Opinion ID: 534774
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: malicious prosecution under section 1983

Text: 16 Plaintiffs also challenge the district court's dismissal for failure to state a claim for malicious prosecution which the court stated was not actionable in federal court in the absence of diversity jurisdiction. We affirm the district court's dismissal on different grounds. 4 17 Plaintiffs allege their claim for malicious prosecution arose on October 13, 1987 when they were acquitted of felony charges in a local court. From the rambling and inarticulate complaint, we have gleaned that plaintiffs contend the defendant-appellees brought baseless charges without probable cause against the plaintiff police officers for reasons of personal animosity. In particular, they allege that defendant Collazo, a police officer who was not a witness, talked in private to the Commonwealth District Court judge during the probable cause hearing for arrest. 5 The complaint, however, is mute regarding the contents of the conversation. The complaint further alleges that, after finding probable cause, the judge stated that she believed the plaintiff police officers were entrapped, but she had no choice but to determine probable cause. 6 18 The district court, in giving brevis disposition to this matter, assumed that malicious prosecution was not actionable under Section 1983 in the absence of diversity jurisdiction. But many courts, including this court, have recognized that a plaintiff may have a cause of action for malicious prosecution under Section 1983. See, e.g., White v. Frank, 855 F.2d 956, 961 (2nd Cir.1988); Strength v. Hubert, 854 F.2d 421, 426 (11th Cir.1988); Duncan v. Peck, 844 F.2d 1261 (6th Cir.1988); Usher v. City of Los Angeles, 828 F.2d 556, 561-562 (9th Cir., 1987); Bretz v. Kelman, 773 F.2d 1026 (9th Cir.1985); Losch v. Borough of Parkesburg, Pennsylvania, 736 F.2d 903 (3rd Cir.1984); Wheeler v. Cosden Oil and Chemical Company, 734 F.2d 254 (5th Cir.1984); Singleton v. City of New York, 632 F.2d 185 (2nd Cir.1980); Landrigan v. City of Warwick, 628 F.2d 736 (1st Cir.1980); Inada v. Sullivan, 523 F.2d 485, 487-488 (7th Cir.1975). Nevertheless, in this case we find that even under the most liberal reading of the complaint, plaintiffs have failed to establish that defendants' conduct was so egregious as to rise to the level of a constitutional violation cognizable under Section 1983. 19 It is difficult to precisely define the parameters of malicious prosecution under Section 1983 because courts have included many different kinds of official conduct under the rubric of malicious prosecution. All federal claims for malicious prosecution are borrowed from the common law tort actionable only under state law. Common law malicious prosecution imposes liability on a private person who institutes criminal proceedings against an innocent person without probable cause for an improper purpose. 7 The federal claim under Section 1983 for malicious prosecution differs from the state civil suit in that it requires that state officials acting under color of law institute the criminal proceedings against the plaintiff and thereby deprive him of rights secured under the Constitution. See Parratt v. Taylor, 451 U.S. 527, 535, 101 S.Ct. 1908, 1912, 68 L.Ed.2d 420 (1981); Chiplin Enterprises, Inc. v. City of Lebanon, 712 F.2d 1524 (1st Cir.1983). 20 The majority of courts require the federal plaintiff to prove the elements of malicious prosecution under state law, see, e.g., Raysor v. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, 768 F.2d 34, 39 (2nd Cir.1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1027, 106 S.Ct. 1227, 89 L.Ed.2d 337 (1986); Terket v. Lund, 623 F.2d 29 (7th Cir.1980), but also hold that only when the misuse of the legal proceedings is so egregious as to subject the individual to a deprivation of a constitutional dimension does Section 1983 provide a remedy. Coogan v. City of Wixom, 820 F.2d 170, 174 (6th Cir.1987). See also Karim-Panahi v. Los Angeles Police Department, 839 F.2d 621 (9th Cir.1988) (citing Usher, 828 F.2d at 562 (claim of malicious prosecution is cognizable under Section 1983 if prosecution is conducted with intent to deprive person of equal protection of the laws)); Hand v. Gary, 838 F.2d 1420 (5th Cir.1988) (state actors may be liable for damages for bad-faith prosecution in Section 1983 action where plaintiff proves constitutional violation); Dunn v. Tennessee 697 F.2d 121 (6th Cir.1982), cert. den., 460 U.S. 1086, 103 S.Ct. 1778, 76 L.Ed.2d 349 (1983) (egregious misuse of legal proceedings must rise to level of a constitutional violation). 21 We agree with the majority rule that the defendant must subject the plaintiff to a deprivation of constitutional magnitude in order to state a claim under Section 1983. Landrigan, 628 F.2d at 745. See also Earle v. Benoit, 850 F.2d 836, 844 (1st Cir.1988); McLaughlin v. Alban, 775 F.2d 389 (D.C.Cir.1985). We have previously held in the civil context, malicious prosecution standing alone does not implicate federally protected rights. Cloutier v. Epping, 714 F.2d 1184 (1st Cir.1983). 22 In Landrigan, we left open the question of whether filing of a baseless charge and nothing more is actionable under Section 1983. Landrigan, 628 F.2d at 746. After canvasing the law in other circuits, we now hold that to state a claim under Section 1983, the complaint must assert that the malicious conduct was so egregious that it violated substantive or procedural due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. 23 a. substantive due process violation 24 For substantive due process purposes, the alleged malicious prosecution must be conscience-shocking. See Hand v. Gary, 838 F.2d at 1424; Barnier v. Szentmiklosi, 810 F.2d 594 (6th Cir.1987); Johnson v. Barker, 799 F.2d 1396, 1400 (9th Cir.1986). Conscience-shocking conduct will of course be determined on a case-by-case basis. [W]hat is due process of law depends on circumstances. It varies with the subject-matter and necessities of the situation. Moyer v. Peabody, 212 U.S. 78, 84, 29 S.Ct. 235, 236, 53 L.Ed. 410 (1909) (Justice Holmes) In cases of a Section 1983 malicious prosecution claim, substantive due process violations have included: seven hours of detention and accompanying humiliation, ridicule and mental anguish, Conway v. Village of Mount Kisco, 750 F.2d 205 and 758 F.2d 46 (2nd Cir.1985), cert. den., 479 U.S. 84, 107 S.Ct. 390, 93 L.Ed.2d 325 (1986); filing charges maliciously in an attempt to suppress plaintiff's First Amendment right to make comment concerning a public official's duties, Losch, 736 F.2d 903; fabricating charges, falsifying facts, destroying evidence, and strip searching plaintiff because of his race, Karim-Panahi, 839 F.2d 621; and falsifying police reports, contriving charges and detaining plaintiff in manacles for reasons of race, Usher, 828 at 562. Where plaintiff has not been physically abused, detained, prosecuted due to racial or political motivation or otherwise deprived of equal protection of the law, courts are reluctant to find conscience-shocking conduct that would implicate a constitutional violation. See, e.g., Barnier, 810 F.2d 594 (police officers' filing of an unwarranted assault and battery charge against plaintiff was not conscience-shocking); Johnson v. Barker, 799 F.2d at 1400 (where plaintiff was not physically abused or incarcerated, and conduct was not brutal, baseless charges did not rise to the magnitude of substantive due process violation). We emphasize that misuse of the legal process alone will not be enough to sustain a claim. Hand v. Gary, 838 F.2d at 1424; Whatley v. Philo, 817 F.2d 19, 22 (5th Cir.1987) (plaintiff's claims that defendant filed charges solely to vex and harass him did not constitute constitutional tort). 25 b. procedural due process violation 26 For procedural due process purposes in a claim of malicious prosecution, the plaintiff usually must show the alleged conduct deprived him of liberty by a distortion and corruption of the processes of law, i.e., corruption of witnesses, falsification of evidence, or some other egregious conduct resulting in a denial of a fair trial. Johnson v. Barker, 799 F.2d at 1400. See also Coogan, 820 F.2d at 175; Barnier, 810 F.2d at 599-600. See generally Nahmod, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Litigation, 2d Ed., sec. 3.10 (1986). In addition, the plaintiff must show there was no adequate state postdeprivation remedy available to rectify the harm. If state tort law furnishes an adequate remedy, the plaintiff does not have a Section 1983 cause of action merely because the defendant is a government official. Friedman v. Village of Skokie, 763 F.2d 236, 239 (7th Cir.1985). See also Coogan, 820 F.2d at 175 (state afforded opportunity for accused to contest probable cause at preliminary hearing and finding of probable cause foreclosed relitigation under Section 1983); Barnier, 810 F.2d at 600 (plaintiff did not show no adequate postdeprivation state remedy where defendant officers determined to be malicious in charging plaintiff). 27 c. application 28 In applying the above standards to a Section 1983 claim for malicious prosecution, we find that plaintiffs-appellants have shown neither conscience-shocking conduct nor met the requisites of a procedural due process claim. 8 We cannot find that plaintiffs were subjected to conscience-shocking conduct that offend[s] those canons of decency and fairness which express the notions of justice of English-speaking peoples even toward those charged with the most heinous offenses. Johnson v. Barker, 799 F.2d at 1400 (quoting Rochin v. California, 342 U.S. 165, 72 S.Ct. 205, 96 L.Ed. 183 (1952)). 9 The plaintiffs did not allege any conduct that deprived them of a liberty interest. They were not detained, handcuffed, or incarcerated. They were not physically abused or charged for racial or political motivations. Indeed, after the probable cause hearing for arrest, the police officers were released on a $500 bail. Moreover, the charges against the officers were dismissed after the probable cause hearing for indictment, so the length of the prosecution was not constitutionally onerous. 29 We assume without deciding that plaintiffs' allegations of procedural due process violations may have been adequate to state a Section 1983 claim. 10 Plaintiffs have, however, failed to show that no adequate state remedy was available if those allegations were proved. Parratt, 451 U.S. at 537. Puerto Rico law affords a cause of action against the defendants for malicious prosecution. 11 See Art. 1802 of the Puerto Rico Civil Code, 31 L.P.R.A. Sec. 5141; Ayala v. Sons of Puerto Rico, Inc., 103 D.P.R. 778 (1975); Jimenez v. Sanchez, 76 P.R.R. 347 (1954); Pares v. Ruiz, 19 P.R.R. 323 (1913). Where state law affords an adequate remedy, plaintiffs may not also have a procedural due process claim for malicious prosecution under Section 1983. Barnier, 810 F.2d at 600. 30 Because we find no merit in the appellants' contentions, the judgment is AFFIRMED.