Solis v. Prince George's County, CIV. A. AW-99-2359.

• Decision Date: 13 July 2001
• Docket Number: No. CIV. A. AW-99-2359.,CIV. A. AW-99-2359.
• Citation: 153 F.Supp.2d 793
• Parties: Hugo SOLIS, Plaintiff, v. PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maryland

Page 793

153 F.Supp.2d 793

Hugo SOLIS, Plaintiff, v. PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY et al., Defendants.

No. CIV. A. AW-99-2359.

United States District Court, D. Maryland, Southern Division.

July 13, 2001.

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Matthew Howard Goodman, Hyattsville, MD, for Plaintiff.

Laura J. Gwinn, Prince George's County Attorneys Office, Upper Marlboro, MD, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

WILLIAMS, District Judge.

Plaintiff, Hugo Solis, brings this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action against Prince George's County, Officer Peter Ruffin, and several John Doe police officers. Plaintiff complains that he was unjustifiably assaulted and battered by the police officers as well as wrongfully arrested and detained. In addition to the § 1983 claims, Plaintiff asserts various constitutional and common law tort claims against the officers and their employer, Prince George's County, under a theory of respondeat superior. Currently pending before the Court is Defendants' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment. The motion has been fully briefed. No hearing is deemed necessary. See Local Rule 105.6. Upon consideration of the arguments made in support of, and opposition to, the Defendants' motion, the Court makes the following determinations.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Hugo Solis is a resident of Prince George's County. His sole language is Spanish. Mr. Solis claims that, on July 21, 1998 at approximately 4:30 a.m., he and others were waiting outside his Langley Park apartment complex for a ride to work. The accounts of what occurred thereafter vary widely.

According to Plaintiff, without provocation or any communication, Officer Ruffin grabbed, pushed, and threw him to the ground. Once on the ground, Officer Ruffin strangled Mr. Solis for several minutes. Suddenly, several Prince George's County police officers arrived on the scene, apparently in response to Ruffin's call. The other officers joined Officer Ruffin in kicking and beating Mr. Solis several times all over his body. The officers inserted a metal object into Plaintiff's mouth. Then, Officer Ruffin handcuffed Plaintiff, placed him under arrest, and transported him to the police station.

Officer Ruffin presents a very different version of the facts. According to Officer Ruffin, while he was on foot patrol, he observed Plaintiff sitting on a fence. As Officer Ruffin approached, Mr. Solis ran. Believing this conduct indicated the possibility of criminal activity, Officer Ruffin chased Plaintiff. Plaintiff ran into a building and pushed the door into Officer Ruffin. As a result, Officer Ruffin was pinned behind the door. After a struggle, Officer Ruffin was able to re-gain control and arrest Plaintiff. Officer Ruffin pulled Plaintiff out of the building and pushed him to ground. Thereafter, Officer Ruffin attempted to advise Plaintiff that he was under arrest, but realized that Plaintiff did not speak English. Officer Ruffin does not speak Spanish.

Once detained at the police station, Plaintiff alleges he was stripped and placed in a cell for approximately 20—30 minutes. At which point, he learned that he was suspected of engaging in drug activity. He was not ultimately charged with any drug offense, but rather a second-degree assault charge.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Evidentiary Matters

Defendants raise several evidentiary objections to several submissions accompanying Plaintiff's opposition. On a motion for summary judgment, a district court may only consider evidence that would be admissible at trial. See Rohrbough v. Wyeth Laboratories, Inc., 916 F.2d 970, 973 (4th Cir.1990); Keziah v. W.M. Brown & Son, Inc., 888 F.2d 322, 326 (4th Cir.1989). On a motion for summary judgment, a district court may consider deposition testimony or affidavits complying with Rule 56(e) as a substitute for live testimony. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c), (56)(e). Thus, "an affidavit filed in opposition to a motion for summary judgment must present evidence in substantially the same form as if the affiant were testifying in court." Evans v. Technologies Applications & Service Co., 80 F.3d 954, 962 (4th Cir.1996). As to an expert opinion, "an affidavit that states facts on which the expert bases an opinion satisfies Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(e) even though the expert does not attach the data supporting the facts." M & M Medical Supplies v. Pleasant Valley Hosp., 981 F.2d 160, 166 (4th Cir.1992).

In opposing Defendant's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, the Plaintiff has submitted the unsworn statements of several alleged eyewitnesses to the incident and a Rule 26(a)(2) expert witness disclosure report. "It is well established that unsworn, unauthenticated documents cannot be considered on a motion for summary judgment." Orsi v. Kirkwood, 999 F.2d 86, 92 (4th Cir.1993). Thus, "[u]nsworn statements do not qualify as affidavits and are not considered by the Court when ruling on a motion for summary judgment." Lugue v. Hercules, Inc., 12 F.Supp.2d 1351, 1355 (S.D.Ga.1997). See Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, n. 17, 158, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 1609, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970). Likewise, "unsworn expert reports, which may have been prepared in compliance with Rule 26(a)(2), will not be considered by the Court for purposes of summary judgment." Lugue, 12 F.Supp.2d at 1358. Retrieving an affidavit in compliance with Rule 56(e) is not an onerous task. Accordingly, the Court will not consider the unsworn eyewitness statements or the unsworn expert report.

Defendants also take issue with respect to Plaintiff's use of his own supplemental answers to interrogatories. With respect to discovery requests, Rule 26 imposes a duty to "seasonably ... amend a prior response to an interrogatory ... if the party learns that the response is in some material respect incomplete or incorrect and if the additional or corrective information has not otherwise been made known to the other parties during the discovery process or in writing." Fed. R.Civ.P. 26(e)(2) Furthermore, Rule 56(c) expressly provides that answers to interrogatories may be considered on a motion for summary judgment. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). Still, in order to be considered on a motion for summary judgment, a party's interrogatory answers, as with other forms of evidence, must still be admissible under the Federal Rules of Evidence. See Rohrbough, 916 F.2d at 973. Furthermore, courts have required answers to interrogatories to satisfy the prerequisites for consideration of affidavits pursuant to Rule 56(e). See Schwartz v. Compagnie General Transatlantique, 405 F.2d 270, 273 n. 1 (2d Cir.1968); H.B. Zachry Co. v. O'Brien, 378 F.2d 423 (10th Cir.1967). Therefore, subject to the Federal Rules of Evidence and Rule 56(e), the Court shall consider portions of the Plaintiff's supplemental answers to Defendant's interrogatories in reviewing the motion for summary judgment.

B. Summary Judgment

Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that summary judgment will be granted when no genuine dispute of material fact exists and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See, e.g., Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 250, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). "Summary judgment procedure is properly regarded not as a disfavored procedural shortcut, but rather as an integral part of the Federal Rules as a whole, which are designed `to secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action.'" Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 327, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986) (quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 1). The court must "draw all justifiable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party, including questions of credibility and of the weight to be accorded particular evidence." Masson v. New Yorker Magazine, 501 U.S. 496, 520, 111 S.Ct. 2419, 115 L.Ed.2d 447 (1991) (citations omitted). While the evidence of the nonmovant is to be believed and all justifiable inferences drawn in his or her favor, a party cannot create a genuine dispute of material fact through mere speculation or compilation of inferences. See Deans v. CSX Transportation, Inc., 152 F.3d 326, 330-31 (4th Cir.1998). In responding to a proper motion for summary judgment, the opposing party must present evidence of specific facts from which the finder of fact could reasonably find for him or her. See Anderson, 477 U.S. at 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505; Celotex Corp., 477 U.S. at 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548. In the absence of contradictory evidence showing a genuine dispute as to a material fact, the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Celotex Corp., 477 U.S. at 327, 106 S.Ct. 2548. For the purposes of summary judgment, a genuine dispute exists if a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party. See Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505.

C. Liability of Individual Officer

1. Qualified Immunity under 42 U.S.C. § 1983

Under § 1983, state officials performing discretionary functions are entitled to qualified immunity where their conduct "does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982). See Wilson v. Layne, 141 F.3d 111, 114 (4th Cir.1998), aff'd, 526 U.S. 603, 119 S.Ct. 1692, 143 L.Ed.2d 818 (1999). "[Q]ualified immunity seeks to ensure that defendants `reasonably can anticipate when their conduct may give rise to liability' by attaching liability only if `[t]he contours of the right [violated are] sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates that right[.]'" United States v. Lanier, 520 U.S. 259, 270, 117 S.Ct. 1219, 1227, 137 L.Ed.2d 432 (1997) (citations omitted). Essentially, qualified immunity protects law enforcement officers from "`bad guesses in gray areas' and ensures that they are liable only `for transgressing bright lines.'" Wilson v. Layne, 141 F.3d at 114. In reviewing an officer's...