Lewis v. Gupta

• Citation: 54 F.Supp.2d 611
• Decision Date: 03 June 1999
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 1:98CV1269.
• Parties: Michael LEWIS, Plaintiff, v. Archna GUPTA et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia

54 F.Supp.2d 611

Michael LEWIS, Plaintiff, v. Archna GUPTA et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 1:98CV1269.

United States District Court, E.D. Virginia, Alexandria Division.

June 3, 1999.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

William M. Stanley, Davis & Stanley, LLC, Fairfax, VA, for plaintiff.

Nina J. Ginsberg, DiMuro, Ginsberg & Lieberman, PC, Alexandria, VA, for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ELLIS, District Judge.

This diversity action arises out of defendant Archna Gupta's false allegations to law enforcement authorities that plaintiff Michael Lewis raped and sodomized her at knife point. By amended complaint Lewis sues Archna Gupta for defamation, conspiracy, malicious prosecution, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and sues her parents, defendants Shanti and Manju Gupta, for intentional infliction of emotional distress and conspiracy. This matter comes before the Court on defendants' motion to dismiss multiple counts.

I.¹

The facts giving rise to this action paint a dark and disturbing picture. The story begins in the fall of 1994, when Michael Lewis and Archna Gupta met and began dating. Their relationship ended in 1995, and Lewis left Northern Virginia, eventually returning to his hometown in Maine. Thereafter, he neither saw Archna nor returned to Virginia.

Months later, on October 16, 1996, Archna Gupta reported to the Arlington County Police Department that she had been assaulted the previous night by an ex-boy-friend named Mike Daniels. Specifically, she claimed that when she got in her car that evening, the attacker, who had hidden himself in her back seat, held a knife to her throat and forced her to let him take the wheel of her car, after which he drove to an isolated location, forced her into the back seat of her vehicle, and raped and sodomized her at knife point. Then, she reported, the attacker drove her back to the parking lot from which she had been abducted and fled the scene. Archna said that she had known who he was as soon as he had spoken to her. Archna then gave subsequent statements to the authorities concerning the rape and submitted to a medical examination of her person and clothing for the purpose of collecting evidence of the rape.

Based on this story, the police began to search for Mike Daniels, the alleged rapist, but found no such person. Accordingly, they sought further information from Archna Gupta and her family about her attacker's identity. As a result of these inquiries, someone in her family provided police with a photograph of the alleged perpetrator, which photograph showed an army uniform hanging in the background marked with the name "Lewis."² The police detective who received the photograph noted the army uniform and, based on this, asked Archna whether her attacker's last name might in fact be "Lewis." She replied that it "could be." Shortly thereafter, Lewis was located in Maine and warrants for his arrest on the charges of abduction and forcible sodomy were secured. Lewis turned himself in to Maine authorities on October 24, 1996, after learning that a "fugitive from justice" warrant had been issued against him. He then languished in a Maine prison, awaiting extradition to Virginia, for approximately 455 days.

In December 1996 and January 1997, Archna and her parents, Shanti and Manju Gupta, met with the Assistant Commonwealth Attorney, and in these meetings, Archna alleged that Lewis had abducted, raped, and sodomized her. She also stated that Lewis had called her shortly after the alleged attack, apologizing and promising he would never make contact with her again. Manju Gupta, Archna's mother, told the Assistant Commonwealth Attorney that they were still receiving "strange telephone calls" at their home they believed originated with Lewis.

On January 13, 1998, when Lewis had been incarcerated for almost fifteen months, the Order of Extradition was signed and he was transported to Arlington County. Upon arraignment in Virginia, he was unable to make bond, and so remained in jail pending trial. The legal proceedings against Lewis continued to wend their way forward, and on February 25, 1998, a preliminary hearing was held in Arlington County General District Court, in which Archna Gupta testified as to the alleged occurrences and identified Lewis as her attacker, although her version of events in this hearing was apparently at odds with her previous statements.

Meanwhile, in light of Archna Gupta's inconsistent stories, prosecutors began to harbor growing doubts as to the merits of the case. These doubts were heightened when, with authorization from Lewis, defense counsel shared evidence with prosecutors showing that Lewis was in Massachusetts at the time of the alleged rape. Then, on April 2, 1998, prosecutors received a lab report detailing the results of the rape test administered to Archna after the alleged attack. The serology test revealed semen present in her vaginal area and on her underwear and excluded Lewis as the source of the semen. Archna had previously denied having sexual relations with anyone else in the twenty-four hours prior to and immediately after the rape.

Based on these test results, prosecutors immediately moved that Lewis be released on his personal recognizance. The motion was granted and Lewis was released, having by then spent 529 days in jail as a result of Archna Gupta's allegations. All charges against Lewis were dropped on May 7, 1998, and prosecutors initiated an investigation of Archna Gupta for perjury, filing a false police report, and obstruction of justice, obtaining Lewis's cooperation in this effort. As part of the investigation, police monitored a phone call between Lewis and Manju Gupta, during which conversation Manju Gupta allegedly indicated that she knew her daughter's claims against Lewis were false and that she supported her daughter in these claims regardless of their falsity.

On July 20, 1998, Archna Gupta was indicted for perjury, obstruction of justice, and filing a false police report. She eventually entered a plea of "no contest" to felony perjury and was sentenced to 5 years in the state penitentiary, with all but time served (approximately one month) suspended.³

Lewis sued Archna, Shanti, and Manju Gupta on multiple counts, including defamation, malicious prosecution, abuse of process, false imprisonment, perjury, conspiracy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The Guptas moved to dismiss multiple counts of the complaint, which motion was granted in part and denied in part.⁴ Lewis thereafter filed an amended complaint, and now sues Archna Gupta for multiple counts of defamation, conspiracy, malicious prosecution, and intentional infliction of emotional distress and sues Shanti and Manju Gupta for intentional infliction of emotional distress and conspiracy. Archna Gupta moves to dismiss two of the defamation counts and the conspiracy count alleged in the amended complaint and Shanti and Manju Gupta move to dismiss the intentional infliction of emotional distress and conspiracy counts alleged in the amended complaint, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P., 12(b)(6).

II.

Count One of Lewis's complaint alleges that Archna Gupta defamed Lewis by falsely accusing him of abduction, rape, and sodomy in her conversations with Detective Chase of the Arlington County Police Department on October 16, 1996, and repeatedly thereafter.⁵ Because this action was filed on August 31, 1998, more than a year after the October 16, 1996, meeting, Archna Gupta seeks dismissal of this count as time-barred by Virginia's one-year statute of limitations for defamation actions.⁶

Lewis deploys several theories in his attempt to save the October 16, 1996, defamation claim. He first argues that Archna Gupta's defamation is a continuing tort, which did not cease until the conclusion of criminal proceedings against him. It is true that under a continuing tort theory, the statute of limitations does not begin to run until the tortious conduct ceases. See, e.g., Williams v. Norfolk and Western Railway Co., 530 F.2d 539, 542 (4th Cir.1975) (finding that 180-day Title VII limitations period did not bar challenge of racially discriminatory employment practices occurring more than 180 days before suit when plaintiffs alleged continuous discrimination rather than any single discriminatory act). Yet, this theory does not fit these facts; repeated defamations do not constitute a continuing tort; rather, as courts have uniformly recognized, each separate defamatory statement itself constitutes a separate and distinct cause of action. See, e.g., Celli v. Shoell, 995 F.Supp. 1337, 1345 (D.Utah 1998) (holding that repeated defamatory statements do not toll the running of the statute of limitations and each new statement constitutes a distinct cause of action); Flotech v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours Co., 627 F.Supp. 358, 363 (D.Mass.1985), aff'd, 814 F.2d 775 (1st Cir.1987) (finding case law governing the application of the statute of limitations to defamation actions suggested that continuing tort theory was not available in such cases). Simply put, continuing tort theory is not available to save Lewis's defamation claim from the time bar.

Mr. Lewis next contends that Virginia's one-year statute of limitations is properly tolled during his period of imprisonment. The Fourth Circuit, in Almond v. Kent, 459 F.2d 200, 203 (4th Cir.1972), and in a long series of unpublished opinions following Almond, has repeatedly held that Virginia's tolling statute does not toll statutes of limitations during a potential plaintiff's period of incarceration.⁷ Lewis attempts to avoid this precedent by arguing that under Rule 17(b), Fed.R.Civ.P., Maine's tolling provision, which allows tolling of limitations periods for actions that accrue while a potential plaintiff is imprisoned,⁸ rather than Virginia's, should apply. This argument is flawed in at least two respects. First, Rule 17(b), Fed.R.Civ.P., is concerned with capacity to sue, not with the...