Price v. City of N.Y.
15 Civ. 5871 (KPF) (S.D.N.Y. Jun. 25, 2018)
rate within the 28th Precinct" and to prevent her
"from publically criticizing the 28th Precinct." (Id.
at ¶¶ 106-07).
Pierre-Louis, who at the time was the
Commissioner of the Mayor's Office to Combat
Domestic Violence, ordered Brooks to block
Plaintiff from @NYCagainstabuse. (Id. at ¶¶ 121,
124).
Plaintiff had a similar experience with the Twitter
account for the New York City Mayor's Office to
Combat Domestic Violence, @NYCagainstabuse,
and its administrator, Selvena Brooks. Near the
end of 2014, Plaintiff used her Twitter account to
post the following responses to tweets from
@NYCagainstabuse:
Plaintiff also had interactions with a Twitter
account named @RPLNYC, which was moderated
by Pierre-Louis. Plaintiff contends that PierreLouis identified herself on the account as the
Commissioner of the Mayor's Office to Combat
Domestic Violence and used the account to
"disseminate official information during that time
that she was Commissioner." (FAC ¶¶ 126-28).
She adds that Pierre-Louis "gained followers and
credibility by naming her official title on her
@RPLNYC [T]witter account and disseminating
official information and offering her editorial
opinion of that information in her capacity as
Commissioner for the NYC Mayor's Office to
Combat Domestic Violence." (Id. at ¶ 129).
@NYCAGAINSTABUSE @NYPD28Pct
victims be wary of the 2-8: their "Help"
put me on #Rikers & my abuser walked
chn.ge/11fKJZd #JAILSACTION
***
@NYCagainstabuse Many more women
could have benefitted from services at a
FJC [Family Justice Center] but were
barred because they were falsely labeled
"fabricators."
9
***
@NYCagainstabuse where do we go when
wrongly dubbed as "fabricators" by
#MYNYPD & @manhattanda & denied
entrance to Family Justice Centers?
8
(FAC ¶ 114). On the same day as Plaintiff's
final tweet to @NYCagainstabuse, Brooks
blocked Plaintiff's Twitter account from accessing
the official account of the Mayor's Office to
Combat Domestic Violence, leading to the same
limitations as those concerning the @NYPD28Pct
account. (Id. at ¶¶ 115-19). Plaintiff surmises that
Brooks blocked her in retaliation for her criticism
of the City's domestic violence assistance rates
and to prevent further public criticism of the
Mayor's Office to Combat Domestic Violence. (Id.
at ¶¶ 120-23). Plaintiff also asserts that Rose
*8
Plaintiff alleges that in October 2014, Pierre-Louis
blocked her from viewing and posting replies to
the @RPLNYC Twitter account. (FAC ¶ 131).
While Plaintiff does not specifically allege the
facts and circumstances that *9 preceded her being
blocked from the @RPLNYC account, she
contends that Pierre-Louis blocked her in
retaliation for "her criticism of the domestic
violence community's response to her secondary
victimization by the criminal justice system" and
"to mitigate fears that other victims may harbor
when [ ] turning to authorities for help if they
learned of [Plaintiff's] fate when she attempted to
do so." (Id. at ¶¶ 136-37).
In addition to accusing Obe, Brooks, and PierreLouis of blocking her from viewing Twitter
accounts that they administer, Plaintiff also asserts
that the City itself is responsible. She alleges that
even though the City's official, written social
media policies "are explicit that people are not to
be blocked on Social Media based on viewpoint,
the City has a practice and custom of blocking
unfavorable comments on social media[,]" as
4
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