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Della Musa v. Thomas

Representation in State Criminal Case Leads to Disqualification in Discrimination Action

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Magistrate Judge Lisa Margaret Smith1

DECISION AND ORDER   Defendant City of Mount Vernon (“City”) and Defendant Mount Vernon Board of Water Supply (“MVBWS”) (collectively referred to as “City Defendants”) bring the instant motion to disqualify Benedict P. Kuehne and Michael Pizzi, Jr. from representing Defendant Lawrence Porcari and Defendant Richard Thomas, respectively, in a civil action brought by Plaintiff Anthony Della Mura (“Plaintiff”). Docket No. 51,2 Mot. to Disqualify. For the following reasons, City Defendants’ motion is GRANTED. BACKGROUND I. FACTUAL HISTORY The following facts are alleged in Plaintiff’s Complaint. Unless otherwise indicated, City Defendants (the only Defendants to have answered the Complaint) deny or lack information sufficient to form a belief as to the facts asserted therein. Plaintiff filed this action on September 19, 2019, against Defendants Lawrence Porcari, Richard Thomas, Benjamin Marable,3 the City of Mount Vernon, and the Mount Vernon Board of Water Supply for violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (“RICO”) Act (18 U.S.C. §1964), the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Docket No. 1, Complaint (“Compl.”). Plaintiff alleges that he was employed by MVBWS as “Executive Director — Senior Bookkeeper.”4 Compl. 16. In January 2018, Plaintiff’s left leg was surgically amputated below the knee.5 Id. at 17. For a period of months following that surgery, Plaintiff was unable to work.6 Id. During that period, on March 12, 2018, Defendant Thomas, then-Mayor of Mount Vernon, was arrested for campaign finance violations.7 Id. at 19. Plaintiff alleges that Defendant Porcari, then-Corporation Counsel for the City of Mount Vernon, undertook a scheme beginning on approximately March 23, 2018, to steal funds from the MVBWS to pay for Defendant Thomas’s criminal defense. Id. at

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