Price v. City of N.Y.
15 Civ. 5871 (KPF) (S.D.N.Y. Jun. 25, 2018)
reasons. See Praprotnik, 485 U.S. at 127 ("If the
authorized policymakers approve a subordinate's
decision and the basis for it, their ratification
would be chargeable to the municipality because
their decision is final." (emphasis added)); Davis
v. City of New York, 228 F. Supp. 2d 327, 341-42
(S.D.N.Y. 2002) (holding that city could not be
liable on grounds that former Commissioner knew
subordinates refused to reinstate the plaintiff
without proof that he knew such refusal was
because the plaintiff had exercised his First
Amendment rights). Because Plaintiff fails to
allege that O'Neill knew that Obe and Brooks
blocked Plaintiff because of her viewpoint, and
because the allegations do not suggest that O'Neill
agreed with his employees' decision to engage in
viewpoint discrimination, Plaintiff fails to allege
plausibly that the City ratified or adopted the
conduct of Brooks and Obe.
48
For these reasons, the Court grants the City
Defendants' motion to dismiss the Monell claim
against the City of New York, and the officialcapacity *48 claims against Obe, Brooks, and
Pierre-Louis, related to the their blocking of
Plaintiff from the subject Twitter accounts. See
Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6).
3. Due Process Claims Against the City
Defendants
Plaintiff also asserts substantive due process
claims, under the Due Process Clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment, against the City
Defendants. These claims relate to Plaintiff's
assault by an unidentified person on January 24,
2017. (See FAC ¶¶ 170-82). The FAC appears to
limit this claim to the alleged failure of Emmett,
Dejesus, and Shevitz to investigate and file a
formal report concerning Plaintiff's assault on
January 24, 2017. (See id. at ¶ 190 ("The denial of
services to Ms. Price on January 24, 2017, and
thereafter as set forth above violated Ms. Price's
rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.")). The
Court understands this allegation as suggesting
that Plaintiff has a freestanding constitutional right
to have police investigate her assault and file a
formal report or complaint, and that Defendants
violated that right.
49
But to the extent that Plaintiff asserts a
freestanding constitutional right to have her
assault complaint investigated, she fails to state a
claim for relief. Generally speaking, crime victims
do not have a stand-alone constitutional right to
have officers investigate their complaints. See
Troy v. City of New York, No. 13 Civ. 5082 (AJN),
2014 WL 4804479, at *6 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 25,
2014) (holding that there is "no constitutional right
to an investigation by government officials"),
aff'd, 614 F. App'x 32 (2d Cir. 2015) (summary
order); Lewis v. Gallivan, 315 F. Supp. 2d 313,
316 (W.D.N.Y. 2004) ("[T]he law is well settled
*49 that no private citizen has a constitutional
right to bring a criminal complaint against another
individual."); cf. Harrington v. Cty. of Suffolk, 607
F.3d 31, 35 (2d Cir. 2010) (in the procedural due
process context, holding that parents had no
constitutional due process property interest in
adequate police investigation of motor vehicle
collision that killed their son). The Court must
therefore dismiss Plaintiff's claims concerning a
stand-alone constitutional right to have her assault
complaint investigated by the police.
In light of the Plaintiff's pro se status, the Court
alternatively construes Plaintiff's allegations as
suggesting that the City Defendants — through
their alleged history of inaction toward Plaintiff's
allegations of assaults over the years — caused the
assault of January 24, 2017, in violation of
Plaintiff's substantive due process rights.
"[T]he Due Process Clause is phrased as a
limitation on the State's power to act, not as a
guarantee of certain minimal levels of safety and
security." Lombardi v. Whitman, 485 F.3d 73, 79
(2d Cir. 2007) (internal quotation marks omitted).
For that reason, "[o]nly an affirmative act can
amount to a violation of substantive due process."
Id. Governmental action resulting in bodily harm
is not a substantive due process violation unless
23
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