Source: https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/579-f-2d-152-594796874
Timestamp: 2020-03-31 10:25:06
Document Index: 487548360

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1343', '§ 1331', '§ 1331', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1346']

579 F.2d 152 (2nd Cir. 1978), 317, Turpin v. Mailet - Federal Cases - Case Law - VLEX 594796874
Docket Nº: 317, Docket 77-7345.
Party Name: Thomas TURPIN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Joseph MAILET and John Doe, Individually and as police officers of the Police Department of the City of West Haven, and City of West Haven, Defendants, and City of West Haven, Defendant-Appellee.
579 F.2d 152 (2nd Cir. 1978)
In order to understand the complex legal issues presented by this case, its relatively simple facts must be traversed initially. 1 During the early evening hours of September 18, 1971, two teenage girls were involved in an altercation when one allegedly began to choke the other. Denise Stiles managed to free herself from her friend's grasp, and ran home to tell her mother, Jean Stiles Pasano, about the incident. Mrs. Pasano immediately reported her daughter's story to the West Haven police force, and two of its officers, Christopher Columbus Skeens and Robert J. Weber, began their search for the girl's alleged "attacker," Nancy Guckin. Near the corner of Noble Street and Washington Avenue in West Haven, Patrolman Weber spotted a group of teenagers, and learned that one of their number was Nancy.
On November 7, 1972, Turpin filed suit against Skeens in federal court, claiming that the officer had used excessive force in restraining him, and thereby violated his civil rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. During the course of the trial, Officer Skeens contended that he and Weber merely threw Turpin aside, and that the youngster had sustained his head injury by striking the left rear side of the police car. Judge Newman, who tried the case without a jury, credited Turpin's version of the incident, which was corroborated by the testimony of six eyewitnesses. He awarded the youngster
$3,500 in damages, a sum ultimately paid by the insurance carrier for the City of West Haven. The decision was publicized in the community and discussed by members of the West Haven Police Department. Turpin claims that this resulted in widespread animosity generated against him among the officers.
Turpin, claiming that the arrest violated his civil rights, commenced the instant action against the officers and the City of West Haven on July 25, 1975. Insofar as the two police officers were charged with wrongdoing, Turpin's suit was based on the provisions of 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1988, with federal jurisdiction asserted under 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3). The action against the City, on the other hand, was brought directly pursuant to the provisions of the fourteenth amendment, with jurisdiction grounded in 28 U.S.C. § 1331 the general federal question provision. Pendent claims against the City based on Connecticut law were also asserted. 2 Turpin sought a compensatory recovery of $100,000, and an additional $100,000 in punitive damages.
The City moved for dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, claiming that Turpin failed to state a claim against it. Judge Newman adopted the findings of Magistrate Arthur H. Latimer on this issue. The Judge held that, under the circumstances presented, a right of action could not be implied directly from the fourteenth amendment. He also dismissed the pendent state claims. Turpin, seeking an instant appeal, then moved successfully for the entry of a final judgment on the claims against the City under Rule 54(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the action against the individual defendants still continuing. In granting Turpin's motion, Judge Newman noted that over 30 lawsuits in the District of Connecticut presented claims similar to that pressed against the City of West Haven. This appeal was, accordingly, allowed. 3
Turpin's decision to proceed against the City directly under the fourteenth amendment,
invoking the jurisdictional provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 1331, results, of course, from judicial interpretations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the modern day codification of Section 1 of the Civil Rights Act of 1871. In 1961, the Supreme Court decided that § 1983 could not be used to impose liability in damages upon municipalities. Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167, 187-91, 81 S.Ct. 473, 5 L.Ed.2d 492 (1961). After an analysis of the provision's legislative history, Justice Douglas wrote that Congress could not have intended to include municipalities among the class of "persons" capable of being sued under the statute. 4 Subsequently, the rationale of Monroe was logically extended to preclude § 1983 injunctive actions against municipalities. 5 City of Kenosha v. Bruno, 412 U.S. 507, 93 S.Ct. 2222, 37 L.Ed.2d 109 (1973). Accordingly, individuals seeking relief against municipalities for the deprivation of their civil rights have often turned directly to the fourteenth amendment. They have relied on the principle expounded in Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388, 91 S.Ct. 1999, 29 L.Ed.2d 619 (1971), that, even in the absence of a statutory right of action, courts have the power to fashion common law remedies for constitutional wrongs. 6
The facts in Bivens are enlightening. Six agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics were alleged to have invaded Webster Bivens's apartment without the authority of either a search or arrest warrant. If the charges were true, the conduct of the agents violated the fourth amendment. No remedy, however, was apparently available to Bivens for this violation of his constitutional rights. Since only employees of the federal government were involved, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which, by its terms, applies only to "state action," was rendered inapplicable. And the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346, 2671-80, which would otherwise allow suits against the United States, then exempted all intentional torts. 7 In sum, if Bivens was to be accorded any federal relief, his only recourse would be a damage action under the fourth amendment. Justice Brennan gave short shrift to the argument that petitioner should be relegated to his state remedies, noting,
Bivens, supra, 403 U.S. at 392, 91 S.Ct. at 2002. He went on to stress that damages have...