Gender Discrimination: Hollander v. Copacabana Nightclub

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Gender Discrimination

Hollander v. Copacabana Nightclub
08-5547-cv
Appealed from the Southern District of New York

Background: Plaintiff-appellant Roy Den Hollander, individually and on behalf of a putative class of similarly situated men, appeals the Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal of his Section 1983 action brought against several New York City nightclubs for discriminating against men on “Ladies’ Nights.” The plaintiff attributes the pernicious “Ladies’ Nights” to “40 years of lobbying and intimidation, [by] the special interest group called ‘Feminism’ [which] has succeed in creating a customary practice … of invidious discrimination of men.” Den Hollander filed suit, on his own behalf and on behalf of others like him, alleging violation of his equal protection rights. He alleges the nightclubs engage in state action by selling alcohol on their premises under an extensive state and local regulatory system. The district court dismissed Hollander’s Section 1983 claim after concluding the nightclubs are not state actors.

Ruling: Despite the bleak future the plaintiff describes, in which “none other than what’s left of the Wall Street Moguls” will be able to afford to attend nightclubs, the court resigns itself to the fact that it must affirm. This court agrees with the district court that Hollander failed to sufficiently allege state action.

Roy Den Hollander, pro se; Joseph Salvo of Gordon & Rees LLP for the appellees