Perkins v. Banster
| Decision Date | 19 August 1960 |
| Docket Number | Civ. No. 12383. |
| Citation | 190 F. Supp. 98 |
| Parties | Melvin C. PERKINS v. Preston M. BANSTER and W. T. Ard. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Maryland |
Melvin C. Perkins, pro se.
Leon H. A. Pierson, U. S. Atty., and Robert E. Cahill, Asst. U. S. Atty., Baltimore, Md., for defendants.
The complaint in this case claims jurisdiction under Title 42 U.S.C.A. §§ 1981 and 1983. Section 1981 is the equal rights section giving to non-white persons the same rights which are enjoyed by white persons. Since the plaintiff, obviously and admittedly, is a white person, Section 1981 serves as no basis for jurisdiction in this case.
Section 1983 deals with civil actions for the deprivation of constitutional rights under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom or usage of any state or territory, and will support a case against a police officer or deputy sheriff or someone like that where he is acting under color of state law.
There is no allegation here that either of the defendants was acting under color of any state law. They were United States officers acting under authority or purported or supposed authority of United States law and not of state law. Section 1983, therefore, provides no ground for jurisdiction in this case.
Perkins has explained the rather unclear provisions of the complaint and has indicated that his claims are for false arrest or false indictment or malicious prosecution or denial of due process, and also for slander.
If those allegations or charges be treated as actions for slander or for malicious prosecution or for false arrest or any other recognized cause of action, they would be common law actions which would require diversity of citizenship and the requisite amount in controversy in order to be brought in this court. The plaintiff has not alleged diversity of citizenship, and therefore, the complaint is fatally defective on that ground. I will come back to that in a moment.
First, let us consider the merits of the claims that are alleged. With respect to malicious prosecution, it appears that the prosecution which was instituted resulted in a conviction in New York. After carefully reviewing the complaint and hearing the fuller explanation which the plaintiff has given of the circumstances, I conclude not only that the complaint does not allege any cause of action for slander, false arrest or malicious prosecution, but that under the facts as stated by the plaintiff no amendment based upon the facts could properly allege a cause of action for malicious prosecution, false arrest or slander.
The principal allegation is that the defendants said that the plaintiff was a mental case or was crazy. It appears that the...
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Shore v. Howard, Civ. A. No. CA 4-75-84.
...Co., 513 F.2d 90, 90-91 (5th Cir. 1975), cert. granted, 423 U.S. 923, 96 S.Ct. 264, 46 L.Ed.2d 248 (1975). Contra, Perkins v. Banster, 190 F.Supp. 98, 99 (D.Md.1960), aff'd, 285 F.2d 426 (4th Cir. 1960). Nevertheless, it is clear from the language of the statutes and the history of the Civi......
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Boddorff v. Publicker Industries, Inc.
...955 (S.D.N.Y.1977); In the Fourth Circuit, see Martinez v. Hazelton Research Animals, Inc., 430 F.Supp. 186 (D.Md.1977) and Perkins v. Banster, 190 F.Supp. 98 (D.Md.) aff'd, 285 F.2d 426 (4th Cir. In the Fifth Circuit, see Guerra v. Roma Independent School District, 444 F.Supp. 812 (S.D. Te......
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Stewart v. New York University
...aff'd, 169 U.S.App.D.C. 58, 514 F.2d 894 (1975); Ripp v. Dobbs Houses, Inc., 366 F.Supp. 205, 211 (N.D.Ala.1973); Perkins v. Banster, 190 F.Supp. 98, 99 (D.Md.), aff'd, 285 F.2d 426 (4th Cir. 1960). See Van Hoomissen v. Xerox Corp., 368 F.Supp. 829 (N.D.Cal.1973), and, in the alternative, t......
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