Pangburn v. Culbertson

• Decision Date: 20 October 1999
• Docket Number: Docket No. 98-2416
• Citation: 200 F.3d 65
• Parties: (2nd Cir. 1999) MARK B. PANGBURN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. JAMES CULBERTSON, Court Clerk; JOHN M. YORK, Sheriff, & Sheriff's Property Clerk, Defendants-Appellees. August Term 1999 Argued:
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

Page 65

200 F.3d 65 (2nd Cir. 1999)

MARK B. PANGBURN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. JAMES CULBERTSON, Court Clerk; JOHN M. YORK, Sheriff, & Sheriff's Property Clerk, Defendants-Appellees.

Docket No. 98-2416

August Term 1999

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS SECOND CIRCUIT

Argued: Oct. 20, 1999

Decided: Dec. 21, 1999

Mark B. Pangburn appeals from orders of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York (Elfvin, J.), denying him leave to amend his complaint and, sua sponte, granting summary judgment to the defendants.

VACATED and REMANDED.

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[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

GREGORY J. BEVELOCK, Arnold & Porter, New York, New York (William J. Hoffman and Marc A. Silverman on the brief), for PlaintiffAppellant.

SCOTT H. SMITH, Law Offices of Scott H. Smith, Rochester, New York, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before: WALKER, McLAUGHLIN, CABRANES, Circuit Judges.

BACKGROUND

McLAUGHLIN, Circuit Judge:

Because this is, in part, an appeal from a grant of summary judgment to the defendants, we recite the facts in the light most favorable to plaintiff.

On June 5, 1993, Mark Pangburn assaulted a woman in her home in West Sparta, New York. The victim saw Pangburn then drive away in a Chevrolet Blazer which turned out to belong to his wife Kathleen. The Livingston County Sheriff's Department arrested Pangburn later that day while he was driving the Blazer and the Sheriff seized the vehicle as evidence. Pangburn subsequently pled guilty to the assault in Livingston County Court of the State of New York, Criminal Term (Cicoria, J.). He was sentenced on October 5, 1993, and appealed to the Appellate Division.

Shortly after his sentencing, Pangburn filed a motion to get back the Blazer. Judge Cicoria denied the motion because the truck was still being held as evidence, pending resolution of Pangburn's appeal. Immediately after oral argument on the motion, however, two Sheriff's Department deputies told Pangburn that Department employees were making "personal use" of the Blazer. This was confirmed when Pangburn's wife ultimately recovered the Blazer in June 1995, about two months after the New York Court of Appeals denied Pangburn leave to appeal his conviction, and two full years after its original seizure. Though in "excellent" condition when it was seized, the Blazer now had "bald" tires, looked "beat-up" and "the mileage had been changed."

Thereafter, Pangburn instituted three successive lawsuits in an effort to recover for the Sheriff Department's frolic and detour with the Blazer. Each of these lawsuits was dismissed.¹ Undeterred, Pangburn initiated this action pro se in June 1996 in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York (Elfvin, J.), against James Culbertson, the Livingston County Clerk, John M. York, the Livingston County Sheriff, and an unnamed property clerk. Pangburn claimed that by seizing and retaining the Blazer, defendants had deprived him of his Fourteenth Amendment right to due process in violation of 42 U.S.C. 1983. He also alleged that defendants had violated the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"), 5 U.S.C. 552, the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a, as well as sundry New York state statutes.

In March 1997, Pangburn moved for summary judgment. The district court sua sponte dismissed Pangburn's FOIA and Privacy Act claims, leaving his 1983 claim as the sole federal cause of action. The court also suggested that Pangburn amend his "rambling" and "repetitive" complaint to set forth the "short and plain statement" envisioned by Fed. R. Civ. P. 8.

Responding to this suggestion, Pangburn moved in June 1997 for leave to amend his complaint. Acting pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 636(b)(1)(A), the district court referred the motion to Magistrate Judge Carol Heckman. In the proposed amended complaint, Pangburn sought, inter alia, to add: (1) Livingston County as a defendant; (2) his wife, the record owner of the Blazer, as a co-plaintiff; and (3) a 1983 conspiracy claim against defendants Culbertson, York, and the still unnamed property clerk. In a later filing in September 1997, Pangburn: (1) identified the unnamed property clerk as Sergeant Jeffrey L. McDonald of the Livingston County Sheriff's Department; and (2) promised that an affidavit from his wife, Kathleen Pangburn, expressing her desire to join the action as a co-plaintiff, would be "forthcoming."

In a decision and order dated November 7, 1997, the Magistrate Judge denied Pangburn's motion to amend. Noting that the promised affidavit from Kathleen Pangburn was not forthcoming, the Magistrate Judge made no ruling on Pangburn's request to add his wife as a co-plaintiff. Nor did she address Pangburn's motion to add a 1983 conspiracy claim against the individual defendants. However, the Magistrate Judge considered and denied as "futile," Pangburn's motion to add the County as a defendant.

Pangburn then filed objections to the Magistrate Judge's order in the district court and another motion for summary judgment. Included in Pangburn's summary judgment papers was a title certificate issued by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles which confirmed that the Blazer was owned by Pangburn's wife, Kathleen. The district court: (1) overruled Pangburn's objections to the Magistrate Judge's order; and (2) denied his motion for summary judgment. In addition, the district court, sua sponte, granted summary judgment to the defendants, dismissing Pangburn's 1983 claim. Apparently referring to the title certificate contained in Pangburn's motion papers, the district court ruled that Pangburn "could not, under any circumstances" advance a 1983 claim arising from the seizure of the Blazer "because it is clear from the record that Pangburn did not in June 1993, and still does not, have an ownership interest in the subject vehicle."

Pangburn, who has since obtained counsel, now appeals.

DISCUSSION

I. Sua Sponte Grant of Summary Judgment

Pangburn argues that the district court erred in sua sponte granting summary judgment to defendants. We agree.

We review a sua sponte grant of summary judgment de novo. See Hispanics for Fair & Equitable Reapportionment v. Griffin, 958 F.2d 24, 25 (2d Cir. 1992) (per curiam).

"[A] district court's independent raising and granting of summary judgment . . . is 'an accepted method of expediting litigation.'" Ramsey v. Coughlin, 94 F.3d 71, 74 (2d Cir. 1996) (quoting Coach Leatherware Co. v. AnnTaylor, Inc., 933 F.2d 162, 167 (2d Cir. 1991)). Before a district court does so, however, the record must clearly establish both "the losing party's inability to enhance the evidence supporting its position and the winning party's entitlement to judgment." Ramsey, 94 F.3d at 74.

In this case, the district court's sua sponte grant of summary judgment and dismissal of Pangburn's complaint was premature. The district court's rationale for the dismissal was that Pangburn could have no 1983 claim arising out of the Blazer's seizure because - as revealed by the Department of Motor Vehicles's title certificate - he had no "ownership interest" in the vehicle.

While not without intuitive appeal, this reasoning was erroneous. The due process protection afforded to property by the Fourteenth Amendment "has never been interpreted to safeguard only the rights of undisputed ownership. Rather, it has been read broadly to extend protection to 'any significant property interest.'" Fuentes v. Shevin, 407 U.S. 67, 86 (1972) (quoting Boddie v Connecticut, 401 U.S. 371, 379 (1971)). Indeed, case law makes clear that no formal title ownership is necessary.

In Fuentes, the Supreme Court held that a plaintiff had a Fourteenth Amendment property interest in personal property she had bought under an installment sales contract, even though title to the goods remained with the vendor. See 407 U.S. at 86. Her property interest was created by the installment payments she had made, and by the terms of the sales contract, which granted her continued possession of the goods prior to the transfer of title. See id.

Relying on Fuentes, this Court has twice recognized a Fourteenth Amendment property interest in a vehicle when plaintiffs did not hold title to the vehicle and would not receive such title until satisfaction of an installment purchase agreement. See Barrett v. Harwood, 189 F.3d 297, 301 (2d Cir. 1999); Alexandre v. Cortes, 140 F.3d 406, 410-11 (2d Cir. 1998). Despite the lack of formal title ownership in those cases, we concluded that plaintiffs had a property interest in the "continued possession and use" of the vehicles sufficient to trigger the protections of due process. See Barrett, 189 F.3d at 301; Alexandre, 140 F.3d at 411.

Applying that reasoning here, we conclude that the district court erred in sua sponte dismissing Pangburn's 1983 claim without allowing him to submit evidence of his property interest in the Blazer. Such evidence could take a number of forms, including proof that he had made, or contributed to, installment payments on the vehicle. Pangburn might also have been able to demonstrate the requisite interest by submitting proof that the Blazer was "marital property" as defined by New York law. See N.Y. Dom. Rel. Law 236, Pt. B. (1)(c) & (d) (McKinney 1999) (defining "marital property" as "all property acquired by either or both spouses during the marriage" subject to certain exceptions).

As these possible alternatives demonstrate, Pangburn could have submitted evidence to establish that he did indeed have a "significant property interest" in the Blazer. Fuentes, 407 U.S. at 86 (internal quotation marks omitted). Dismissing his 1983 claim without affording an opportunity to do so was error.

II. Denial of Leave to Amend the Complaint

Pangburn also maintains that he should have been allowed to amend his complaint to add: (1) the County as a defendant; and (2) a 1983 conspiracy claim against defendants Culbertson, York and McDonald. We agree.

The standard for reviewing...