Litif v. United States, s. 10–1417

Citation670 F.3d 39
Decision Date20 January 2012
Docket NumberNos. 10–1417,10–1472,11–2255.,s. 10–1417
PartiesAnna M. LITIF, individually, and in her capacity as Administratrix of the Estate of Louis R. Litif; Luanne Litif; Lee Litif, Plaintiffs, Appellees/Cross–Appellants, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant, Appellant/Cross–AppelleeFederal Bureau of Investigation; John J. Connolly; John M. Morris; Lawrence Sarhatt; John Does 1–50, Defendants.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (1st Circuit)

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Thomas M. Bondy, Appellate Staff, Civil Division, Department of Justice, with whom Tony West, Assistant Attorney General, and Jonathan H. Levy, Appellate Staff, Civil Division, Department of Justice, were on brief for defendant, appellant/cross-appellee.

Edward Berkin for plaintiffs, appellees/cross-appellants.

Before BOUDIN, HOWARD and THOMPSON, Circuit Judges.

BOUDIN, Circuit Judge.

The United States seeks review of a judgment awarding $1.15 million to the family and the estate of Louis Litif (“the Litif estate”), resulting from Litif's murder by James “Whitey” Bulger in 1980. Litif v. United States, 682 F.Supp.2d 60 (D.Mass.2010). The Litif estate cross-appeals, seeking an increase in the damage award. This case, like its companion case decided by us today (“ Davis–Hussey ”) and others already decided,1 stems from FBI agents' sheltering of Bulger and his associate Stephen Flemmi over several decades.

In the 1970s, Louis Litif worked as a bookmaker in the Boston area and was involved with Bulger's Winter Hill gang. In September 1979, Litif was charged with murder in the death of James Matera. While out on bail, Litif secretly offered to cooperate with the Boston police, in exchange for leniency, in the investigation of an ongoing drug conspiracy involving Bulger and his gang. In March or April of 1980, Litif's attorney, Kevin Curry, met with Boston Police Detective Edward Walsh to discuss this offer. The meeting was also attended by FBI agent John Connolly.

Unbeknownst to Litif and Curry, Bulger was a “top echelon” FBI informant, Connolly was his primary handler, and Connolly and others within the FBI were taking measures to protect Bulger from prosecution so that he could continue supplying information. Roughly three weeks after the meeting, Litif was murdered in South Boston. His body, repeatedly stabbed and shot, was discovered the day after the murder in the trunk of his car. At this early stage there was nothing directly connecting FBI agent actions to Litif's death.

A news article at the time of Litif's death reported that “Litif had lost the ‘blessing’ of the so-called South Boston gang allegedly headed by James J. (Whitey) Bulger Jr.” Richard J. Connolly, Slaying Victim Alienated Mob, Prober Says, Boston Globe, Apr. 15, 1980. But the Boston Globe stated that, “according to investigators, there was no evidence ... that he was killed for [losing Bulger's support] or that he had been murdered by friends of Matera.” Id. The Boston Police Department appears to have stopped investigating Litif's murder in the summer of 1980.

Throughout the 1990s, the Boston press and eventually the national news media began to report on alleged ties between Bulger, Flemmi and the FBI. First in news stories and then in judicial proceedings, it emerged that certain FBI agents allowed Bulger and Flemmi to engage in serious criminal activity while Bulger and Flemmi informed on other criminals (and paid at least some of the agents, including Connolly). United States v. Connolly, 341 F.3d 16, 23 (1st Cir.2003). Eventually, it was learned that in some instances Connolly had tipped off Bulger and Flemmi about cooperating witnesses against them.

In 1997, the Boston Globe ran a front-page story about Litif's death. Shelley Murphy, In '80s, FBI saw Bulger as both informant and murder suspect, Boston Globe, Oct. 3, 1997 at A1. The article said that in 1982 Brian Halloran—a criminal associate of Bulger's—gave the FBI an eyewitness account of Litif's murder implicating Bulger, shortly before Halloran was himself murdered, allegedly by Bulger. According to the article, Halloran claimed that Bulger murdered Litif because Litif had been freelancing as a drug dealer and because Litif had killed Matera without Bulger's permission. Id.

However, the Globe story identified its sources only as unnamed “law enforcement” officials and noted that the FBI was skeptical of Halloran's reliability because he was facing murder charges at the time of his cooperation, was abusing drugs, and was unwilling to take a lie detector test. Murphy, In '80s, at B7. Halloran himself was killed in 1982. The Globe story also recounted that in 1980 a Boston Herald reporter had investigated stories about Bulger's involvement in the Litif murder and had been threatened by Bulger. The reporter acknowledged to the Globe that the encounter occurred, but refused to comment on the details. Id.

In the late 1990s, District Judge Mark Wolf held the first extensive judicial proceedings (the Salemme proceedings”) documenting the relationship between Bulger, Flemmi and the FBI.2 In April 1998 testimony, FBI Agent John Morris implicated the FBI and, in particular, both himself and Connolly in covering up crimes by Bulger and Flemmi. Morris also testified that Connolly told Bulger and Flemmi of Halloran's offer to cooperate with the FBI against them, which Morris suspected to be the cause of Halloran's murder. Salemme, 91 F.Supp.2d at 209–10.

Litif's murder was not a significant subject of testimony during the Salemme proceedings, although one Quincy police detective stated in his testimony that Bulger was suspected in Litif's murder, among others. This testimony was reported in the Boston Herald and Quincy Patriot Ledger. Ralph Ranalli, Cop: Whitey linked to IRA gun-running, Boston Herald, June 3, 1998; Robert Sears, Former Quincy detective recalls Bulger connection, Quincy Patriot Ledger, June 3, 1998. The police, however, never charged Bulger with Litif's murder.

On August 5, 1998, the Boston Herald, citing [a] local attorney who requested anonymity,” ran a story detailing the substance of Litif's offer to cooperate with the Boston police just weeks before his murder. Ralph Ranalli, Questions arise over agent's link to murdered drug dealer, Boston Herald, Aug. 5, 1998. The anonymous attorney said that he told Detective Walsh, in the presence of Connolly, that Litif would implicate Bulger in exchange for leniency. The next day, the Herald reported Connolly's denial that the meeting ever took place. Ralph Ranalli, Ex–FBI agent says slain dealer was informer, Boston Herald, Aug. 6, 1998.

On September 15, 1999, Judge Wolf published his decision in United States v. Salemme, 91 F.Supp.2d 141 (D.Mass.1999). This lengthy decision provided the first detailed, publicly available legal document describing in great detail the relationship between the FBI, Bulger and Flemmi. Litif's murder was not discussed but Brian Halloran's cooperation with the FBI and subsequent murder was canvassed in considerable detail. Id. at 208–13. The decision recounted and placed in context Morris' testimony that Connolly had leaked Halloran's name to Bulger who had then likely killed him. Id.

The decision also contained summaries of evidence linking Bulger and Flemmi to the murders of Roger Wheeler, John Callahan, and John McIntyre. Salemme, 91 F.Supp.2d at 208–15. Further, the discussion of the McIntyre murder noted his offer of cooperation to law enforcement officials shortly before his disappearance. Id. at 213–15. Together with Morris' testimony as to Halloran, the decision warranted at least a strong suspicion of systematic FBI leaks of informant names to Bulger followed by their death at Bulger's hands.

Litif's widow thereafter spoke with her family and engaged an attorney, and the Litif estate filed the administrative claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”) on September 10, 2001, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b)(1), 2401(b), 2671 et seq. ; when no action was taken by the government, the instant lawsuit was filed on September 9, 2002. 28 U.S.C. § 2675(a). After consolidation, discovery and pre-trial motions, the district court conducted a single twelve-day bench trial on the Litif, Davis and Hussey claims in July 2009.

Thereafter, the district court found in favor of the Litif plaintiffs. It concluded that “Connolly leaked to Bulger Litif's willingness to incriminate Bulger.” Litif, 682 F.Supp.2d at 70. In reaching this conclusion, the court expressly relied on the trial testimony of Litif's former attorney, Kevin Curry, as to Litif's offer to cooperate; evidence of the relationship between Connolly and Detective Walsh; Connolly's leaks to Bulger of information regarding other informants; and testimony (see note 6, below) from Bulger associates Kevin Weeks and Stephen Flemmi. Id.

Having concluded that Connolly generated this leak, the district court ruled that “there [was] no question that Connolly had a duty of care, breached it, and by breaching it, created a foreseeable risk of injury to Litif.” Litif, 682 F.Supp.2d at 75. In particular, the district court ruled, Connolly breached “the general duty of care not to cause foreseeable harm to others through the criminal acts of a third person, a breach that caused Litif's death.” Id.

The district judge then awarded the Litif plaintiffs damages totaling $1.15 million: $500,000 to Litif's daughter for loss of consortium, $250,000 to Litif's son for loss of consortium, $50,000 to Litif's wife for loss of consortium, and $350,000 to Litif's estate for Litif's conscious pain and suffering incident to his murder. The government filed the appeal now before us to challenge the judgment; the plaintiffs have cross-appealed to challenge as inadequate the award for Litif's conscious pain and suffering.

The government contests liability on three grounds—that the administrative claim was filed after the statute of limitations had run; that there is insufficient admissible proof that...

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