SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF BRONX ------------------------------------------------------------------------- X

Index No: VERIFIED COMPLAINT

ROSE DOE, Plaintiff, -against- THE CITY OF NEW YORK, NEW YORK CITY HEALTH AND HOSPITALS CORPORATION, PATRICIA FEENEY, JAMES REILLY, TIFFANY ROBINSON-MCAULAY, SHASHA BARRETO, FLOYD PHIPPS, ELYN RIVERA, MONICA JOHNSON, PATRICIA JACQUEZ, JENNIFER CRUZ, RASHIDA KING, ERYKA ROGERS, MIKERLEEN BOURNES, ANTHONY SABANDO, JAYSON SANCHEZ, DEVIN DERENONCOURT, ROBERT BALTHAZAR, M.D., “SADE” DOE, and JOHN DOES #1-20, Defendants. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- X Plaintiff ROSE DOE, by her attorneys, LIAKAS LAW, P.C., complaining of the defendants, respectfully alleges as follows:

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT

1.

 

This is a civil rights and common law tort action in which Plaintiff seeks redress for the violation of her rights, privileges, and immunities, secured by the laws of the State and City of New York, and the United States Constitution, including the including the First, Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments puissant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1988. 2.

 

Plaintiff was only 21 years old when she was arrested by the CITY OF NEW YORK and brought to Rikers Island on December 5, 2021. 3.

 

By the time the Plaintiff left Rikers Island until on or about August 1, 2022, she had been repeatedly sexually assaulted, including by a male inmate who was permitted to stay in her Protective Custody dormitory in the women’s prison.

FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 11/24/2023 12:00 AM 

INDEX NO. 818911/2023ENYSCEF DOC. NO. 2RECEIVED NYSCEF: 11/24/20231 of 57

 

4.

 

Upon information and belief, the male inmate in question, was a heterosexual male [hereinafter ‘the perpetrator’] who was instructed to claim that he was transgender by DOC staff so that he could stay in the female dorm where he would have access to female inmates. 5.

 

Upon information and belief, the perpetrator was being investigated for at least five  prior the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) incidents before he was moved into Plaintiff’s dorm in Rose M. Singer Center (RMSC) the female jail. 6.

 

Upon information and belief, DOC records show that at the time the perpetrator  joined plaintiff’s housing unit, he was being investigated for his potential involvement in a  prostitution ring operating within Rikers Island that involved staff and inmates and that DOC was aware he was likely moved to the female unit to facilitate his procurement of female inmates to  pimp out to male inmates and staff. 7.

 

Defendants not only failed to remove the perpetrator from Plaintiff’s housing unit despite repeated notice that he was sexually harassing the female inmates including Plaintiff, but they also failed to intervene after his first sexual assault of Plaintiff on April 6, 2022. 8.

 

Worse still, after Plaintiff’s first sexual assault by the perpetrator, Defendants repeatedly left the housing unit unsupervised including after they were made aware of the first sexual assault, which allowed the perpetrator the opportunity to sexually assault Plaintiff again. 9.

 

The perpetrator was not removed from the housing unit until the other inmates intervened and physically removed him from sexually assaulting Plaintiff and “packed him up” meaning they threw his belongings out of the housing unit. 10.

 

Defendants not only covered up Plaintiff’s sexual assaults by failing to provide her with adequate medical and mental health services, failing collect, document, and review evidence, they also subjected Plaintiff to extensive retaliation for reporting her sexual assaults including

FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 11/24/2023 12:00 AM 

INDEX NO. 818911/2023ENYSCEF DOC. NO. 2RECEIVED NYSCEF: 11/24/20232 of 57

 

removing her from protective custody, an act which put her life in danger and subjected her to further civil rights violations. 11.

 

Plaintiff was finally discharged from Rikers Island on or about, August 1, 2022, but lives in fear that she will be returned at any time while her criminal case is pending as well as in terror of being sentenced to further incarceration.

JURISDICTION, VENUE, AND CONDITIONS PRECEDENT

12.

 

Venue is proper in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Bronx County,  because the acts in question occurred within Rikers Island Correctional Facility which is considered a part of Bronx County for jurisdictional purposes. 13.

 

This action is brought pursuant to the New York State Adult Survivors Act (ASA), a one-year “look back window” which permits claims that may have otherwise been time barred or barred by the failure to timely file a Notice of Claim. 14.

 

Any and all other prerequisites to the filing of this suit have been met. 15.

 

Plaintiff has exhausted all administrative remedies to the extent that they apply to the claims herein. 16.

 

Pursuant to the New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL) § 8-502, Plaintiff will serve a copy of this Complaint upon the New York City Commission on Human Rights and the New York City Law Department, Office of the Corporation Counsel, thereby satisfying the notice requirements of that section.

PARTIES

 

17.

 

Plaintiff, ROSE DOE is a female resident of the City of New York. 18.

 

ROSE DOE is a pseudonym used to protect Plaintiff’s identity due to the severe and complex nature of her injuries, the extreme emotional distress she has suffered, her ongoing

FILED: BRONX COUNTY CLERK 11/24/2023 12:00 AM 

INDEX NO. 818911/2023ENYSCEF DOC. NO. 2RECEIVED NYSCEF: 11/24/20233 of 57