Myers v. County of Orange

• Citation: 157 F.3d 66
• Decision Date: 01 September 1998
• Docket Number: Nos. 97-9055,97-9093,s. 97-9055
• Parties: Edward A. MYERS, DR., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. COUNTY OF ORANGE and City of Port Jervis, Defendants-Appellants, Francis D. Phillips, II, Joseph A. Duryea, Gary Horr, Michael Prieto and Michael Halloran, Defendants.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit)

Page 66

157 F.3d 66

Edward A. MYERS, DR., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. COUNTY OF ORANGE and City of Port Jervis, Defendants-Appellants Francis D. Phillips, II, Joseph A. Duryea, Gary Horr Michael Prieto and Michael Halloran, Defendants.

Nos. 97-9055, 97-9093.

United States Court of Appeals Second Circuit.

Argued March 10, 1998.

Decided Sept. 1, 1998.

Richard B. Golden, County Attorney for Orange County, Goshen, New York, for Defendant-Appellant County of Orange.

Monte J. Rosenstein, Rosenstein, McKenna & Bonney, Middletown, New York, for Defendant-Appellant City of Port Jervis.

Robert N. Isseks (Alex Smith, on the brief), Middletown, New York, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Before: OAKES, WALKER, and MAGILL, Circuit Judges. ^*

JOHN M. WALKER, JR., Circuit Judge:

Defendants-appellants County of Orange and City of Port Jervis appeal from the August 18, 1997 judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Lisa M. Smith, Magistrate Judge ), after a jury verdict, awarding plaintiff-appellee Dr. Edward A. Myers $375,000 against County of Orange and $200,000 against City of Port Jervis for their implementation of unconstitutional "first-come first-served" cross-complaint policies; and denying defendants-appellants' post-trial motions, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(b) and 59(a), for judgment as a matter of law or, alternatively, for a new trial.

We hold that a policy by a police department or district attorney's ("DA") office favoring an initial complainant over a later one without giving primary regard to the particular facts involved in the case violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. We also hold that, where a district attorney in New York implements a policy directing a police department and assistant district attorneys not to entertain cross-complaints, that policy is imputed to the county, not the State of New York, for purposes of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 liability. The judgment of the district court is therefore affirmed.

Background

The following facts are taken from the evidence introduced at trial in the instant action. In 1991, the County of Orange's ("Orange County" or "County") District Attorney's office promulgated a written policy stating, inter alia, that the "[p]olice are directed not to entertain cross complaints"--i.e., any complaint by a person named as a wrongdoer in a prior related civilian complaint--until the initial complaint had been either dismissed or prosecuted. The cross-complaint policy is set forth in an appendix to this opinion.

According to the testimony of at least three officers of the police department ("department") of the City of Port Jervis ("Port Jervis" or "City"), located within Orange County, and others, the department at that time had a similar, unwritten "first-come first-served" complaint policy. With these cross-complaint policies in mind, we turn to the facts underlying Myers' action.

The Incident Between Myers and Alan Mills

1. The Myers Version. According to Myers, on August 24, 1991, a grey Corvette trespassed upon and then sped away from his property. Myers' son gave chase on his bicycle. Suspecting that neighbor Jake Mills owned the car, and concerned that his son had bicycled after the Corvette, Myers drove to the Mills residence approximately a quarter of a mile away. Myers saw the Corvette in the Mills' driveway, leaned out of the car window to speak with Alan Mills ("Mills"), and asked Mills to summon Jake Mills. When Mills refused, Myers drove past the Mills residence, turned his car around at a dead end in the street, and then started to drive home past the Mills residence. When Myers approached the residence, however, the Corvette stood crossways in the middle of the road next to Mills. At least three adult men, presumably members of the Mills family, were screaming at the side of the road. After Myers stopped in front of the Corvette, Mills approached Myers' car, pushed its hood, and walked to the driver's side; "there was a loud bang and glass went flying all over" Myers; and Mills punched Myers in the right eye through the open driver's side window. Myers then drove around the Corvette and, without striking anyone with his car, drove directly home.

2. The Mills Version. According to the Mills family's version of events, however, Myers drove toward Mills after turning back from the dead end, skidded and then struck Mills' legs and knees with his car, knocking Mills to the ground. After Bobby Mills threw a rock at Myers' car, Myers stopped the car, turned around in the driver's seat, pointed a gun through the smashed-in back window, fired a shot in the Mills' direction without hitting anyone, and then drove away.

The Police Investigation

Mills immediately called the Port Jervis police department to report the altercation, and Officer Michael Prieto was sent to the Mills residence. Some minutes later, Myers returned home and Myers' then-girlfriend Peggy Myers telephoned the department to report the incident. She testified as follows:

[W]hen I called [the Port Jervis police], they kind of laughed at me on the telephone. They said we already got the call.... And [the officer] said that isn't the story we got, but we'll send someone up.

Officer Michael Halloran was "sent to interview Dr. Myers," but testified that Officer Prieto, not himself, was "the investigating officer of this incident." At the Mills residence, Officer Prieto took notes of Mills' account, searched for but found no signs of a bullet hitting the ground, directed the Mills family to file a formal complaint at the police station, and then left for the Myers residence.

In the meantime, Officer Halloran arrived at the Myers residence, where he saw the rear window of Myers' vehicle smashed by a piece of macadam that lay in the back seat. Shortly thereafter, Officer Prieto arrived at Myers' residence. Myers testified as follows: "I tried to tell [Halloran] what happened, okay, and he just told me to shut up. And then I tried again and he said he already knows what happened. And he actually pushed me out of the way as he went over to my car." Peter Iacovino, a dry wall contractor working on Myers' house at the time, testified that Myers "was trying to talk to [the police], and they just told him to be quiet." Iacovino's co-worker Joan Vanderhoff testified that Myers "was trying to tell [the police] the story of what happened, and they said that--the one told him to shut up, we already--you know, we don't need to hear it. We've already heard it."

Some minutes later, according to Myers,

Officer Prieto turned around and he said the Millses said you got out of your car and shot at them, which I said that's ridiculous. If I got out of the car, there would be glass all over the place, as there is here as I got out of the car. He said, well, did you shoot? I said, listen, let's put an end to this right now. Let's do a paraffin test of my hand. ¹ Take my car. Do what you have to do to test it so that there's no discussion about this.

Iacovino and Vanderhoff corroborated Myers' version as to this discussion between Myers and Officer Prieto. We note that Prieto's alleged account of the Mills family's version of events, i.e., that Myers "got out of the car and shot at" Mills, differs from Mills' statement that Myers shot at Mills through the car's back window.

Officer Halloran testified that he took no notes of his discussions with Myers, took no photographs, did not retrieve the macadam in Myers' car, did not ask Iacovino, Vanderhoff, or any other individuals at the Myers residence whether they had witnessed or otherwise knew about the altercation, and--notwithstanding Myers' offer--did not perform a paraffin or other gun powder residue test on Myers' hands or car. Officer Prieto, who saw himself as "handling the investigation from the Mills['] end," stated that he also "conducted no investigation" at the Myers residence. Neither Officer Halloran nor Officer Prieto asked Myers to file a complaint at the police station; rather, upon Myers' request to do so, Officer Halloran informed Myers that he could come to the police station after his injuries had been checked at the hospital. Both officers left the Myers residence after approximately twenty minutes, leaving Myers' car and the macadam untouched. Sergeant Joseph Duryea, who took over the case from Officer Prieto that night, also had no recollection of interviewing Myers or examining his car. He confined his investigation to taking and reviewing statements of the Mills family and visiting the Mills residence.

Myers, who felt "pretty shaken," then went to the hospital for treatment, and returned home around 9:30 or 10:00 where he remained through the night. The same evening at the police station, members of the Mills family filed statements that formed the probable cause basis for Myers' arrest warrant issued that night by a Port Jervis City Judge.

The next morning, August 25, 1991, Officer Gary Horr of the Port Jervis police arrested Myers on charges of reckless endangerment in the first degree for "discharg[ing] a firearm towards" three members of the Mills family, see N.Y. Penal Law § 120.25, and reckless endangerment in the second degree for deliberately "strik[ing] [Alan Mills] with [Myers'] vehicle." See N.Y. Penal Law § 120.20. According to Myers, on August 26 he met with his attorney, who advised him to make no statement to the police.

Myers' Investigation

On August 26, 1991, Myers hired private investigator Kenneth Graham to conduct an investigation of the incident. It is undisputed that on October 7, 1991, as a result of that investigation and prior to trial, Myers presented to the Orange County DA's office the following information:

1. Graham's forensic scene investigation report ("report"), which stated that "[t]he interior of [Myers'] vehicle was checked for [p]owder residue or powder burn evidence of puncture holes which may have been caused by the discharge of a firearm...