Johnson v. City of Chester

• Decision Date: 31 July 1998
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 98-1338.
• Citation: 10 F.Supp.2d 482
• Parties: Tiffany JOHNSON v. CITY OF CHESTER, et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

10 F.Supp.2d 482

Tiffany JOHNSON v. CITY OF CHESTER, et al.

Civil Action No. 98-1338.

United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania.

July 31, 1998.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Barry H. Dyller, Wilkes-Barre, PA, for Plaintiff.

Sheryl L. Brown, Media, PA, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM

DALZELL, District Judge.

Defendants here move for dismissal of selected counts of Tiffany Johnson's complaint, which alleges violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and state law claims against the City of Chester, its Mayor, Aaron Wilson, Jr., and its Commissioner of Police, Wendell Butler. The complaint alleges that defendants improperly charged Johnson with, and twice-prosecuted her unsuccessfully for, disorderly conduct arising out her statement at a City Council meeting that Mayor Wilson was an "ignorant bastard." For the reasons detailed below, we will grant defendants' motion in part, and deny it in part.

In considering a motion to dismiss, we must under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) take all allegations contained in the complaint as true and construe them in a light most favorable to the plaintiff. H.J. Inc. v. Northwestern Bell Tel. Co., 492 U.S. 229, 249, 109 S.Ct. 2893, 2906, 106 L.Ed.2d 195 (1989); Rocks v. City of Phila., 868 F.2d 644, 645 (3d Cir. 1989). "A court may dismiss a complaint only if it is clear that no relief could be granted under any set of facts that could be proved consistent with the allegations." Hishon v. King & Spalding, 467 U.S. 69, 73, 104 S.Ct. 2229, 2232, 81 L.Ed.2d 59 (1984); see also Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 102, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); Frazier v. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transp. Auth., 785 F.2d 65, 66 (3d Cir.1986).

I. Factual Background

Accepting plaintiff's factual allegations as true for the purposes of this motion, the facts underlying her claim are not complicated. We quote the salient paragraphs of Johnson's complaint.

8. Ms. Johnson is a member of a citizens' group called Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living ("CRCQL"). On or about February 19, 1997, CRCQL sent a letter to Wilson and to council members of the City of Chester relating to CRCQL's concern that they had not attended a hearing conducted by the Department of Environmental Protection relating to a soil processing facility to be built in the City of Chester. Wilson never responded to CRCQL's letter.

9. On or around March 13, 1997, Ms. Johnson attended a Chester [C]ity [C]ouncil meeting. Ms. Johnson questioned Wilson as to why neither he nor council members responded to CRCQL's letter. Wilson refused to answer the question, and Ms. Johnson politely persisted. Wilson continually responded by stating "I choose not to respond." He then pounded his gavel and requested that the next person speak.

10. Frustrated that Wilson had directly refused to answer her questions, Ms. Johnson walked away, and called Wilson an "ignorant bastard." Wilson then asked Ms. Johnson to leave the public meeting. When Ms. Johnson did not leave, Wilson adjourned the meeting.

11. Wilson subsequently spoke with Butler, and the two of them decided to charge Ms. Johnson with disorderly conduct. Butler subsequently followed though on his agreement with Wilson, by charging Ms. Johnson with Disorderly Conduct, 18 Pa. C.S. § 5503 [sic] ....

...

14. On April 14, 1997 plaintiff was tried before the Honorable William Day.¹ After the first witness was sworn, it became apparent that the Commonwealth could not present a viable case. District Justice Day dismissed the charge.

15. Not satisfied with the result, defendants re-filed the charge against Ms. Johnson .... Ms. Johnson and her lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the charges on double jeopardy grounds. On June 30, 1997, the scheduled trial date, the district court dismissed the second set of charges.

Compl. at ¶¶ 8-11, 14, 15.

On March 13, 1998, plaintiff filed this action, alleging violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (counts one and two), conspiracy to violate § 1983 (count three), false imprisonment or arrest (count four), malicious prosecution (count five), abuse of process (count six), and intentional infliction of emotional distress (count seven).

II. Legal Analysis

A. More Definite Statement

Defendants first move for a more definite statement of plaintiff's claims, arguing that "the Third Circuit has developed a more stringent standard involving civil rights cases." Mot. Dismiss at 2 (citing cases). Defendants' argument, however, fails to account for the Supreme Court's holding in Leatherman v. Tarrant County Narcotics Intelligence and Coordination Unit, 507 U.S. 163, 113 S.Ct. 1160, 122 L.Ed.2d 517 (1993),² in which Chief Justice Rehnquist, writing for a unanimous Court, held that the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure "do address in Rule 9(b) the question of the need for greater particularity in pleading certain actions, but do not include among the enumerated actions any reference to complaints alleging municipal liability under § 1983. Expressio unius est exclusio alterius." Id., 113 S.Ct. at 1163. Thus, plaintiff's claims alleging municipal liability are not subject to a heightened pleading standard beyond that provided in Fed. R.Civ.P. 8(a)(2) (requiring "a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief").

While the Supreme Court in Leatherman expressly noted that it had "no occasion to consider whether our qualified immunity jurisprudence would require a heightened pleading in cases involving individual government officials," id., 113 S.Ct. at 1162, we think that the gravaman of the Court's ruling is in its Latin invocation,³ which seems to defer exclusively to Congress and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure when it comes to enhancing the requirements for pleading certain actions. Thus, we decline to impose a heightened pleading standard found in neither the Federal Rules nor the Supreme Court's cases. Accord Coades v. Jeffes, 822 F.Supp. 1189, 1192 (E.D.Pa.1993)(citing Leatherman); cf. Brader v. Allegheny General Hosp., 64 F.3d 869, 876-77 (3d Cir.1995)(noting in an antitrust case that "impatience with the notice pleading embodied in the Federal Rules is foreclosed by the Supreme Court's decision in Leatherman"); see generally Karen M. Blum, Heightened Pleading: Is There Life after Leatherman?, 44 Cath. U.L.Rev. 59 (Fall 1994).

Since we conclude that, at a minimum, the complaint contains "a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief," Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a)(2), we now move to consider defendants' argument that the City of Chester should be dismissed as a defendant.

B. Dismissal of the City of Chester

Defendants argue that "[p]laintiff never asserted that the City of Chester had a policy in effect which was violative of [p]laintiff's rights. Plaintiff only sets forth the singular acts of" defendants Butler and Wilson, Br. Supp. Mot. Dismiss at 3, and thus the City of Chester should be dismissed as a defendant. Id.

Defendants are correct that a governmental entity may not be held liable pursuant to § 1983 under the doctrine of respondeat superior. Monell v. Department of Social Serv., 436 U.S. 658, 691, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 2036, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978); Andrews v. Philadelphia, 895 F.2d 1469, 1476 (3d Cir.1990). Rather, "section 1983 liability attaches to a municipality only when `execution of a government's policy or custom, whether made by its lawmakers or by those whose edicts or acts may fairly be said to represent official policy, inflicts the injury.'" Andrews, 895 F.2d at 1480 (quoting Monell, 98 S.Ct. at 2037). "Policy is made when a `decisionmaker possess[ing] final authority to establish municipal policy with respect to the action' issues an official proclamation, policy, or edict." Id. (quoting Pembaur v. Cincinnati, 475 U.S. 469, 481, 106 S.Ct. 1292, 1299, 89 L.Ed.2d 452 (1986)).⁴

While the complaint does not allege that plaintiff's injuries resulted from "an official proclamation, policy, or edict," it does allege that the individual defendants who personally took action on behalf of the City were its Mayor and Police Commissioner, and noting the obvious reality that they were "policymakers" of the City, Compl. at ¶¶ 5-6, a characterization the defendants do not dispute. Cf. Andrews, 895 F.2d at 1481 (finding that the "Police Commissioner was a policymaker"). "A single incident violating a constitutional right done by a governmental agency's highest policymaker for the activity in question may suffice to establish an official policy." Fletcher v. O'Donnell, 867 F.2d 791, 793 (3d Cir.1989)(citing Pembaur, 475 U.S. 469, 106 S.Ct. 1292, 89 L.Ed.2d 452 (county attorney's decision to have sheriffs enter premises established official policy)). Thus, the actions of the Chester Mayor and Police Commissioner, in allegedly twice prosecuting Johnson for disorderly conduct, may be regarded as policymaking actions attributable to the City of Chester. Therefore, the City of Chester is, at least at this point, a proper defendant in this action.

C. Punitive Damages

Although the City of Chester remains a defendant here, Johnson may not recover punitive damages against it. City of Newport v. Fact Concerts, Inc., 453 U.S. 247, 271, 101 S.Ct. 2748, 2761, 69 L.Ed.2d 616 (1981); see also Bolden v. SEPTA, 953 F.2d 807, 829-31 (3d Cir.1991)(discussing Newport). Plaintiff does not oppose that aspect of the City's motion, so we will dismiss that claim without further comment.

D. Qualified and Legislative Immunity

Defendants next seek qualified immunity for Police Commissioner Butler, and both legislative and qualified immunity for Mayor Wilson, for their alleged actions.

"Because the qualified immunity doctrine provides the official with immunity from suit, not simply trial, ... the district court should resolve any immunity question at the earliest possible stage of the litigation." Orsatti v. New Jersey State Police, 71 F.3d 480, 483 (3d Cir.1995) (citing Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Auth. v....