Slaughter v. Anderson
| Decision Date | 19 November 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. 87 C 9803.,87 C 9803. |
| Citation | 673 F. Supp. 929 |
| Parties | James L. SLAUGHTER, Plaintiff, v. Sgt. M. ANDERSON # 835, Off. G. Ostafin # 10251, Off. R. Spraggins # 17449, Off. L. Jones # 12440, Off. R. Bresnahan # 8238, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois |
James L. Slaughter, pro se.
James L. Slaughter ("Slaughter") asks leave to file this civil rights action in forma pauperis under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ("Section 1983") against five City of Chicago police officers. Slaughter alleges these things, which this Court accepts as true for present purposes:
Slaughter brings this action to recover for that loss of property.
Though such a claim sounds (at least potentially) in due process, Slaughter's allegations do not suggest the kind of culpability needed for a due process claim. Under Daniels v. Williams, 474 U.S. 327, 328, 106 S.Ct. 662, 664, 88 L.Ed.2d 662 (1986) (overruling Parratt v. Taylor, 451 U.S. 527, 101 S.Ct. 1908, 68 L.Ed.2d 420 (1981)), an unintended loss of property resulting from an official's negligence does not implicate the Due Process Clause. Defendants' failure to secure Slaughter's apartment before leaving amounts to nothing more than negligence. As such, it is not actionable under Section 1983.
Even were this Court to assume that defendants left Slaughter's apartment open with the express intention of allowing third parties to remove his property,1 the Complaint would still not state an actionable Section 1983 claim for relief. To satisfy the Fourteenth Amendment, all the state has to do in response to a wrongful deprivation of property occasioned by the random and unauthorized intentional act of a public official is to provide an adequate postdeprivation remedy (Hudson v. Palmer, 468 U.S. 517, 533, 104 S.Ct. 3194, 3203-04, 82 L.Ed.2d 393 (1984)). As the following discussion reflects, Illinois has done that.
Although the Illinois Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act ("Act") substantially limits the liability of public employees, Act § 2-202 (Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 85, ¶ 2-202) specifically denies such immunity to public employees who engage in "willful and wanton conduct." Intentional misconduct falls within the meaning of "willful and wanton conduct" under the Act (see Act § 1-210; Breck v. Cortez, 141 Ill.App.3d 351, 360, 95 Ill.Dec. 615, 620, 490 N.E.2d 88, 94 (2d Dist.1986); Glover v. City of Chicago, 106 Ill.App.3d 1066, 1074-75, 62 Ill.Dec. 597, 604, 436 N.E.2d 623, 630 (1st Dist.1982)). Thus, even to the extent Slaughter's complaint can be stretched to allege intentional misconduct on defendants' part, the availability of a state postdeprivation remedy bars any constitutionally cognizable claim for relief.
Because Slaughter's complaint is therefore facially "frivolous" in the legal sense defined by Corgain v....
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Bullock v. Dioguardi, 86 C 3819.
...liable for depriving him of his property without due process. See Greco v. Guss, 775 F.2d 161, 169 (7th Cir.1985); Slaughter v. Anderson, 673 F.Supp. 929, 930 (N.D.Ill.1987). Accordingly, Bullock's claims contesting the taking of his personal property are Bullock raises two further claims w......
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Smith v. Carter
...guaranteed constitutional right is implicated. See King v. Massarweh, 782 F.2d 825, 826 (9th Cir. 1986); Slaughter v. Anderson, 673 F. Supp. 929, 930 (N.D. Ill. 1987). Therefore, even if Plaintiff is alleging that a Defendant intentionally took his personal properly, "an intentional depriva......
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Martin v. Merchandise
...2012 WL 887476, at *6 (D.S.C. Feb. 23, 2012) (citing King v. Massarweh, 782 F.2d 825, 826 (9th Cir.1986), and Slaughter v. Anderson, 673 F.Supp. 929, 930 (N.D.Ill.1987)), adopted by 2012 WL 896360 (D.S.C. Mar.15, 2012). Accordingly, while plaintiff may have some claim against Defendant for ......
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Thomas v. Sheahan
..."[A]n unintended loss of property resulting from an official's negligence does not implicate the Due Process Clause." Slaughter v. Anderson, 673 F.Supp. 929 (N.D.Ill.1987)(citing Daniels v. Williams, 474 U.S. 327, 328, 106 S.Ct. 662, 88 L.Ed.2d 662 (1986)); Brown v. Lange, 1994 WL 30605 at ......