Mosley v. Yaletsko

• Decision Date: 17 July 2003
• Docket Number: No. CIV.A. 02-8035.,CIV.A. 02-8035.
• Citation: 275 F.Supp.2d 608
• Parties: James I. MOSLEY v. Dawn Vernon YALETSKO, et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

275 F.Supp.2d 608

James I. MOSLEY v. Dawn Vernon YALETSKO, et al.

No. CIV.A. 02-8035.

United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania.

July 17, 2003.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

James I. Mosley, F.D.C., Philadelphia, PA, Plaintiff, Pro Se.

Jean Y. Durbin, City of Philadelphia, Law Department, Philadelphia, PA, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

JOYNER, District Judge.

By way of the motion which is now before this Court, Defendant Dawn Vernon Yaletsko seeks the entry of summary judgment in her favor on all of the plaintiff's claims against her. For the reasons set forth below, the motion shall be granted.

Factual Background

This case arose at approximately midnight on the night of July 4, 2001 when the defendant, a Philadelphia police officer, and her partner, Officer George Scott, observed Plaintiff sitting in his parked car on West Montgomery Avenue in Philadelphia.¹ Officer Scott, who was driving the police cruiser, asked Mr. Mosley for his license and registration. When Plaintiff could not produce either, the officers exited their vehicle and Officer Scott told Plaintiff to get out of his car. Officer Scott then approached the driver's side of Plaintiff's car, grabbed him, pulled him out of his vehicle, patted him down, handcuffed him and placed him in the back of the patrol car.

Officer Yaletsko, in the meantime, approached the passenger side of Plaintiff's vehicle and, after checking the vehicle, found a gun. Officer Yaletsko then asked the plaintiff whether he had a permit for the firearm to which he replied that he did not. Plaintiff was subsequently given three citations for failure to have a driver's license, registration or insurance on his car and was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). Although Plaintiff's statement that he did not have a permit for the gun was eventually suppressed on the grounds that Plaintiff had not been Mirandized, the weapon itself was not as it was in plain view. Mr. Mosley was ultimately convicted of the firearm possession charge and there is nothing on the record before us to suggest that this conviction has been overturned.

Plaintiff thereafter filed this lawsuit on November 21, 2002 pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that his constitutional rights were violated in that excessive force was used to effectuate his arrest and his car was unlawfully searched without his consent. Plaintiff has also recently been granted leave to include a claim that his Fifth Amendment rights were violated when Defendant asked him if he had a permit for the gun without first advising him of his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966).

Summary Judgment Standards

It has long been recognized that the underlying purpose of summary judgment is to avoid a pointless trial in cases where it is unnecessary and would only cause delay and expense. Goodman v. Mead Johnson & Co., 534 F.2d 566, 573 (3d Cir.1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1038, 97 S.Ct. 732, 50 L.Ed.2d 748 (1977). Under Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c), summary judgment is properly rendered:

". . .if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. A summary judgment, interlocutory in character, may be rendered on the issue of liability alone although there is a genuine issue as to the amount of damages."

Stated more succinctly, summary judgment is appropriate only when it is demonstrated that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-32, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).

In deciding a motion for summary judgment, all facts must be viewed and all reasonable inferences must be drawn in favor of the non-moving party. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986); Oritani Savings & Loan Association v. Fidelity & Deposit Company of Maryland, 989 F.2d 635, 638 (3rd Cir.1993); Troy Chemical Corp. v. Teamsters Union Local No. 408, 37 F.3d 123, 125-126 (3rd Cir.1994); Arnold Pontiac-GMC, Inc. v. General Motors Corp., 700 F.Supp. 838, 840 (W.D.Pa.1988). An issue of material fact is said to be genuine "if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

In Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, supra, the Supreme Court articulated the allocation of burdens between a moving and nonmoving party in a motion for summary judgment. Specifically the Court in that case held that the movant had the initial burden of showing the court the absence of a genuine issue of material fact, but that this did not require the movant to support the motion with affidavits or other materials that negated the opponent's claim. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548. The Court also held that Rule 56(e) requires the nonmoving party to "go beyond the pleadings and by her own affidavits, or by the `depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file,' designate `specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.'" Id. at 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548 (quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e)). See Also, Morgan v. Havir Manufacturing Co., 887 F.Supp. 759 (E.D.Pa.1994); McGrath v. City of Philadelphia, 864 F.Supp. 466, 472-473 (E.D.Pa.1994).

Discussion

As noted above, Plaintiff claims that the defendant violated his constitutional rights under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures and excessive force, as well as his rights under Miranda v. Arizona. In so doing, Plaintiff invokes 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which states, in relevant part:

Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom or usage, of any State or Territory or the district of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer's judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. . . .

The purpose of Section 1983 is to provide a civil cause of action to protect persons against the misuse of power possessed by virtue of state law and made possible because the defendant was cloaked with the authority of the state. Del Signore v. McKeesport, 680 F.Supp. 200, 203 (W.D.Pa.1988). Section 1983 does not create a cause of action in and of itself; it provides redress for certain violations of rights arising under the federal constitution or laws of the United States which are caused by persons acting under color of state law. Lee v. Gateway Institute & Clinic, Inc., 732 F.Supp. 572, 575 (W.D.Pa. 1989), citing Baker v. McCollan, 443 U.S. 137, 140, 99 S.Ct. 2689, 2692, 61 L.Ed.2d 433 (1979).

To make out a claim under Section 1983, a plaintiff must demonstrate that the conduct of which he is complaining has been committed under color of state or territorial law and that it operated to deny him a right or rights secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Gomez v. Toledo, 446 U.S. 635, 640, 100 S.Ct. 1920, 1923, 64 L.Ed.2d 572 (1980); Mark v. Borough of Hatboro, 51 F.3d 1137, 1141 (3d Cir.1995), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 858, 116 S.Ct. 165, 133 L.Ed.2d 107 (1995). The plaintiff must also establish that it was the acts of the defendant which caused the constitutional deprivation. See: Rizzo v. Goode, 423 U.S. 362, 370-371, 96 S.Ct. 598, 604, 46 L.Ed.2d 561 (1976); Duchesne v. Sugarman, 566 F.2d 817, 831 (2d Cir. 1977).

The traditional definition of action under color of state law requires that one liable under § 1983 have exercised power possessed by virtue of state law and made possible only because the wrongdoer is clothed with the authority of state law. Abbott v. Latshaw, 164 F.3d 141, 146 (3d Cir.1998). To act "under color of" state law for § 1983 purposes does not necessarily require that the defendant be an officer of the State. Rather, it is enough that the defendant is a willful participant in joint action with the State or its agents. Dennis v. Sparks, 449 U.S. 24, 101 S.Ct. 183, 186, 66 L.Ed.2d 185 (1980). A person may therefore be found to be a state actor when (1) he is a state official, (2) he has acted together with or has obtained significant aid from state officials, or (3) his conduct is, by its nature, chargeable to the state. Angelico v. Lehigh Valley Hospital, 184 F.3d 268, 277 (3d Cir.1999). As there is no dispute that the defendant, as a Philadelphia police officer, is a state actor who was at all times acting under color of state law, we now consider each of the plaintiff's individual claims.

A. Excessive Force Claim.

Turning first to Plaintiff's excessive force claim, we note that the proper test for evaluating such a claim is one of objective reasonableness. Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 397, 109 S.Ct. 1865, 1872-73, 104 L.Ed.2d 443 (1989). This test "requires careful attention to the facts and circumstances of each particular case, including the severity of the crime at issue, whether the suspect poses an immediate threat to the safety of the officers or others, and whether he is actively resisting arrest or attempting to evade arrest by flight." Sharrar v. Felsing, 128 F.3d 810, 821 (3d Cir.1997), quoting Graham, 490 U.S. at 396, 109 S.Ct. at 1872. Indeed, "the calculus of reasonableness must embody allowance for the fact that police officers are...