19-3949-cv Anilao v. Spota UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT August Term, 2020 (Argued: December 4, 2020 Decided: March 9, 2022) Docket No. 19-3949-cv _____________________________________ JULIET ANILAO, HARRIET AVILA, MARK DELA CRUZ, CLAUDINE GAMAIO, ELMER JACINTO, JENNIFER LAMPA, RIZZA MAULION, THERESA RAMOS, RANIER SICHON, AND JAMES MILLENA, Plaintiffs-Counter-Defendants-Appellants, FELIX Q. VINLUAN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. THOMAS J. SPOTA, III, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS DISTRICT ATTORNEY OF SUFFOLK COUNTY, OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY OF SUFFOLK COUNTY, LEONARD LATO, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS AN ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY OF SUFFOLK COUNTY, COUNTY OF SUFFOLK, KARLA LATO, AS ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE OF LEONARD LATO, Defendants-Appellees, SUSAN O’CONNOR, NANCY FITZGERALD, SENTOSA CARE, LLC, AVALON GARDENS REHABILITATION 19-3949-cv Anilao v. Spota AND HEALTH CARE CENTER, PROMPT NURSING EMPLOYMENT AGENCY, LLC, FRANCRIS LUYUN, BENT PHILIPSON, BERISH RUBINSTEIN, Defendants-Counter-Claimants. * _____________________________________ Before: SACK, CHIN, and LOHIER, Circuit Judges. Ten nurses and their former attorney filed claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 as well as common-law claims of false arrest and malicious prosecution under New York law against the defendants, including the District Attorney of Suffolk County and one of his bureau chiefs. The two principal questions presented on appeal are whether the individual defendants were entitled to absolute immunity for the actions they undertook as prosecutors, and whether there was any admissible evidence showing that they violated the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights during the investigative phase of the case. Because we agree with the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Bianco, J.) that the defendants were entitled to absolute immunity from claims arising from the prosecutorial phase of the case and to summary judgment on the remaining claims arising from the investigative phase of the prosecution, we AFFIRM. Judge Chin dissents in a separate opinion. STEPHEN L. O’BRIEN, O’Brien & O’Brien, LLP, Nesconset, NY, for Defendant-Appellee Thomas J. Spota, III. BRIAN C. MITCHELL, Assistant County Attorney, Suffolk County Attorney’s Office, Hauppauge, NY, for Defendants-Appellees County of Suffolk and Karla Lato, as Administrator of the Estate of Leonard Lato. * The Clerk of Court is directed to amend the caption as set forth above. 2 19-3949-cv Anilao v. Spota OSCAR MICHELEN, Cuomo LLC, Mineola, NY, for Plaintiff-Appellant Felix Vinluan. PAULA SCHWARTZ FROME (James O. Druker, on the brief), Kase & Druker, Esqs., Garden City, NY, for Plaintiffs-Counter-Defendants-Appellants Juliet Anilao, Harriet Avila, Mark Dela Cruz, Claudine Gamaio, Elmer Jacinto, Jennifer Lampa, Rizza Maulion, Theresa Ramos, Ranier Sichon, and James Millena. LOHIER, Circuit Judge: Ten nurses and their former attorney, Felix Vinluan, filed claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 as well as common-law claims of false arrest and malicious prosecution under New York law against the defendants — the County of Suffolk, the Office of the District Attorney of Suffolk County (the “DA’s Office”), Thomas J. Spota, III, the District Attorney of Suffolk County, and Leonard Lato, an Assistant District Attorney who was at all relevant times the Chief of the Insurance Crimes Bureau at the DA’s Office. The plaintiffs allege that Spota and Lato improperly …
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