Jastrzebski v. City of New York

• Decision Date: 05 November 1976
• Docket Number: No. 75 Civ. 3974.,75 Civ. 3974.
• Citation: 423 F. Supp. 669
• Parties: Ricardo JASTRZEBSKI, Plaintiff, v. The CITY OF NEW YORK et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

423 F. Supp. 669

Ricardo JASTRZEBSKI, Plaintiff, v. The CITY OF NEW YORK et al., Defendants.

No. 75 Civ. 3974.

United States District Court, S. D. New York.

November 5, 1976.

Easton & Echtman, P. C. by Henry J. Easton, Bernard Levin, New York City, for plaintiff.

W. Bernard Richland, Corp. Counsel, City of New York by William J. Walls, James F. Morgan, New York City, for defendants City of New York and John J. Egan.

Lehman, Rohrlich & Solomon, New York City, for defendant James Sottile.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

MOTLEY, District Judge.

This is an action in two counts, the first cause of action purporting to assert common law claims of false arrest, malicious prosecution, and false imprisonment against all the defendants, and the second cause of action purporting to state a federal claim, based upon substantially the same factual allegations, for deprivation of plaintiff's civil rights by defendants Sottile, Aquiluz, Martinez and Rivera. In response, the City and defendant Egan have moved to dismiss the complaint against them (i. e. the first count) pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), Fed.R. Civ.P., on the ground that the claims contained therein are barred by the applicable New York State statutes of limitations. In the court's view, this argument has some merit and the motion to dismiss is granted in part.

I.

The essential allegations of the complaint are quite straightforward, as follows: Plaintiff is a citizen of the Republic of Argentina. During the period when the acts in question took place, defendant Egan was a lieutenant in the New York City Police Department. Defendants Sottile, Aquiluz, Martinez and Rivera were assigned to the Special Investigations Unit of the Bureau of Narcotics of the Police Department under the supervision and control of defendant Egan. All acts of the individual defendants were allegedly performed within the scope of their employment as police officers.

Briefly stated, it is alleged that Sottile, Aquiluz, Rivera and Martinez maliciously, unlawfully, and wrongfully arrested plaintiff on or about November 2, 1970 at about 1:00 A.M. when plaintiff was lawfully on the street. Defendants allegedly had neither a warrant nor probable cause for making such an arrest. It is further alleged that these defendants gained entrance to plaintiff's place of abode by the pretense that they wished to confirm his identity.

Subsequently, plaintiff was allegedly taken to a police precinct house, where the defendants informed him that he was to be charged, falsely, with possession of a loaded revolver and a quantity of dangerous drugs, both of which had been in the exclusive control of defendants immediately prior to their arrest of plaintiff and had never been in plaintiff's actual or constructive possession. (The pistol had allegedly been illegally obtained and retained by defendant Egan in or about May of 1970, as a part of a conspiracy with the other defendants for its fraudulent and illegal use in connection with Police Department business.)

Plaintiff was then indicted on those charges, to which he pleaded not guilty, and was held "in bail of $100,000". It is alleged that, at that time, plaintiff had been in this country only a few weeks; that he was without friends or relatives here; and that he was ignorant of the customs, institutions, and language of the United States. Plaintiff's legal counsel advised him that the defendants appeared to have a strong case against him, even though it was allegedly spurious, and that he faced substantial criminal penalties if he were to be convicted. Therefore, his counsel urged him to enter into a plea bargain, whereby he would plead guilty to a charge of possession of an unloaded weapon, in return for dismissal of the drug charge and a sentence of not more than one year on the lessened gun charge.

Due to his unfamiliarity with the institutions of the United States and due also to the malice displayed by defendants Sottile, Aquiluz, Martinez and Rivera in allegedly "planting" the contraband articles on him, plaintiff allegedly believed that the defendants sought to obtain his conviction on the charges stated in the indictment. Therefore, "plaintiff's mind was dominated by the threats of said defendants, implicit and explicit, and he also believed that he could largely avoid long term imprisonment by following his attorney's advice and pleading guilty to a single reduced charge. Accordingly, acting under such duress, plaintiff was coerced, induced and compelled to plead guilty to a reduced charge of unlawful possession of an unloaded weapon. He was sentenced to one year in jail and was actually incarcerated for ten months." (Complaint, ¶ 17). It appears to be undisputed that plaintiff was released from prison in or about September of 1971.

It is further alleged that defendant Egan, upon being informed of the actions of the other defendant policemen, ratified and approved such actions. Moreover, the City and its agents allegedly acted maliciously and knowingly in bringing false charges, coercing a guilty plea, and procuring plaintiff's conviction and incarceration, with knowledge of his innocence and with the intent to violate his legal and constitutional rights.

On or about May 15, 1974, defendant Aquiluz allegedly confessed, during testimony in a federal criminal prosecution against defendant Egan in the Eastern District of New York, that the charge of possession of a dangerous weapon had been knowingly false and malicious. Moreover, it is alleged that defendant Sottile similarly confessed on or about June 6, 1974 during a different federal criminal prosecution against defendant Egan in the Southern District of New York.

On or about August 7, 1974, plaintiff presented his claim in writing to the Comptroller of the City, who refused to adjust it. Approximately a year later, on August 12, 1975, the instant action was filed. Finally, on May 27, 1976, the Supreme Court of the State of New York allegedly issued an order vacating the judgment of conviction previously entered against the plaintiff, and dismissing the indictment on which he had been convicted.

II.

On the basis of this chronology, it is urged that the complaint be dismissed, first, against defendant Egan on the basis of the four year delay between his discharge from incarceration and the institution of this case.

There appears to be no dispute that, in considering the first cause of action jurisdictionally predicated upon diversity of citizenship, the applicable statute of limitations is that of the State of New York. Section 215(3) of the CPLR provides that actions for, inter alia, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution must be "commenced within one year". Accordingly, the relevant inquiry must be to ascertain when these alleged causes of action "accrued".

The tort of malicious prosecution is not complete, and the cause of action does not accrue, until the criminal action against the plaintiff has been terminated by a judgment in his favor. Tranberg v. County of Nassau, 28 Misc.2d 275, 209 N.Y.S.2d 995, 998 (Sup.Ct., Nassau Cty., Pt. 1, 1961); see Prosser, The Law of Torts 835, 838-841 (4th ed. 1971). The situation presented by this case is, of course, an unusual one in that the original proceeding resulted in a conviction by a plea of guilty (allegedly "coerced"), but the conviction was allegedly vacated some five and a half years later. However, the court finds no reason why plaintiff's cause of action should not "accrue" at the later time, i.e., May 27, 1976. Such a holding does no violence to the rationale for the "favorable termination" requirement. See Prosser, supra, at 838. His conviction has allegedly already been subjected to successful collateral attack, so the initial conviction no longer can be said to represent a determination that there was probable cause for his arrest and prosecution. Accordingly, the court holds that the cause of action against defendant Egan for malicious prosecution is not barred by the statute of limitations.

A cause of action for false imprisonment accrues upon the plaintiff's release from detention, Wolfe v. State, 57 Misc.2d 777, 293 N.Y.S.2d 384, 385 (Ct.Cl.1968); Gomillion v. State, 51 Misc.2d 952, 274 N.Y. S.2d 381, 383 (Ct.Cl.1966), while a cause of action for "false arrest" accrues at the time of his arraignment. Baisch v. State, 76 Misc.2d 1006, 351 N.Y.S.2d 617, 619 (Ct.Cl. 1974); Huff v. State, 27 A.D.2d 892, 278 N.Y.S.2d 12 (App.Div., 3rd Dept. 1967). At the very latest, therefore, plaintiff's claims accrued at the time he was released from prison in September of 1971. Absent some judicially cognizable excuse, therefore, it is clear that plaintiff's claims for false arrest and false imprisonment are barred by the one year statute of limitations.¹

Plaintiff apparently concedes that the one year limitation would ordinarily bar claims asserted after September 1972. However, he urges that he was under such "duress" as to toll the running of the statute until some time after defendants Aquiluz and Sottile allegedly confessed in the spring of 1974.

Specifically, he alleges as follows in his complaint: "20. By reason of the threats of defendants Sottile, Aquiluz, Martinez and Rivera, implicit in their displayed malice, plaintiff believed that any action that he might take towards his vindication would cause such defendants to renew and revive their false charges and to initiate new spurious charges and, therefore, his mind continued to be dominated by their threats and by fear. Accordingly, plaintiff did not take steps to prosecute this action until soon after on or about May 15, 1974. ..." (emphasis added).

Stripped of its verbal circumlocutions, this paragraph merely alleges that the plaintiff was sufficiently intimidated by the alleged actions of the defendants in procuring his arrest and conviction in 1970 that he was fearful that additional false charges might be leveled against him in retaliation for his filing suit. For all that...