Anderson v. City of Pocatello, 15703

• Citation: 112 Idaho 176,731 P.2d 171
• Decision Date: 29 July 1986
• Docket Number: No. 15703,15703
• Parties: Michael ANDERSON, Plaintiff/Appellant/Cross-Respondent, v. CITY OF POCATELLO, a municipal corporation; Ron Black, individually and as a public officer of the City of Pocatello; and Bruce Gentillon individually and as a public officer of the City of Pocatello, Defendants/Respondents/Cross- Appellants.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Idaho

Page 171

731 P.2d 171

112 Idaho 176

Michael ANDERSON, Plaintiff/Appellant/Cross-Respondent, v. CITY OF POCATELLO, a municipal corporation; Ron Black, individually and as a public officer of the City of Pocatello; and Bruce Gentillon individually and as a public officer of the City of Pocatello, Defendants/Respondents/Cross- Appellants.

No. 15703.

Supreme Court of Idaho.

July 29, 1986.

On Rehearing Jan. 28, 1987.

Dan Edwards of Suiter, Edwards & Gere, Eagle, for plaintiff/appellant/cross-respondent.

Jesse C. Robison (argued) and L. Charles Johnson, of Johnson, Olson, Robison, Chartered & Pocatello, for defendants/respondents/cross-appellants.

BISTLINE, Justice.

Anderson commenced a tort action against the defendants-respondents on theories of violation of his civil rights (afforded remedy under 42 U.S.C. § 1983), assault and battery, and negligence. The district court granted summary judgment to the respondents, but denied granting attorney's fees to the respondents. Anderson appeals the former holding; respondents appeal the latter. We affirm the district court's granting of summary judgment on all counts save the § 1983 claim against the officers. As to count § 1983, a genuine issue of material fact remains to be resolved.

I.

In the summary judgment proceedings, the record before the district court included the affidavits of Anderson, see infra, p. 176 n. 2, and his father, the affidavit of Lieutenant James H. Benham concerning the defendant officers' training, see infra, p. 181, and the partial transcript of plaintiff Anderson's criminal trial. As thus constituted, the record establishes the following factual setting and disputes.

At approximately 1:30 a.m. during the morning of October 18, 1982, Pocatello city police officers Ron Black and Bruce Gentillon were investigating an incident of alleged vandalism at 1117 South Fifth Avenue in Pocatello. They were greeted by the two individuals, Romriell and Nielson, who had reported the incident.

Romriell and Nielson related to the officers the following events. Earlier in the evening they had had a confrontation with a person with whom they were not previously acquainted, plaintiff Anderson, who lived in the basement apartment of a house adjacent to the apartment of Romriell and Nielson. They reported that Anderson, in an intoxicated state, had threatened one of them outside their apartment. They claimed he entered their apartment without invitation. They further claimed that when they told Anderson they were leaving for a party, Anderson attempted to invite himself along, first returning to his apartment to retrieve his cigarettes. Romriell and Nielson added that upon his departure, they quickly went on their way. On their return to their apartment several hours later, they found the windows and screen door broken out. Romriell and a friend had knocked on Anderson's door without receiving a response.

Upon the conclusion of the foregoing narration, the officers checked the interior of the vandalized apartment and then proceeded to the stairwell leading to Anderson's apartment. They knocked on his door several times, but received no answer. Anderson by deposition stated that he was awakened by persons first kicking and later pounding on his door without identifying themselves, and that he did not answer at first out of fear for his safety. The officers, in their testimony at the criminal trial, do not claim to have identified themselves. Having received no answer the officers exited the stairwell where they were met by Romriell.

At this point, Anderson opened his door, audibly chambered a shell into his shotgun, and emerged. Anderson claims he carried the shotgun in self-defense, and chambered the shell to announce that he was coming out. The respondents claim he kicked open the door and charged out, shouting.

The officers claim they scrambled for cover. Anderson claims they were in hiding. Anderson claims he did not point the shotgun at anyone. The officers claim he pointed it at the fleeing Romriell. Nielson so testified at Anderson's subsequent criminal trial. Officer Black shouted "freeze" to Anderson. The officers claim Anderson then turned and pointed the shotgun at them. Again, Nielson's testimony supported this account. Anderson claims he was turning to return to his apartment. Gentillon commanded, "Drop it." Anderson did not drop the gun. The officers claim Anderson continued the motion of pointing the shotgun at them, at which time they both fired almost simultaneously, each firing three rounds. Anderson claims that at the time he was shot, he had turned toward his door with the shotgun pointed straight up. Anderson was struck twice, once in the left side and once in the left buttocks.

Anderson continued to turn and ran back into his apartment. A few moments later he shouted that he was wounded and was coming out without his gun. Anderson was arrested for aggravated assault upon police officers in violation of I.C. § 18-915, and was transported to a hospital.

Anderson eventually was acquitted of aggravated assault upon police officers, and was convicted only of "intentionally, without malice" aiming a firearm at others in violation of I.C. § 18-3304. ¹ Such a violation is a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum fine of $50. Id.

As stated earlier, Anderson filed claims under both 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and state tort law. We first will address Anderson's § 1983 claims and then his state law claims.

As a preliminary matter, we restate the standards of review pertaining to motions for summary judgment. A motion for summary judgment is proper only when "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." I.R.C.P. 56(c). When the motion is supported by depositions or affidavits, the adverse party "may not rest upon the mere allegations or denials of his pleadings, but his response, by affidavits or as otherwise provided in this rule, must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial." I.R.C.P. 56(e). The latter requirement, however, does not change the standards applicable to the summary judgment motion. Central Idaho Agency, Inc. v. Turner, 92 Idaho 306, 310, 442 P.2d 442, 446 (1968). Those standards require the district court, and this Court upon review, to liberally construe the facts in the existing record in favor of the nonmoving party, and to draw all reasonable inferences from the record in favor of the nonmoving party. Anderson v. Ethington, 103 Idaho 658, 660, 651 P.2d 923, 925 (1982). In this process the Court must look to the "totality of the motions, affidavits, depositions, pleadings, and attached exhibits," not merely to portions of the record in isolation. Central Idaho Agency, supra, 92 Idaho at 310, 442 P.2d at 446. Circumstantial evidence can create a genuine issue of material fact. Petricevich v. Salmon River Canal Co., 92 Idaho 865, 868-69, 452 P.2d 362, 365-66 (1969). "[A]ll doubts are to be resolved against the moving party." Ashby v. Hubbard, 100 Idaho 67, 69, 593 P.2d 402, 404 (1979). The motion must be denied "if the evidence is such that conflicting inferences can be drawn therefrom and if reasonable

[PEOPLE] MIGHT REACH DIFFERENT CONCLUSIONs." id.

II. ANDERSON'S CLAIMS UNDER 42 U.S.C. § 1983

In his complaint, Anderson alleged that the officers, under color of state law, used unreasonable force against him. This conduct, Anderson alleged, "deprived the plaintiff of liberty and property, and the privileges and immunity of a United States citizen, without due process of law, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, and 42 U.S.C. § 1983." R., p. 4. Anderson alleged that "Defendant City of Pocatello was further negligent in their failure to properly screen, hire, train and supervise its police officers." R., p. 5. We first turn to Anderson's claims against the officers.

A. Section 1983 Claims Against the Officers.

In Sprague v. City of Burley, 109 Idaho 656, 664, 710 P.2d 566, 574 (1985), we observed:

It is well-established that a police officer can be found liable for damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for the use of unreasonable force in effecting an arrest. Schiller v. Strangis, 540 F.Supp. 605, 619 (D.Mass.1982); see Landrigan v. City of Warwick, 628 F.2d 736, 741-42 (1st Cir.1980); Collum v. Butler, 421 F.2d 1257, 1259 (7th Cir.1970).

In response to the claim that they used unreasonable force, the officers, in their pleadings, raised the defense of good faith immunity. One court described that defense as follows:

The defense of qualified immunity, which is available to local, state and federal law enforcement officers, would protect the individual officers from liability for damages if they acted with a good faith belief based upon reasonable grounds that the measures they took were necessary. Butz v. Economou, 438 U.S. 478, 497-98, 98 S.Ct. 2894, 2906, 57 L.Ed.2d 895 (1978); Maiorana v. MacDonald, 596 F.2d 1072 (1st Cir.1979). Jordan v. Five Unnamed Police Officers and Agents, 528 F.Supp. 507, 511 (E.D.La.1981).

We perceive two circumstances in which summary judgment for defendant police officers would be appropriate. The first is where the officers acted with good faith in a manner not clearly established as unlawful at the time of their actions. The United States Supreme Court explained:

On summary judgment, the judge appropriately may determine, not only the currently applicable law, but whether that law was clearly established at the time an action occurred. If the law at that time was not clearly established, an official could not reasonably be expected to anticipate subsequent legal developments, nor could he fairly be said to "know" that the law forbade conduct not previously identified as unlawful. Until this threshold immunity question is resolved, discovery should not be allowed. If the law was clearly established, the immunity defense ordinarily should fail, since a...