Opinion ID: 784897
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Charged Causes of Action

Text: 12 Plaintiffs' complaint pleads seven causes of action, the first three pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the last four under state law. 13 The first federal claim sweeps broadly, charging defendants with violating plaintiffs' rights under the Fourteenth Amendment to be secure in their persons, to be free from punishment without due process and equal protection of laws, and further to be free from conspirators [sic] to violate their rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. Id. at ¶ 82. The district court construed the claim as one for malicious and selective prosecution. See Bernard v. County of Suffolk, No. 01 CV 5403, at 10-13, 19 (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 12, 2002). 14 Plaintiffs' second claim, for conspiracy, charged a scheme to injure Babylon Democrats through the use of unfounded and improper investigations and criminal charges. Complaint at ¶ 87. The district court similarly construed the conspiracy claim to focus on defendants' alleged malicious and selective prosecution of plaintiffs: Drawing all inferences in the plaintiffs' favor, the complaint alleges that the defendants conspired together and with other state actors in order to prosecute the plaintiffs for their own personal purposes. Bernard v. County of Suffolk, No. 01 CV 5403, at 14. 15 The third federal claim charges defendants with abusing their prosecutorial power for improper political purposes in violation of plaintiffs' right to substantive due process. Complaint at ¶¶ 92-93. 16 Plaintiffs' state law claims all sound in tort: three claims for malicious prosecution and one claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Id. at ¶¶ 104-121. 17