Williams v. City of Cleveland, CAUSE NO.: 2:10cv215-SA-JMV

• Decision Date: 21 August 2012
• Docket Number: CAUSE NO.: 2:10cv215-SA-JMV
• Parties: DEXTRIC WILLIAMS, INDIVIDUALLY AND ON BEHALF OF THE HEIRS-AT-LAW/ WRONGFUL DEATH BENEFICIARIES OF JERMAINE WILLIAMS, DECEASED PLAINTIFF v. CITY OF CLEVELAND, MISSISSIPPI; ET AL. DEFENDANTS
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Mississippi

DEXTRIC WILLIAMS, INDIVIDUALLY AND ON BEHALF OF THE HEIRS-AT-LAW/

WRONGFUL DEATH BENEFICIARIES OF JERMAINE WILLIAMS, DECEASED PLAINTIFF

v.CITY OF CLEVELAND, MISSISSIPPI; ET AL. DEFENDANTS

CAUSE NO.: 2:10cv215-SA-JMV

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF MISSISSIPPI DELTA DIVISION

Dated: August 21, 2012

MEMORANDUM OPINION

This action arises out of an incident occurring in the early morning hours of July 23, 2010, between Jermaine Williams, now deceased, and officers from the City of Cleveland Police Department. Officers from the City of Cleveland Police Department deployed Taser Electronic Control Devices (ECDs) on Jermaine Williams and, according to Plaintiff Dextric Williams, the brother of Jermaine Williams, this caused Jermaine Williams to suffer cardiac arrhythmia and/or respiratory seizures resulting in his death. Plaintiff Williams has now filed the instant action against the City of Cleveland, Taser International, Inc., Officer Stanley Perry, and Officer Bryan Goza.

Currently before the Court are numerous motions filed by all Defendants. First, Taser International, the manufacturer and seller of Tasers to law enforcement agencies, has filed five Motions to Strike [114, 116, 118, 120, 150] various experts designated by Plaintiffs as well as evidence presented in response in opposition to summary judgment. Second, Taserhas filed a Motion for Summary Judgment [122] as to Plaintiff's product liability claims asserted against it. Third, Officers Stanley Perry and Bryan Goza have filed a motion for summary judgment [127], asserting they are entitled to qualified immunity. Fourth, the City of Cleveland and Officers Perry and Goza, in their official capacities, have filed a motion for summary judgment [129], asserting they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fifth, Plaintiffs have filed a motion for reconsideration [166] as to the Court's prior Order [145] on Plaintiff's motion to transfer trial of this case to Greenville. After marshaling through the summary judgment record, carefully considering the arguments articulated during a hearing held in this matter, and reviewing the pertinent authority, the Court concludes that the Defendants' motions for summary judgment [122, 127, 129] shall be granted and this case dismissed without reaching the merits of the other motions filed in this case.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Between 3:15 and 3:30 a.m. on July 23, 2010, Cleveland Police Officers Bryan Goza, Stanley Perry, Michael Mengarelli, and Leigh Ann Weeks responded to a loitering call. Apparently, upon arrival, several men, including Jermaine Williams, were gathered either in the yard or in the street around a Chevy Suburban. Officer Perry discovered two plastic baggies on the SUV's luggage rack that he believed to—and were later confirmed to—contain crack cocaine. Shortly thereafter, the owner of the SUV and another individual who provided a false name to the officers were placed in handcuffs. While detaining these individuals, it is alleged that Jermaine Williams ran up to and jumped on the vehicle, grabbed the baggies, and took off running. A foot chase then ensued. Officers Perry, Goza, and Weeks initially began chasing Williams on foot. However, Officer Goza apparently informed Officer Weeks to staywith Officer Mengarelli and the two detained men. Officer Goza maintains that he then set off again to back up Officer Perry.

Jermaine Williams continued running down the street and ran the length of the block before turning into a backyard and running around a house. Officer Perry appears to have cut Jermaine Williams off as he came out on the other side of the house. Officer Perry yelled at Jermaine Williams to stop, and told Williams that if he did not stop, he would use his Taser ECD. Williams continued to run towards Officer Perry; thus, Officer Perry deployed his Taser ECD in probe mode striking Williams "[s]omewhere in the chest area." Williams either fell backwards or slipped,¹ and Officer Perry was able to catch up to Williams. A physical struggle followed, and it appears that Williams grabbed Officer Perry's Taser and disarmed him.² Officer Goza testified that he saw Williams and Officer Perry "struggling" on the ground, and he therefore deployed his Taser ECD in probe mode into Williams' back. Because Williams appeared unaffected by the Taser ECD's charge and continued to struggle, Officer Goza "followed up with an ECD drive-stun to Williams' upper arm in an attempt to widen the probe spread and achieve a better effect." After this, Officer Goza maintains that Williams was still unfazed.

According to Officer Goza, after being tased, Williams just looked at him and tried to take the Taser out of his hand. Officer Goza contends that he rolled Williams onto hisstomach and fell on his back to pin him down. Officer Perry appears to have then laid on top of Officer Goza in an effort to keep Williams on the ground. Williams continued to resist and, according to the officers, Williams "did push-ups" with both officers on his back. Officer Perry used Officer Goza's radio to call for backup, and eventually the officers were able to pull Williams' arms out from underneath him, and Officer Perry handcuffed Williams. Sometime after Williams was handcuffed, Officer Perry instructed him to get up. It was then that Officer Goza noticed that Williams had become unresponsive. Shortly thereafter, Williams was rolled over and Officer Goza determined that Williams' breathing had ceased and a pulse could not be detected. The officers called an ambulance and started CPR on Williams. Paramedics arrived and took over the CPR. Williams was put on a stretcher and moved to the ambulance. All efforts to revive Williams were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead at 4:26 a.m. at Bolivar Medical Center.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD

Summary judgment is warranted under Rule 56(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure when evidence reveals no genuine dispute regarding any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.³ The rule "mandates the entry of summary judgment, after adequate time for discovery and upon motion, against a party who fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to thatparty's case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S. Ct. 2548, 91 L. Ed. 2d 265 (1986).

The party moving for summary judgment "bears the initial responsibility of informing the district court of the basis for its motion, and identifying those portions of [the record] which it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact." Id. at 323, 106 S. Ct. 2548. The nonmoving party must then "go beyond the pleadings" and "designate 'specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.'" Id. at 324, 106 S. Ct. 2548 (citation omitted). In reviewing the evidence, factual controversies are to be resolved in favor of the nonmovant, "but only when . . . both parties have submitted evidence of contradictory facts." Little v. Liquid Air Corp., 37 F.3d 1069, 1075 (5th Cir. 1994) (en banc). When such contradictory facts exist, the Court may "not make credibility determinations or weigh the evidence." Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prods., Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 150, 120 S. Ct. 2097, 147 L. Ed. 2d 105 (2000). However, conclusory allegations, speculation, unsubstantiated assertions, and legalistic arguments have never constituted an adequate substitute for specific facts showing a genuine issue for trial. TIG Ins. Co. v. Sedgwick James of Wash., 276 F.3d 754, 759 (5th Cir. 2002); SEC v. Recile, 10 F.3d 1093, 1097 (5th Cir. 1997); Little, 37 F.3d at 1075.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

A. Products Liability Motion for Summary Judgment Filed by Taser International⁴ Design Defect

To establish a prima facie design defect claim in Mississippi, the plaintiff must

. . . prove by the preponderance of the evidence that at the time the product left the control of the manufacturer or seller . . .

(i) The product was designed in a defective manner . . . and

(ii) The defective condition rendered the product unreasonably dangerous to the user or consumer; and

(iii) The defective and unreasonably dangerous condition of the product proximately caused the damages for which recovery is sought.

MISS. CODE ANN. § 11-1-63(a).

The plaintiff must also prove

the product failed to function as expected and there existed a feasible design alternative that would have to a reasonable probability prevented the harm. A feasible design alternative is a design that would have to a reasonable probability prevented the harm without impairing the utility, usefulness, practicality or desirability of the product to users or consumers.

MISS. CODE ANN. § 11-1-63(f); see also Wolf v. Stanley Works, 757 So. 2d 316, 322 (Miss. Ct. App. 2000) (noting that in order to prove a design defect claim, "the Mississippi Products Liability Act requires the plaintiff to show that there existed a feasible design alternative that would have to a reasonable probability prevented the harm" without "impairing the utility,usefulness, practicality or desirability of the product to users or consumers") (internal quotations omitted).

In this case, Plaintiff has not demonstrated, or even alleged, that a feasible design alternative exists that would have prevented the harm without impairing the "utility, usefulness, practicality or desirability" of Taser's ECD product. See Patterson v. Taser Int'l, Inc., 2011 WL 3489858, at *3 (N.D. Miss. Aug. 9, 2011). Plaintiff also has failed to set forth briefing addressing a "design defect" claim. See Cinel v. Connick, 15 F.3d 1338, 1345 (5th Cir. 1994) ("A party who inadequately briefs an issue is considered to have abandoned the claim."); In re Cao, 619 F.3d 410, 435 (5th Cir. 2010) (noting that the role of the Court is "not to create arguments for adjudication" or "raise [them] like a Phoenix from the ashes[,]"...