September 11, 2018

DSB won a summary judgment motion dismissing the federal civil rights complaint of a fourth-grade teacher who was terminated by a Long Island school district after the police discovered an unlicensed fully loaded handgun in his glove box during a DWI stop in Southampton. Judge DeArcy Hall, ruling that no evidence supported plaintiff’s claim that the school district fired him because he was African-American, took the unusual step of noting that the plaintiff’s attorney’s unsupported factual allegations of racial discrimination were potentially sanctionable. The Federal Judge also dismissed due process claims against the defendants, finding that the school district provided the plaintiff with sufficient process by serving him with disciplinary charges and giving him an evidentiary hearing. Finally, the Judge dismissed the plaintiff’s claims for statutory damages for violations of COBRA, finding that the plaintiff had not been harmed by late notification of his COBRA rights.