Spell v. McDaniel

• Decision Date: 12 July 1984
• Docket Number: No. 84-06-CIV-3.,84-06-CIV-3.
• Citation: 591 F. Supp. 1090
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of North Carolina
• Parties: Henry Z. SPELL, Plaintiff, v. Charles D. McDANIEL, et al., Defendants.

591 F. Supp. 1090

Henry Z. SPELL, Plaintiff, v. Charles D. McDANIEL, et al., Defendants.

No. 84-06-CIV-3.

United States District Court, E.D. North Carolina, Fayetteville Division.

July 12, 1984.

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H. Gerald Beaver, Beaver, Holt & Richardson, P.A., Fayetteville, N.C., for plaintiff.

Robert C. Cogswell, Jr., Bobby G. Deaver, Fayetteville, N.C., for defendants.

ORDER

JAMES C. FOX, District Judge.

Plaintiff, Henry Spell, initiated this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. ž 1983 by complaint filed January 26, 1984. Plaintiff seeks compensatory and punitive damages for injuries allegedly caused by police misconduct. Spell predicates his action on a deprivation of his constitutional rights substantively secured by the Fourth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. Jurisdiction is based upon 28 U.S.C. ž 1331 and ž 1343.

Named as defendants are Charles McDaniel, the allegedly culpable individual officer of the City of Fayetteville Police Department, who directly inflicted the injuries upon plaintiff; William Dalton and Roger Holman, Command Sergeants within the City of Fayetteville Police Department and alleged supervisory officials in this action; William Johnson, officer in command of the Internal Affairs Division of the City of Fayetteville Police Department, charged with the duty of investigating allegations of police misconduct; Daniel K. Dixon, Chief of the Fayetteville Police Department; John P. Smith, City Manager of the City of Fayetteville with general supervisory power and responsibility over the previously named defendants; and, the City of Fayetteville, North Carolina. All defendants, except McDaniel, are sued solely in their official capacity.

There are a number of outstanding motions before the court. Defendant McDaniel has filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1), (b)(2) and (b)(6); Plaintiff has moved to amend his complaint to clarify his charge against the City of Fayetteville; defendants Dalton, Holman, Johnson, Dixon, Smith and the City of Fayetteville have filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1), (b)(2) and (b)(6); defendants Holman and Johnson have filed a motion for summary judgment; plaintiff has filed a 12(f) motion to strike defendants' affirmative defenses; defendant City of Fayetteville has filed a motion to strike plaintiff's prayer for punitive damages; and plaintiff has filed a motion to compel defendants to comply with plaintiff's request for production of documents, to which defendants have objected and moved for a protective order. The parties have extensively briefed the relevant issues and these matters are now ripe for disposition.

Before the court proceeds to address these contentions, some further description of the allegations in the complaint is in order as a preface to the discussions which follow. In this description as well as in the subsequent discussions, excepting only the discussions of jurisdictional issues and plaintiff's motion to strike, the court accepts the allegations of the complaint as true, as the law requires it to do. Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957). Nothing herein should be taken as indicating any view on the validity of the allegations of plaintiff's complaint.

Plaintiff alleges, with particularity, that on November 19, 1983, he was arrested by Officer McDaniel in Fayetteville for driving while impaired and possession of a controlled substance. McDaniel transported Spell to the Law Enforcement Center (LEC) for breathalyzer testing and arrest procedures. A breathalyzer examination was conducted before another Fayetteville police official, as required by North Carolina law. Upon completion of the examination, plaintiff was removed from the breathalyzer area in the basement of the LEC to the City Police Assembly Room whereupon McDaniel, without justification, assaulted Spell by repeatedly striking him with his hands and by kneeing him in the testicles with such force that plaintiff suffered permanent loss of his right testicle. Spell has been rendered irreversibly sterile as a result of McDaniel's actions.

Plaintiff further alleges that McDaniel's actions were in furtherance of and under color of the official policy, practice, custom and procedure of the City of Fayetteville. In detail and with precision, plaintiff sets forth the following allegations against the remaining defendants:

(1). Defendants had knowledge, prior to this incident, of repeated allegations of police abuse and assaultive misconduct toward detainees and arrestees;

(2). defendants had prior knowledge of similar allegations of abuse against defendant McDaniel and refused to enforce established administrative procedures to insure the safety of detainees and arrestees;

(3). defendants established and enforced quota systems for arrests and citations thereby encouraging unlawful, and, at times, abusive arrests and detentions;

(4). defendants refused to discipline individual officers and employees found to have committed similar acts of abuse and misconduct;

(5). defendants refused to competently investigate allegations of abuse and assault alleged to have been committed by Fayetteville police officers;

(6). defendants reprimanded, threatened, intimidated, demoted and fired police officers who reported acts of abuse by other officers;

(7). defendants covered up acts of misconduct and abuse by police officers;

(8). defendants rewarded officers who displayed aggressive and abusive behavior towards detainees and arrestees;

(9). defendants failed to adequately train and educate officers in the use of reasonable and proper force.

(10). defendants failed to adequately supervise the actions of police officers under their control and supervision;

(11). defendants condoned and participated in the practice of reducing or dismissing criminal charges against individuals in return for their releasing from civil liability offending police officers; and

(12). defendants fostered and encouraged an atmosphere of lawlessness, abuse and misconduct, which, by November 19, 1983, represented the policy, practice, custom and procedure of the Fayetteville City Police Department.

Plaintiff alleges that the direct and proximate result of defendants' pattern of conduct, described above, was Officer McDaniel's assault on November 19, 1983, resulting in plaintiff's serious and permanent bodily injury and disfigurement. Defendants have answered, emphatically denying all substantive allegations.

The court will now proceed to consider ad seriatim all the contentions and motions heretofore summarized.

(1). PLAINTIFF'S MOTION TO AMEND

Plaintiff has moved the court to amend his complaint to add the words "the defendant, City of Fayetteville, North Carolina" to paragraph XIV of the complaint. The effect of this amendment is to charge the City, along with its previously named representatives, with certain activities which are alleged to have resulted in the creation of an official city policy, custom and practice. Only defendant McDaniel consents to the amendment.

The second sentence of Rule 15(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that after a responsive pleading has been filed, as in this case, a party may amend his pleading only by obtaining leave of the court or by consent of the adverse party. The general policy of Rule 15 encourages the court to look favorably on requests to amend. It states that "leave shall be fully given when justice so requires."

Since the function of Rule 15(a) is to enable a party to assert matters that were overlooked or unknown to him at the time he filed his original complaint, leave to amend should be freely granted in the absence of any undue delay, bad faith or dilatory motive. Foreman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 83 S.Ct. 227, 9 L.Ed.2d 222 (1962); Zenith Radio Corp. v. Hazeltine Research Inc., 401 U.S. 321, 91 S.Ct. 795, 28 L.Ed.2d 77 (1971); Strauss v. Douglas Aircraft Co., 404 F.2d 1152 (2nd Cir.1968).

Plaintiff simply seeks to correct an inadvertent omission in Paragraph XIV of the complaint. The motion to amend comes at a very early state of the proceedings. Defendants do not contend undue delay, bad faith or dilatory motive exists on the part of the plaintiff.

Defendants do opine that the amendment would cause them substantial prejudice, however, they are unable to articulate any factual basis to support the conclusory claim of prejudice. The City of Fayetteville is a named defendant and clearly on notice of the allegations contained in plaintiff's complaint. The City is listed in virtually every substantive paragraph in the twenty paragraph complaint. The court finds the City of Fayetteville will not be prejudiced by plaintiff's amendment to paragraph XIV. Therefore, plaintiff's motion to amend is ALLOWED and counsel for plaintiff has five (5) days from the date of service of this order in which to file plaintiff's amended complaint with the court.

(2). DEFENDANT McDANIEL'S MOTION TO DISMISS

DEFENDANT McDaniel has moved the court to dismiss this action pursuant to Rule 12(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Defendant argues (1) lack of jurisdiction over the person; (2) lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter; (3) plaintiff's complaint is conclusory and lacks sufficient factual allegations to support a claim for relief; and (4) plaintiff has stated no claim cognizable under ž 1983.

Defendant's 12(b)(1) motion alleging lack of in personam jurisdiction is DENIED, as it is apparent on the face of the pleadings that both the controversy and the defendant have sufficient contacts with this forum to give the court the right to exercise judicial power over defendant McDaniel.

Defendant's 12(b)(2) motion alleging lack of subject matter jurisdiction is also DENIED, as 28 U.S.C. ž 1331 and ž 1343 have long been recognized as the jurisdictional...