Graber v. Cayuga Home for Children et al
Filing
36
ORDER DENYING MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION: Defendant's motion for reconsideration (Dkt. No. 20 ) is Denied. Signed by Judge David N. Hurd on 01/29/2025. (hmr)
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
-------------------------------KATHRYN NOLAN GRABER,
Plaintiff,
-v-
5:24-CV-468
CAYUGA HOME FOR CHILDREN
d/b/a CAYUGA CENTERS and EDWARD
HAYES,
Defendants.
-------------------------------APPEARANCES:
OF COUNSEL:
HARDING MAZZOTTI, LLP
Attorneys for Plaintiff
P.O. Box 15141
1 Wall Street
Albany, NY 12212
KELLY A. MAGNUSON, ESQ.
BOND, SCHOENECK & KING, PLLC
Attorneys for Defendants
350 Linden Oaks, Third Floor
Rochester, NY 14625
JEREMY M. SHER, ESQ.
DAVID N. HURD
United States District Judge
ORDER DENYING MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION
On April 3, 2024, plaintiff Kathryn Nolan Graber (“Nolan Graber” or
“plaintiff”) filed a civil lawsuit against defendants Cayuga Home for
Children, doing business as the Cayuga Centers (“Cayuga”) and its Chief
Executive Officer (“CEO”) Edward Hayes (“Hayes”) (collectively,
“defendants”) for for retaliation and constructive termination under both
Title VII and the New York State Human Rights Law (the “NYSHRL”). Dkt.
Nos. 1, 11. 1 Thereafter, defendants moved pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) to
dismiss plaintiff’s amended complaint. Dkt. No. 14. That motion was
denied, and defendants were directed to file their answer to the amended
complaint. Dkt. No. 19.
On December 6, 2024, defendants answered Nolan Graber’s amended
complaint. Dkt. No. 21. Defendants also moved for reconsideration with
respect to plaintiff’s constructive discharge claim. Dkt. No. 20. The motion
has been fully briefed, Dkt. Nos. 20, 26–27, 33, 2 and will be considered on the
basis of the submissions without oral argument.
Local Rule 60.1 provides that a party may file a motion for reconsideration
within fourteen days from the date a judgment, order, or decree is entered.
N.D.N.Y. L.R. 60.1. The standards governing motions for reconsideration are
necessarily strict to prevent litigants from rehashing the same issues that
have already been carefully considered by the district court in the prior
ruling. Navigators Ins. Co. v. Goyard, Inc., 623 F. Supp. 3d 220, 222
1 On July 5, 2024, plaintiff amended her complaint as of right. Dkt. No. 11.
2 Plaintiff’s opposition to defendants’ motion for reconsideration was filed twice on the docket.
Dkt. Nos. 26–27.
-2-
(S.D.N.Y. 2022) (quoting Analytical Survs. Inc. v. Tonga Partners L.P., 684
F.3d 36, 52 (2d Cir. 2012) (“[S]uch a motion ‘is not a vehicle for relitigating
old issues, presenting the case under new theories, securing a rehearing on
the merits, or otherwise taking a second bite at the apple[.]’”).
In this circuit, “[a] court may justifiably reconsider its previous ruling if:
(1) there is an intervening change in the controlling law; (2) new evidence not
previously available comes to light; or (3) it becomes necessary to remedy a
clear error of law or to prevent manifest injustice.” DG N.Y. CS, LLC v.
Norbut Solar Farm, LLC, 2024 WL 476540, at *1 (N.D.N.Y. Feb. 7, 2024)
(quoting Delaney v. Selsky, 899 F. Supp. 923, 925 (N.D.N.Y. 1995) (McAvoy,
J.)).
Measured against this standard, defendants’ motion for reconsideration
will be denied. Defendants have not presented new law or facts that would
require this Court to revisit its November 22, 2024 decision (the “November
Order). Nor have defendants articulated a clear error or law or manifest
injustice. Instead, defendants merely attempt to relitigate the issues decided
-3-
in the November Order. 3 See Dkt. No. 20-1. Accordingly, defendants’ motion
for reconsideration will be denied.
Therefore, it is
ORDERED that
1. Defendant’s motion to for reconsideration (Dkt. No. 20) is DENIED.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: January 29, 2025
Utica, New York.
3 As stated in the November Order, “[a] constructive discharge occurs when the employer, rather
than acting directly, ‘deliberately makes an employee’s working conditions so intolerable that the
employee is forced into an involuntary resignation.’” Knight v. MTA – N.Y.C. Transit, 2024 WL
4350417, at *24 (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 30, 2024) (quoting Pena v. Brattleboro Retreat, 702 F.2d 322, 325 (2d
Cir. 1983)). Defendants do not argue that the Court failed to apply the correct legal standard.
Instead, defendants urge the Court to reconsider the sufficiency of plaintiff’s allegations in light of
that legal standard. Defendants argue that the Court should find plaintiff’s allegations insufficient
when compared to the allegations considered by the Second Circuit in Shultz v. Congregation
Shearith Israel of N.Y.C., 867 F.3d 298, 308 (2d Cir. 2017). Dkt. No. 20-1.
-4-
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