Konczak v. Tyrrell

Decision Date20 August 1979
Docket NumberNos. 78-2414,79-1090 and 79-1149,78-2415,s. 78-2414
Citation603 F.2d 13
PartiesCA 79-2616 Norb J. KONCZAK and Linda Konczak, Plaintiffs-Appellants, Cross-Appellees, v. Arthur T. TYRRELL, Sheriff of McHenry County, Robert W. Madsen, Captain, Sheriff's Police, McHenry County, and Les Kottke, Sergeant, Sheriff's Police, McHenry County, Defendants-Appellees, Cross-Appellants.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Harvey Melinger, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Stephen R. Swofford, Chicago, Ill., for defendants-appellees.

Before PELL, SPRECHER, and WOOD, Circuit Judges.

HARLINGTON WOOD, Jr., Circuit Judge.

In 1976 plaintiffs Norb J. and Linda Konczak, husband and wife, filed suit in federal district court under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against defendants Les Kottke, Robert Madsen and Arthur Tyrrell, all members of the McHenry County Sheriff's Department in Illinois, charging deprivations of due process rights springing from an unlawful arrest. 1 The plaintiffs also charged the police officers with conducting an unlawful search and seizure, and plaintiff Norb Konczak alleged malicious prosecution and unlawful incarceration. 2 In 1978 after a four-day trial the jury returned a verdict in favor of Norb Konczak and assessed $10,000 in compensatory damages and $21,000 in punitive damages. The jury also found in Linda Konczak's favor and awarded her $2,500 in compensatory and $2,500 in punitive damages. Later, the district court denied a general motion by the defendants for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. The court, however, granted that part of the motion which related to the awards of punitive damages declaring that the "plaintiffs wholly failed to produce any evidence" to support an award of punitive damages. The counsel for the plaintiffs then filed a motion for attorney's fees and costs as a "prevailing party" under 42 U.S.C. § 1988, and, in a subsequent brief, requested $13,073.67 in attorney's fees and $1,619.19 in costs. The district court granted counsel $6,573.29 in fees and $1,619.19 in costs.

On appeal the plaintiffs contend that the district court committed error in entering judgment notwithstanding the jury's verdict on the issue of punitive damages because there was ample evidence of willful and wanton misconduct. The plaintiffs also assert that the court erred in not awarding the exact amount of attorney's fees requested or in not holding an evidentiary hearing on the matter. Cross-appealing, the defendants claim that the district court erred in failing to enter a total judgment n. o. v., asserting there was insufficient evidence to support the jury's verdict. Alternatively, the defendants argue that the plaintiffs are entitled to no more than nominal damages of $1.00 because the plaintiffs failed to prove actual damages. Finally, the defendants assert that either the plaintiffs should receive no attorney's fees because the lawsuit vindicated a private, not a public, interest or the award of attorney's fees should be reduced because the district court judge abused his discretion. We affirm the district court's judgment in all respects. We consider the sufficiency of the evidence issue first so that the case may be placed in a proper perspective.

A motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict "should be denied where the evidence, along with the inferences to be reasonably drawn therefrom, when viewed in the light most favorable to the party opposing such motion, is such that reasonable men in a fair and impartial exercise of their judgment may reach different conclusions." Clemons v. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd., 596 F.2d 746, 748 (7th Cir. 1979); Hohmann v. Packard Instrument Co., 471 F.2d 815, 819 (7th Cir. 1973). Making all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the jury's verdict, we believe the evidence at trial established the following facts. The plaintiffs, Norb and Linda Konczak, are married and reside in McHenry County, Illinois, with five children from Norb's previous marriage, two children from Norb and Linda's marriage and Linda's brother, Larry Gibson. On November 24, 1975, Norb Konczak called the office of Congressman Robert McClory and complained that his former wife had abused the children from his first marriage and that the McHenry County Sheriff's Department had mistreated him and his family. After sending a letter to the Congressman's office detailing the complaints, Norb Konczak received a telephone call on March 25, 1976, from Michael McCarry, a legislative assistant in Washington, D.C. to Congressman McClory. Immediately after that phone conversation, McCarry called the McHenry City Police Department and informed Sergeant Zujewski that he had just talked with Norb Konczak who lived in the McHenry area and that Konczak stated he was going to kill an officer with a 30.06 rifle. Sergeant Zujewski explained that Konczak, living in an unincorporated area of McHenry County, was outside the city's jurisdiction and that he would notify the Sheriff's Department. The Sergeant then phoned the Sheriff's office and informed Detective Maceroux that an aide to Congressman McClory called stating that Norb Konczak was "going to shoot a policeman." On the basis of this statement, subsequently verified by a direct telephone call to McCarry, and other unspecified information about Konczak's "character," Sheriff Arthur Tyrrell ordered the arrest of Norb Konczak for "threatening" or assaulting a police officer.

Once the order for his arrest was broadcast by radio dispatch, Sergeant Les Kottke and Deputy Robert Sweeney proceeded to the Konczak home early that afternoon, coaxed Norb outside, and placed him under arrest for assaulting a police officer. Leaving the house, Linda Konczak approached her husband. Upon observing a person in a suit heading toward the back door, Norb Konczak told his wife that "somebody was coming to the back door and to go in the house." When Linda Konczak started to return to the house, she was restrained by Officer Kottke. Norb Konczak was subsequently transported in a squad car to the county police station by Officer Sweeney. Meanwhile, Officer Kottke blocked Linda Konczak's entrance to the house promising her access to her home but only with his accompaniment. She refused. Captain Madsen then arrived at the scene and explained that he wanted consent to search the house for firearms. She again refused. While Linda Konczak was detained outside the house for over two hours, her three youngest children, ages two, five and five, remained unattended in the home. When the mother's two-year-old daughter appeared at a window with red glaze, a lead substance, on her face and the mentally retarded daughter, who was also denied access to the house, could wait no longer to visit the bathroom, Linda consented.

Linda Konczak escorted Captain Madsen to a bedroom, opened a drawer in the room and revealed a loaded .22 caliber Stern Luger. 3 Madsen took the firearm. In fact, her brother, Larry Gibson, owned the pistol, lived in the Konczak home in the bedroom where the gun was located, and possessed an owner's identification card at the time.

Norb Konczak was imprisoned in the county jail until that evening and subsequently was transported to Elgin State Hospital. The petition for hospitalization alleged that he was afflicted with a mental disorder and was likely to physically harm others, evidenced by the act of calling his Congressman's office saying that "he was going to kill a policeman." After a lengthy examination by a psychiatrist, Norb Konczak was found needing neither mental treatment nor hospitalization. About 2:30 a. m. on March 26, 1976, he was transported from the hospital back to the county jail. Later in the morning he appeared before a judge and was released on bond.

Norb Konczak was charged with disorderly conduct for threatening to shoot a police officer in violation of Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 38, § 26-1(a)(2), and this criminal complaint was later amended to a charge of disorderly conduct under Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 38, § 26- 1(a)(1). 4 He was also charged with the crime of possession of a firearm without a firearm owner's identification card in violation of Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 38, § 83-2(a). 5 Several months after his arrest, another criminal complaint for disorderly conduct was lodged against Norb Konczak under Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 38, § 26-1(a)(1) for telling his wife at the time of his arrest to "run in the house and get the rifle." 6 Later, a jury acquitted Norb Konczak on the charges of disorderly conduct for saying "run in the house and get the rifle" and possession of a firearm without an owner's identification card. The other charge of disorderly conduct for threatening to shoot a police officer was dismissed.

Considering the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, we conclude that it was sufficiently probative for jurors to fairly and impartially reach different conclusions on the question of whether Sheriff Tyrrell, Captain Madsen and Sergeant Kottke violated the plaintiffs' constitutional rights. The district court therefore properly denied the general motion for judgment n. o. v.

Turning to the other issues, we consider next the defendants' assertion that the plaintiffs are entitled to no more than nominal damages of $1.00 because the plaintiffs failed to prove actual damages. The jury had awarded Norb and Linda Konczak $10,000 and $2,500, respectively, in compensatory damages. Following Wood v. Strickland, 420 U.S. 308, 95 S.Ct. 992, 43 L.Ed.2d 214 (1975), this circuit held that a county official may be liable for damages under Section 1983 only if he "acted with an impermissible motivation or with such intentional or reckless disregard of the plaintiff's clearly established constitutional rights that his action cannot be reasonably characterized as being in good faith." Fulton Market Cold Storage Co. v. P. J. Cullerton, ...

To continue reading

Request your trial
41 cases
  • Tarter v. Raybuck
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit
    • August 31, 1984
    ...9 of Internat. Ass'n, Etc., 651 F.2d 574 (8th Cir.1981); Muscare v. Quinn, 614 F.2d 577, 579-80 (7th Cir.1980); Konczak v. Tyrrell, 603 F.2d 13, 19 (7th Cir.1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1016, 100 S.Ct. 668, 62 L.Ed.2d 646 (1980) as is the amount of the fee award. Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 ......
  • ALBRIGHT v. OLIVER ET AL.
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • January 24, 1994
    ...779 F. 2d 245, 248-249 (CA5 1985) (affirming award of damages for pain, suffering, humiliation, and embarrassment); Konczak v. Tyrrell, 603 F. 2d 13, 17 (CA7 1979) (affirming damages for lost wages, mental distress, humiliation, loss of reputation, and general pain and suffering).Indeed, it......
  • Lenard v. Argento
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit
    • February 15, 1983
    ...City Schools, 611 F.2d 624, 642 (6th Cir.1979), cert. denied, 447 U.S. 911, 100 S.Ct. 2999, 64 L.Ed.2d 862 (1980); Konczak v. Tyrrell, 603 F.2d 13, 18-19 (7th Cir.1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1016, 100 S.Ct. 668, 62 L.Ed.2d 646 (1980). Costs are also allowable under Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(d) and ......
  • Evans v. City of Chicago
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois
    • August 15, 1980
    ...certain aggravating circumstances are shown, punitive damages are recoverable under federal law in a § 1983 action." Konczak v. Tyrell, 603 F.2d 13 (7th Cir. 1979). Aggravating circumstances sufficient to sustain a punitive damage award include reckless disregard of plaintiff's rights (Spen......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT