Covington v. City of New York
| Decision Date | 18 March 1999 |
| Docket Number | D-D,Docket No. 96-2026 |
| Citation | 171 F.3d 117 |
| Parties | Ronnie COVINGTON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. The CITY OF NEW YORK; New York City Police Department; Lee P. Brown, Commissioner, New York City Police Department; Raymond Kelly, First Deputy Commissioner, New York City Police Department; Robert Johnston, Chief, New York City Police Department; "A Doe", Tour Commander, 108 Pct., New York City Police Department; "B Doe", Desk Lieutenant, 108 Pct., New York City Police Department; "C Doe", Sergeant-Supervisor, 108 Pct., New York City Police Dept.; Jacques Guillois, Police Officer, 108 Pct., New York City Police Department; "oe", Police Officer, 108 Pct., New York City Police Department; "Four Other Police Officers", 108 Pct., New York City Police Department; County of Queens, New York; John J. Santucci, District Attorney, Queens County; "K Doe", Assistant District Attorney, Queens County, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
(Ronnie Covington, Pro Se, Comstock, NY).
(Paul A. Crotty, Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, Margaret G. King, Assistant Corporation Counsel, New York, NY, of counsel), for Defendants-Appellees.
Before: PARKER, Circuit Judge, EGINTON * and GLASSER, ** District Judges. ***
Vacated and Remanded. Judge Glasser dissents with a separate opinion.
Ronnie Covington, pro se, appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Eugene H. Nickerson, Judge ), entered June 5, 1995, dismissing his civil rights complaint, alleging, inter alia, a false arrest claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and from a judgment entered November 9, 1995 denying Covington's motion to amend or vacate the June 5, 1995 judgment. The only question on appeal is whether the district court correctly dismissed Covington's false arrest claim as having been brought beyond the applicable three-year statute of limitations. Although more than three years had elapsed between the date the complaint was filed and the date of the allegedly false arrest, less than three years had elapsed between the filing of the complaint and the date of dismissal of the state criminal proceedings against Covington relating to the allegedly false arrest. Thus, the question in this case is when Covington's false arrest claim accrued so as to trigger the statute of limitations.
We hold that the answer to this question turns on whether a judgment in Covington's favor on the false arrest claim would have undermined the validity of any potential conviction in the criminal proceedings against him. See Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477, 114 S.Ct. 2364, 129 L.Ed.2d 383 (1994); Woods v. Candela, 47 F.3d 545 (2d Cir.1995)("Woods II "). If a favorable determination on the false arrest claim would in fact have undermined the validity of any potential conviction against Covington resulting from the state criminal proceedings, then Covington's false arrest claim would not accrue until those criminal proceedings terminated, and his false arrest claim would not now be time-barred. However, because we are unable to make this determination on the basis of the record before us, we vacate the dismissal and remand this case to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
On February 17, 1990, Covington was arrested for allegedly stealing numerous cases of wine from the premises of Ernst & Julio Gallo Wine Distributors, Inc. ("Gallo Wines") and for causing damage to property. Covington claimed that he was headed towards the subway, after having seen several movies and eaten dinner and after checking on his car that was parked across the street from Gallo Wines, when he was approached by various police officers and security guards associated with Gallo Wines. The police allegedly held Covington at gunpoint, and forcibly transported him to the police station, where he was compelled to confess. The police then formally charged Covington with Grand Larceny in the fourth degree, Criminal Mischief in the third degree, and Criminal Trespass in the third degree. Covington was transported to the Central Booking Unit in Queens, and imprisoned.
On June 10, 1991, the Criminal Court of the City of New York dismissed the criminal prosecution against Covington on the charges stemming from this arrest for the People's failure to prosecute the case within the time required by New York's speedy trial provision. N.Y.Crim. Proc. Law § 30.30.
On June 2, 1994, 1 Covington handed to prison officials for transmittal to the court, a complaint alleging civil rights violations under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for his false arrest and subsequent detention. The suit was brought against almost forty defendants, including the City of New York, the New York City Police Department ("NYPD"), the former Police Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, and Police Chief, various police officers and supervisors, Queens County, its District Attorney and an assistant district attorney (collectively, the "City Defendants"), Gallo Wines, and various businesses, affiliates, officers and employees associated with Gallo Wines (collectively, the "Business Defendants"). Covington filed an amended complaint in November 1994. 2 Covington alleged false arrest, use of excessive force, malicious prosecution, and conspiracy to violate his civil rights.
In December 1994 and January 1995, two groups of Business Defendants moved to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) on the ground that the complaint had been filed after the applicable three-year statute of limitations had run. In February 1995, the City Defendants moved to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) on the grounds that: (1) the false arrest, excessive force, and state law claims were time-barred under the applicable statute of limitations; (2) the malicious prosecution claim was legally insufficient; (3) the complaint did not allege facts sufficient to show a conspiracy; (4) Queens County and the NYPD were not suable entities; (5) the complaint failed to allege the personal involvement of certain defendants; and (6) the District Attorney was immune from suit.
In a Memorandum and Order dated May 23, 1995, the district court sua sponte converted the parties' Rule 12(b)(6) motions into motions for summary judgment under Rule 56(c) because the parties had submitted material outside the pleadings. Covington, 1995 WL 322222, at * 2. The district court held that the applicable statute of limitations for § 1983 actions in New York was three years, but that federal law governed the date the limitations period would begin to run. Id. The district court rejected Covington's contention that the statute of limitations for the false arrest and excessive force claims began to run when the criminal prosecution against him based on the arrest in question was terminated on June 10, 1991. Instead, the court held that the limitations period began to run when Covington was arrested and allegedly battered, namely on or about February 19, 1990, and accordingly granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants. Id. at * 3.
The district court also rejected Covington's claim that the limitations period had not run because the defendants were part of an ongoing conspiracy to violate his civil rights. Id. The court found that, even liberally construed, Covington's complaint failed to allege any facts that would tend to suggest the existence of a conspiracy. Finally, as to Covington's malicious prosecution claim, the district court reasoned that that claim was not time-barred because the limitation period only began to run when the underlying criminal action was conclusively terminated, which was June 10, 1991. The district court nevertheless dismissed that claim because Covington had failed to establish an essential element of the cause of action, namely that the criminal proceedings, which had been dismissed for failure to comply with New York's speedy trial requirement, had terminated in his favor. Id. at * 3-* 4.
Covington subsequently filed a motion pursuant to Rules 59(e) and 60(b) to alter and amend or vacate the district court's judgment. The district court denied the motion. Covington timely filed a notice of appeal in December 1995, but failed to file an appellate brief in accordance with this Court's scheduling order. Accordingly, this Court dismissed Covington's appeal and notified Covington that his case was closed and that he needed to file a motion for reinstatement if he wished to pursue the appeal. Covington filed a motion to reinstate the appeal, which we granted only with respect to that portion of his appeal concerning the dismissal of his false arrest claim. Covington v. City of New York, No. 96-2026 (2d Cir. July 25, 1997). We denied reinstatement as to Covington's remaining claims on the ground that they were frivolous within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1925(e). Accordingly, we now consider Covington's arguments only with respect to the false arrest claim.
We review de novo a district court's grant of summary judgment, Samuels v. Mockry, 77 F.3d 34, 35 (2d Cir.1996), whether that grant arose from a motion for summary judgment or from a district court's conversion of a motion to dismiss into a motion for summary judgment. See Buti v. Perosa, S.R.L., 139 F.3d 98, 101 (2d Cir.1998) (). "Summary judgment is proper if, viewing all facts of record in a light most favorable to the non-moving party, no genuine issue of material fact remains for adjudication." Samuels, 77 F.3d at 35.
The court below correctly reasoned that although New York law provides the applicable statute of limitations, federal law governs the question of when a false arrest claim accrues. See Morse v. University of Vt., 973 F.2d 122, 125 (2d Cir.1992). Generally speaking, under federal law " ...
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