08-4228-cv
Howard v. The City of New York
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
F OR T HE S ECOND C IRCUIT
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 .
At a stated Term of the United States Court of Appeals
for the Second Circuit, held at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan
United States Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, in the City of
New York, on the 4 th day of February, two thousand and ten.
Present: RICHARD C. WESLEY,
GERARD E. LYNCH,
Circuit Judges,
MARK R. KRAVITZ
District Judge. *
__________________________________________________
DONOVAN HOWARD,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
- v. - (08-4228-cv)
THE CITY OF NEW YORK and NEW YORK CITY
HUMAN RESOURCES ADMINISTRATION,
Defendants-Appellees. **
__________________________________________________
*
The Honorable Mark R. Kravitz, United States District Court for the
District of Connecticut, sitting by designation.
**
The Clerk of the Court is respectfully directed to amend the official
caption in this action to conform to the caption in this summary order.
For Appellant: DONOVAN HOWARD, pro se,
Reisterstown, Maryland.
For Appellees: CHERYL PAYER, Assistant
Corporation Counsel, City of New
York Law Department, New York,
New York.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the
Southern District of New York (Koeltl, J.).
1 UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED,
2 AND DECREED that the August 4, 2008 judgment of the United
3 States District Court for the Southern District of New York
4 is AFFIRMED.
5 Plaintiff Donovan Howard, pro se, commenced this
6 employment-discrimination action pursuant to Title VII of
7 the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq.,
8 alleging that, because of his race and gender, he was
9 subjected to a hostile work environment and wrongfully
10 terminated. Following discovery, the district court
11 conducted a jury trial that resulted in a verdict in favor
12 of defendants. We presume the parties’ familiarity with the
13 facts, the procedural history of the case, and the issues on
14 appeal.
15 Having reviewed plaintiff’s submissions and conducted
16 an independent review of the record, we find no reversible
17 error in the proceedings below. First, the magistrate judge
18 to whom the matter was referred for general pretrial
2
1 purposes did not abuse his discretion when managing the
2 discovery process and denying plaintiff’s motions for
3 appointment of counsel, recusal, and sanctions. Second, we
4 find no error in either (1) the district court’s denial of
5 plaintiff’s additional motions for appointment of counsel,
6 partial summary judgment, and recusal; or (2) its
7 evidentiary rulings and administration of the jury trial in
8 this matter. With specific reference to plaintiff’s
9 complaint that the version of Exhibit B received in evidence
10 at the trial differed from the photocopy he received during
11 discovery, the district court carefully examined the
12 disputed versions of Exhibit B and correctly found no
13 substantial difference between the two. Finally, to the
14 extent that plaintiff has challenged the merits of the
15 jury’s verdict in his briefing, we find his contentions in
16 that regard to be unsupported by the record and therefore
17 unavailing.
18 In sum, we have considered each of plaintiff’s
19 arguments and find them to be without merit. Accordingly,
20 the August 4, 2008 judgment of the district court is
21 AFFIRMED.
22
23 For the Court
24 Catherine O’Hagan Wolfe, Clerk
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