Pitt v. District of Columbia

• Decision Date: 26 June 2007
• Docket Number: No. 06-7009.,No. 05-7163.,No. 05-7157.,05-7157.,05-7163.,06-7009.
• Citation: 491 F.3d 494
• Parties: Christopher G. PITT, Sr. and Tela Hansom-Pitt, Appellants v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, et al., Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

491 F.3d 494

Christopher G. PITT, Sr. and Tela Hansom-Pitt, Appellants v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, et al., Appellees.

No. 05-7157.

No. 05-7163.

No. 06-7009.

United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued March 28, 2007.

Decided June 26, 2007.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, (No. 01cv02225).

William J. Mertens argued the cause for appellants/cross-appellees. With him on the briefs was L. Barrett Boss.

Carl J. Schifferle, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Attorney General for the District of Columbia, argued the cause for appellees/cross-appellants. With him on the briefs were Linda Singer, Attorney General, Todd S. Kim, Solicitor General, and Edward E. Schwab, Deputy Solicitor General.

Before: SENTELLE, HENDERSON and TATEL, Circuit Judges.

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge SENTELLE.

SENTELLE, Circuit Judge:

The events giving rise to this case are troubling. After a violent robbery, the police arrested the wrong person — plaintiff Christopher Pitt — then initiated criminal proceedings against Mr. Pitt despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence. Mr. Pitt and his wife subsequently brought suit against the District of Columbia and three individual police officers, seeking relief under federal law and D.C. common law for malicious prosecution, false arrest, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. After trial, the jury returned a split verdict and the district court entered judgment for the plaintiffs for $153,000. The defendants then moved for judgment as a matter of law on all claims, which the district court granted in part and denied in part. On appeal both sides challenge the district court's rulings on the motions for judgment as a matter of law. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand to the district court for further proceedings.

I.

A.

At approximately 12:00 p.m. on January 2, 2001, two senior citizens — Henry and Gloria Feldman — were violently robbed in their apartment building in Northwest Washington. The robber had followed the Feldmans into their building and then into the elevator. In the hallway outside the Feldmans' apartment, the robber "socked" Mr. Feldman in the face and took his wallet, then grabbed Mrs. Feldman's purse before escaping down a nearby staircase. The Feldmans immediately called 911. During the 911 call, Mrs. Feldman described the robber as a black man around 5'8" tall with a medium complexion and dark hair, who was wearing a black leather jacket and a "beige-y" shirt. She told the operator that the perpetrator had not used a weapon during the robbery.

Meanwhile, Keith Dade, an employee of the apartment building, was notified of the robbery and saw the perpetrator leaving the building. Mr. Dade followed the man and attempted to ask him a few questions, but the robber told Mr. Dade to "back up" and started to run away. Mr. Dade saw the robber make a suspicious "gesture" as though he might have had a weapon, but did not actually see a weapon. After following the perpetrator out of the building and across the street, Mr. Dade lost sight of him. Mr. Dade gave a description of the robber to the police, who subsequently broadcast a lookout alert to officers in the area.

Responding to the lookout alert, Officers Bryan Adams and Steven Baxter arrived at the intersection where Mr. Dade last saw the perpetrator. After conferring with other officers at the scene, Officer Adams looked down the street and saw an individual who matched the description of the perpetrator get into a car and begin driving toward Rock Creek Park. The individual spotted by Officer Adams was the plaintiff, Christopher Pitt. Officers Adams and Baxter returned to their vehicle and followed plaintiff through Rock Creek Park and onto Calvert Street before pulling him over on the Taft Bridge on Connecticut Avenue. During the officers' pursuit, plaintiff failed to fully stop at some of the stop signs, but he was not speeding. After stopping the plaintiff, the officers told him that he was a suspect in a robbery, asked him to step out of the vehicle, and handcuffed him for their protection. The officers confirmed that plaintiff's clothes and physical characteristics matched the description of the robber. Plaintiff permitted the officers to search his vehicle, and during this search they found a hunting knife and a BB gun. Mr. Pitt informed the officers that he worked as a courier, and that the knife and BB gun were for his protection. Plaintiff also provided the police with a list of the pickups and deliveries he had made that day, as well as two receipts for recent deliveries to the embassies of Kuwait and Qatar.

After being notified that a suspect had been apprehended, other police officers brought the Feldmans and Mr. Dade to the Taft Bridge for a "show-up" identification to determine whether any of the eyewitnesses could identify plaintiff as the robber. Mrs. Feldman told the officers she got a "good look" at the robber, and that she was "certain" plaintiff was not the person who had robbed them. Mr. Feldman told the police he "wasn't sure" whether plaintiff was the perpetrator, but that he "doesn't think so." Mr. Dade thought plaintiff looked somewhat like the robber, but he "couldn't make a positive ID" because the plaintiff's hair was "longer and curlier" than the robber's, and the plaintiff — unlike the robber — was wearing a hat.

Lieutenant Josiah Eaves was at the Feldmans' apartment building reviewing the building's security videotapes when he heard over the radio that a suspect had been arrested. Surveillance cameras had captured the robber's image as he entered the building behind the Feldmans. Lt. Eaves went to the Taft Bridge to determine whether plaintiff was the person seen on the tapes. Lt. Eaves told the officers on the scene that he was confident plaintiff was the robber.

While the show-up identification was being conducted, two other officers — Detectives Sean Caine and James Bovino — conducted a brief investigation of plaintiff's alibi that he was making deliveries at a nearby embassy at the time of the robbery. The two detectives questioned a guard at the Kuwaiti Embassy about whether plaintiff had been there earlier that day, but the details of this interaction are disputed. Detective Caine testified at trial that the guard told him that "he hasn't seen Chris today." However, the embassy guard testified that he told the officers that a "Chris" had been at the embassy on the day of the robbery.

After the show-up, Mr. Pitt was arrested and taken into custody. The next day, Officers Adams and Baxter presented the case to screening prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's Office. Officer Adams gave the prosecutors an affidavit that contained a detailed description of the robbery, but did not mention the negative identifications or Mr. Pitt's alibi. It is disputed whether the officers' handwritten notes — which did describe the negative identification and alibi — were given to the screening prosecutors along with the affidavit. The affidavit also stated that a cell phone ear piece cover was found at the scene of the robbery, and that Mr. Pitt's cell phone ear piece was "missing its cover."

Based on the information contained in this affidavit, on January 3, 2001, a Superior Court Magistrate Judge ordered Mr. Pitt committed to a halfway house. Mr Pitt spent ten days incarcerated before being released on January 13, 2001. Six days later, the government dismissed the criminal case against Mr. Pitt.

B.

On October 29, 2001, Christopher Pitt and his wife Tela Hansom-Pitt ("plaintiffs") brought suit in U.S. District Court against the District of Columbia, Officer Bryan Adams, Officer Steven Baxter, and Detective James Bovino. In their complaint, plaintiffs sought relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for false arrest and malicious prosecution, and under D.C. common law for false arrest, malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and loss of consortium. Plaintiffs argued in district court that the defendants committed a laundry list of tortious acts, including: (1) arresting Mr. Pitt and initiating criminal proceedings against him even though at least two eyewitnesses stated that he was not the robber; (2) arresting and prosecuting Mr. Pitt even though he was clearly not the person seen on the apartment building's security videotape; (3) ignoring the fact that Mr. Pitt could not have been the robber because he was making a delivery at a nearby embassy at the time the robbery took place; and (4) submitting an affidavit to the U.S. Attorney's Office that contained numerous misstatements and omissions about the details of the robbery. As a result of this conduct, plaintiffs contended that Mr. Pitt was wrongfully incarcerated for ten days, was subjected to a strip-search and body cavity search, lost his job, and suffered emotional distress.

After an eight-day jury trial, the defendants moved for judgment as a matter of law on all of the plaintiffs' claims. The district court granted the defendants' motion with respect to the § 1983 malicious prosecution claim, holding that there was not a "clearly established" constitutional right to be free from malicious prosecution, and thus the defendant officers were entitled to qualified immunity on this claim. With respect to the rest of the plaintiffs' claims, the district court denied the motion and sent the claims to the jury.

The jury found all three officers liable for false arrest under § 1983. However, the jury returned a defense verdict for the three officers and the District on the common law false arrest claims — on the special verdict form, the jurors found that the officers lacked probable cause to arrest Mr. Pitt, but that they were not liable for common law false arrest because they "reasonably and in good faith" believed that their conduct was lawful. On the common law malicious prosecution claims, the jury returned a plaintiff's...