GREGORY H. WOODS, District Judge.
On September 10, 2015, a mobile crisis team (the "MCT") was sent to pro se Plaintiff Ramon Mejia's apartment in the Bronx. The MCT entered Plaintiff's home with his consent to inspect for housing code violations. Shortly thereafter, Plaintiff asked them to leave his apartment. The MCT later called the New York City Police Department (the "NYPD") to have Plaintiff removed from his home and transported to the psychiatric department at North Bronx Hospital ("NBH"), where he was involuntary detained for six days and forced to take psychoactive medication against his will.
In this opinion, the Court evaluates the adequacy of the claims in Plaintiff's Sixth Amended Complaint ("6
Before the Court are NYPH's, Robinson's, Velez's, and HHC's motions to dismiss the claims against them. Also, before the Court are motions to dismiss served by the recently identified parties, Thomas, Li, Pierre, and Castro. For the reasons that follow, all of the pending motions to dismiss are GRANTED.
In this opinion, in many respects, the Court retreads a path that it has walked before. Plaintiff has amended his complaint five times, and the Court has issued three opinions in the course of this litigation, in which the majority of the claims in prior versions of the 6
On February 23, 2018, the Court granted Plaintiff leave to serve his Fourth Amended Complaint ("4
On September 10, 2018, in the wake of the Court's decision in Mejia III, Plaintiff served his Fifth Amended Complaint ("5
On September 18, 2018, the Court directed HHC to "ascertain the identity and (if applicable) badge number of each of the unidentified individual defendants whom Plaintiff seeks to sue here and the address where each of those defendants may be served." Dkt. No. 135. HHC complied on September 26, 2018, providing information as to Defendants Li, Pierre, Thomas and Castro.
Before the Court are three motions to dismiss. The first was served by NYPH on behalf of itself and its employees, Robinson and Velez, on November 16, 2018 ("NYPH Mot."). Dkt. No. 159. Plaintiff opposed that motion on December 7, 2019 ("Opp. to NYPH Mot."). Dkt. No. 172. On December 13, 2019, the NYPH Defendants submitted a reply declaration, which noted that Plaintiff's Opposition was the same document he had submitted in opposition to Defendants Robinson's and Velez's (but not NYPH's) motion to dismiss his 4
The second motion to dismiss was served on October 29, 2018, by HHC on behalf of itself and its employees, Pierre, Li, and Thomas (the "HHC Mot."). Dkt. No. 183. Plaintiff opposed that motion on February 1, 2019 ("Opp. to HHC Mot."). Dkt. No. 195. HHC, Pierre, Li and Thomas replied on February 11, 2019 ("HHC Reply"). Dkt. No. 202.
The third motion to dismiss was filed by Defendant Castro on February 11, 2019. As of the date of this opinion, Plaintiff has not opposed that motion.
All three motions are now before the Court and ripe for adjudication.
"To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to `state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.'" Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). "A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged." Id. (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556). It is not enough for a plaintiff to allege facts that are consistent with liability; the complaint must "nudge" claims "across the line from conceivable to plausible." Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570. "To survive dismissal, the plaintiff must provide the grounds upon which his claim rests through factual allegations sufficient `to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.'" ATSI Commc'ns, Inc. v. Shaar Fund, Ltd., 493 F.3d 87, 98 (2d Cir. 2007) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555).
Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim is a "context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense." Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679. The court must accept all facts alleged in the complaint as true and draw all reasonable inferences in the plaintiff's favor. Burch v. Pioneer Credit Recovery, Inc., 551 F.3d 122, 124 (2d Cir. 2008) (per curiam). However,
Because Plaintiff is proceeding pro se, the Court must liberally construe Plaintiff's allegations and "interpret[ ] [them] to raise the strongest arguments that they suggest." Triestman v. Fed. Bureau of Prisons, 470 F.3d 471, 474 (2d Cir. 2006) (per curiam) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted); see also, e.g., Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94 (2007) ("A document filed pro se is to be liberally construed . . . ." (internal quotation marks and citation omitted)); Nielsen v. Rabin, 746 F.3d 58, 63 (2d Cir. 2014) ("Where . . . the complaint was filed pro se, it must be construed liberally to raise the strongest claims it suggests.") (quoting Walker v. Schult, 717 F.3d 119, 124 (2d Cir. 2013)). Nevertheless, "dismissal of a pro se complaint is appropriate where a plaintiff has clearly failed to meet the minimum pleading requirements." Rahman v. Schriro, 22 F.Supp.3d 305, 310 (S.D.N.Y. 2014) (citing Rodriguez v. Weprin, 116 F.3d 62, 65 (2d Cir. 1997)).
In Mejia I, the Court granted NYPH's motion to dismiss the 3
On August 10, 2018, the Court issued Mejia III, dismissing Plaintiff's Section 1983 and state law claims against Robinson and Velez. The Court explained that neither Plaintiff's Section 1983 claims, nor his state law claims, were adequately pleaded. 2018 WL 3821625, at *4-7. The viability of Plaintiff's federal and state claims against Robinson and Velez were ultimately contingent on Plaintiff adequately pleading that either Robinson or Velez were state actors, and as Plaintiff had failed to do so, his claims against them were dismissed without prejudice. Id.
On September 10, 2018, Plaintiff filed his 5
Compounding the déjà vu is the fact that Plaintiff's opposition to NYPH's motion to dismiss is the same document he served in opposition to Robinson and Velez's motion to dismiss the 4
Accordingly, the issue presented is whether Plaintiff's inclusion of extra information as to the nature of mobile crisis teams is sufficient to sustain any of his remaining claims against NYPH, Robinson, or Velez, despite the lack of any new argumentation in support of his position. For the reasons that follow, the new information included in the 6
Even construed liberally, the only information presented in the 6
Mejia I, 2018 WL 333829, at *9 (emphasis added); Mejia III, 2018 WL 3821625, at *5.
The Court was aware that the New York Mental Hygiene Law granted the power to the MCT to direct the removal of persons when it decided Mejia I and Mejia III, and expressly considered that issue in those decisions. Plaintiff's additions to the 6
In Mejia II, the Court dismissed Plaintiff's Monell claims against HHC without prejudice due to his failure to adequately plead any qualifying "policy or custom." 2018 WL 3442977, at *12-14. The Court also dismissed Plaintiff's state law claims against HHC for failing to satisfy "the requirement of pleading timely service on HHC." Id. at *15. However, the Court noted that "Plaintiff asserts in his opposition that his complaint can also be read to raise a Fourth Amendment claim. Defendants do not move to dismiss that claim. Therefore, to the extent that Plaintiff's fourth amended complaint can be read to assert a Fourth Amendment claim, or any other federal claim, those claims survive." Id. at *6.
As discussed above, the only modifications to the 6
However, HHC has not provided any argumentation as to any residual federal claims, such as a potential Fourth Amendment claim, asserted by Plaintiff. Accordingly, to the extent any such claims exist, they survive.
For the reasons that follow, Plaintiff's claims against Thomas are dismissed.
While George Thomas is named in the caption of the 6
The Court assumes familiarity with the legal standard for the substantive due process claim of forced medication as articulated in Mejia II. 2018 WL 3442977, at *4-10.
Plaintiff contends that Thomas's statements were threats, which ultimately caused Plaintiff to take medication against his will. However, Thomas's alleged conduct does not rise to the level of "shocking the conscience" as required to adequately plead a substantive due process claim. Id.
Physical contact is not required for an allegation of forced medication to constitute a due process violation. Roland v. McMonagle, No. 12-cv-6331-JPO, 2015 WL 5918179, at *4 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 9, 2015) ("The Fourteenth Amendment prohibits prison officers from using the threat of violence to compel an inmate to ingest a drug, particularly where no medical professional has authorized forced medication."). In light of the strong liberty interest in deciding whether to take medication, forcing a person to take medication through threats and intimidation, even absent any physical contact, may constitute a due process violation if the circumstances "shock[] the conscience." Mejia II, 2018 WL 3442977, at *8 (quoting County of Sacramento v. Lewis, 523 U.S. 833, 846-47 (1998)); see Roland, 2015 WL 5918179, at *2.
Even liberally construed and accepted as true, Plaintiff's allegations do not rise to that level. Plaintiff merely alleges that Thomas, a hospital orderly, told Plaintiff that he had to take the medication his doctor had prescribed. Plaintiff does not allege that Thomas threatened Plaintiff in order to compel him to take the medication prescribed by Dr. Schear, nor even that Thomas had any reason to know that Plaintiff objected to taking his prescribed medication. Standing alone, Thomas's alleged statement is facially neutral. He merely informed Plaintiff that he "had to take the medication"—which is not, in and of itself, a threat.
Plaintiff acknowledges this issue, but contends that in the context of the harrowing circumstances alleged, Thomas's words had "a much more forceful impact [on Plaintiff] than had they been spoken under other less traumatic circumstances." Opp. to HHC Mot. at 5. However, Plaintiff has not alleged that Thomas was aware of, or reasonably should have been aware of, the context that amplified his words' coercive force. Indeed, Plaintiff has not even alleged that Thomas had any reason to believe that Plaintiff objected to taking his medication. See 14 N.Y.C.R.R. § 527.8(c)(1) ("Patients who object to any proposed medical treatment or procedure . . . may not be treated over their objection except as follows") (emphasis added). And while Plaintiff has alleged, in detail, the circumstances in which he was physically forced to take medication, he has not alleged that Thomas was present during, or otherwise aware of, those events. See 6
In sum, accepting the pleaded allegations against Thomas as true, Thomas's statement that Plaintiff "had" to take his medication is not, in and of itself, a due process violation. Absent any allegation that Thomas threatened Plaintiff to cause him to take his medication, physically forced Plaintiff to take his medication, or knew, or reasonably should have known, of the circumstances that granted his statement additional coercive force, Plaintiff's Section 1983 claim against Thomas is not actionable. Accordingly, that claim is dismissed.
In Mejia II, the Court dismissed all state law claims against HHC and Dr. Schear due to Plaintiff's failure to plead compliance with § 7401 of the New York Unconsolidated Laws which sets forth mandatory notice requirements applicable in cases such as this one. See Mejia II, 2018 WL 3442977, at *14-15. Plaintiff has not remedied that issue in the 6
The 6
While the 6
The 6
Rule 8(a)(2) requires that, in order to state a claim, a complaint must include "a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief." Ashcroft, 556 U.S. at 677-78; Salahuddin v. Cuomo, 861 F.2d 40, 41-42 (2d Cir. 1988). One function of Rule 8(a)(2) is to give defendants "`fair notice of what the plaintiff's claim is and the grounds upon which it rests' in order to enable the opposing party to answer and prepare for trial, and to identify the nature of the case." Middleton v. U.S., 10-cv-6057-JFB-ETB, 2012 WL 394559, at *2 (E.D.N.Y. Feb. 7, 2012) (quoting Dura Pharms., Inc. v. Broudo, 544 U.S. 336, 346 (2005)). "In order to maintain [his] claims pursuant to Section 1983, [P]laintiff must identify individual state actor defendants whom [he] believes to be responsible for the alleged deprivation of [his] rights and identify how each of these individuals' actions or omissions caused the alleged deprivation." Joseph v. Nassau County Correctional Facility, 15-cv-7010-JFB-ARL, 2016 WL 3033725, at *3 (E.D.N.Y. May 26, 2016) (quoting Morris v. NYC HRA, 13-cv-1845-RRM-MDG, 2013 WL 3148664, at *4 (E.D.N.Y. June 19, 2013); see Morabito v. Blum, 528 F.Supp. 252, 262 (S.D.N.Y. 1981) ("It is well-settled that where the complaint names a defendant in the caption but contains no allegations indicating how the defendant violated the law or injured the plaintiff, a motion to dismiss the complaint in regard to that defendant should be granted.") (quotation marks omitted).
Here, Plaintiff fails to plead facts in his 6
However, even liberally construed, the 6
As an alternative to dismissal, Plaintiff requests early discovery in order to ascertain which Nurse Defendant was responsible for which alleged bad act. For the reasons that follow, that request is denied.
New York Public Health Law § 18 states that, "a health care provider shall provide an opportunity, within ten days, for [a patient] to inspect any patient information concerning or relating to the examination or treatment of such subject in the possession of such health care provider." § 18(2)(a). Accordingly, Plaintiff has had the ability to access his medical records from the date this case commenced, if not earlier. See, Kearse v. Lincoln Hosp., No. 07-cv-4730-PAC-JCF, 2009 WL 1706554, at *3 (S.D.N.Y. June 17, 2009) (dismissing claim against John Doe doctor because Plaintiff had both time and access to his own medical records to identify the physician who treated him). Plaintiff has not indicated that he has acquired those records, much less that they are insufficient to provide the information he requires. Furthermore, the Court anticipates that once motion to dismiss practice has concluded, this case will proceed to the discovery phase. During discovery, Plaintiff may request information as to the Defendant Nurses, if necessary, and may move to further amend his Complaint on the basis of that information, subject to any limitation on any such amendments imposed by the Court. For all these reasons, the Court declines to grant Plaintiff the requested early discovery.
For the reasons that follow, the Court dismisses Plaintiff's claims against NYPH and its employees Robinson and Velez, as well as his Monell and state law claims against HHC, with prejudice and without leave to amend. Also, for the reasons that follow, Plaintiff's claims against the Nurse Defendants and Thomas are dismissed without prejudice and with leave to amend.
"Although district judges should, as a general matter, liberally permit pro se litigants to amend their pleadings, leave to amend need not be granted when amendment would be futile." Terry v. Inc. Vill. of Patchogue, 826 F.3d 631, 633 (2d Cir. 2016). "Where it appears that granting leave to amend is unlikely to be productive . . . it is not an abuse of discretion to deny leave to amend." Apotex Inc. v. Acorda Therapeutics, Inc., 823 F.3d 51, 62 (2d Cir. 2016) (quoting Ruffolo v. Oppenheimer & Co., 987 F.2d 129, 132 (2d Cir. 1993)).
As discussed above, Plaintiff's 6
The adequacy of Plaintiffs claims against Thomas and the Defendant Nurses were considered by the Court for the first time in this opinion. In this circuit, "[i]t is the usual practice upon granting a motion to dismiss to allow leave to replead." Cortec Indus., Inc. v. Sum Holding L.P., 949 F.2d 42, 48 (2d Cir. 1991); see also Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(2) ("The court should freely give leave [to amend] when justice so requires."). Accordingly, Plaintiff's claims against Thomas and the Defendant Nurses are dismissed without prejudice and with leave to replead.
For the reasons stated above, the Defendants' motions to dismiss are GRANTED.
Plaintiff's claims against NYPH, Robinson, and Velez are DISMISSED with prejudice and without leave to replead.
Plaintiff's Monell and state law claims against HHC are dismissed with prejudice and without leave to replead. Any residual federal claims asserted by Plaintiff against HHC survive.
Plaintiff's claims against Thomas, Castro, Li, and Pierre are DISMISSED without prejudice and with leave to replead.
The Court will set a schedule for service of any amended complaint during a conference to be scheduled by subsequent order. Plaintiff is not granted leave to serve an amended complaint in the interim.
The Court requests that counsel for Defendant HHC provide Plaintiff with copies of unpublished cases cited in this decision pursuant to Local Rule of the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York 7.2.
The Clerk of Court is directed to terminate the motions pending at Dkt. Nos. 159, 183, and 211, and to mail a copy of this order to Plaintiff by certified mail and by regular, first class mail.
SO ORDERED.