Hu v. City of New York ( 2023 )

22-183
Hu 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 TO 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 19th day of May, two thousand twenty-three.
PRESENT:
AMALYA L. KEARSE,
DENNIS JACOBS,
RICHARD J. SULLIVAN,
Circuit Judges.
___________________________________________________________________
ERIC HU, NY DRILLING, INC., 888
CONSULTING CORP.,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v. No. 22-183
CITY OF NEW YORK, DENNIS BURKART, JOSE
L. ESPAILLAT, MICHAEL CAMERA, RAFAEL
COLLIS, SALVATOR CONCIALDI, ROBERT
TURNER, CESAR ROMERO, RICK D.
CHANDLER, MUHAMMAD IMRAN, D. ERIC
HOYT,
Defendants-Appellees. *
__________________________________________________________________________________________
*
The Clerk of Court is respectfully directed to amend the official case caption as set forth above.
For Plaintiffs-Appellants: AARON B. SCHWEITZER (John Troy,
Tiffany Troy, on the brief), Troy Law,
PLLC, Flushing, NY.
For Defendants-Appellees: ANTONELLA KARLIN (Richard Dearing,
Jamison Davies, on the brief), Assistant
Corporation Counsel, for Sylvia O.
Hinds-Radix, Corporation Counsel of
the City of New York, New York, NY.
Appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of New York (Allyne R. Ross, Judge).
UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED,
ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the judgment of the district court is
AFFIRMED.
Eric Hu, NY Drilling, Inc., and 888 Consulting Corp. (collectively,
“Plaintiffs”) appeal the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the
City of New York, Dennis Burkart – an Assistant Chief Inspector at the New York
City Department of Buildings (the “DOB”) – and certain other officials employed
by the DOB (collectively, “Defendants”) as to Plaintiffs’ claims under 42 U.S.C.
§ 1981 and the Equal Protection Clause for race-based and malice-based selective
enforcement. Plaintiffs allege that Burkart treated Hu, companies affiliated with
him, and other Asian individuals in the construction industry differently than
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similarly situated comparators when he imposed fines on Plaintiffs in the course
of their drilling and excavation work at construction sites in New York City.
We previously vacated in part the district court’s dismissal of Plaintiffs’
claims under the Equal Protection Clause and section 1981, determining that
Plaintiffs’ amended complaint “just barely” alleged facts necessary to plausibly
show a reasonably close resemblance between Plaintiffs and one of their proffered
comparators, thereby satisfying the standard set forth in LeClair v. Saunders, 627
F.2d 606 (2d Cir. 1980). Hu v. City of New York, 927 F.3d 81, 91 (2d Cir. 2019). In
light of the revived federal claims, we also vacated the district court’s order
declining to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ state-law claim –
brought pursuant to N.Y. Gen. Mun. Law § 51 – and remanded the case for further
proceedings. Id. at 107. After Defendants moved for summary judgment on
remand, the district court determined that Plaintiffs failed to identify a sufficiently
similar comparator and therefore dismissed Plaintiffs’ LeClair Equal Protection
and section 1981 claims. With no federal claims remaining, the district court again
declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ state-law claim. This
appeal followed. We assume the parties’ familiarity with the underlying facts,
procedural history, and issues on appeal.
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We review a district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo, Kee v. City
of New York, 12 F.4th 150, 157–58 (2d Cir. 2021), and will affirm when there is “no
genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as
a matter of law,” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). We review a district court’s decision to
decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction for abuse of discretion. See Valencia
ex rel. Franco v. Lee, 316 F.3d 299, 305 (2d Cir. 2003).
To prove a LeClair Equal Protection claim, a plaintiff must establish that
“(1) the person, compared with others similarly situated, was selectively treated,”
and “(2) the selective treatment was motivated by an intention to discriminate on
the basis of impermissible considerations, such as race or religion, to punish or
inhibit the exercise of constitutional rights, or by a malicious or bad faith intent to
injure the person.” Zahra v. Town of Southold, 48 F.3d 674, 683 (2d Cir. 1995)
(internal quotation marks omitted). With regard to the first requirement, a
plaintiff must show that he is “similarly situated in all material respects” to the
plaintiff’s proffered comparator. Hu, 927 F.3d at 96 (internal quotation marks
omitted). Although a comparator’s circumstances need not be identical to the
plaintiff’s, the comparator’s circumstances must bear a “reasonably close
resemblance” to the plaintiff’s in order for this standard to be satisfied. Id. (internal
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quotation marks omitted).
Section 1981 claims similarly require that a plaintiff “allege at least one
instance in which he was treated differently from a similarly situated non-
minority.” Id. at 101. We have explained that, for section 1981 claims, the
“standard for determining whether a plaintiff and a comparator are similarly
situated is identical to the similarity standard for a LeClair Equal Protection claim.”
Id.On appeal, Plaintiffs argue that the district court erred in concluding that
Plaintiffs failed to proffer a similarly situated comparator to demonstrate that
Plaintiffs were selectively treated at their 34th Street jobsite. 1 Plaintiffs point to
two separate incidents at this jobsite in support of their argument: one on March
23, 2016 and one on July 11, 2016. According to Plaintiffs, on March 23, 2016,
Burkart visited the 34th Street jobsite and spoke with Wayne Fried – a white man
and an owner of New York Drilling, Inc. – regarding the excavation taking place
at the site, which involved the use of a catch pond for water used to flush the
1 The district court concluded that Plaintiffs had abandoned their LeClair Equal Protection and
section 1981 claims as to all but the 34th Street jobsite. The district court further noted that – even
assuming arguendo that Plaintiffs had not abandoned these claims – such claims would fail as a
matter of law. Because Plaintiffs do not challenge the district court’s determination with regard
to the other jobsites on appeal, the Court limits its analysis herein to the 34th Street jobsite.
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excavation drill. Burkart did not issue any violations. Then, on July 11, 2016,
Burkart returned to the site when Fried was not present, took pictures of the site,
and issued violations for unlicensed welding and standing water – even though
by that point Plaintiffs had purportedly drained the catch pond on site. Plaintiffs
argue that because Burkart only issued violations when Fried was not present,
issues of material fact exist as to whether Burkart engaged in selective treatment
of Plaintiffs at the 34th Street jobsite.
But as Defendants point out and as the district court recognized, Plaintiffs’
aforementioned theory regarding Burkart’s selective enforcement at the 34th
Street jobsite was raised for the first time in Plaintiffs’ opposition to Defendants’
motion for summary judgment and contradicts certain allegations in Plaintiffs’
amended complaint. Indeed, contrary to Plaintiffs’ arguments on appeal, the
amended complaint clearly identifies an event following the July 11, 2016 violation
as the relevant comparator for the 34th Street jobsite. The amended complaint
does not even mention Burkart’s March 23, 2016 visit to the 34th Street jobsite, let
alone identify this incident as a relevant comparator.
Furthermore, the amended complaint plainly asserts that around the time
that Burkart issued the July 11, 2016 violation, the catch pond at the 34th Street
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jobsite was filled with water, which was at least in part the result of heavy rains.
These allegations directly contradict Plaintiffs’ present contention that at the time
of the July 11, 2016 violation, the catch pond had been drained and there was no
longer standing water at the site. To explain this discrepancy, Plaintiffs asserted
that although they admitted to the standing water violation back in 2016, they did
so under duress to “try and avoid Defendant Burkart imposing a protracted work
stoppage regardless of the truth.” Plaintiffs Br. at 11.
We agree with Defendants that Plaintiffs may not raise a new theory of
selective enforcement for the first time in their opposition to Defendants’ motion
for summary judgment. See Zann Kwan v. Andalex Grp. LLC, 737 F.3d 834, 843 (2d
Cir. 2013) (declining to reach merits of argument raised for first time in opposition
to summary judgment); Greenidge v. Allstate Ins. Co., 446 F.3d 356, 361 (2d Cir. 2006)
(same). Normally, “[a] party’s assertion of fact in a pleading is a judicial admission
by which it . . . is bound throughout the course of the proceeding.” Bellefonte Re
Ins. Co. v. Argonaut Ins. Co., 757 F.2d 523, 528 (2d Cir. 1985); see also Wright v. Ernst
& Young LLP, 152 F.3d 169, 178 (2d Cir. 1998) (recognizing that a party may not
amend its complaint through statements made in motion papers). When a party
fails to explain or reconcile inconsistent and contradictory statements between a
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party’s complaint and opposition to summary judgment, such statements can
“transcend credibility concerns and go to the heart of whether the party has raised
genuine issues of material fact to be decided by a jury.” Rojas v. Roman Cath. Diocese
of Rochester, 660 F.3d 98, 106 (2d Cir. 2011); see also Hayes v. N.Y.C. Dep’t of Corr., 84
F.3d 614, 619 (2d Cir. 1996) (noting that “factual issues created solely by an
affidavit crafted to oppose a summary judgment motion are not ‘genuine’ issues
for trial”); Agosto v. N.Y.C. Dep’t of Educ., 982 F.3d 86, 102 (2d Cir. 2020) (explaining
that a party may not create a material dispute of fact by contradicting a prior sworn
affidavit). That is the case here: because Plaintiffs’ recent assertions regarding
Burkart’s March 23, 2016 visit directly contradict the allegations in their amended
complaint, and Plaintiffs have failed to reconcile these discrepancies, we cannot
conclude that Plaintiffs have established a genuine issue of material fact as to their
treatment at the 34th Street site.
With regard to the alternative comparator set forth in Plaintiffs’ amended
complaint, we agree with the district court that Plaintiffs have failed to
demonstrate that the jobsite Burkart encountered upon his alleged return to the
34th Street site after July 11, 2016 was reasonably similar to the jobsite he
encountered at the time that he issued the violation. Plaintiffs offered no specific
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details regarding the state of the catch pond on either date to establish that the
pond was in a materially similar state on the two dates in question. Moreover,
Plaintiffs do not dispute that, even if conditions were similar on the two occasions,
the site could not have been penalized again because the second visit occurred
during the prescribed window of time in which violators are permitted to cure the
condition. 1 RCNY § 102-01(d)(1). As such, we conclude that the district court
properly granted summary judgment for Defendants as to Plaintiffs’ Equal
Protection and section 1981 claims.
Having affirmed the dismissal of Plaintiffs’ federal claims, we cannot
conclude that the district court abused its discretion in dismissing Plaintiffs’ state-
law claim. See Carnegie-Mellon Univ. v. Cohill, 484 U.S. 343, 350 & n.7 (1988). In
determining whether to exercise jurisdiction over supplemental state-law claims,
district courts are to “balance the values of judicial economy, convenience,
fairness, and comity.” Klein & Co. Futures, Inc. v. Bd. of Trade of City of New York,
464 F.3d 255, 262 (2d Cir. 2006). Here, the district court properly considered these
factors in evaluating whether to exercise supplemental jurisdiction, concluding
that the interest of comity weighed in favor of allowing Plaintiffs’ state-law claim
to be adjudicated in state court and that it would be “neither unfair nor
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inconvenient” for the parties to litigate that claim in a state forum. Sp. App’x at
23–24.
Plaintiffs argue that the district court erred in declining to exercise
supplemental jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ state-law claim because this case has
been pending for over five years, the district court is “intimately familiar with the
issues in this case,” and the district court is familiar with adjudicating N.Y. Gen.
Mun. Law § 51 claims. Plaintiffs Br. at 21–22. But we see no reason to disturb the
district court’s conclusion that this is the “usual case” in which all federal-law
claims have been dismissed before trial and the balance of factors point towards
declining to exercise supplemental jurisdiction. See, e.g., Kolari v. New York-
Presbyterian Hosp., 455 F.3d 118, 123–24 (2d Cir. 2006) (determining that the district
court should have declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction when federal-law
claims had been dismissed and there was “no extraordinary inconvenience or
inequity occasioned by permitting the claims to be refiled in state court”); Tops
Markets, Inc. v. Quality Markets, Inc., 142 F.3d 90, 102–03 (2d Cir. 1998) (holding that
the district court properly exercised its discretion in declining supplemental
jurisdiction after dismissing federal-law claims on a motion for summary
judgment decided more than three years after complaint was filed); Kidder, Peabody
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& Co. v. Maxus Energy Corp., 925 F.2d 556, 564 (2d Cir. 1991) (determining that the
balance of factors weighed in favor of the divestiture of pendant state-law claims
even though “the court ha[d] invested considerable time in their resolution”).
We have considered Plaintiffs’ remaining arguments and find them to be
without merit. Accordingly, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.
FOR THE COURT:
Catherine O=Hagan Wolfe, Clerk of Court
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