Opinion ID: 1358526
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The City of New York and St. Barnabas Hospital

Text: To ultimately prevail on his municipal liability claim against the City, Shomo must establish that violations of his constitutional rights were precipitated by a municipal policy or custom. Vann v. City of New York, 72 F.3d 1040, 1049 (2d Cir. 1995). As stated above, Shomo's complaint is replete with allegations of medical and security staff repeatedly refusing to provide treatment in accordance with medical recommendations. The district court found that Shomo fail[ed] to identify any municipal or DOC policy or custom that caused his injuries. In the district court's view, Shomo could not assert a municipal policy where he was seen by many doctors and received numerous medical tests. However, the policy alleged by Shomo is one of regularly disregarding medical recommendations concerning proper treatment. That Shomo was frequently seen by doctors who administered tests does not establish the absence of the aforesaid policy. To satisfy application of the continuing violation doctrine, Shomo will need to allege the persistence of the municipal policy and non-time-barred acts indicating the acquiescence of policy-making officials in subordinates' misconduct. Shomo points to a number of medical recommendations that purportedly were made after September 26, 2000, including requests that Shomo be transferred to specialized housing and receive a neurological evaluation, and a notation on one of his medical records stating please help ADLs. Shomo could support application of the continuing violation doctrine with allegations that policy-making officials were aware that medical recommendations were deliberately ignored. Where the complaint already contains allegations of disregarded medical recommendations from before the statutory time period, it is possible that Shomo will be able to adequately set forth similar allegations as to recommendations made after September 26, 2000. Accordingly, we remand for Shomo to replead his municipal liability claim against the City. Because Shomo's complaint can be read to allege that St. Barnabas Hospital had a similar policy as a medical provider on behalf of DOC and it is possible that Shomo can allege non-time-barred acts in furtherance of the policy, we also remand for Shomo to replead his Section 1983 claim against St. Barnabas Hospital. [3]