O'Reilly v. Connecticut Light & Power Co.

09-1927-cv O’Reilly v. Connecticut Light & Power Co. UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT SUMMARY ORDER R ULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT . C ITATION TO A SUMMARY ORDER FILED ON OR AFTER J ANUARY 1, 2007, IS PERMITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY F EDERAL R ULE OF A PPELLATE P ROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT ’ S L OCAL R ULE 32.1.1. W HEN CITING A SUMMARY ORDER IN A DOCUMENT FILED WITH THIS COURT , A PARTY MUST CITE EITHER THE F EDERAL A PPENDIX 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 . 1 At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals 2 for the Second Circuit, held at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan 3 United States Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, in the City of 4 New York, on the 17 th day of March, two thousand and ten. 5 6 PRESENT: ROBERT D. SACK, 7 RICHARD C. WESLEY, 8 Circuit Judges, 9 RICHARD K. EATON, 10 Judge. * 11 12 13 MICHAEL J. O’REILLY and JOHN T. 14 O’REILLY, 15 16 Plaintiffs-Appellants, 17 18 -v.- 09-1927-cv 19 20 CONNECTICUT LIGHT & POWER COMPANY, 21 DIANE H. BROWN, MARY GOFFIN, and NORTHEAST 22 UTILITIES, 23 24 Defendants-Appellees. 25 26 27 * The Honorable Richard K. Eaton, United States Court of International Trade, sitting by designation. 1 FOR APPELLANTS: MICHAEL J. O’REILLY and JOHN T. 2 O’REILLY, pro se, Guilford, CT. 3 4 FOR APPELLEES: HOWARD K. LEVINE, Carmody & Torrance LLP, 5 New Haven, CT (Duncan R. MacKay and 6 Alicia B. Davenport, Northeast Utilities 7 Service Company, Legal Department, 8 Berlin, CT, on the brief). 9 10 Appeal from the United States District Court for the 11 District of Connecticut (Chatigny, J.). 12 13 UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED 14 AND DECREED that the judgment of the United States District 15 Court for the District of Connecticut be AFFIRMED. 16 Plaintiffs-appellants Michael O’Reilly and John 17 O’Reilly, both pro se, commenced this action pursuant to, 18 inter alia, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act 19 (“ADA”), 42 U.S.C. § 12131 et seq.; the Fair Housing Act 20 (“FHA”), 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq.; the Fair Debt Collection 21 Practices Act (“FDCPA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq.; and 22 Connecticut law. The district court granted summary 23 judgment in favor of defendants, and it denied plaintiffs’ 24 subsequent motion for reconsideration. Plaintiffs appeal 25 both decisions. 1 We assume the parties’ familiarity with 1 We have jurisdiction to review both the district court’s February 2, 2009 order and its April 2, 2009 denial of plaintiffs’ motion for reconsideration. See “R” Best Produce, Inc. v. DiSapio, 540 F.3d 115, 121 (2d Cir. 2008). However, plaintiffs have not challenged the district court’s 2 1 the underlying facts, the procedural history, and the issues 2 presented for review. 3 We review de novo a district court’s order granting 4 summary judgment. Graves v. Finch Pruyn & Co., 457 F.3d 5 181, 183 (2d Cir. 2006). Having conducted a thorough and 6 independent review of the parties’ submissions and the 7 appellate record, we conclude that the district court 8 properly granted summary judgment in favor of defendants. 9 First, Michael O’Reilly failed to adduce sufficient evidence 10 that defendants discriminated against him “‘by reason of’” 11 his disability. Bolmer v. Oliveira, 594 F.3d 134, 148 (2d 12 Cir. 2010) (quoting 42 U.S.C. § 12132). Therefore, summary 13 judgment was appropriate as to his claim under Title II of 14 the ADA. Second, with respect to Michael O’Reilly’s FHA 15 claim, we agree with the district court that a rational 16 trier of fact could not conclude from this record that 17 defendants violated the statute in the manner that plaintiff 18 alleges. Third, the district court properly dismissed both 19 plaintiffs’ FDCPA claims because no defendant in this action 20 is a “debt collector” under the statute. See 15 U.S.C. § April 22, 2008 dismissal of John O’Reilly’s claims under the ADA and FHA, and both plaintiffs’ claims pursuant to the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692l. 3 1 1692a(6). Finally, because each of plaintiffs’ federal 2 claims was properly dismissed, the district court acted 3 within its discretion by declining to exercise supplemental 4 jurisdiction over the remaining state-law claims. WWBITV, 5 Inc. v. Vill. of Rouses Point, 589 F.3d 46, 52 (2d Cir. 6 2009). Accordingly, the district court did not err by 7 granting defendants’ motion for summary judgment. 8 Following the district court’s entry of summary 9 judgment, plaintiffs’ filed a timely motion for 10 reconsideration. The district court denied this motion, and 11 we review that conclusion for abuse of discretion. United 12 Airlines, Inc. v. Brien, 588 F.3d 158, 175 (2d Cir. 2009). 13 However, for substantially similar reasons to those stated 14 by the district court in its April 2, 2009 order, that 15 motion was properly denied as well. 16 We have considered each of plaintiffs’ arguments and 17 find them to be without merit. Accordingly, the judgment of 18 the district court is hereby AFFIRMED. 19 20 FOR THE COURT: 21 Catherine O’Hagan Wolfe, Clerk 22 23 4