Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/18-485
Timestamp: 2019-08-23 05:41:37
Document Index: 8713572

Matched Legal Cases: ['§1983', '§1983', '§1983', '§1983', '§1983', '§653', '§586', '§119', '§1983', '§119', '§589', '§1983', '§1983', '§1983', '§119', '§1983', '§1983', '§1983', '§1983']

McDONOUGH v. SMITH | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute
McDONOUGH v. SMITH ( )
McDonough v. Smith, individually and as SPECIAL DISTRICT ATTORNEY FOR THECounty of Rensselaer, New York
Petitioner Edward McDonough processed ballots as a commissioner of the county board of elections in a primary election in Troy, New York. Respondent Youel Smith was specially appointed to investigate and to prosecute a case of forged absentee ballots in that election. McDonough became his primary target. McDonough alleges that Smith fabricated evidence against him and used it to secure a grand jury indictment. Smith then brought the case to trial and presented allegedly fabricated testimony. That trial ended in a mistrial. Smith again elicited allegedly fabricated evidence in a second trial, which ended on December 21, 2012, with McDonough’s acquittal on all charges. On December 18, 2015, McDonough sued Smith under 42 U. S. C. §1983, asserting, as relevant here, a claim for fabrication of evidence. The District Court dismissed the claim as untimely, and the Second Circuit affirmed. The court held that the 3-year limitations period began to run “when (1) McDonough learned that the evidence was false and was used against him during the criminal proceedings; and (2) he suffered a loss of liberty as a result of that evidence,” 898 F. 3d 259, 265. Thus, the court concluded, McDonough’s claim was untimely, because those events undisputedly had occurred by the time McDonough was arrested and stood trial.
(a) The time at which a §1983 claim accrues “is a question of federal law,” “conforming in general to common-law tort principles,” and is presumptively—but not always—“when the plaintiff has ‘a complete and present cause of action.’ ” Wallace v. Kato, 549 U. S. 384, 388. An accrual analysis begins with identifying “the specific constitutional right” alleged to have been infringed. Manuel v. Joliet, 580 U. S. ___, ___. Here, the claimed right is an assumed due process right not to be deprived of liberty as a result of a government official’s fabrication of evidence. Pp. 4–5.
(b) Accrual questions are often decided by referring to the common-law principles governing analogous torts. Wallace, 549 U. S., 388. The most analogous common-law tort here is malicious prosecution, which accrues only once the underlying criminal proceedings have resolved in the plaintiff’s favor. Following that analogy where it leads: McDonough could not bring his fabricated-evidence claim under §1983 prior to favorable termination of his prosecution. Malicious prosecution’s favorable-termination requirement is rooted in pragmatic concerns with avoiding parallel criminal and civil litigation over the same subject matter and the related possibility of conflicting civil and criminal judgments, and likewise avoids allowing collateral attacks on criminal judgments through civil litigation. See Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U. S. 477, 484–485. Because a civil claim such as McDonough’s, asserting that fabricated evidence was used to pursue a criminal judgment, implicates the same concerns, it makes sense to adopt the same rule. The principles and reasoning of Heck—which emphasized those concerns with parallel litigation and conflicting judgments—confirm the strength of this analogy. This case differs because the plaintiff in Heck had been convicted and McDonough was acquitted, but McDonough’s claims nevertheless challenge the validity of the criminal proceedings against him in essentially the same manner as the plaintiff in Heck challenged the validity of his conviction. Pp. 5–9.
On December 18, 2015, just under three years after his acquittal, McDonough sued Smith and other defendants under §1983 in the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of New York. Against Smith, McDonough asserted two different constitutional claims: one for fabricationof evidence, and one for malicious prosecution without probable cause. The District Court dismissed the malicious prosecution claim as barred by prosecutorial immunity, though timely. It dismissed the fabricated-evidence claim, however, as untimely.
McDonough appealed to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which affirmed. 898 F. 3d 259 (2018). The Court of Appeals agreed with the District Court’s disposition of the malicious prosecution claim. As for the timeliness of the fabricated-evidence claim, because all agreed that the relevant limitations period is three years, id., at 265, the question was when that limitations period began to run: upon McDonough’s acquittal, or at some point earlier. In essence, given the dates at issue, McDonough’s claim was timely only if the limitations period began running at acquittal.
The Court of Appeals held that McDonough’s fabricated-evidence claim accrued, and thus the limitations period began to run, “when (1) McDonough learned that the evidence was false and was used against him during the criminal proceedings; and (2) he suffered a loss of liberty as a result of that evidence.” Ibid. This rule, in the Second Circuit’s view, followed from its conclusion that a plaintiff has a complete fabricated-evidence claim as soon as he can show that the defendant’s knowing use of the fabricated evidence caused him some deprivation of lib-erty. Id., at 266. Those events undisputedly had occurred by the time McDonough was arrested and stood trial. Ibid.
As the Second Circuit acknowledged, id., at 267, other Courts of Appeals have held that the statute of limitations for a fabricated-evidence claim does not begin to run until favorable termination of the challenged criminal proceedings. 1 We granted certiorari to resolve the conflict, 586 U. S. ___ (2019), and now reverse.
The question here is when the statute of limitations began to run. Although courts look to state law for the length of the limitations period, the time at which a §1983 claim accrues “is a question of federal law,” “conforming in general to common-law tort principles.” Wallace v. Kato, 549 U. S. 384, 388 (2007). That time is presumptively “when the plaintiff has ‘a complete and present cause of action,’ ” ibid., though the answer is not always so simple. See, e.g., id., at 388–391, and n. 3; Dodd v. United States, 545 U. S. 353, 360 (2005). Where, for example, a particular claim may not realistically be brought while a violation is ongoing, such a claim may accrue at a later date. See Wallace, 549 U. S., at 389.
An accrual analysis begins with identifying “ ‘the specific constitutional right’ ” alleged to have been infringed. Manuel v. Joliet, 580 U. S. ___, ___ (2017) (slip op., at 12) (quoting Albright v. Oliver, 510 U. S. 266, 271 (1994) (plurality opinion)). Though McDonough’s complaint does not ground his fabricated-evidence claim in a particular constitutional provision, the Second Circuit treated his claim as arising under the Due Process Clause. 898 F. 3d, at 266. McDonough’s claim, this theory goes, seeks to vindicate a “ ‘right not to be deprived of liberty as a result of the fabrication of evidence by a government officer.’ ” Ibid. (quoting Zahrey v. Coffey, 221 F. 3d 342, 349 (CA2 2000)); see also, e.g., Napue v. Illinois, 360 U. S. 264, 269 (1959). We assume without deciding that the Second Circuit’s articulations of the right at issue and its contours are sound, having not granted certiorari to resolve those separate questions. See Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U. S. 477, 480, n. 2 (1994) (accepting the lower courts’ characterization of the relevant claims). 2
Common-law malicious prosecution requires showing, in part, that a defendant instigated a criminal proceeding with improper purpose and without probable cause. Restatement (Second) of Torts §653; see also Dobbs §586, at 388–389; Prosser & Keeton §119, at 871. 3 The essentials of McDonough’s claim are similar: His claim requires him to show that the criminal proceedings against him—and consequent deprivations of his liberty 4 —were caused by Smith’s malfeasance in fabricating evidence. At bottom, both claims challenge the integrity of criminal prosecutions undertaken “pursuant to legal process.” See Heck, 512 U. S., at 484. 5
We follow the analogy where it leads: McDonough could not bring his fabricated-evidence claim under §1983 prior to favorable termination of his prosecution. As Heck explains, malicious prosecution’s favorable-termination requirement is rooted in pragmatic concerns with avoiding parallel criminal and civil litigation over the same subject matter and the related possibility of conflicting civil and criminal judgments. See id., at 484–485; see also Prosser & Keeton §119, at 874; Dobbs §589, at 402. The requirement likewise avoids allowing collateral attacks on criminal judgments through civil litigation. Heck, 512 U. S., at 484. These concerns track “similar concerns for finality and consistency” that have motivated this Court to refrain from multiplying avenues for collateral attack on criminal judgments through civil tort vehicles such as §1983. Id., at 485; see also Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U. S. 475, 490 (1973) (noting the “strong policy requiring exhaustion of state remedies” in order “to avoid the unnecessary friction between the federal and state court systems”); Younger v. Harris, 401 U. S. 37, 43 (1971) (“Since the beginning of this country’s history Congress has, subject to few exceptions, manifested a desire to permit state courts to try state cases free from interference by federal courts”). Because a civil claim such as McDonough’s, asserting that fabricated evidence was used to pursue a criminal judgment, implicates the same concerns, it makes sense to adopt the same rule. 6
This case differs from Heck because the plaintiff in Heck had been convicted, while McDonough was acquitted. Although some claims do fall outside Heck’s ambit when a conviction is merely “anticipated,” Wallace, 549 U. S., at 393, however, McDonough’s claims are not of that kind, see infra, at 11–12. As articulated by the Court of Appeals, his claims challenge the validity of the criminal proceedings against him in essentially the same manner as the plaintiff in Heck challenged the validity of his conviction. And the pragmatic considerations discussed in Heck apply generally to civil suits within the domain of habeas corpus, not only to those that challenge convictions. See Preiser, 411 U. S., at 490–491. The principles and reasoning of Heck thus point toward a corollary result here: There is not “ ‘a complete and present cause of action,’ ” Wallace, 549 U. S., at 388, to bring a fabricated-evidence challenge to criminal proceedings while those criminal proceedings are ongoing. Only once the criminal proceeding has ended in the defendant’s favor, or a resulting conviction has been invalidated within the meaning of Heck, see 512 U. S., at 486–487, will the statute of limitations begin to run. 7
The soundness of this conclusion is reinforced by the consequences that would follow from the Second Circuit’s approach, which would impose a ticking limitations clock on criminal defendants as soon as they become aware that fabricated evidence has been used against them. Such a rule would create practical problems in jurisdictions where prosecutions regularly last nearly as long as—or even longer than—the relevant civil limitations period. See Brief for Petitioner 53–55; Brief for Criminal Defense Organizations et al. as Amici Curiae 23–24. A significant number of criminal defendants could face an untenable choice between (1) letting their claims expire and (2) filing a civil suit against the very person who is in the midst of prosecuting them. The first option is obviously undesir-able, but from a criminal defendant’s perspective the latter course, too, is fraught with peril: He risks tipping his hand as to his defense strategy, undermining his privilege against self-incrimination, and taking on discovery obligations not required in the criminal context. See SEC v. Dresser Industries, Inc., 628 F. 2d 1368, 1376 (CADC 1980) (en banc). Moreover, as noted above, the parallel civil litigation that would result if plaintiffs chose the second option would run counter to core principles of federalism, comity, consistency, and judicial economy. See supra, at 7–8.
Smith suggests that stays and ad hoc abstention are sufficient to avoid the problems of two-track litigation. Such workarounds are indeed available when claims falling outside Heck’s scope nevertheless are initiated while a state criminal proceeding is pending, see Wallace, 549 U. S., at 393–394 (noting the power of district courts to stay civil actions while criminal prosecutions proceed); Heck, 512 U. S., at 487–488, n. 8 (noting possibility of abstention), but Smith’s solution is poorly suited to the type of claim at issue here. When, as here, a plaintiff’s claim “necessarily” questions the validity of a state proceeding, id., at 487, there is no reason to put the onus to safeguard comity on district courts exercising case-by-case discretion—particularly at the foreseeable expense of potentially prejudicing litigants and cluttering dockets with dormant, unripe cases. Cf. Panetti v. Quarterman, 551 U. S. 930, 943 (2007) (noting that a scheme requiring “conscientious defense attorneys” to file unripe suits “would add to the burden imposed on courts, applicants, and the States, with no clear advantage to any”). The accrual rule we adopt today, by contrast, respects the autonomy of state courts and avoids these costs to litigants and federal courts.
First, Smith argues that Heck is irrelevant to McDonough’s claim, relying on this Court’s opinion in Wallace. Wallace held that the limitations period begins to run on a §1983 claim alleging an unlawful arrest under the Fourth Amendment as soon as the arrestee “becomes detained pursuant to legal process,” not when he is ultimately released. 549 U. S., at 397. The Court rejected the plaintiff’s reliance on Heck, stating that the Heck rule comes “into play only when there exists ‘a conviction or sentence that has not been . . . invalidated,’ that is to say, an ‘outstanding criminal judgment.’ ” Wallace, 549 U. S., at 393. The Court thus declined to adopt the plaintiff’s theory “that an action which would impugn an anticipated future conviction cannot be brought until that conviction occurs and is set aside,” because doing so in the context of an action for false arrest would require courts and litigants “to speculate about whether a prosecution will be brought, whether it will result in conviction, and whether the pending civil action will impugn that verdict—all this at a time when it can hardly be known what evidencethe prosecution has in its possession.” Ibid. (citations omitted). 8
It does not change the result, meanwhile, that McDonough suffered harm prior to his acquittal. The Court has never suggested that the date on which a constitutional injury first occurs is the only date from which a limitations period may run. Cf. Wallace, 549 U. S., at 389–391, and n. 3 (explaining that the statute of limitations for false-arrest claims does not begin running when the initial arrest takes place). To the contrary, the injury caused by a classic malicious prosecution likewise first occurs as soon as legal process is brought to bear on a defendant, yet favorable termination remains the accrual date. See Heck, 512 U. S., at 484. 9
Third and finally, Smith argues that the advantages of his rule outweigh its disadvantages as a matter of policy. In his view, the Second Circuit’s approach would provide more predictable guidance, while the favorable-termination approach fosters perverse incentives for prosecutors (who may become reluctant to offer favorable resolutions) and risks foreclosing meritorious claims (for example, where an outcome is not clearly “favorable”). These arguments are unconvincing. We agree that clear accrual rules are valuable but fail to see how assessing when proceedings terminated favorably will be, on balance, more burdensome than assessing when a criminal defendant “learned that the evidence was false and was used against him” and deprived him of liberty as a result. 898 F. 3d, at 265. And while the risk of foreclosing certain claims and the potential incentive effects that Smith identifies could be valid considerations in other contexts, 10 they do not overcome the greater danger that plaintiffs will be deterred under Smith’s theory from suing for redress of egregious misconduct, see supra, at 10—nordo they override the guidance of the common law and precedent.
1 See Floyd v. Attorney General of Pa., 722 Fed. Appx. 112, 114 (CA3 2018); Mills v. Barnard, 869 F. 3d 473, 484 (CA6 2017); Bradford v. Scherschligt, 803 F. 3d 382, 388 (CA9 2015); Castellano v. Fragozo, 352 F. 3d 939, 959–960 (CA5 2003) (en banc).
2 In accepting the Court of Appeals’ treatment of McDonough’s claim as one sounding in denial of due process, we express no view as to what other constitutional provisions (if any) might provide safeguards against the creation or use of fabricated evidence enforceable through a 42 U. S. C. §1983 action. See Soldal v. Cook County, 506 U. S. 56, 70 (1992) (“Certain wrongs affect more than a single right and, accord-ingly, can implicate more than one of the Constitution’s commands”). Moreover, because the Second Circuit understood McDonough’s due process claim to allege a deprivation of liberty, we have no occasion to consider the proper handling of a fabricated-evidence claim founded on an allegation that the use of fabricated evidence was so egregious as to shock the conscience, see, e.g., County of Sacramento v. Lewis, 523 U. S. 833, 849 (1998), or caused harms exclusively to “interests other than the interest in freedom from physical restraint,” Albright v. Oliver, 510 U. S. 266, 283 (1994) (Kennedy, J., concurring in judgment); see also, e.g., W. Keeton, D. Dobbs, R. Keeton, & D. Owen, Prosser and Keeton on Law of Torts §119, p. 870 (5th ed. 1984) (Prosser & Keeton) (“[O]ne who is wrongfully prosecuted may suffer both in reputation and by confinement”). Accordingly, we do not address what the accrual rule would be for a claim rooted in other types of harm independent of a liberty deprivation, as no such claim is before us. See 898 F. 3d 259, 266 (CA2 2018).
4 Though McDonough was not incarcerated pending trial, he was subject to restrictions on his ability to travel and other “ ‘restraints not shared by the public generally,’ ” Justices of Boston Municipal Court v. Lydon, 466 U. S. 294, 301 (1984), and as the case comes to this Court, it is undisputed that McDonough has pleaded a liberty deprivation. See 898 F. 3d, at 266.
6 Such considerations are why Congress has determined that a petition for writ of habeas corpus, not a §1983 action, “is the appropriate remedy for state prisoners attacking the validity of the fact or length of their confinement,” Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U. S. 475, 490 (1973), including confinement pending trial before any conviction has occurred, see id., at 491 (citing Braden v. 30th Judicial Circuit Court of Ky., 410 U. S. 484 (1973)).
9 As for Smith’s suggestion that the fabricated evidence could not have caused any liberty deprivation where, as here, there could have been probable cause and there was in fact an acquittal, it suffices to reiterate that we assume the contours of the claim as defined by the Second Circuit, see supra, at 5, 6–7, and nn. 2, 4, and thus accept its undisputed conclusion that there was a sufficient liberty deprivation here, see 898 F. 3d, at 266; see also Garnett v. Undercover Officer C0039, 838 F. 3d 265, 277 (CA2 2016) (explaining that “a further deprivation of liberty can result from the fabrication of evidence even if the initial arrest is lawful”).
We granted certiorari to decide when “the statute of limitations for a Section 1983 claim based on fabrication of evidence in criminal proceedings begins to run.” Pet. for Cert. i. McDonough, however, declined to take a definitive position on the “threshold inquiry in a [42 U. S. C.] §1983 suit”: “ ‘identify[ing] the specific constitutional right’ at issue.” Manuel v. Joliet, 580 U. S. ___, ___ (2017) (slip op., at 12) (quoting Albright v. Oliver, 510 U. S. 266, 271 (1994) (plurality opinion)). Because it is only “[a]fter pinpointing that right” that courts can proceed to “determine the elements of, and rules associated with, an action seeking damages for its violation,” Manuel, 580 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 12), we should have dismissed this case as improvidently granted.
McDonough also urges us to resolve the question presented by extending Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U. S. 475 (1973), and Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U. S. 477 (1994). But the analysis under both cases depends on what facts a §1983 plaintiff would need to prove to prevail on his claim. 1 And McDonough declines to take a position on that issue as well. See Brief for Petitioner 19 (“The Court thus does not need to delve into what the elements of McDonough’s constitutional claim are”); see also id., at 37–38, n. 11.
The Court, while recognizing that it is critical to ascertain the basis for a §1983 claim when deciding how to “handl[e]” it, ante, at 5, n. 2, attempts to evade these issues by “assum[ing] without deciding that the Second Circuit’s articulations of the right at issue and its contours are sound.” Ante, at 4–5. But because the parties have not accepted the Second Circuit’s view that the claim sounds in procedural due process, 2 that claim as “articulated by the Court of Appeals” might be different from the claim McDonough actually brought. Ante, at 9. The better course would be to dismiss this case as improvidently granted and await a case in which the threshold question of the basis of a “fabrication-of-evidence” claim is cleanly presented. Moreover, even if the Second Circuit were correct that McDonough asserts a violation of the Due Process Clause, it would be preferable for the Court to determine the claim’s elements before deciding its statute of limitations.