O'CONNOR v. CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINN., 4-59 Civ. 173.

• Decision Date: 01 April 1960
• Docket Number: No. 4-59 Civ. 173.,4-59 Civ. 173.
• Citation: 182 F. Supp. 494
• Parties: Robert O'CONNOR, Plaintiff v. CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINN., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Minnesota

182 F. Supp. 494

Robert O'CONNOR, Plaintiff v. CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINN., Defendant.

No. 4-59 Civ. 173.

United States District Court D. Minnesota, Fourth Division.

April 1, 1960.

Hall, Smith, Hedlund, Juster, Forsberg & Merlin, by William Merlin, Minneapolis, Minn., for plaintiff.

G. V. Johnson, Asst. City Atty., Minneapolis, Minn., for defendant.

DEVITT, Chief Judge.

The plaintiff, a resident of Wisconsin, sues under the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S. C.A. § 1983, and under common law to recover damages arising from his alleged illegal arrest and false imprisonment by Minneapolis City Police officers in August, 1957. He also seeks our mandatory injunction directing the defendant to request the Federal Bureau of Investigation to expunge from its files any record of the incident.

The defendant moves for dismissal of the damage claim and for summary judgment on the injunction request.

The complaint in brief alleges that the city, "as a matter of established policy and deliberate intent," arrested the plaintiff without probable cause to believe that he had committed a crime, that the city falsely imprisoned him for two days without informing him of the charge and without allowing him to contact anyone outside the jail, and that the city released to the local news media and national wire services the story that he was the "Number-one Suspect" in the shooting of Minneapolis Police Officers Fossum and Canfield, when such charges were false and without reasonable foundation.

The complaint further alleges that the defendant notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation that the plaintiff was under arrest for suspicion of homicide and has failed to correct this notification.

The plaintiff seeks damages for mental suffering, injury to health and loss of employment. Because the plaintiff's normal work requires security clearance, he also seeks our order directing the Minneapolis Police Department to notify the F.B.I. that the charges were false and to request the F.B.I. to expunge its records as to this incident. Unless this is done, the plaintiff claims he will be unable to obtain suitable employment in the future.

In so far as the damage action is concerned, the decided federal cases almost uniformly deny recovery of damages against a municipality for alleged violations of civil rights occurring in the exercise of the city's governmental functions. Cuiksa v. City of Mansfield, 6 Cir., 1957, 250 F.2d 700, certiorari denied, 1957, 356 U.S. 937, 78 S.Ct. 779, 2 L.Ed.2d 813; Agnew v. City of Compton, 9 Cir., 1956, 239 F.2d 226, certiorari denied, 1957, 353 U.S. 959, 77 S.Ct. 868, 1 L.Ed.2d 910; Cobb v. City of Malden, 1 Cir., 1953, 202 F.2d 701; Charlton v. City of Hialeah, 5 Cir., 1951, 188 F.2d 421; Hewitt v. City of Jacksonville, 5 Cir., 1951, 188 F.2d 423, certiorari denied, 1951, 342 U.S. 835, 72 S.Ct. 58, 96 L.Ed. 631; Egan v. City of Aurora, D.C. N.D.Ill.1959, 174 F.Supp. 794; Graves v. City of Bolivar, D.C.W.D.Mo.1957, 154 F.Supp. 625; Shuey v. State of Michigan, D.C.E.D.Mich.1952, 106 F.Supp. 32; but see, Burt v. City of New York, 2 Cir., 1946, 156 F.2d 791.

These cases reflect the same common law doctrine of sovereign immunity which has led the Minnesota Supreme Court to hold that municipal corporations are generally not liable for the wrongful acts of their police officers in making arrests or detaining prisoners. Gullikson v. McDonald, 1895, 62 Minn. 278, 64 N.W. 812; see, Lamont v. Stavanaugh, 1915, ...