Ferran v. City of Albany

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER I. Introduction   Plaintiffs, mother and son, Nadia Ferran (hereinafter, “N. Ferran”) and Mark Ferran (hereinafter “M. Ferran”) commenced this action pro se against forty-eight defendants alleging over forty constitutional and state law claims in connection with the demolition of a property at 54 Clinton Avenue in Albany, New York. (See generally Am. Compl., Dkt. No. 12.) Certain claims have since been dismissed, and certain defendants have since been terminated, (Dkt. No. 73), leaving City of Albany, Hon. Gerald D. Jennings, Joseph J. Toomey, Loren LaJoy, Vincent Dibiase, Valerie Y. Scott, John J. Reilly, and Bradford D. Burns (collectively, “City defendants”),¹ and The Chazen Companies, Joseph Lanaro, and Felicia Russell (collectively “Chazen defendants”) as the only defendants.² Pending are unopposed motions for summary judgment by the remaining defendants. (Dkt. Nos. 139, 140).³ For the reasons that follow, the motions are granted. II. Background A. Facts⁴ N. Ferran was the owner of the subject property. (City Defs.’ Statement of Material Facts (SMF) 1, Dkt. No. 140, Attach. 2; Dkt. No. 140, Attach. 7 at 6:19-7:3.) The subject property was a rowhouse that directly abutted a similar rowhouse on one side and shared a common wall with a different rowhouse on the other side. (City Defs.’ SMF 3; Dkt. No. 140, Attachs. 5, 6 at 17:22-18:13.) At the time of the incidents giving rise to this litigation, the building had been vacant since the 1980s, it did not have any active utilities since the 1990s, and the building had been cited for a number of code violations. (City Defs.’ SMF

5-7; Dkt. No. 140, Attachs. 4, 6 at 14:5-17:4.) On the morning of November 9, 2011, the subject property caught fire. (City Defs.’ SMF 2; Dkt. No. 140, Attachs. 4, 5; Chazen Defs.’ SMF 1, Dkt. No. 139, Attach. 9.) After the fire was extinguished, the property was inspected by City of Albany Fire Department’s Deputy Fire Chief Joseph Toomey and the Chazen Companies’ Joseph Lanaro, an independent civil engineer hired by the City. (City Defs.’ SMF