Urbanic v. Rosenfeld
| Decision Date | 11 September 1992 |
| Citation | 616 A.2d 46,150 Pa.Cmwlth. 468 |
| Parties | John M. URBANIC v. Darwin ROSENFELD, Claire Rosenfeld, Todd Rosenfeld and Borough of Churchill. Appeal of Darwin ROSENFELD, Claire Rosenfeld, Todd Rosenfeld, Appellants. (Two Cases) John M. URBANIC v. Darwin ROSENFELD, Claire Rosenfeld, Todd Rosenfeld and Borough of Churchill. Appeal of BOROUGH OF CHURCHILL, Appellant. |
| Court | Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court |
John W. Jordan, for appellant Borough of Churchill.
G.N. Evashavik, for appellee.
Before COLINS and PELLEGRINI, JJ., and BARRY, Senior Judge.
This is a consolidated appeal filed by Darwin Rosenfeld, Claire Rosenfeld and Todd Rosenfeld (collectively, the Rosenfelds) and the Borough of Churchill (Borough) from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, entering judgment in favor of John M. Urbanic (Urbanic) and awarding him compensatory damages against both the Rosenfelds and the Borough and punitive damages against the Rosenfelds only for violations of his civil rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
The Urbanics and the Rosenfelds live a few houses away from each other on Garrick Drive, Borough of Churchill, Pennsylvania. Urbanic's four-count action against the Rosenfelds and the Borough, claiming that they engaged in abuse of process, malicious prosecution and illegal conspiracy and violated his civil rights by harassing him and filing criminal complaints against him, are based on events which occurred during a neighborhood feud between the Urbanics and the Rosenfelds beginning in 1981 over the conduct of their children and which resulted in the Rosenfelds filing criminal charges against Urbanic.
In 1981, Urbanic's son, then 12 years old, was among a group of boys throwing snowballs. After a snowball struck the Rosenfeld home, Urbanic's son and another boy returned to the Rosenfeld's home to apologize. The Rosenfelds, concerned about a pattern of incidents that they had been experiencing, called the Borough police to take the boys' statements. Urbanic, upon learning that a police report had been filed, became upset that his son's name appeared in what he believed was an inaccurate report and sought to have it corrected. Urbanic then called Darwin Rosenfeld and purportedly threatened to firebomb the Rosenfelds' house. The following day, three Borough police officers visited the Urbanic home to inform Urbanic that he was "under arrest" for threatening Darwin Rosenfeld. He was not, however, taken into custody. Following this incident, Darwin Rosenfeld filed a private criminal complaint which was heard and dismissed by a district justice. Urbanic did not plead this incident in his complaint.
Another major eruption between the Urbanics and the Rosenfelds occurred in 1984. In that year, the Rosenfelds reported Urbanic's son to juvenile authorities for purportedly striking Todd Rosenfeld while riding on a school bus. Two weeks later, Darwin Rosenfeld filed the second criminal complaint against Urbanic for allegedly spitting at Todd Rosenfeld while he was on his way to his school bus stop. The charges against Urbanic were heard by a second district justice who found Urbanic not guilty.
The feud next erupted in 1986, when Todd Rosenfeld reported to the Borough police that Urbanic recklessly drove and harassed him. He alleged that he was driving to school when Urbanic followed him, passed him, slammed on his brakes and refused to move for several minutes, even though there was no reason for him to do so. This incident resulted in the Borough police filing criminal charges of reckless driving and harassment against Urbanic. A third district justice, however, dismissed those charges, resulting in the third not-guilty verdict for Urbanic.
In between these major eruptions, there were minor flare-ups between the Urbanics and the Rosenfelds which did not lead to Borough records produced at trial showed that the Urbanics and especially the Rosenfelds called on Borough police not involving each other either for service or as a result of complaints about them or their families. Urbanic was reported to the police for throwing a rake down on the street before a speeding motorcyclist. The Urbanics called the police when an elderly member of the family was ill and the police responded by sending an ambulance. Urbanic also made two complaints about a neighbor's dog and each was investigated by the police.
the filing of criminal charges. In 1984, the Rosenfelds reported to the police that Urbanic was taking photographs of their son at the school bus stop. On another occasion, Darwin Rosenfeld filed a complaint with the police about Urbanic blocking Todd Rosenfeld's path and making anti-Semitic remarks.
In addition to the incidents already set forth regarding Urbanic, the Rosenfelds called on the police to either report possible illegal activity or make calls for assistance for themselves or others. The Borough police either took action or provided assistance on all of those reports. 1
In 1987, Urbanic brought the instant suit against the Rosenfelds and the Borough, claiming that the 1984 and 1986 incidents evidenced abuse of process, malicious prosecution, conspiracy and violation of his constitutional right to equal protection under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. In regard to the civil rights count to the Section 1983 claim, Urbanic The basis for Urbanic's allegation that there was an illegal conspiracy was that the Rosenfelds and the Borough were intimately connected by virtue of Claire Rosenfeld's election to Borough Council in 1982 and Darwin and Todd Rosenfeld's status as volunteer firefighters within the Borough. Darwin Rosenfeld joined the Churchill volunteer fire company in 1982, while Todd Rosenfeld joined in 1984.
alleged that [150 Pa.Cmwlth. 477] his equal protection rights were violated because the Rosenfelds and the Borough were conspiring to intimidate, harass and annoy him and denied him the same level of services provided by the Borough police to the Rosenfelds. As to the Section 1983 count, Urbanic also named the Borough as a defendant, contending that it was conspiring with the Rosenfelds to commit these acts.
Trial was held on December 11, 1989. On December 18, 1989, the jury returned a verdict for $22,000 in compensatory damages against both the Rosenfelds and the Borough, and $100 in punitive damages against the Rosenfelds only. However, even though the case was submitted to the jury on all four counts, the Rosenfelds filed a motion to mold the verdict to reflect that the jury determine liability solely with regard to the Section 1983 count and to reflect a jury verdict in favor of the Rosenfelds and the Borough on the common law counts of abuse of process, malicious prosecution and illegal conspiracy. 2 The trial court granted the motion and molded the verdict as requested. Both the Rosenfelds and the Borough then filed post-trial motions alleging numerous errors and requesting judgment n.o.v. or a new trial to set aside the Section 1983 verdict, which were denied. This appeal followed.
The Rosenfelds and the Borough contend that the trial court erred in not granting either of their motions for judgment n.o.v. because, inter alia, the facts do not support:
• . that the Rosenfelds were acting under color of state law, merely because Claire Rosenfeld's status as a Borough councilmember or because of Darwin and Todd Rosenfeld's membership in the volunteer fire company;
• that the Rosenfelds and the Borough did not conspire to deprive Urbanic any rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution;
• that there was a Borough custom or policy to deny the Urbanics the appropriate level of police protection;
• that as a matter of law, there is no violation of the equal protection clause merely because one person received more police services than another.
They also contend, inter alia, that they are entitled to a new trial because the charge to the jury was improper or the trial court's ruling was incorrect because:
• the charge stated an overbroad or oversimplified definition of state action;
• the charge provided that the jury could award damages for the 1981 and 1984 incidents which were both barred by the statute of limitations and the 1981 incident was not pled;
• failed to award a new trial on the basis of Urbanic's willful interjection into evidence that the Borough and the Rosenfelds are insured;
• by erroneously charging the jury as to the authority of councilmembers and Claire Rosenfeld's status as such;
• by charging the jury that a police officer is required to investigate an incident he has not witnessed, and equating the issuance by the police of a citation upon information received with a constitution violation.
An appellate court reviewing a trial court's denial of a motion for judgment n.o.v. is to decide whether there was sufficient competent evidence to sustain the verdict, granting the verdict winner the benefit of every reasonable inference to be
drawn from such evidence. Wenrick v. Schloemann-Siemag Aktiengesellschaft, 523 Pa. 1, 564 A.2d 1244 (1989). In reviewing a denial of motion for a new trial, an appellate [150 Pa.Cmwlth. 479] court must determine whether the trial court abused its discretion in entering a jury verdict because the verdict is so contrary to the weight of the evidence that it shocks one's sense of justice and makes a new trial imperative so that right may be given another opportunity to prevail. Burrell v. Philadelphia Electric Co., 438 Pa. 286, 289, 265 A.2d 516, 518 (1970). Moreover, when a verdict finding a federal violation of Section 1983 is involved, we must conduct our review in accordance with how the rights and defenses to that action have been defined by federal law. Howlett v. Rose, 496 U.S. 356, 110 S.Ct. 2430, 110 L.Ed.2d 332 (1990); Greenwich v. Murtagh, ...
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