the Second Circuit have held that the ADA and Rehabilitation Act do not provide for liability against individual defendants in their official capacities. See, e.g., Keitt v. N.Y. State Dep't of Corr. & Cmty. Supervision, No. 11-CV-855, 2015 WL 2383687, at *21 (W.D.N.Y. May 19, 2015) ("Courts have held that . . . individuals [cannot] be named as defendants in ADA or Rehabilitation Act suits in their official or representative capacities."); Myers v. N.Y.-Dep't of Motor Vehicles, No. 06-CV-4583, 2013 WL 3990770, at *9 (E.D.N.Y. Aug. 5, 2013) ("[N]umerous district courts in this [C]ircuit have persuasively held that there is no individual liability under Title I or Title II of the ADA, regardless of whether the claim is brought in an individual or official capacity."); Maus v. Wappingers Cent. Sch. Dist., 688 F.Supp.2d 282, 302 n.10 (S.D.N.Y. 2010) ("[I]ndividuals cannot be named as defendants in ADA or Rehabilitation Act suits in their official or representative capacities." (internal quotation marks omitted)); Carrasquillo v. City of N.Y., 324 F.Supp.2d 428, 441 (S.D.N.Y. 2004) ("Individuals cannot be named as defendants in ADA suits in either their official or representative capacities.").
Nonetheless, even under this latter school of thought, any official capacity claims against Defendants would fail. The Second Circuit has held that an ADA claim for damages against a state (or state agency or official) is not barred by the Eleventh Amendment "if the plaintiff can establish that the Title II violation was motivated by either discriminatory animus or ill will due to disability." Garcia, 280 F.3d at 112; accord Johnson v. Goord, No. 01-CV-9587, 2004 WL 2199500, at *19 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 29, 2004) (dismissing official capacity claims "under [§] 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Title II of the ADA . . . because those laws do not provide for money damages against the state or state officials in their official capacities, absent a showing that any violation was motivated by discriminatory animus or ill will due to the disability" (citing, inter alia, Garcia, 280 F.3d at 108, 111-12)). Here, the Complaint does not allege that Defendants acted with discriminatory animus or ill will based on Plaintiff's visual impairment. (See generally Compl.) Thus, even if Plaintiff could bring ADA or Rehabilitation Act claims for monetary damages against Cunningham and Bennett in their official capacities, such claims would fail in the absence of anything other than conclusory allegations. See Chambers v. Wright, No. 05-CV-9915, 2007 WL 4462181, at *4 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 19, 2007) (dismissing ADA and Rehabilitation Act claims where the "[p]laintiff d[id] not make any allegations concerning [the] [d]efendants' discriminatory animus or ill will"); Renelique v. Goord, No. 03-CV-525, 2006 WL 2265399, at *11 (N.D.N.Y. Aug. 7, 2006) (dismissing official capacity claims under the ADA where the plaintiff did "not allege[] any facts that would support a conclusion that [the] [d]efendants acted with discriminatory animus or ill will toward him").
Defendants further contend that Plaintiff cannot sue Defendants under Title III of the ADA, (see Defs.' Mem. 12), which prohibits discrimination by private entities in "place[s] of public accommodation," 42 U.S.C. § 12182. By its terms, the statute only applies to places of "public accommodation," which do not include state prisons, see id. § 12181(7) (listing specific "entities [that] are considered public accommodations"); accord York v. Beard, No. 14-CV-1234, 2015 WL 3488217, at *2 (E.D. Cal. June 2, 2015) (dismissing Title III claim against prison staff "as a matter of law" because "state prisons are not places of public accommodation"), adopted by 2015 WL 4557437 (E.D. Cal. July 27, 2015), and reconsideration denied, 2015 WL 5882683 (E.D. Cal. Oct. 5, 2015); Collazo v. Corr. Corp. of Am., No. 11-CV-1424, 2011 WL 6012425, at *4 (N.D. Ohio Nov. 30, 2011) (dismissing Title III claim because "[a] jail or prison facility does not constitute a place of `public accommodation' as defined in the applicable statutory provisions"); Edison v. Douberley, No. 05-CV-307, 2008 WL 4194813, at *4 (M.D. Fla. Sept. 9, 2008) (finding that a state correctional facility did not constitute a "place of public accommodation" under Title III (internal quotation marks omitted)), aff'd, 604 F.3d 1307 (11th Cir. 2010).
For the foregoing reasons, the Court grants Defendants' Motion without prejudice. Should Plaintiff choose to file an amended complaint, he must do so within 30 days of this Order, addressing the deficiencies outlined herein. He is advised that an amended complaint replaces the Complaint currently pending before the Court in its entirety and therefore must include all of his claims and factual allegations against all Defendants against whom he wishes to proceed. The amended complaint must be captioned "First Amended Complaint" and bear the same docket number as this Order. Failure to meet this deadline could result in the dismissal of this case.
The Clerk of Court is respectfully requested to terminate the pending Motion. (Dkt. No. 15.)
SO ORDERED.
42 U.S.C. § 12181(7).