Capul v. City of New York ( 2021 )

20-1905-cv
Capul v. City of New York
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT
SUMMARY ORDER
RULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT. CITATION TO A SUMMARY
ORDER FILED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2007, IS PERMITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY FEDERAL RULE
OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT'S LOCAL RULE 32.1.1. WHEN CITING A
SUMMARY ORDER IN A DOCUMENT FILED WITH THIS COURT, A PARTY MUST CITE EITHER THE
FEDERAL APPENDIX OR AN ELECTRONIC DATABASE (WITH THE NOTATION "SUMMARY ORDER"). A
PARTY CITING A SUMMARY ORDER MUST SERVE A COPY OF IT ON ANY PARTY NOT REPRESENTED
BY COUNSEL.
At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second
Circuit, held at the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, in
the City of New York, on the 12th day of January, two thousand twenty-one.
PRESENT: GUIDO CALABRESI,
REENA RAGGI,
DENNY CHIN,
Circuit Judges.
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ANDREW J. CAPUL, DAVID COLON, ERIC R.
RODRIGUEZ, PETER A. DEBLASIO,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
-v- 20-1905-cv
CITY OF NEW YORK, WILLIAM JOSEPH
BRATTON, LAWRENCE BYRNE, in their
individual capacity and official capacity,
Defendants-Appellees.
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FOR PLAINTIFFS-APPELLANTS: MATTHEW WEINICK, Famighetti & Weinick,
PLLC, Melville, New York; and Yale Pollack,
Law Offices of Yale Pollack, P.C., Syosset, New
York.
FOR DEFENDANTS-APPELLEES: DANIEL MATZA-BROWN (Richard Dearing,
and Claude S. Platton, on the brief) for James E.
Johnson, Corporation Counsel of the City of
New York, New York, New York.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of
New York (Failla, J.).
UPON CONSIDERATION WHEREOF, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED,
ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.
Plaintiffs-appellants ("plaintiffs"), four former officers with the New York
City Police Department (the "NYPD"), appeal the district court's judgment, entered May
28, 2020, dismissing their claims against defendants-appellees the City of New York and
two former NYPD officials ("defendants"). Plaintiffs alleged that defendants violated
their right to due process by coercing them into retiring from the NYPD. By opinion
and order entered May 27, 2020, the district court granted defendants' motion to
dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure
12(b)(6), citing to this Court's holding in Giglio v. Dunn, 732 F.2d 1133 (2d Cir. 1984), and
its progeny. We assume the parties' familiarity with the underlying facts, the
procedural history of the case, and the issues on appeal.
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For substantially the reasons set forth by the district court in its thorough
opinion, we agree that plaintiffs have failed to state a claim for relief. As we have
squarely held, the post-termination process provided by New York State satisfies the
due process requirements of the Fourteenth Amendment in cases such as this, where
state and local governmental employees who were purportedly coerced into resigning
contend that their due process rights were violated. See Hellenic Am. Neighborhood
Action Comm. v. City of New York, 101 F.3d 877, 881 (2d Cir. 1996) (collecting cases and
noting that "[w]e have held on numerous occasions that an Article 78 proceeding is a
perfectly adequate postdeprivation remedy in the present situation").
We have considered plaintiffs' remaining arguments and conclude they
are without merit. Accordingly, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.
FOR THE COURT:
Catherine O'Hagan Wolfe, Clerk
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