MEMORANDUM & ORDER On April 15, 2019, Rizwan Raja brought this action against the City of New York and John W. Burns, the first deputy commissioner and supervising administrative law judge for the New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (“OATH”). The plaintiff alleges violations of his Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights under 42 U.S.C. §1983, and related claims arising under the New York City Charter and OATH rules. (ECF No. 14.) The plaintiff moved for partial summary judgment on liability, and the defendants cross-moved to dismiss the complaint. (ECF Nos. 22, 24.) I held oral argument on November 25, 2019. For the reasons that follow, the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment is granted in part and denied in part, and the defendants’ motion to dismiss is granted in part and denied in part. BACKGROUND I. Statutory Framework Pursuant to Chapter 45-a of the New York City Charter, OATH is responsible for conducting adjudicatory hearings for agencies of the City of New York. Charter §1048(1). OATH’s rules permit non-attorneys to represent parties appearing before OATH tribunals, subject to certain requirements codified in Sections 6-23 and 6-25 of Title 48 of the Rules & Regulations of the City of New York. a. Section 6-23 Rules Under Section 6-23, non-attorney representatives must register with OATH and renew their registrations every year. N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 48, §6-23(b) (2019). A non-attorney representative cannot misrepresent his qualifications or services “so as to mislead people into believing [he] is an attorney at law or a governmental employee if [he] is not.” Id. §6-23(d). Non-attorney representatives may be disciplined for misrepresenting their qualifications, failing to register or re-register, or failing to follow any other OATH rules, including those prescribed in Section 6-25. Id. §6-23(f). Possible discipline includes “the suspension or revocation of the representative’s right to appear before the Tribunal.” Id. b. Section 6-25 Rules Subsection 6-25(a) defines prohibited conduct for parties, witnesses, and representatives appearing before OATH. N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 48, §6-25 (2019). As relevant here, a non-attorney representative may not submit false information to the tribunal (6-25(a)(9)), or “[e]ngage in any disruptive verbal conduct, action or gesture that a reasonable person would believe shows contempt or disrespect for the proceedings or that a reasonable person would believe to be intimidating,” (6-25(a)(2)). Subsections (c)(1) and (c)(2) of Section 6-25 authorize the Chief Administrative Law Judge to suspend or bar representatives who “fail[] to abide by these rules,” but only “after the attorney or representative is given notice and a reasonable opportunity to appear…. to rebut the claims against him[.]” Id. §6-25(c). Subsections (d)(1) and (d)(2), however, authorize the Chief ALJ to suspend or bar a representative summarily “ upon a determination that the representative lacks honesty and integrity and that the lack of honesty and integrity will adversely affect his or her practice before the Tribunal.” Id. §6-25(d). Factors to be considered in determining whether a representative lacks honesty or integrity include “whether the representative has made false, misleading or inappropriate statements to parties or Tribunal staff.” Id. §(d)(2). After the summary suspension or bar under Subsection 6-25(d), “the representative will be given an opportunity to be heard in a proceeding prescribed by the Chief Administrative Law Judge or his or her designee.” Id. An aggrieved representative may then seek review of the Chief ALJ’s decision through Article 78 of the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules. Id. §6-25(e). II. Factual and Procedural History1 The plaintiff became a non-attorney representative registered to appear before the OATH tribunal in 2005, after he passed an exam demonstrating sufficient knowledge of TLC rules and regulations. (ECF No. 32, Defs.’ Response to Pl.’s Rule 56.1 Statement (“Defs.’ 56.1 Response”)
5-7.) As a registered representative, the plaintiff represents taxi drivers appearing before the tribunal accused of rule violations and facing the possibility of suspensions or fines. (Id.
