Terrell v. City of El Paso
| Decision Date | 26 February 2007 |
| Docket Number | No. EP-03-CV-0364-KC.,EP-03-CV-0364-KC. |
| Citation | 481 F.Supp.2d 757 |
| Parties | James K. TERRELL, Plaintiff, v. The CITY OF EL PASO, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Texas |
Sam Snoddy, Law Office, El Paso, TX, for Plaintiff.
Andres Eduardo Almanzan, Carl H. Green, Mounce, Green, Myers, Safi & Galatzan, P.C., Steven Lee Hughes, Duane A. Baker, Gary B. Weiser, Attorneys at Law, John Lomax Anderson, El Paso City Attorney's Office, Jennifer F. Callan, El Paso City Attorney's Office, Eduardo Miranda, Annabell Perez, El Paso, TX, Defendants.
On this day, the Court considered Plaintiff James K. Terrell's two Motions for Reconsideration, Defendant. County of El Paso and Jaime Esparza's Motion for Summary Judgment and Defendant City of El Paso's Motion for Summary Judgment For the reasons set forth herein, Terrell's motions are DENIED and the County's, Jaime Esparza's and the City's Motions are GRANTED.
Plaintiff James K. Terrell ("Terrell") filed this action seeking damages against a number of individual police officers, Police Chief Carlos Leon, the City of El Paso ("City"), the County of El Paso ("County"), and Jaime Esparza ("Esparza"), for violating the First, Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. He also seeks damages under Texas state law for battery, assault, malicious prosecution, false arrest and imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and conspiracy. Terrell alleges that all defendants violated his right to be free from the use of excessive force and unreasonable seizure and his right to due process. He also complains of the deliberate indifference of the City, Esparza, and the County of El Paso to his civil rights in failing to instruct, control, and discipline the police officers.
On December 26, 2001, Terrell and a number other individuals were attending a Christmas party at the residence of Jacob Telles ("Telles") located at 5925 Via Norte, El Paso, Texas. Starting at approximately 1:48 a.m., various police officers arrived at or near Telles' residence in response to a dispatch indicating, that there was a call from a neighbor complaining about a disturbance in the street. The parties dispute whether the police officers were dispatched to or actually arrived at the Telles' residence or instead arrived at a different but nearby address.
Upon arriving at Via Norte street, the police officers claim they first approached and searched an individual named. Billy Porter. According to the police officers, during this search of Billy Porter, Telles, allegedly intoxicated, approached the police officers in a belligerent and argumentative manner and then in the course of this discussion gave the officers permission to enter his residence to check for narcotics and weapons. During the search of the Telles' residence, the police officers encountered Terrell. According to the police officers, Terrell was uncooperative and argumentative asking, for example, what authority the police officers had, for entering and searching the home and refusing to place his hands on the wall so the police officers could conduct a pat-down search. Then, according to the police officers, Terrell pushed himself off the wall and in doing so pushed against one of the police officers. In response to this alleged resistance, the police officers forced Terrell to the ground and then arrested him.
After arresting Terrell, the police officers transported him to a local police station and then to the El Paso County Detention Facility where he was booked for resisting arrest and then released approximately four hours later on a bond. Shortly following Terrell's arrest, the circumstances of said arrest were sent to and reviewed by an assistant district attorney who was on duty pursuant to the District Attorney's Information Management System ("DIMS"). DIMS has been described as a 24-hour, screening process whereby the El Paso District Attorney's office reviews the facts of an arrest with information from the arresting officers and then makes a real-time decision whether to accept or decline a case.
In the present matter, according to defendants, the DIMS assistant district attorney accepted the case against Terrell, recommended a bond of $1,000 pursuant to a bond schedule approved by the El Paso County Council of Judges, and ultimately released Terrell on bond just before noon without sending Terrell to a magistrate. According to defendants, Terrell's case was then referred to the Office of the County Attorney due to a conflict. There, an assistant county attorney recommended declining the case. To date, neither the County or District Attorney have commenced criminal proceedings against Terrell.
Terrell, along with other witnesses including for example Telles, provide a different account of certain portions of the incident. According to Terrell, there was no disturbance in the street and the police officers arrived at an address not provided in the dispatch. Terrell further explains that the police officers were rude and aggressive from the time of their arrival on the scene through the time he was taken to the police station. For example, Terrell alleges that during and following his arrest, the police officers taunted him with abusive commentary regarding his affiliation with the United States Coast Guard. Further, Terrell alleges that the police officers made threats against his career in the United States Coast Guard. Terrell claims that the police officers made him stand outside in cold weather, approximately twenty-eight degrees Fahrenheit, without shoes or a jacket. In addition to complaints about his treatment leading up to and during his arrest, Terrell raises various allegations contending that the use of the DIMS program by defendants violated his constitutional rights.
On September 21, 2004, this Court granted Defendant Police Officers' and Defendant Police Chief Carlos. Leon's Motions for Summary Judgment. The. Court also granted in part the City of El Paso's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings. Terrell appealed the Court's Order granting summary judgment, the Court's denial of Terrell's motion for declaratory judgment, and the judge's refusal to recuse herself. On April 12, 2006, the Court of Appeals filed its judgment dismissing the appeals for lack of jurisdiction over the interlocutory appeals.
A summary judgment movant must show by affidavit or other evidence that there is no genuine issue regarding any material fact. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). To establish that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact, the movant must either submit evidence that negates the existence of some material element of the nonmoving party's claim or defense, or, if the crucial issue is one for which the nonmoving party will bear the burden of proof at trial, merely point out that the evidence in the record is insufficient to support an essential element of the nonmovant's claim or defense. Lavespere v. Niagara Machine & Tool Works, Inc., 910 F.2d 167, 178 (5th Cir.1990). Once the movant carries the initial burden, the burden shifts to the nonmovant to show that summary judgment is inappropriate. See Fields v. City of S. Houston, 922 F.2d 1183, 1187 (5th Cir.1991).
Summary judgment is required if 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 a judgment as a matter of law. FED R.CIV.P. 56(e); Celotex Corp., 477 U.S. at 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548. In order for a court to conclude that there are no genuine issues of material fact, the court must be satisfied that no reasonable trier of fact could have found for the nonmovant, or, in other words, that the evidence favoring the nonmovant is insufficient to enable a reasonable jury to return a verdict for the nonmovant. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 250 n. 4, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).
The Court considered Plaintiffs "Motion for Reconsideration of Summary Judgment Concerning Police." As Plaintiff has raised no issues not previously considered by this Court, the prior order granting summary judgment is adhered to. Plaintiffs Motion is denied.
The Court also considered Plaintiffs "Motion to Reconsider Concerning Defendant Leon." As Plaintiff has raised no issues not previously considered by this Court, the prior order granting summary judgment is adhered to. Plaintiffs Motion is denied.
The arguments of Terrell's attorney, in both his Second Amended Complaint and Response, are incoherent, disorganized, and nearly indiscernible. The County's Motion is nearly as disorganized and provides only a flimsy discussion of applicable law, failing to address even the basic elements of the various sorts of § 1983 claims that Terrell appears to allege. It is into this murky realm that the Court must enter to sort out questions regarding the constitutionality of the DIMS program. Given the state of the pleadings, the Court has limited its opinion only to the arguments that it has been able to discern from the filings and rules only on the County's and Esparza's Motion for Summary Judgment under the specific facts of this case.
In his Motion, Esparza argues that he is shielded by both qualified immunity and absolute prosecutorial immunity from Terrell's claims that the DIMS process violates Texas law and Terrell's constitutional rights. Esparza and the County state that Terrell has failed to assert in his Second Amended Complaint any constitutional violations resulting from his processing under DIMS. With regard to Terrell's intentional...
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