McDonough v. Smith
| Decision Date | 03 August 2018 |
| Docket Number | August Term, 2017,No. 17-296-cv,17-296-cv |
| Citation | 898 F.3d 259 |
| Parties | Edward G. MCDONOUGH, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. Youel SMITH, Individually and as Special District attorney for the County of Rensselaer, New York, aka Trey Smith, Defendant–Appellee, John J. Ogden, Richard McNally Jr., Kevin McGrath, Alan Robillard, County of Rensselaer, John F. Brown, William A. McInerney, Kevin F. O'Malley, Daniel B. Brown, Anthony J. Renna, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Brian D. Premo, Premo Law Firm PLLC, Albany, NY, for Plaintiff–Appellant.
Thomas J. O'Connor, Napierski, VanDenburgh, Napierski & O'Connor, LLP, Albany, NY, for Defendant–Appellee Youel Smith.
Andrew D. Bing, Deputy Solicitor General, Jennifer L. Clark, Assistant Solicitor General, for Barbara D. Underwood, Attorney General of the State of New York, for Defendant John G. Ogden.
Before: Jacobs, Raggi, and Droney, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiff–Appellant Edward G. McDonough, the former Democratic Commissioner of the Rensselaer County Board of Elections, was acquitted in New York state court of forging absentee ballots in a local primary election. He appeals from two subsequent decisions of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York (D'Agostino, J. ) dismissing his claims against Defendant–Appellee Youel Smith under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 related to that prosecution. He alleged (1) denial of due process based on fabricated evidence and (2) malicious prosecution. The district court determined that (1) McDonough's due process claim was untimely and dismissed it as to all Defendants1 and (2) Smith, a Special District Attorney who prosecuted McDonough, was entitled to absolute prosecutorial immunity on McDonough's malicious prosecution claim and therefore dismissed that claim with respect to Smith.2
Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b), the district court entered judgment as to Smith and certified the decisions dismissing the two claims against him for interlocutory appeal by McDonough.3
For the reasons that follow, we agree with the district court's conclusion that McDonough's due process claim was untimely, and thus barred by the applicable statute of limitations. We also agree with the district court that Smith is entitled to absolute immunity as to the malicious prosecution claim. We therefore AFFIRM the dismissal of those claims.
During the 2009 Working Families Party primary election in the City of Troy, New York, several individuals associated with the Democratic and Working Families Parties forged signatures and provided false information on absentee ballot applications and absentee ballots in order to affect the outcome of that primary. Those individuals then submitted the forged absentee ballot applications to McDonough. McDonough, as a commissioner of the Rensselaer County elections board, was responsible for processing those applications.4 McDonough approved the forged applications, but subsequently claimed he did not know that they had been falsified.
The plot to influence the primary was eventually discovered. Defendant Richard McNally, the elected District Attorney for Rensselaer County, was disqualified from the ensuing investigation because certain of those allegedly involved in the scheme had worked on his prior campaign. The state court then appointed Smith as a Special District Attorney to lead the investigation and potential prosecution. McDonough claimed that Smith then engaged in an elaborate scheme to frame McDonough for the crimes by, among other things, fabricating evidence. This alleged scheme included using forged affidavits, offering false testimony, and using faulty DNA methods for analyzing materials used in processing the ballot applications, all despite Smith knowing that McDonough was innocent.
McDonough claims that Smith presented the fabricated evidence to a grand jury. The grand jury subsequently indicted McDonough on more than three dozen state law counts of felony forgery in the second degree and a similar number of counts of felony criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree. See N.Y. Penal Law §§ 170.10, 170.25. The case against McDonough proceeded to trial but ended in a mistrial. McDonough was then retried, again with Smith as the prosecutor. That trial ended in McDonough's acquittal on December 21, 2012.
On December 18, 2015, McDonough filed this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, claiming that the Defendants (including Smith) (1) had violated his right to due process by fabricating evidence and later using it against him before the grand jury and in his two trials and (2) were liable for malicious prosecution.
Several Defendants filed motions to dismiss McDonough's due process claim. They argued, in part, that it was barred by the applicable three–year statute of limitations because the allegedly fabricated evidence had been disclosed to McDonough, and his claim therefore accrued, well before the second jury acquitted him.5
In opposing the Defendants' motions, McDonough argued that because his fabrication of evidence claim was based on the actions of Smith, a prosecutor, it was analogous to a malicious prosecution claim, and therefore did not accrue until the second trial terminated in his favor. McDonough also contended that his due process claim did not accrue until the termination of the second trial under the Supreme Court's decision in Heck v. Humphrey , 512 U.S. 477, 114 S.Ct. 2364, 129 L.Ed.2d 383 (1994). He argued that his fabrication of evidence claim would challenge the validity of the pending criminal proceedings against him, and thus, under Heck , did not accrue until he was acquitted.
In two decisions, dated September 30, 2016 and December 30, 2016, the district court dismissed McDonough's due process claims against all Defendants as untimely and his malicious prosecution claim against Smith on the basis of absolute prosecutorial immunity.6
As to the due process claim, the district court reasoned that McDonough's claim was "based upon the fabrication of evidence" and it "accrued when he knew or should have known that such evidence was being used against him and not upon his acquittal in his criminal case." J. App. 155. As the district court indicated, McDonough's complaint had alleged "that all of the fabricated evidence was either presented at grand jury proceedings or during his two trials, all of which occurred" more than three years before he filed suit. J. App. 156.
The district court also concluded that Smith was protected by absolute immunity as to the malicious prosecution claim.
"We review de novo the grant of a motion to dismiss, accepting all factual allegations in the complaint as true and drawing inferences from those allegations in the light most favorable to the plaintiff." Bascunan v. Elsaca , 874 F.3d 806, 810 (2d Cir. 2017) (alterations and internal quotation marks omitted); see also Deutsche Bank Nat'l Tr. Co. v. Quicken Loans Inc. , 810 F.3d 861, 865 (2d Cir. 2015) ().
McDonough argues that his due process claim is timely because he alleged that Smith fabricated evidence in order to file baseless charges against him, and thus his claim is most analogous to a malicious prosecution action, which does not accrue until favorable termination of the prosecution, here the verdict of acquittal. See Poventud v. City of New York , 750 F.3d 121, 131 (2d Cir. 2014). In the alternative, McDonough asserts (1) that his claim is timely in light of Heck v. Humphrey , and (2) that the use of fabricated evidence against him constituted a continuing violation that renders his claim timely.
We conclude that the nature of McDonough's due process claim is different from a malicious prosecution claim, and that it accrued when (1) McDonough learned that the evidence was false and was used against him during the criminal proceedings; and (2) he suffered a loss of liberty as a result of that evidence. Because both occurred more than three years prior to McDonough filing this action, we agree with the district court that McDonough's due process claim is time–barred.7 We also reject McDonough's additional arguments as to the due process claim.
a. The Accrual of § 1983 Actions for Fabrication of Evidence and Malicious Prosecution
The statute of limitation for claims brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 is generally "the statute of limitations for the analogous claim under the law of the state where the cause of action accrued." Spak v. Phillips , 857 F.3d 458, 462 (2d Cir. 2017). It is undisputed that the applicable statute here is New York's three–year limitations period for personal injury claims. See Smith v. Campbell , 782 F.3d 93, 100 (2d Cir. 2015) (); see also N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 214(5) ().
"However, the time at which a claim ... under [§] 1983 accrues is a question of federal law that is not resolved by reference to state law." Spak , 857 F.3d at 462 (quoting Wallace v. Kato , 549 U.S. 384, 388, 127 S.Ct. 1091, 166 L.Ed.2d 973 (2007) ) (emphasis in original). Instead, federal "courts apply general common–law tort principles to determine the accrual date of a [§] 1983 claim." Spak , 857 F.3d at 462 (alterations and internal quotation marks omitted). It "is the standard rule that accrual occurs when a plaintiff has a complete and present cause of action, that is, when the plaintiff can file suit and obtain relief." Smith , 782 F.3d at 100 (internal quotation marks omitted). Put other ways, an action accrues "when the wrongful act or omission results in damages," id. , and "once the plaintiff knows or has reason to know of the injury which is the basis of his action," Veal v....
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