Opinion ID: 590623
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Relevance of Mr. Burger's evidence

Text: 18 The defendants' motion for summary judgment on counts I and II relied upon the version of events Officer Rattigan relates in his deposition. In response to Officer Rattigan's motion for summary judgment, Mr. Burger invited the district court's attention to a copy of his verified amended complaint, 3 in which he stated that he had not committed any traffic violation or any crime at said time and place. Officer Rattigan suggests that Mr. Burger's version of events is irrelevant because it is the facts known to the officer that determine his eligibility for qualified immunity. The district court agreed with Officer Rattigan, citing Richardson v. Bonds, 860 F.2d 1427, 1431 (7th Cir.1988). 19 In Richardson, we noted that, in the qualified immunity inquiry, the facts known to the objective reasonable officer are more important than what the officer believed to be the legal basis for the stop, search, or arrest: 20 The court apparently believed that [the officer's] subjective belief as to the legal basis for the arrest was relevant to the probable cause inquiry. While an arresting officer's subjective knowledge of facts sufficient to constitute probable cause is central to evaluation of the propriety of an arrest, we do not believe that the officer's view of the legal basis for the arrest is important. 21 Richardson, 860 F.2d at 1430 (emphasis in original). We then noted that it would be fruitless to debate the officer's beliefs, at the time of the arrest, as to the legal basis for the arrest: 22 Disputes about an arresting officer's actual state of mind at the time of the arrest would quickly resolve themselves into credibility battles, with each side presenting its own post hoc explanation of the officer's actions. If statements made by the officer at the time of the arrest were used as an indication of the offense for which the officer believed probable cause existed, officers could simply remain silent as to the basis for the arrest. 23 .... 24 [T]he question of an officer's actual justification for an arrest would rarely be capable of resolution at the summary judgment stage, but would ultimately become a credibility issue for the jury. 25 Id. (emphasis in original). In the present case, it appears that the district court misapprehended the holding of Richardson. The district court reasoned that, because we emphasized in Richardson the importance of the officer's actual knowledge of the facts, the plaintiff's version of those facts is irrelevant: 26 Burger's version of the arrest, or discrepancies in Rattigan's testimony regarding the arrest, are irrelevant if we find that a reasonable officer could conclude, based upon the facts known by Rattigan and Mulack, that probable cause existed for the search and seizure at issue here. 27 Memorandum Opinion and Order of July 8, 1991, (R.44) at 6. 28 However, Richardson and other Seventh Circuit cases on qualified immunity make it clear that the plaintiff's version of material facts is relevant; indeed, a defendant is not entitled to summary judgment on qualified immunity based upon facts about which there is a genuine dispute. 4 In Green v. Carlson, 826 F.2d 647, 652 (7th Cir.1987), we stated that if there are issues of disputed fact upon which the question of immunity turns, ... the case must proceed to trial. In Apostol v. Landau, 957 F.2d 339, 342 (7th Cir.1992), we recently cited Green for the same proposition: If there are issues of disputed fact upon which the question of immunity turns, ... the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants was not proper. And, in Maust v. Headley, 959 F.2d 644, 649 (7th Cir.1992), we reiterated that, [i]f there are issues of disputed fact upon which the question of immunity turns, ... summary judgment may not be granted. 5 Thus, the proper formulation of the qualified immunity inquiry is whether, based on all the undisputed facts, the defendant's conduct violated any clearly established constitutional or statutory right. Green, 826 F.2d at 652 (emphasis added).