Judge Pamela Cheng
Pursuant to Family Court Act §842-a, the Nassau County Police Department (NCPD) suspended Dudek’s pistol license, and defendant sheriff’s department seized a pistol, and a rifle and shotgun (the “longarms”), after a family offense proceeding was brought against him. After the proceeding’s vacatur, Dudek’s pistol license was reinstated and his pistol returned. However, the sheriffs department refused to return the longarms. Dudek claimed the department maintains a policy of refusing to return firearms after the court order to confiscate them no longer exists. The department argued that due to a “glitch” in §842-a, Family Court lacked authority to order their return. Despite dismissing Dudek’s 42 USC §1983 claim against the sheriff’s department, district court declined to dismiss, and permitted discovery on Dudek’s Monell claim arguing that the department, as the county’s administrative arm, was “merely carrying out the mandates of state law” in refusing to return his guns. The fact that the county’s sheriff—as an “official policymaker” for the county in the area of “law enforcement practices”—failed to consider Dudek’s prior request for his longarms’ return raised a plausible inference that a no-return policy existed.
