Opinion ID: 723918
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The State Law Claim for Delay in Arraignment.

Text: 25 We agree with the City that the district court presented the delay in arraignment issue to the jury as a private right of action implied from section 140.20(1). As previously noted, the discussion (at the conclusion of the plaintiff's case) concerning the City's motion for a directed verdict on Watson's delay of arraignment claim was directed almost exclusively to the requirements imposed by Roundtree. 7 In addition, and most critically, the district court responded to the jury's inquiry regarding the issue of intentional delay by quoting extensively from section 140.20(1), the statute construed in Roundtree, and pointing out that the statute does not include a requirement of intentional action. Finally, the district court's jury instruction was clearly premised upon the twenty-four hour standard established in Roundtree, as was Watson's closing argument. 26 Judge Keenan's response to the jury's question concerning the element of intent is significant not only because of its clear focus upon section 140.20(1), but also because by rejecting a requirement of intentional delay it directly undermines Watson's claim that the case was tried on a theory of common law false imprisonment. It is settled that false imprisonment is an intentional tort under New York law. See Lombardoni v. Boccaccio, 160 A.D.2d 1089, 1091, 553 N.Y.S.2d 249, 250 (3d Dep't 1990); Wheeler v. State, 104 A.D.2d 496, 498, 479 N.Y.S.2d 244, 246 (2d Dep't 1984) (mem.). We conclude that the case was tried on the basis of an implied statutory, rather than common law, right of recovery. 27 We turn, then, to the question whether section 140.20(1) gives rise to a private right of action. We see no need to certify this question to the New York Court of Appeals, as suggested by the City. Generally, we 28 certif[y] questions to the New York Court of Appeals only where there is a split of authority on the issue, where the statute's plain language does not indicate the answer, or when presented with a complex question of New York common law for which no New York authority can be found. 29 Riordan v. Nationwide Mut. Fire Ins. Co., 977 F.2d 47, 51 (2d Cir.1992), certified question withdrawn as moot, 984 F.2d 69 (2d Cir.1993) (per curiam). In the present case, there is no split of authority on the existence of the private right of action at issue, the issue is not unduly complex, and as will appear, the question of statutory interpretation posed by this case is not sufficiently difficult to warrant certification. We turn to the merits. 30 To begin with, we are mindful that [i]n the absence of any guidance from state courts, federal courts are hesitant to imply private rights of action from state criminal statutes. In re Integrated Resources, Inc. Real Estate Ltd. Partnerships Sec. Litig. (Kinley Corp. v. Integrated Resources Equity Corp.), 851 F.Supp. 556, 564 (S.D.N.Y.1994). In deciding whether a statute creates a private right of action, New York considers the factors laid out by the Supreme Court in Cort v. Ash, 422 U.S. 66, 78, 95 S.Ct. 2080, 2088, 45 L.Ed.2d 26 (1975). See CPC Int'l Inc. v. McKesson Corp., 70 N.Y.2d 268, 280, 519 N.Y.S.2d 804, 809, 514 N.E.2d 116 (1987); Burns Jackson Miller Summit & Spitzer v. Lindner, 59 N.Y.2d 314, 325, 464 N.Y.S.2d 712, 716, 451 N.E.2d 459 (1983). The Cort factors include the following: 31 First, is the plaintiff one of the class for whose especial benefit the statute was enacted ...? Second, is there any indication of legislative intent, explicit or implicit, either to create such a remedy or to deny one? Third, is it consistent with the underlying purposes of the legislative scheme to imply such a remedy for the plaintiff? 32 422 U.S. at 78, 95 S.Ct. at 2088 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). 8 33 While the first of the Cort factors is presumably satisfied in the present case, Watson offers no support for either of the other factors. Most importantly we are given no indication that the New York legislature intended to create a new private right of action in enacting section 140.20(1). This possibility is seriously undermined by the fact that the determination whether to infer a private statutory right of action is made in light ... of existing common-law ... remedies, with which legislative familiarity is presumed. Burns, 59 N.Y.2d at 325, 464 N.Y.S.2d at 716, 451 N.E.2d 459. In this case, a statutory right of action would be largely superfluous because, as noted above, the common law tort of false imprisonment includes a right to recover for undue delay in arraignment. A separate statutory right of action would serve no purpose beyond broadening liability to cover nonintentional violations. The legislature was presumptively aware of this fact, and we are afforded no indication that it chose to create a new right of action simply to weaken the mens rea requirement for liability at common law. 34 We conclude that the district court erred in allowing the jury to award Watson damages pursuant to a private right of action implied from section 140.20(1). 35