Berg v. County of Allegheny

• Decision Date: 17 July 2000
• Docket Number: No. 98-3557,98-3557
• Citation: 219 F.3d 261
• Parties: (3rd Cir. 2000) RAYMOND A. BERG, JR., APPELLANT V. COUNTY OF ALLEGHENY; ALLEGHENY COUNTY ADULT PROBATION SERVICES; DEBBIE BENTON; RICHARD R. GARDNER; GLENN ALLEN WOLFGANG; GINNY DEMKO
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

Page 261

219 F.3d 261 (3rd Cir. 2000)

RAYMOND A. BERG, JR., APPELLANT

V.

COUNTY OF ALLEGHENY; ALLEGHENY COUNTY ADULT PROBATION SERVICES; DEBBIE BENTON; RICHARD R. GARDNER; GLENN ALLEN WOLFGANG; GINNY DEMKO

No. 98-3557

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

Argued March 10, 1999

Filed July 17, 2000

On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania D.C. Civil Action No. 97-cv-00928 (Honorable Donetta W. Ambrose) [Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

Theodore E. Breault, Esquire (argued) Breault & Associates 428 Forbes Avenue 2200 Lawyers Building Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15219 Attorney for Appellant

Eric N. Anderson, Esquire (argued) Meyer, Darragh, Buckler, Bebenek & Eck 2000 The Frick Building Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15219 Attorney for Appellees, County of Allegheny, Allegheny County Adult Probation Services, Debbie Benton, Richard R. Gardner, Ginny Demko

Audrey J. Copeland, Esquire (argued) Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin 1845 Walnut Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 Scott G. Dunlop, Esquire Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin 2900 Usx Tower 600 Grant Street Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15219 Attorneys for Appellee, Glenn Allen Wolfgang

Before: Mansmann, Scirica and Nygaard, Circuit Judges

OPINION OF THE COURT

Per Curiam.

Plaintiff Raymond Berg appeals the District Court's grant of summary judgment to all defendants in this civil rights action alleging false arrest and imprisonment based on an erroneously issued warrant. We will affirm in part and reverse in part.

I. Background

On July 14, 1994, Richard Gardner, the supervisor at Allegheny County Adult Probation Services, requested an arrest warrant for Paul Banks, who had violated conditions of his parole. After a judge of the Court of Common Pleas approved the warrant, Gardner sent an Arrest Warrant Information Sheet to Virginia Demko, the warrant clerk responsible for issuing and clearing all arrest warrants in Allegheny County. The Information Sheet listed Banks's name, offense, date of birth, criminal complaint number, Social Security number, and address. On August 3, 1994, Demko generated the warrant using the County's computerized Integrated Court Information System (ICIS). ICIS is operated by typing a criminal complaint number into the computer, which automatically retrieves the remaining information and displays it on the user's screen.

Unfortunately, Demko transposed two digits in Banks' criminal complaint number. As a result, she entered the criminal complaint number of plaintiff, Raymond A. Berg, Jr., who three years earlier had completed a six-month parole term for driving under the influence. Demko's computer screen displayed Berg's name, date of birth, criminal complaint number, Social Security number, and address, all of which were different from the information on the Arrest Warrant Information Sheet. Berg concedes, however, that Demko noticed only that the address on the screen was different from the address on the Information Sheet. See Appellant's Br. at 7. She did not realize that the other information was different as well. See id.

Concluding that the ICIS contained an old or otherwise incorrect address for Banks, Demko manually changed the information in the ICIS. She replaced Berg's address, in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, with Banks's last known address, listed on the Information Sheet, in Finleyville, Pennsylvania. That was the only change she made.

Demko then generated the warrant for Berg's arrest and sent it to the Allegheny County Sheriff 's Office. Gardner's name and telephone number were written on the warrant as the contact person from whom additional information could be obtained. Demko also returned the Information Sheet requesting the Banks warrant to Gardner after date-stamping it to indicate that the warrant had been issued. Thus, because of Demko's clerical error, and her subsequent decision to change the information contained in the ICIS, an arrest warrant was issued for Berg rather than Banks. Demko later testified in her deposition that, in issuing over 500 warrants per month since 1989, "this is the only occasion where this has ever occurred."

In reviewing Banks' case on August 16, 1994, Gardner noticed that the Information Sheet had been stamped (indicating the issuance of a warrant) but, according to his review of ICIS, no warrant in fact existed. Gardner admits that, "for a brief moment," he may have considered the possibility that an erroneous warrant was issued, but would have quickly realized that there was no practical way to determine whether one had. See Gardner Dep. at 141:16 through 142:3 (A.397-98). He then called Demko, informed her that no warrant had been issued for Banks, and requested that she issue one. Nothing in the record indicates that Gardner suggested to Demko, at that time, that she may have processed an erroneous warrant.

Berg's warrant was executed on the night of December 30, 1994, by Glenn Allen Wolfgang, an elected constable in Westmoreland County. Wolfgang, who earned a fee for each person arrested, frequently executed outstanding arrest warrants for Allegheny County, and on December 30 he planned to make four arrests. Before leaving home, Wolfgang retrieved Berg's address and telephone number using a computer software/on-line system he had purchased from a credit union. Apparently, however, he did not notice that the address he retrieved, and the one listed on the warrant for Berg's arrest, were different. He proceeded instead to the Finleyville address listed on the warrant, only to discover that it was an abandoned house. Wolfgang then telephoned Berg and asked for directions to his house. Wolfgang called three or four more times for further directions and took over an hour to drive from Finleyville to Berg's house. In his deposition, Wolfgang described Berg as "[v]ery cooperative" on the telephone.

When Wolfgang arrived, Berg was entertaining guests at his house at a pre-New Year's Eve party. Berg informed Wolfgang that he had never lived in Finleyville and offered to produce release documents proving that he was no longer on parole. After confirming that Berg's birthday and social security number were the same as those on the warrant, Wolfgang refused to look at the release documents, instead telling Berg to bring them with him. Berg did show Wolfgang his driver's license, confirming that Berg was no longer on parole.¹ But Wolfgang simply told Berg not to take too much time retrieving the release documents because he had three more people to arrest that night.

Wolfgang did call the Allegheny County Sheriff 's Office, but after being told that the warrant was still "active," he arrested Berg. Wolfgang did not try to call Gardner. Gardner testified that if Wolfgang had called and asked him about a warrant for Berg's arrest, Gardner would have checked Berg's file and told Wolfgang not to arrest Berg.

At the Sheriff 's office, Berg was strip-searched, fingerprinted, inoculated, and placed in the Allegheny County Jail. Because Probation Services and the courts were closed for the holidays, Berg remained in jail until January 3, 1995, or approximately five days. Finally, after intervention by Berg's attorney, Demko issued a Notification to Clear the Warrant and Berg was released.

Berg filed suit against Allegheny County, Gardner, Demko, and Wolfgang in Pennsylvania state court, alleging civil rights violations under 42 U.S.C. SS 1983, 1985(3), 1988 (1994), and the Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments.² The defendants removed the case to the District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and, following discovery, moved for summary judgment. The District Court granted summary judgment to all defendants, ruling that Berg's arrest was not unconstitutional because the facially valid warrant gave Wolfgang probable cause for the arrest.

II. Legal/Analytical Framework

On appeal, Berg presses only his S 1983 claim. ³ To make a prima facie case under S 1983, the plaintiff must demonstrate that a person acting under color of law deprived him of a federal right. See Groman v. Township of Manalapan, 47 F.3d 628, 633 (3d Cir. 1995). Here, it is undisputed that defendants were acting under color of law when they issued and executed the warrant for Berg's arrest.

The next step is to "identify the exact contours of the underlying right said to have been violated." County of Sacramento v. Lewis, 523 U.S. 833, 841 n.5 (1998). Section 1983 is not a source of substantive rights and does not provide redress for common law torts--the plaintiff must allege a violation of a federal right. See Baker v. McCollan, 443 U.S. 137, 146 (1979). Berg alleges he was subjected to false arrest, false imprisonment, and denial of due process in violation of 42 U.S.C. SS 1983 and 1985(3), and the Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments.

The Supreme Court has held that when government behavior is governed by a specific constitutional amendment, due process analysis is inappropriate. Although not all actions by police officers are governed by the Fourth Amendment, see Lewis at 842-43 118 S.Ct. 1708 (noting that accidents during police chases are not "covered" by the Fourth Amendment), the constitutionality of arrests by state officials is governed by the Fourth Amendment rather than due process analysis. See id.; United States v. Lanier, 520 U.S. 259, 272 n.7 (1997); Graham v. Connor , 490 U.S. 386, 394 (1989); Blackwell v. Barton, 34 F.3d 298, 302 (5th Cir. 1994). Therefore, we will limit our analysis of Berg's arrest to his Fourth Amendment claim. See Baker , 443 U.S. at 142-43 (1979) (interpreting S 1983 false imprisonment claim as grounded in Fourth Amendment rights); Groman, 47 F.3d at 636 (same). Although we recognize the possibility that some false arrest claims might be subject to a due process analysis, we also conclude...