Opinion
21-1465-cv
11-18-2022
KEISHONE JOHNSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. DANIEL MILLER, SANFORD RICH, RAYMOND ORLANDO, BOARD OF EDUCATION RETIREMENT SYSTEM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, Defendants-Appellees.
FOR PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT: ANTONIA KOUSOULAS, Kousoulas &Associates P.C., New York, NY FOR DEFENDANTS-APPELLEES: CHLOE K. MOON, Assistant Corporation Counsel (Claibourne Henry, Jane L. Gordon, on the brief), for Georgia M. Pestana, Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, New York, NY
UNPUBLISHED OPINION
SUMMARY ORDER
RULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT. CITATION TO A SUMMARY ORDER FILED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2007, IS PERMITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY FEDERAL RULE OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT'S LOCAL RULE 32.1.1. WHEN CITING A SUMMARY ORDER IN A DOCUMENT FILED WITH THIS COURT, A PARTY MUST CITE EITHER THE FEDERAL APPENDIX OR AN ELECTRONIC DATABASE (WITH THE NOTATION "SUMMARY ORDER"). A PARTY CITING A SUMMARY ORDER MUST SERVE A COPY OF IT ON ANY PARTY NOT REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL.
At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, held at the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, in the City of New York, on the 18th day of November, two thousand twenty-two.
Appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Nicholas G. Garaufis, Judge).
FOR PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT: ANTONIA KOUSOULAS, Kousoulas &Associates P.C., New York, NY
FOR DEFENDANTS-APPELLEES: CHLOE K. MOON, Assistant Corporation Counsel (Claibourne Henry, Jane L. Gordon, on the brief), for Georgia M. Pestana, Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, New York, NY
PRESENT: REENA RAGGI, RICHARD C. WESLEY, RAYMOND J. LOHIER, JR., Circuit Judges.
UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the judgment of the District Court is AFFIRMED. Keishone Johnson appeals from a May 13, 2021 judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Garaufis, J.) granting with prejudice the Defendants-Appellees' motion for summary judgment. We assume the parties' familiarity with the underlying facts and the record of prior proceedings, to which we refer only as necessary to explain our decision to affirm.
Johnson served as the Manager of Infrastructure and Technical Services at the Board of Education Retirement System of the City of New York from April 2015 until his termination on February 18, 2016. In 2018 Johnson brought this action in New York state court, claiming that the Defendants-Appellees fired him in retaliation for engaging in constitutionally protected speech in violation of the First Amendment and New York's whistleblower protection statute, N.Y. Civ. Serv. Law § 75-b. Johnson also claimed that he was the victim of race discrimination in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, 42 U.S.C. § 1981, the New York State Human Rights Law, N.Y.
Exec. Law §§ 290, et seq., and the New York City Human Rights Law, N.Y.C. Admin. Code §§ 8-101, et seq. The Defendants-Appellees removed this case to federal district court and, after discovery, filed a motion for summary judgment. The District Court granted the motion on all claims. Having reviewed the District Court's decision de novo, see Ya-Chen Chen v. City Univ. of N.Y., 805 F.3d 59, 69 (2d Cir. 2015), and having considered the parties' arguments on appeal as well as the particular circumstances of this case, we affirm for reasons set forth in the District Court's Memorandum and Order entered May 12, 2021.
The judgment of the District Court is AFFIRMED.