Stadium Films, Inc. v. Baillargeon, No. 76-1129

Citation542 F.2d 577
Decision Date23 September 1976
Docket NumberNo. 76-1129
PartiesSTADIUM FILMS, INC., et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Joseph R. BAILLARGEON, etc., Defendants-Appellees.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (1st Circuit)

Richard A. Boren, Providence, R.I., with whom Jordan Stanzler, Milton Stanzler and Abedon, Stanzler, Biener, Skolnik & Lipsey, Providence, R.I., were on brief, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Aram P. Jarret, Jr., Asst. City Sol., Woonsocket, R.I., for defendants-appellees.

Before COFFIN, Chief Judge, McENTEE and CAMPBELL, Circuit Judges.

COFFIN, Chief Judge.

This case presents a narrow question about the propriety of a directed verdict granted to police officers who were sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for seizing a number of films pursuant to search warrants which they allegedly knew to be constitutionally deficient. Defendants are two commanders of the Woonsocket (R.I.) police force who participated in procuring the warrants, and the chief of police. Plaintiffs are the corporate owner of a movie theater in Woonsocket and its cashier. The two warrants were signed by a Rhode Island Superior Court justice and a Rhode Island District Court judge respectively.

The application for each warrant recited that a Superior Court justice in a recent civil proceeding had declared a number of movies to be obscene, and that the films sought by the warrant had been viewed by the affiants and found to be "of the same type". The district court ruled that the seizures were unlawful, reasoning that the warrants which provided the authority for the actions were not sufficient to satisfy the standards of Heller v. New York, 413 U.S. 483, 93 S.Ct. 2789, 37 L.Ed.2d 745 (1973), since (1) the warrants "were not issued after a determination of probable cause by a neutral magistrate, but on the conclusory allegations of individual policemen", and (2) "not merely a single copy of the film was seized, but rather all copies and the projectors used to show them." Accordingly, the district court enjoined the defendants from relying on these, or any similarly defective, warrants to take any further legal action against plaintiffs or their property. The validity of this ruling is not questioned on appeal.

After selecting a jury for the trial on damages, but before the jury heard any evidence, the district court required an offer of proof from plaintiffs as to defendants' liability for money damages. Plaintiffs offered to prove facts which, in their view, established that the officers knew or should have known of the existence of the constitutional infirmities found by the district court: (1) that the Woonsocket police had previously proceeded in an obscenity case through a civil action against the films themselves under a Rhode Island statute authorizing such in rem proceedings; and (2) that plaintiffs' attorney sent a legal memorandum on the inadequacy of the first search warrant to the chief of police prior to the second seizure. * The district court concluded that these facts, if established, would not constitute sufficient evidence of defendants' bad faith to permit plaintiffs to recover damages and, accordingly, it directed a verdict for defendants. We believe the district court's action was correct.

To the extent that plaintiffs' evidence was directed at establishing that defendants "should have known" that the warrants were constitutionally inadequate, it was irrelevant. Under the prevailing view in this country, a peace officer may not be held liable in damages for making negligent errors of law in seeking or executing a search warrant. See Madison v. Manter, 441 F.2d 537, 538 (1st Cir. 1971) and cases cited. See also Scott v. Dollahite, 54 F.R.D. 430, 434 (N.D.Miss.1972); cf. United States v. Barker, --- F.2d ---- (D.C.Cir.1976) ((A) mistake of (law) in relying on a magistrate's approval of a search (warrant) can be considered virtually per se reasonable.). Since Rhode Island law is in accord with the prevailing rule, see Atkinson v. Birmingham, 44 R.I. 123, 116 A. 205 (1922), defendants are immune from liability in damages even if they should have known that the warrants were insufficient. Madison v. Manter, supra at 538. See Pierson v. Ray, 386 U.S. 547, 87 S.Ct....

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  • United States v. Leon
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • July 5, 1984
    ...See also United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 823, n. 32, 102 S.Ct. 2157, 2172, n. 32, 72 L.Ed.2d 572 (1982); Stadium Films, Inc. v. Baillargeon, 542 F.2d 577, 578 (CA1 1976); Madison v. Manter, 441 F.2d 537 (CA1 1971). See generally Pierson v. Ray, 386 U.S. 547, 87 S.Ct. 1213, 18 L.Ed.2d 2......
  • Guyton v. Phillips, C-74-0357 MHP.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Northern District of California
    • December 18, 1981
    ...person entitled to the qualified immunity or good faith defense. Gaffney v. Silk, 488 F.2d 1248 (1st Cir. 1973); Stadium Films, Inc. v. Baillargeon, 542 F.2d 577 (1st Cir. 1976); Kostka v. Hogg, 560 F.2d 37 (1st Cir. 1977). In Gomez this would have required that the petitioner who was disch......
  • Kostka v. Hogg
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit
    • August 4, 1977
    ...of defendant Connell's good faith defense, see Gaffney v. Silk, 488 F.2d 1248, 1250-51 (1st Cir. 1973); cf. Stadium Films v. Baillargeon, 542 F.2d 577, 579 (1st Cir. 1976), the dismissal of the claim against Connell was proper. Plaintiffs' claim against the town of Westford requires additio......
  • Woodley v. Town of Nantucket
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts
    • October 17, 1986
    ...of that right. E.g., Monroe v. Pape, 1961, 365 U.S. 167, 170-71, 81 S.Ct. 473, 475, 5 L.Ed.2d 492; see also Stadium Films, Inc. v. Baillargeon, 1 Cir.1976, 542 F.2d 577; Madison v. Manter, 1 Cir.1971, 441 F.2d 537. 7 Merely questionable or borderline cases should not give rise to liability,......
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