Opinion ID: 779268
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Family Relationship Alleged

Text: 17 Since defendants concede a right to intimate association exists, the questions before us are whether the particular relationships at issue in this case are generally protected and, if so, whether they are protected under the circumstances alleged. With regard to the first question, defendants assert that Patel's amended complaint, which alleges that his relationships with his family and friends were impaired, implicates remarkably broad associational interests insupportable as federal claims under existing case law. Insofar as defendants complain that the right to intimate association does not protect relationships between friends, we note that the district court concluded that plaintiff's papers had made clear he was only pursuing claims based upon his familial relations. Patel, 2000 WL 1731338, at  n. 3. Thus, it is unnecessary to decide whether the right to intimate association extends to friendships as that question is not now before us. 18 Defendants also urge that plaintiff's complaint is too broad because it implicates all of the various members of [his] family. Roberts, defendants assert, stated that relationships between members of a nuclear family deserve the most protection but that other relationships may not. See 468 U.S. at 618-20, 104 S.Ct. 3244. To determine whether other familial relationships are protected, one must, according to this formulation, assess such factors as cohabitation and the precise degree of kinship. We agree that Roberts established a sliding scale for determining the amount of constitutional protection an association deserves, but we conclude that the relationships at issue in this case — those between Patel and his father, siblings, wife, and children — receive the greatest degree of protection because they are among the most intimate of relationships. 19 We say this because at this stage of the litigation all reasonable inferences must be drawn in favor of plaintiff's complaint. The husband/wife and parent/child relationships are obviously among the most intimate, and defendants do not suggest otherwise. Moreover, even though plaintiff did not live with his father and siblings, we must assume those relationships, too, were of such an intimate nature as to warrant the highest level of constitutional protection. See Rivera v. Marcus, 696 F.2d 1016, 1024-25 (2d Cir.1982) (concluding that due process rights of half sister were violated when siblings were removed from her home). 20 III Defendants' Arguments Regarding Their Conduct A. Relationships' Impairment and Severity Questioned 21 Although defendants concede plaintiff's right to intimate association exists, they maintain that plaintiff has not alleged his relations with his wife and children have been impaired by their conduct. To the contrary, the amended complaint makes several allegations specifically addressing those relationships. For instance, plaintiff alleges that Detective Swanson gave his wife false and defamatory information about him to make her fear for her own and her children's lives. According to Patel, this constituted part of the officers' strategy of creating sufficient hostility within his family in order to elicit false accusations against him. These allegations are sufficient to implicate plaintiff's right to intimate association. See Adler v. Pataki, 185 F.3d 35, 44 (2d Cir.1999) (employee allegedly fired in retaliation for wife's discrimination suit could maintain § 1983 action); Griffin v. Strong, 983 F.2d 1544, 1549 & n. 5 (10th Cir.1993) (police officer's lie to suspect's wife that her husband had confessed to child abuse implicated wife's associational rights). 22 Defendants next contend that the extent of the alleged interference with plaintiff's relationships, which they assert only resulted in ostracization, was not severe enough to warrant constitutional protection. Citing cases where plaintiffs have been completely or permanently deprived of their intimate relations, the officers insist that there is a minimum level of culpability to which their conduct does not rise. See, e.g., Bell v. City of Milwaukee, 746 F.2d 1205, 1244-45 (7th Cir.1984) (holding parent's § 1983 claim actionable when adult son killed); Duchesne v. Sugarman, 566 F.2d 817, 833 (2d Cir.1977) (holding mother and children had actionable claim when state removed children from home and refused to return them without due process of law). 23 We reject defendants' draconian and formalistic vision of how severe the impairment to the right to intimate association must be because, for one thing, it is not supported by the case law. Simply put, defendants' view is inconsistent with Roberts' statement that constitutional protections for associational interests are at their apogee when close family relationships are at issue. 468 U.S. at 619-20, 104 S.Ct. 3244. Further, even less severe burdens than Patel has allegedly suffered have been held to implicate the right to intimate association. See Adler, 185 F.3d at 44 (holding that retaliatory dismissal is a sufficient burden on marital relationship to maintain § 1983 action). 24 And, even if plaintiff were required to show a permanent deprivation of familial association, the district court properly ruled that plaintiff alleged facts sufficient to establish such a claim with regard to his father and siblings. Specifically, plaintiff alleged that defendants extinguish[ed] his familial relations. In this respect, plaintiff suggests the officers used their authority to interfere with his family relations in a particularly pernicious way: they attacked the relationships directly rather than simply erecting a legal barrier, such as a custody determination, to prevent contact between plaintiff and his family members. Given these considerations, defendants' argument that plaintiff's injuries were insufficient to implicate the right to intimate association is unpersuasive. B. Officers' Intent 25 The officers' next argument — that there was no constitutional violation because the officers' actions were not directed at Patel's family relationships — fares no better. First, this Circuit has never held that a challenged action must be directed at a protected relationship for it to infringe on the right to intimate association. See id. at 43-44. But, in any event, Patel has alleged facts sufficient to prove that the officers' conduct was intentionally directed at his family. For instance, Patel declares that the officers engaged in a misinformation campaign designed to create hostility and mistrust among family members that would ultimately lead to false accusations against [Patel]. That is to say, in order to falsely implicate Patel as a murderer, the officers directly assaulted Patel's intimate family relations through lies and chicanery. Hence, even under the strict standard suggested by defendants — which we do not believe finds support in Roberts or in any of our precedents — plaintiff has alleged a constitutional violation.