Jones v. The City of New York

Background

Kareem Omar Jones, who was incarcerated and proceeding without a lawyer, brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. He alleged that New York City police officers arrested and searched him on July 2, 2016, because he is Black rather than because he had allegedly double-parked. He also challenged aspects of his criminal prosecution and representation by court-appointed lawyers. He sought money damages.

Jones named New York City; Officer Gelphin Gomez; Sergeant Anthony Peters; District Attorney Cyrus Vance; Assistant District Attorneys Bridget Brennan, Angie Morelli, Angie Godoy, Brandon Young, and Lauren Stoia; criminal defense lawyers Ricky Ghosh and Gene Conway; and Blaine Fogg, identified as the former president of the Legal Aid Society. The opinion states that Fogg died on July 14, 2019. Public records indicated that Jones was convicted of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and received a six-year determinate prison term, although a jury found him not guilty of four of six counts.

The court had previously allowed Jones to proceed without prepaying the filing fee. It reviewed the complaint under the prisoner-screening statutes, which require dismissal of claims that are frivolous, fail to state a claim, seek damages from an immune defendant, or fall outside the court’s jurisdiction. The court also said that pleadings filed without a lawyer must be read liberally.

Prosecutorial immunity

The court dismissed the claims against Cyrus Vance, Bridget Brennan, Angie Morelli, Angie Godoy, Brandon Young, and Lauren Stoia. It held that the challenged conduct was within their official duties and connected to the judicial phase of the criminal process. Prosecutors have absolute immunity from damages claims for such conduct. The court described these claims as seeking monetary relief from immune defendants and as frivolous under the applicable screening statute.

Claims against private parties

The court dismissed the § 1983 claims against Ricky Ghosh, Gene Conway, and Blaine Fogg for failure to state a claim. Section 1983 generally requires conduct under color of state law—action using authority supplied by state law. The court held that court-appointed lawyers are private parties and that their appointment does not turn their conduct into state action. It likewise relied on the principle that a legal-aid organization ordinarily is not a state actor.

False arrest

The court found that Jones’s false-arrest claim appeared untimely. It explained that § 1983 claims in New York generally have a three-year limitations period and that a false-arrest claim generally accrues when the person is detained under legal process, such as when the person is brought before a judge or arraigned. The court treated the claim as accruing on or about July 2, 2016, and noted that Jones filed the complaint on September 30, 2019, after the apparent July 2, 2019 deadline.

The court did not finally dismiss this claim at this stage. Instead, it granted Jones leave to amend to allege facts that could support equitable tolling, a narrow exception that can extend a filing deadline in compelling circumstances. The opinion gave examples including fraudulent concealment of the claim or inducing a person to delay filing.

Malicious prosecution

The court explained that a § 1983 malicious-prosecution claim requires a criminal proceeding, a favorable termination, lack of probable cause, and actual malice. The proceeding must also have ended in a way that affirmatively indicates the plaintiff’s innocence.

Because Jones did not provide facts showing the result of each of the six counts, the court could not determine whether the criminal proceeding ended in a manner indicating his innocence. It therefore granted Jones leave to add more facts about the malicious-prosecution claim.

Disposition

The court granted Jones leave to file an amended complaint within 60 days. The amended complaint had to comply with the order, be submitted to the court’s Pro Se Intake Unit, be labeled “Amended Complaint,” and include docket number 19-CV-9126 (CM). No summons would issue at that time. The court warned that if Jones did not timely amend and could not show good cause, the complaint would be dismissed for failure to state a claim.

The conclusion directed the Clerk to dismiss Brennan, Morelli, Godoy, Young, Stoia, Ghosh, Conway, and Fogg from the action. The opinion’s discussion also states that the claims against Vance were dismissed, but the conclusion’s listed dismissal does not include Vance. The court further certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal.