Opinion ID: 406593
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The June 9, 1978 Search of Appellant's Home

Text: 17 The District Court granted summary judgment to Montgomery County police officer Booth and District of Columbia Detective Greene as to the claims concerning the June 9, 1978 search because it found, based essentially on Booth's affidavit, that the officers had reasonably executed the search warrant. 18 Appellant argues, as he did with respect to the District Court's rulings concerning the May 25, 1978 incident, that this decision was based upon the mistaken view that Johnson v. Glick, 481 F.2d 1028 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 1033, 94 S.Ct. 462, 38 L.Ed.2d 324 (1973), requires proof of physical assault and battery to establish a claim under section 1983. We must agree. A close examination of the language of the District Court's January 29, 1981 decision indicates that the court applied this erroneous legal standard in granting summary judgment. In holding that appellant raised no factual issue as to whether Booth had reasonably executed the search warrant, the court stated: 18 Ordinarily, reasonableness of conduct is a question of fact, for the jury. However, the essential facts (i.e., what transpired during the search) are not in dispute. Based on those undisputed facts, even as set out in plaintiff's own deposition, the court concludes that the plaintiff has failed to meet his burden of producing some evidence to support this claim and hence has failed to make out a jury question. This follows from Johnson v. Glick, 481 F.2d 1028 (2d Cir. 1973), which stands for the proposition that a section 1983 claim requires actual physical assault and battery. There is no such evidence in this case. 19 R.E. 26-27 (emphasis added). 19 This language makes it clear that the District Court viewed evidence of assault and battery as a prerequisite to establishing a claim that the search warrant was unreasonably executed. 20 20 Contrary to the District Court's reading, Johnson v. Glick does not stand for the general proposition that physical assault and battery is an essential element of any constitutional claim under section 1983. The opinion in Johnson, which involved a prisoner's Eighth Amendment claim under section 1983 against the prison warden and a correction officer, does make it clear that section 1983 is not coterminous with the common law of tort. Acts that may constitute a common law assault or battery are not necessarily constitutional violations actionable under section 1983. 481 F.2d at 1033. Johnson does not suggest, however, that evidence of assault and battery is a requisite of every constitutional claim under section 1983. It requires no citation of authority to state with certainty that an individual's Fourth Amendment rights can be violated without an assault or battery. If this were not so, a warrantless search wholly unsupported by probable cause would not transgress the Fourth Amendment provided there was no physical interference with an individual. 21 Nor does a claim that police violated the Fourth Amendment in executing a valid search warrant depend on a showing of assault and battery. The conduct of police officers in executing a search warrant is always subject to judicial review as to its reasonableness, Dalia v. United States, 441 U.S. 238, 258, 99 S.Ct. 1682, 1694, 60 L.Ed.2d 177 (1979), and officers may be held liable under section 1983 for executing a warrant in an unreasonable manner. Duncan v. Barnes, 592 F.2d 1336, 1338 (5th Cir. 1979). 21 Whether a search is unreasonable by virtue of its intolerable intensity and scope, Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 18, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1878, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), must be determined by the particular facts of the case, including the scope of the search authorized by the warrant. It is a longstanding requirement( ) that the officers remain on the premises only so long as is reasonably necessary to conduct the search and that they avoid unnecessary damage to the premises .... 2 W. LaFave, Search and Seizure § 4.10, at 161 (1978). See also Clifton v. Robinson, 500 F.Supp. 30, 35 (E.D.Pa.1980) (even prisoners, whose prison cells can be searched without probable cause, may be able to establish a Fourth Amendment violation by showing that their personal property was unnecessarily damaged or destroyed during a search or that their cells were subjected to purposeful and unnecessary disruption); Brown v. Hilton, 492 F.Supp. 771, 775 (D.N.J.1980). This is not to suggest that destruction of property necessarily violates the Fourth Amendment. We recognize that officers executing search warrants on occasion must damage property in order to perform their duty. Dalia v. United States, 441 U.S. 238, 258, 99 S.Ct. 1682, 1694, 60 L.Ed.2d 177 (1979). The touchstone, however, is reasonableness; destruction of property that is not reasonably necessary to effectively execute a search warrant may violate the Fourth Amendment. 22 The District Court's decision to grant summary judgment to Detectives Booth and Greene was based not on appellant's failure to present any evidence to show that the June 9 search transgressed these general standards of reasonableness, but on appellant's failure to present evidence of physical assault and battery. Because the District Court used an erroneous legal standard, we reverse its grant of summary judgment to appellees Booth and Greene with respect to appellant's claims concerning the June 9, 1978 search. On remand, if Booth and Greene renew their motions for summary judgment, the District Court should determine whether there are any genuine factual issues concerning the reasonableness of their execution of the search warrant on June 9, 1978. The court should bear in mind appellant's obligation, assuming that appellees' motions are properly filed and supported, to identify those issues and to point to supporting evidence in the record. 22 23