Anela v. City of Wildwood

Citation790 F.2d 1063
Decision Date06 March 1986
Docket NumberNo. 85-5455,85-5455
PartiesAntoinette Connie ANELA, et al. v. CITY OF WILDWOOD, et al. Maureen McDonnell COLE, et al. v. CITY OF WILDWOOD, et al. Roxann Cox COLE v. CITY OF WILDWOOD, et al. Appeal of Antoinette Connie ANELA, Angela DiPietro, Maureen McDonnell, Lisa Tortis Cole, Gina Bucceri and Roxann Cox Cole. . Submitted Under Third Circuit Rule 12(6)
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (3rd Circuit)

William S. Greenberg, James F. Schwerin, Greenberg & Prior, Princeton, N.J., for appellants.

Raymond A. Batten, Avalon, N.J., for Ralph Sheets.

Keith G. Von Glahn, Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker, Newark, N.J., for Michael Nicely, Gary Sicilia, and William Celinski.

Gerard H. Hanson, Marilyn S. Silvia, Brener, Wallack & Hill, Princeton, N.J., for City of Wildwood.

Before GIBBONS, BECKER and ROSENN, Circuit Judges.

OPINION OF THE COURT

ROSENN, Circuit Judge.

The six appellants in this case are young women who brought a Civil Rights Act lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 (1982) against the City of Wildwood, its chief of police, and several employees of that City's police department as a result of their arrest and detention for violating the City's anti-noise ordinance. The arrest occurred at about 11:15 P.M. on July 3, 1981, and the plaintiffs were detained in holding cells in the police station until their hearing at 11:00 the next morning. Their complaint raised a number of federal constitutional claims. The trial court dismissed several counts prior to trial, and at the close of their case granted the defendants' Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50 motion for a directed verdict. The plaintiffs moved for a new trial, and when that motion was denied, they appealed. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings.

I.

In the summer of 1981, the plaintiffs and four other persons leased a portion of a house in Wildwood. On July 3, 1981, at about 11:15 P.M., three police officers of the City of Wildwood entered the leased premises, placed the six plaintiffs and four others under arrest for loud radio playing, and carted them off to the police station. Nine of the ten persons detained were young females, ranging in ages from 17 to 20 years; they were placed in three cells, three persons to a cell. The one male who had been arrested provided the sum of $200 in cash and was released. He returned later with about $700 in an unsuccessful attempt to obtain the release of the others on bail. The female arrestees, including the plaintiffs, were held in the cells until 11:00 the following morning.

Plaintiffs filed three section 1983 suits in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, which were consolidated by order of the court. They alleged that the length and condition of their confinement violated their fourteenth amendment rights, that the release of the one male arrestee on bail violated their rights to equal protection, and that their arrest without probable cause violated the fourth and fourteenth amendments. They also alleged various pendent state tort claims.

Through a series of summary judgment orders, the court dismissed various claims, including the due process claim based on jail conditions. The court dismissed all claims against the City of Wildwood except for the due process claim based on the length of the plaintiffs' detention. It dismissed this claim as to the individual defendants on the ground that they enjoyed qualified immunity as officials exercising discretionary functions.

Thereafter, the case went to trial on two issues, the due process claim against the City based on the length of detention and the equal protection claim against the individual defendants. When the plaintiffs rested, the City moved under Rule 50 for a directed verdict on the ground that plaintiffs had presented no evidence establishing a "policy and practice" on the part of the City resulting in the violation of plaintiffs' constitutional rights. The individual defendants also moved for a directed verdict on the grounds of insufficient evidence because the plaintiffs had not specifically identified the individuals who booked them and locked them up.

Plaintiffs' counsel then moved to reopen plaintiffs' case to permit the introduction of certain exhibits and testimony. The court did not allow the testimony, but admitted three exhibits. Two exhibits were duty rosters showing which employees of the police department were on duty during the two shifts covering the period of incarceration and the third was a bail schedule issued by a judge of the municipal court of the City of Wildwood. The court received the exhibits in evidence and considered them in ruling on the directed verdict motions. The plaintiffs made no offer of proof that any testimony would be proffered which went beyond the facts shown on the exhibits.

On appeal the plaintiffs contend, inter alia, that the City should be liable because they were held overnight on a charge of violating an ordinance instead of being released subject to a summons as provided by New Jersey law. They also assert that because a male who was arrested with them was given the opportunity to post bail and was released immediately, their rights to equal protection under the fourteenth amendment were infringed. As totheir fourth amendment count alleging their arrest without probable cause, they claim that the district court erred in ruling that their guilty pleas in municipal court to a violation of the city ordinance collaterally estopped them from raising the issue. Finally, the plaintiffs contend that the district court erred in holding that the conditions of the holding cells in which the plaintiffs were confined did not violate their personal liberty rights protected by the fourteenth amendment. 1

II.

We first turn to the issue of detention. Wildwood attempted to justify the detention of the plaintiffs on the basis of a bail policy statement prepared by the Judge of the Municipal Court of the city of Wildwood. The trial court ruled that the Judge of the Municipal Court, in judicially adopting a bail policy, acted independent of the township's governing body. See Kagan v. Caroselli, 30 N.J. 371, 377, 153 A.2d 17 (1959). In rejecting plaintiffs' motion for reconsideration of the order denying a new trial, the district court held that the plaintiffs had not proven that the allegedly illegal bail policy was one emanating from the City. The court concluded that the policy was not the City's but was the State's "per the Municipal Court Judge."

In Monell v. Department of Social Services of City of New York 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978), the Supreme Court stated that a municipality cannot be held liable "solely because it employs a tortfeasor--or, in other words, a municipality cannot be held liable under Sec. 1983 on a respondeat superior theory." Id. at 691, 98 S.Ct. at 2036 (emphasis in original). Instead, the Court held, "it is when execution of a government's policy or custom ... inflicts the injury that the Government as an entity is responsible under Sec. 1983." Id. at 694, 98 S.Ct. at 2037-2038. The plaintiffs were therefore required to establish either (1) the existence of an officially promulgated authority, or (2) that the practices of city officials causing the alleged deprivation were "so permanent and well-settled" as to have the "force of law." Id. at 691, 98 S.Ct. at 2036.

The New Jersey Supreme Court, pursuant to the authority of the New Jersey Constitution, promulgated Rule 3:4-1(b), Rules Governing Criminal Practice (1985), which has the force of law in the area of court procedure. See George Siegler Co. v. Norton, 8 N.J. 374, 86 A.2d 8, 12 (1952). The Rule requires a person making an arrest without a warrant to take the arrested person to the nearest committing judge and file a complaint forthwith, and either issue a warrant thereon or, if the person taking the complaint has reason to believe that the defendant will appear in response to a summons, cause a summons to issue. The Rule further provides that when minor offenses are charged, the officers in charge of the police station shall, after completion of the post-arrest identification procedures required by law, "issue a summons to [the arrestee] and release him in lieu of continued detention unless he determines that any of the conditions set forth in subparagraph (c)" apply, in which event the officer in charge shall have the discretion not to issue a summons. Rule 3:4-1(b). 2

None of the conditions of Rule 3:4-1(c), permitting the stationhouse chief in his discretion to forego issuing a summons after all post-arrest procedures were complete, applied here. No violence, drugs, or alcohol was involved. These defendants were arrested for the minor non-indictable offense of playing their radio loudly in their own home.

Wildwood contended, however, that New Jersey Rule 3:4-1 is irrelevant because the procedure under which they routinely detained persons overnight for minor offenses without issuing a summons was mandated by the "Cash Bail Schedule" established on order of the Wildwood municipal judge. The district court reasoned that compliance with the bail schedule could not amount to official municipal policy because "the municipal courts of the State of New Jersey and the rules controlling them are promulgated by the New Jersey Supreme Court and are not within the control ... of the municipal authorities." The district court also noted in its decision rejecting plaintiffs' motion for reconsideration of the order denying a new trial, "nothing in the New Jersey Court rules mandated that the City pursue a contrary policy."

Yet, Rule 3:4-1 specifically and unequivocally required the City to pursue a contrary policy. It applied statewide, provided carefully drafted procedures to protect the legal rights of arrestees, and therefore imposed a duty upon Wildwood to issue summonses to these...

To continue reading

Request your trial
126 cases
  • Gordon v. Maesaka-Hirata, SCWC-14-0000914
    • United States
    • Hawaii Supreme Court
    • November 2, 2018
    ...and shakedown searches of pretrial detainees' cells outside their presence does not amount to punishment), with Anela v. Wildwood, 790 F.2d 1063 (3rd Cir. N.J. 1986) (holding that failing to provide beds or mattresses and food and drinking water amounted to punishment), and Demery v. Arpaio......
  • Fuchilla v. Prockop, Civ. A. No. 85-0693.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey
    • October 13, 1987
    ...officials causing the alleged deprivation were "so permanent and well-settled" as to have the "force of law." Anela v. City of Wildwood, 790 F.2d 1063, 1066 (3d Cir.) (quoting Monell, 436 U.S. at 691, 98 S.Ct. at 2036), reh'g denied, 793 F.2d 514 Moreover, it is now clear that under appropr......
  • Martinez v. City of Reading Prop. Maint. Div.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania
    • September 29, 2017
    ...settled" that could have "the force of law" and, thus, be "ascribable to municipal decisionmakers." Id. (citing Anela v. City of Wildwood, 790 F.2d 1063, 1067 (3d Cir. 1986)). The court also recognizes that single incidents involving constitutional violations can also establish a policy or ......
  • Schwab v. Wood, Civ. A. No. 88-657 MMS.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Delaware
    • June 12, 1991
    ...effect of a state court proceeding, should apply the law of the state where the criminal proceeding took place. Anela v. City of Wildwood, 790 F.2d 1063, 1068 (3d Cir.1987), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 949, 107 S.Ct. 434, 93 L.Ed.2d 384 (1986). Due process considerations also compel a federal co......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
1 books & journal articles
  • Constitutional violations (42 U.S.C. §1983)
    • United States
    • James Publishing Practical Law Books Federal Employment Jury Instructions - Volume I
    • April 30, 2014
    ...or usage.’” Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati , 475 U.S. 469, 484 n.10 (1986) (plurality opinion); see also Anela v. City of Wildwood , 790 F.2d 1063, 1069 (3d Cir. 1986) (“Even if the practices with respect to jail conditions also were followed without formal city action, it appears that they ......

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT