United Spinal Association et al v. Board of Elections in the City of New York et al
Filing
202
ADOPTION OF REPORT & RECOMMENDATION for 199 Report and Recommendations. It is hereby ORDERED AND ADJUDGED as follows: 1. The Report and Recommendation of United States Magistrate Judge Henry Pitman dated October 11, 2017 be and the same hereby is APPROVED, ADOPTED, and RATIFIED by the Court in its entirety; 2. Pursuant to Magistrate Judge Pitman's recommendation, Plaintiffs' Motion to join the DOE as a Defendant and direct them to permanently resolve accessibility barriers in speci fied public schools, and institute disciplinary action against DOE employees who interfere with efforts to make polling sites more accessible is DENIED. The Clerk of Court shall close docket number 182. (Signed by Judge Deborah A. Batts on 3/27/2018) (kgo)
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
------------------------------------X
United Spinal Association et al.,
Plaintiffs,
v.
10-CV-5653 (DAB)
ADOPTION OF REPORT
& RECOMMENDATION
Board of Elections in the City of
New York et al.,
Defendants.
-------------------------------------X
DEBORAH A. BATTS, United States District Judge.
This matter is before the Court upon the October 11, 2017
Report and Recommendation of United States Magistrate Judge
Henry Pitman (“Report”). Judge Pitman’s Report recommends that
the Court deny Plaintiffs’ Motion to join the New York City
Department of Education (“DOE”) as a Defendant in this case and
direct the DOE under the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1651, to:
(1) permanently resolve accessibility barriers in specified
public schools, and (2) provide training for and/or institute
disciplinary action against DOE employees who interfere with
efforts to make polling sites in DOE facilities accessible on
election days. (Report at 1-2).
Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(C), “[w]ithin fourteen
days after being served with a copy [of a Magistrate Judge's
Report and Recommendation], any party may serve and file written
objections to such proposed findings and recommendations. . . .”
28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(C); see also Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b)(2). The
District Court may adopt those portions of the Report to which
no timely objection has been made, so long as there is no clear
error on the face of the record. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(A);
Wilds v. United Parcel Serv., Inc., 262 F.Supp.2d 163, 169
(S.D.N.Y. 2003).
No Party filed an objection to Judge Pitman’s Report. Thus,
the Court reviews the Report and Recommendation for clear error.
This Court is mindful of the practical and bureaucratic
challenges Plaintiffs may face in securing accessible voting
locations and gaining the Board of Election’s compliance with
this Court’s remedial Orders. Yet as Judge Pitman notes in his
Report, “the DOE’s right to be hard is of equal significance.
Plaintiffs’ motion seeks to require the DOE to expend millions
of taxpayer dollars to implement remedies that this Court has
never even ordered -- all without the DOE having the opportunity
even to address [them.]” (Report at 27). Plaintiffs could have
named the DOE as a Party from the beginning of this action. Yet
binding them now to a remedial Order which they played no role
in negotiating or investigating is not the type of remedy the
All Writs Act seeks to redress. (Id. at 28; see also Pa. Bureau
of Corr. v. U.S. Marshals Serv., 474 U.S. 34, 43 (1985)
(“Although [the All Writs] Act empowers federal courts to
2
fashion extraordinary remedies when the need arises, it does not
authorize them to issue ad hoc writs whenever compliance . . .
appears inconvenient or less appropriate.”)).
Having reviewed the Report and Recommendation and finding
no clear error on the face of the record, it is hereby ORDERED
AND ADJUDGED as follows:
1.
The Report and Recommendation of United States Magistrate
Judge Henry Pitman dated October 11, 2017 be and the same hereby
is APPROVED, ADOPTED, and RATIFIED by the Court in its entirety;
2.
Pursuant to Magistrate Judge Pitman’s recommendation,
Plaintiffs’ Motion to join the DOE as a Defendant and direct
them to permanently resolve accessibility barriers in specified
public schools, and institute disciplinary action against DOE
employees who interfere with efforts to make polling sites more
accessible is DENIED.
The Clerk of Court shall close docket number 182.
SO ORDERED.
DATED:
New York, NY
March 27, 2018
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