Ineco v. City of Chicago

• Decision Date: 12 April 2002
• Docket Number: No. 01-2395.,01-2395.
• Citation: 286 F.3d 994
• Parties: Joseph IENCO, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF CHICAGO, a municipal corporation, P.O. Kenneth Angarone, individually and in his official capacity as a member of the Chicago Police Department, and P.O. Thomas McGann, individually and in his official capacity as a member of the Chicago Police Department, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 994

286 F.3d 994

Joseph IENCO, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF CHICAGO, a municipal corporation, P.O. Kenneth Angarone, individually and in his official capacity as a member of the Chicago Police Department, and P.O. Thomas McGann, individually and in his official capacity as a member of the Chicago Police Department, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 01-2395.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued February 13, 2002.

Decided April 12, 2002.

Jeffrey N. Cole (argued), Cole & Staes, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Mara S. Georges, Marc J. Boxerman (argued), Office of the Corp. Counsel, App. Div., Chicago, IL, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before COFFEY, MANION, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.

WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge.

Joseph Ienco was convicted of various federal weapons and extortion charges in April 1995. After raising several successful constitutional challenges to the manner of his arrest, his conviction was overturned and the indictment was dismissed. Seeking compensation for what he believed to be a wrongful prosecution caused by the actions of defendants City of Chicago ("the City") and two City police officers, Ienco brought an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The district court, in granting summary judgment for defendants, concluded that Ienco's state and federal malicious prosecution claims failed on the merits as a matter of law, because he could not prove that the defendants denied his substantive due process rights. Ienco appeals. During the pendency of his appeal, we decided Newsome v. McCabe, 256 F.3d 747 (7th Cir.2001), which held that federal malicious prosecution claims should not be examined under a theory of substantive due process, but must instead be analyzed under the due process clause directly. In light of Newsome, we reverse judgment as to the individual officers but affirm judgment as to the City.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Facts

Joseph Ienco operated as a real estate broker and rent collector, along with his associate Gregory Iovine. On the side, Ienco doubled as a debt collection enforcer. In August 1994, Ienco and Iovine were sent to collect payment from a Chicago businessman, Jerome Greenberg, who apparently owed a debt to Ienco's boss, a clothing importer. Ienco and Iovine traveled to Chicago and secured a hotel room and rental car. Shortly thereafter, they paid a visit to Greenberg at his Chicago office, where they talked tough with Greenberg about the money that he owed to Ienco's boss. Ienco and Iovine left, intending to return to Greenberg's office to engage in more aggressively threatening behavior, primarily with the aid of firearms and explosives.

When Ienco and Iovine returned to Greenberg's building, Greenberg saw them and called the police. Defendant Chicago police officers Kenneth Angarone and Thomas McGann soon arrived at the scene. What happened next is the source of much dispute. In brief, Ienco claimed that the officers conducted an unlawful search and seizure. The officers claimed that they received consent for all search and seizure activity. What is not in dispute is that the search and seizure of Ienco and his associate began a chain of events that led the officers to discover that Ienco and Iovine's rental vehicle contained a variety of dangerous weapons. Acting with Iovine's tacit approval, government agents also discovered more incriminating evidence in Ienco and Iovine's hotel room.

B. District Court Procedural History

Ienco was charged with various federal crimes regarding his cache of illegal weapons and explosives and his attempts at extortion. As one might expect, he moved to suppress the physical evidence seized following his arrest, arguing that it was the product of an illegal search and seizure. At trial, these issues were initially discussed at length in a suppression hearing before Judge Duff. Judge Duff denied the motion to suppress, finding that the testimony of Officer Angarone was "complete, consistent, informed, careful, [and] professional." As a result of the denial of the motion to suppress, Iovine became a witness against Ienco — who was promptly convicted at trial. Officer Angarone testified at the suppression hearing and at trial. Officer McGann offered a stipulation for the suppression hearing and proffered testimony that was not introduced at trial. Ienco was sentenced to 425 months in prison, and he appealed.

In United States v. Ienco, 92 F.3d 564 (7th Cir.1996) ("Ienco I"), we reversed and remanded, finding that the district court committed several prejudicial errors, which required a new suppression hearing and trial. Pursuant to Circuit Rule 36, we assigned the matter to Judge Coar.

Judge Coar conducted a thorough review of the record on the motion to suppress. Both officers testified at the new suppression hearing. After weighing all available information, Judge Coar found numerous inconsistencies in the officers' stories, concluding that "[i]n short, Angarone and McGann lied."¹ Appropriately, he suppressed the evidence. The government appealed.²

We affirmed. In United States v. Ienco, 182 F.3d 517 (7th Cir.1999) ("Ienco III"), we found that suppression of all physical evidence was warranted, because the officers lacked reasonable suspicion for a Terry stop and also unlawfully arrested Ienco. See, e.g., Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 21-22, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). We did not extensively address Judge Coar's factual findings that the officers lied. However, we did note that the government did not appeal Judge Coar's findings of fact as to what actually occurred, effectively conceding that the officers' testimony was not to be believed. See Ienco III, 182 F.3d at 524, n. 4.

After our decision in Ienco III, the government dismissed the indictment. Shortly thereafter, Ienco brought the current action. Although Ienco initially alleged a host of constitutional violations, he eventually focused on a single issue: whether the defendants were liable under a malicious prosecution theory pursuant to Illinois state and federal law.

The district court, applying our precedent, concluded on summary judgment that the undisputed material facts in this case did not permit Ienco to pursue a malicious prosecution theory against either the officers or the City. The district court correctly found that Ienco failed to prove that the proceedings were terminated in a manner indicative of his innocence, as required by state law. See Joiner v. Benton Community Bank, 82 Ill.2d 40, 45, 411 N.E.2d 229 (1980). Since it was settled that a valid state claim was a necessary prerequisite for a Section 1983 claim of malicious prosecution, the district court held that the resolution of the state law claim resolved Ienco's federal claims as well. See Cervantes v. Jones, 188 F.3d 805, 809 (7th Cir.1999); Washington v. Summerville, 127 F.3d 552, 557 (7th Cir. 1997). Because Ienco's Section 1983 claim was thus entirely foreclosed, summary judgment was entered for the defendants. This appeal followed.

II. ANALYSIS

We review the district court's decision granting summary judgment de novo. Grube v. Lau Indus., Inc., 257 F.3d 723, 727 (7th Cir.2001). As we must, we review the evidence in the light most favorable to Ienco as the nonmoving party, and we make all reasonable and justifiable inferences in his favor. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

A. Newsome and Ienco's Malicious Prosecution Claim

The standards for a successful Section 1983 action against local police officers or a municipality are well known. To prove the officers' liability, Ienco must show that (1) he was deprived of a federal right and (2) that the deprivation was imposed upon him by one or more persons acting under color of state law. See Gomez v. Toledo, 446 U.S. 635, 640, 100 S.Ct. 1920, 64 L.Ed.2d 572 (1980). To establish liability for the City of Chicago, Ienco must prove that: (1) he suffered a deprivation of a federal right; (2) as a result of either an express municipal policy, widespread custom, or deliberate act of a decision-maker with final policy-making authority for the City; which (3) was the proximate cause of his injury. See Monell v. New York City Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 690-91, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978); Frake v. City of Chicago, 210 F.3d 779, 781 (7th Cir. 2000).

At the outset, there is much agreement about Ienco's claims before us. First, all parties agree that the state law claims were properly decided by the district court. This is clear, because Ienco cannot meet his burden of proving under Illinois law that the criminal proceedings terminated in a manner indicative of his innocence. Likewise, the parties agree that our intervening decision in Newsome v. McCabe, 256 F.3d 747 (7th Cir.2001), discussed below, effectively bars Ienco's malicious prosecution claim as presented to the district court on summary judgment. Therefore, the principal question remaining is whether Ienco's allegations, coupled with our intervening decision in Newsome, provide Ienco with opportunity to pursue a constitutional remedy sufficient to defeat summary judgment. As we explain below, we conclude that such a remedy exists. We must also address whether, at this stage, the officers are entitled to absolute or qualified immunity. As we also explain below, we find that they are not.

The unique procedural posture of this case requires some elaboration. As the law existed at the time this case was filed, the district court's disposition of the state law malicious prosecution claim would have ended the analysis, and summary judgment would have been properly awarded to the defendants. However, after the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the officers, we decided Newsome.³

In Newsome, we withdrew dicta in four of our previous opinions⁴ — which had each been understood to permit Section 1983 malicious prosecution claims but bar similar claims asserting that defendants'...