Black v. Montgomery Cnty.
| Decision Date | 30 August 2016 |
| Docket Number | No. 15-3399,15-3399 |
| Citation | 835 F.3d 358 |
| Parties | Michele Owen Black, Appellant, v. Montgomery County; Det. John T. Fallon; Lower Merion Township; Det. Gregory Henry; Bryan Garner; Chief Fire Off. Charles Mcgarvey; Deputy Fire Marshall Frank Hand; State Trooper Robert Pomponio. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
Michael C. Schwartz [ARGUED], James, Schwartz & Associates, 1500 Walnut Street, 21st Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19102, Counsel for Appellant.
Carol A. Vanderwoude [ARGUED], Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, 2000 Market Street, 18th Floor, Suite 2300, Philadelphia, PA 19103, Counsel for Appellees Township of Lower Merion, Detective Gregory Henry, Bryan A. Garner, Chief Fire Off. Charles McGarvey and Deputy Fire Marshal Frank Hand.
Philip W. Newcomer [ARGUED], Montgomery County, Solicitor's Office, One Montgomery Plaza, Suite 800, P.O. Box 311, Norristown, PA 19404-0311, Counsel for Appellees Montgomery County and Detective John T. Fallon.
Claudia M. Tesoro [ARGUED], John G. Knorr, III, Office of the Attorney General, 21 South 12th Street, Third Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107, Counsel for Appellee State Trooper Robert Pomponio.
Before: CHAGARES, KRAUSE, and SCIRICA, Circuit Judges
CHAGARES
, Circuit Judge.
Plaintiff Michele Black filed a lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983
and state law alleging that various police and fire officials, as well as a county and township, violated her constitutional rights in connection with criminal proceedings against her. The defendants moved to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) and the District Court granted these motions.
Two issues are now before us on appeal from the order granting the motions to dismiss. The first issue is whether the District Court erred in determining that Black was not “seized” as required for a Fourth Amendment malicious prosecution claim. The second issue is whether the District Court erred in finding that Black's Fourteenth Amendment due process claim for fabricated evidence required that she be convicted at trial, since she was acquitted. We hold that the answer is yes for both issues. Accordingly, we will vacate the District Court's order and remand for further proceedings.
On November 21, 2012, a fire broke out at the home where Black had grown up in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Black's mother had sold the home two days before. Originally, the closing date was set for November 30, 2012, but it was moved up so the buyers could upgrade the wiring before they moved in. The buyers could not obtain homeowner's insurance unless the old wiring was upgraded because it was viewed as a fire hazard. Black's mother entered into a post-settlement possession addendum which allowed her to remove her possessions from the home while the buyer's contractors upgraded the wiring.
The fire broke out in the third floor of the home. Black was in the home helping her mother remove possessions,2 while the buyer's electricians were upgrading the wiring. The fire resulted in a “V” pattern of fire damage extending from a 220-volt electrical outlet. The electricians extinguished the fire before they called the fire department. After arriving at the home, the Gladwyne Fire Chief called the dispatcher to report an electrical fire.
Defendant Deputy Fire Marshal Frank Hand and his supervisor defendant Chief Fire Officer Charles McGarvey arrived at the scene. Hand was not an electrical expert, but he disassembled the electrical outlet where the fire had started. Hand could not determine that the fire was accidental, so he called the District Attorney's Office and the state police for help. Hand concluded that the fire was intentionally started and was not an electrical fire. Despite fire damage on the electrical outlet, Hand did not preserve the outlet, supporting brackets, electrical box, or the outlet cover. Hand intentionally misrepresented his findings that the wire to the outlet had been cut 18 inches from the outlet to support the proposition that there was no power source for the outlet. His supervisor, defendant McGarvey, witnessed the fire scene and assisted Hand with his investigation.
Defendant State Trooper Thomas Pomponio, an alternate deputy fire marshal, arrived at the scene. After he learned that the wire had already been cut, Pomponio concluded the fire was caused by an open flame, ruling out that the outlet caused the fire. Pomponio did not inspect the electrical panel in the basement as he normally would because he heard that it had already been inspected. Had he done so, he would have discovered that the fire was an electrical one.
Defendant John Fallon, a certified fire inspector, arrived at the home, examined the outlet and concluded the damage was caused by an open flame, not by the electrical outlet. Fallon determined that the outlet was not energized when the fire occurred. In arriving at his conclusion, Fallon relied on the word of one of the electricians, rather than personally inspecting the panel box in the basement as required by protocol.
A box of matches was found on another windowsill in the room where the fire started, and Fallon, Pomponio, and Hand assumed these matches were used to start the fire, despite evidence that this was an electrical fire. These three defendants never tested the box of matches for DNA or fingerprints, or analyzed whether the match strike pad had been used.
Shortly after the fire broke out, Fallon, Pomponio, Hand, as well as defendant Detectives Gregory Henry and Bryan Garner, first questioned the electricians. Black “was advised that she was not free to leave the premises until she was questioned by police, and was escorted by police to and from the bathroom.” Appendix (“App.”) A41. These defendants did not check the veracity of the electricians' story. During the interrogation of Black, the officers immediately accused Black of setting the fire. Black also alleges that at the end of her interrogation, Fallon told her that if she did not surrender herself to them at a later date, a warrant would be issued for her arrest, the defendants would have her hometown District Attorney's Office in California send a police officer to arrest her, she would remain in custody until extradited, and remain in jail until her arraignment.
Black alleges that Fallon made several material falsehoods and omissions in an affidavit of probable cause to arrest her. These falsehoods and omissions included: failing to report that the fire started at an electrical outlet; failing to mention that the Gladwyne Fire Chief first reported an electrical fire; failing to mention that electricians were at the scene to fix the wiring; failing to mention that the circuit panel was never checked in the basement; and failing to mention that the outlet and live wires were never tested.
Black returned home to California after the fire. On December 17, 2012, Pennsylvania authorities issued an arrest warrant for Black for arson endangering persons, risking catastrophe, criminal mischief, and recklessly endangering another person. Black flew to Pennsylvania on December 18, 2012 for her arraignment. She was arraigned and was released on $50,000 unsecured bail.3 A condition of her bail was that Black was required to appear at all subsequent proceedings. Black was then required to be fingerprinted and photographed at a police station, which took over an hour.
Black again returned to her home in California. On January 24, 2013, Black flew from California to Pennsylvania to attend her preliminary hearing. She flew from California to Pennsylvania for twelve out of fourteen pre-trial conferences because the Court Notices for each conference said that if she did not appear a bench warrant would be issued for her arrest.
Prior to trial, Black retained a fire expert, John J. Lentini, who concluded that the fire was unequivocally an electrical one, not an arson. Lentini reached out to Hand to discuss his findings and to review the photographs of the fire with Hand. Lentini never received a response from Hand. Black's counsel emailed the assistant district attorney assigned to the case to advise him about Lentini's findings and to offer to meet the prosecutor and his expert. The assistant district attorney never responded to this offer.
On April 23, 2014, Black's trial began. Fallon and Hand offered evidence at trial that the outlet was not energized and that the wire was cut. Photographs offered by Black, however, taken the day of the fire show the wire was intact. The photographs offered and explained by Fallon and Hand appear to have been taken later. Black presented evidence that the defendants fabricated and suppressed exculpatory evidence. On April 24, 2014, she was found not guilty of all charges. The jury deliberated for less than forty minutes.
Subsequently, Black filed this lawsuit on November 21, 2014. She filed the Second Amended Complaint on June 11, 2015. Black named as defendants Montgomery County, Detective John T. Fallon, Lower Merion Township, Detective Gregory Henry, Detective Bryan Garner, Chief Fire Officer Charles McGarvey, Deputy Fire Marshall Frank Hand, and State Trooper Robert Pomponio. The complaint was brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983
and alleged, inter alia, malicious prosecution in violation of the Fourth Amendment, violation of her Fourteenth Amendment due process rights due to fabrication, suppression, and destruction of evidence, conspiracy claims under Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978), against the defendant government entities, and various state law claims.
The defendants filed motions to dismiss pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6)
. On September 21, 2015, the District Court granted the motions to dismiss all of the federal claims and declined jurisdiction over the remaining state law claims. In particular, the District Court dismissed Black's malicious prosecution claim because...
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