Opinion ID: 8414983
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Present Civil Suit

Text: On May 8, 2012, Dufort brought the present action against the City of New York and Detectives Marotta, Shim, and Schmittgall, as well as Detective Thomas Conforti and several other police officers. Dufort also initially named several prosecutors as defendants, but he abandoned those claims during the course of the proceedings. He also substantially narrowed his claims against the remaining defendants. On April 10, 2015, the Defendants moved for summary judgment on Dufort’s remaining claims. These included claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the individual defendants for false arrest, malicious prosecution, and denial of due process, as well as a state law claim against the City of New York asserting a state law malicious prosecution claim premised on a theory of respondeat superior liability. On April 28, 2016, the district court granted the Defendants’ motion for summary judgment as to all of Dufort’s remaining claims, holding that there was no genuine dispute of material fact regarding whether Du-fort’s arrest and subsequent prosecution were supported by probable cause. The district court also justified granting summary judgment on Dufort’s malicious prosecution claim on the independent ground that Dufort could not show that the defendant police officers “caused” his prosecution, because the District Attorney’s decision to prosecute and the grand jury’s indictment interrupted the chain of causation between the allegedly wrongful arrest and trial. The district court granted summary judgment on Dufort’s due process claim, because Dufort had not proved that the evidentiary record at his criminal trial was unfairly distorted. Dufort now timely appeals.