De'Bey v. The City of New York
- Paul Gardephe
- 1:20-cv-01034
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In De'Bey v. The City of New York, Judge Gardephe dismissed claims against Elsa Gaston but allowed De’Bey to amend.
John De’Bey’s claims against Elsa Gaston were dismissed, but De’Bey was granted leave to amend those claims.
What happened
In De’Bey v. The City of New York, John De’Bey, who was representing himself, sued various government entities and individuals. He claimed that his neighbor, Elsa Gaston, defamed him by reporting concerns about his family to child-protection officials.
The court dismissed De’Bey’s claims against Gaston because the statements described De’Bey’s wife and children, not De’Bey. The court also said De’Bey could not bring a defamation claim for his wife, who was not a plaintiff, and that the allegations did not show Gaston acted as a state official for purposes of a federal civil-rights claim.
Judge Paul G. Gardephe dismissed De’Bey’s claims against Elsa Gaston and granted him permission to amend those claims by June 8, 2020.
The detailed version
- De'Bey v. The City of New York · No. 1:20-cv-01034
- Paul Gardephe
- May 6, 2020
Background
John De’Bey filed an amended complaint without a lawyer against various government agencies and officers under federal civil-rights statutes, and asserted a defamation claim against his neighbor, Elsa Gaston. The opinion addressed the claims against Gaston during the court’s initial screening of the amended complaint.
According to the allegations, on February 26, 2019, De’Bey’s wife told Gaston that she needed help and asked Gaston to watch their two-year-old son for several hours. Gaston contacted the child-protection hotline and reported that De’Bey’s wife had abandoned the child and that De’Bey’s eight-month-old daughter appeared underweight. De’Bey alleged that Gaston also took the daughter from his wife’s arms and weighed her without permission.
Court’s Analysis
The court explained that a person representing himself may litigate only his own legal interests. De’Bey alleged that Gaston’s statements concerned his wife and children, not him. To the extent the statement about his wife could support a defamation claim, the wife was not listed as a plaintiff and had not signed the complaint. De’Bey therefore could not assert that claim on her behalf.
The court also stated that a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 requires an alleged violation of a federal right by a person acting under state authority. The amended complaint did not allege that Gaston acted under state authority, so it did not state a Section 1983 claim against her.
Disposition
The court dismissed De’Bey’s claims against Elsa Gaston. It granted De’Bey leave to amend as to Gaston, requiring any motion to amend and proposed second amended complaint to be filed by June 8, 2020. The opinion also addressed temporary procedures for electronic notices and filings during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.