Santiago Irizarry v. Maldonado Aponte, CIV. 01-2177(SEC).

• Decision Date: 23 December 2003
• Docket Number: No. CIV. 01-2177(SEC).,CIV. 01-2177(SEC).
• Citation: 296 F.Supp.2d 146
• Parties: Alexis SANTIAGO IRIZARRY, et al., Plaintiffs v. Jose A. MALDONADO APONTE, et al., Defendants
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico

296 F.Supp.2d 146

Alexis SANTIAGO IRIZARRY, et al., Plaintiffs v. Jose A. MALDONADO APONTE, et al., Defendants

No. CIV. 01-2177(SEC).

United States District Court, D. Puerto Rico.

December 23, 2003.

José Rafael Santiago-Pereles, Ponce, PR, for Plaintiffs.

Gloria Robison-Guarch, Commonwealth Dept. of Justice, Federal Litigation Division, San Juan, PR, for Defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER

CASELLAS, District Judge.

Before the Court is Defendants' motion for summary judgment (Dockets ##34, 36), Plaintiffs' opposition (Docket #43), and Defendants' reply (Docket #47). Upon careful review of the parties' arguments, and the applicable law, Defendants' motion for Summary Judgement will be GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.

Standard of Review

Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(b) provides that: "A party against whom a claim ... is asserted ... may, at any time, move with or without supporting affidavits for a summary judgment in the party's favor as to all or any part [of the claims asserted against him/her]." The Court may grant the movant's motion for summary judgment when "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 judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); See also Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202(1986); NASCO, Inc. v. Public Storage, Inc., 29 F.3d 28 (1stCir.1994). "The principal judicial inquiry required by Rule 56 is whether a genuine issue of material fact exists." Charles A. Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Mary Kay Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil 3d § 2725, p. 401.

In this regard, the First Circuit Court of Appeals has noted that for a dispute to be "genuine," there must be sufficient evidence to permit a reasonable trier of fact to resolve the issue in favor of the non-moving party. U.S. v. One Parcel of Real Property, 960 F.2d 200, 204 (1st Cir.1992); see also Boston Athletic Assn. v. Sullivan, 867 F.2d 22, 24 (1st Cir.1989); Medina Muñoz v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, 896 F.2d 5, 8 (1st Cir.1990) ("[a] `genuine' issue is one that must be decided at trial because the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmovant, would permit a rational factfinder to resolve the issue in favor of either party.") (citations omitted).

By like token, "material" means that the fact is one that might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law. Morris v. Government Development Bank of Puerto Rico, 27 F.3d 746, 748 (1st Cir. 1994). "A fact is material if it tends to resolve any of the issues that have been properly raised by the parties." Wright, Miller & Kane, supra, § 2725 at p. 419. "Not every genuine factual conflict necessitates a trial. It is only when a disputed fact has the potential to change the outcome of the suit under the governing law if found favorably to the nonmovant that the materiality hurdle is cleared." Martínez v. Colón, 54 F.3d 980, 983-984 (1st Cir. 1995).

In addition, when determining whether to grant summary judgment, the Court may not weigh the evidence. Casas Office Machines, Inc. v. Mita Copystar America, Inc., 42 F.3d 668 (1st Cir.1994). Summary judgment "admits of no room for credibility determinations, not room for the measured weighing of conflicting evidence such as the trial process entails." Id. (citing Greenburg v. Puerto Rico Maritime Shipping Authority, 835 F.2d 932, 936 (1st Cir.1987)). Accordingly, if the facts permit more than one reasonable inference, the court on summary judgment may not adopt the inference least favorable to the non-moving party. Casas Office Machines, 42 F.3d at 684.

While the moving party has the burden of initially establishing that there is "an absence of evidence to support the non-moving party's case", Maldonado-Denis v Castillo-Rodríguez, 23 F.3d 576, 581 (1st Cir.1994); the nonmovant has a "corresponding obligation to offer the court more than steamy rhetoric and bare conclusions." Lawton v. State Mutual Life Assurance Company of America, 101 F.3d 218, 223 (1st Cir.1996). Furthermore, "the nonmovant must produce specific facts, in suitable evidentiary form' sufficient to limn a trialworthy issue .... Failure to do so allows the summary judgment engine to operate at full throttle." Id.; see also Kelly v. United States, 924 F.2d 355, 358 (1st Cir.1991) (warning that "the decision to sit idly by and allow the summary judgment proponent to configure the record is likely to prove fraught with consequence."); Medina-Muñoz, 896 F.2d at 8, (quoting Mack v. Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co., 871 F.2d 179, 181 (1st Cir. 1989)) (holding that "[t]he evidence illustrating the factual controversy cannot be conjectural or problematic; it must have substance in the sense that it limns differing versions of the truth which a factfinder must resolve.")

Local Rule 7(a)¹, moreover, requires the moving party to file annexed to the motion "a separate, short, and concise statement of material facts, set forth in numbered paragraphs, as to which the moving party contends there is no genuine issue of material fact to be tried." Unless the non-moving party controverts this statement, all the material facts set forth therein "shall be deemed to be admitted." Id. This is the so-called "anti-ferret rule." See, e.g., Orbi, S.A. v. Calvesbert & Brown, 20 F.Supp.2d 289, 291 (D.P.R.1998). While failure to comply with this rule does not automatically warrant the granting of summary judgment, "it launches the nonmovant's case down the road toward an early dismissal." Tavárez v. Champion Products, Inc., 903 F.Supp. 268, 270 (D.P.R.1995).

Factual Background

This is an action for money damages brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for the alleged violation of Plaintiffs' Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process and equal protection. Plaintiffs have also filed other claims invoking the Court's supplemental jurisdiction. Defendants have moved for summary judgment, premised on the assertion that Plaintiffs' rights have not been violated.

The events giving rise to the complaint in the case at bar took place on September 4, 2004. On that date, Plaintiffs, Alexis Santiago Irizarry and María M. Irizarry Echevarría (Mr and Mrs. Irizarry), were arrested by Defendants patrolmen of the Puerto Rico Police Department José Maldonado Aponte, Marcos Velázquez, Ivelisse Castillo and Ramón Ortiz (Defendants). Mr. Irizarry was first stopped for an alleged traffic violation and later arrested after Co-defendant Maldonado allegedly saw him pull out from his pocket what looked like a transparent bag filled with white powder, run to the bathroom of his mother-in-law's residence, and flush the object down the toilet. Mrs. Irizarry was arrested for her alleged interference with Defendants as they arrested her husband. On the other hand, Plaintiffs contend that Defendants assaulted and battered Mr. Irizarry at his mother-in-law's house when they entered the dwelling without authorization or search warrant, after he had gone into the house to tend a bleeding wound.

In addition, Plaintiffs have also sued Defendant Police Sergeant Muñiz, the officer in charge at the time relevant to the events alleged in the complaint, for his alleged failure to properly train the police officers under his authority and ensure that those officers competently carry out their duties.

Applicable Law and Analysis

1) Section 1983

In the instant case, Defendants assert their entitlement to qualified immunity. Qualified immunity constitutes a right not to stand trial or face the burdens of litigation. See Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001). The procedures regarding qualified immunity allow for judicial review, via certiorari, on the qualified immunity issue. Id. at 207. Thus, in order to avoid subjecting state officials to unnecessary and burdensome discovery or trial proceedings, district courts and courts of appeal should rule on the qualified immunity issue from the beginning, focusing on the characterization of the constitutional right in controversy and deciding, whether from the facts alleged in the complaint, a constitutional violation could be found. See Id. at 201; Judge, 160 F.3d at 73.

A defendant can establish a qualified immunity defense in one of three ways:

First, the defense should be sustained if the court finds that it was not clear at the time of the official acts that the interest asserted by plaintiff was protected by a federal statute or the Constitution. Second, even if the interest asserted by the plaintiff was clearly of a type generally protected by federal law, the defendant is entitled to immunity as a matter of law, if it was not clear at the time of the acts at issue that an exception did not permit those acts. Third, even if the contours of the plaintiffs federal rights and the official's permissible actions were clearly delineated at the time of the acts complained of, the defendant may enjoy qualified immunity if, it was objectively reasonable for him to believe that his acts did not violate those rights.

Walsh v. Franco, 849 F.2d 66, 69 (2nd Cir.1988), citing Robison v. Via, 821 F.2d 913, 920-921 (2nd Cir.1987). Thus, the qualified immunity inquiry is composed of a three-prong test: 1) does the complaint state a claim for relief of a constitutional right?; 2) if it does, was the constitutional right clearly established at the time of the facts alleged in the complaint?; and 3) was it objectionably reasonable for the officer to believe his actions did not violate the claimant's federally protected right?

The First Circuit Court of Appeals has held that only acts committed by state officers that reflect a reckless and/or callous indifference towards a person's rights are considered as violating constitutional rights. See Landol-Rivera v. Cosme, 906 F.2d 791, 796 (1st Cir.1990); Germany v. Vance, 868 F.2d 9, 18 (1st...