Opinion ID: 266463
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: was there a cause of action under the civil rights act?

Text: 13 The Civil Rights Act, § 1983, provides: Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress. 14 The Act prescribes two elements as requisite for recovery: (1) the conduct complained of must have been done by some person acting under color of law; and (2) such conduct must have subjected the complainant to the deprivation of rights, privileges, or immunities secured to him by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Marshall v. Sawyer, 301 F.2d 639, 646 (9 Cir. 1962). Of what rights was Basista deprived? 15 Basista asserts that he was denied the right to bail for a bailable offense, a right secured to him by the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. Chief Weir in his testimony indicated that he, at Basista's request, telephoned a Mr. Pucci with regard to obtaining bail. It is undisputed that Chief Weir was told, and that this was relayed to Basista, that bail would be furnished Basista the next day. In addition, it is not disputed that no one acting on Basista's behalf came to the jail and tendered bond or bail to the desk sergeant, who was in charge. It thus appears that if Basista remained in jail overnight, it was not because he was denied bail by any of these defendants, but because no one appeared on Basista's behalf to post bail. There is insufficient evidence to support Basista's charge of denial of bail. 16 Basista further alleges that he was denied medical aid. While Basista offered evidence of his need for medical aid, it does not appear that he requested the defendants to provide such aid. Nor do we think, at least on the present record, that Basista has shown that any of the defendants had a duty to provide him with medical assistance. The uncontested testimony is, as we have stated, that the procedure followed by the Duquesne jail is that once a prisoner is secured in a cell, the desk sergeant, who also doubles as turnkey, is in charge of the prisoner, and it is one of his official duties to inquire into the prisoner's need or desire for medical aid. Basista's charge in this respect also is without sufficient evidence to sustain it. 17 Basista next contends that the defendants denied him counsel guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment. That allegation also finds insufficient support in the evidence. The record shows that a Mr. Staisey, an attorney, was notified of Basista's plight on at least three occasions. During the struggle at the Basista home, Mrs. Basista phoned Mr. Staisey and requested his assistance for her husband. Later, after Basista had been placed in a cell, Scalese received a phone call from Mr. Staisey informing him that counsel would appear to represent Basista at the hearing scheduled for the next morning. Chief Weir also testified that when he made a telephone call to a Mr. Pucci, apparently an attorney associated with Mr. Staisey, requesting bail for Basista, he, Weir, also inquired about counsel, and was told that both bail and counsel would be provided the next morning for Basista. It is not denied by Basista that he did in fact have counsel, not only at the hearing before the magistrate the following morning but also, apparently, when he appeared before the Quarter Sessions Court of Allegheny County. That his counsel did not appear at the jail the night that he was taken into custody was no doubt an inconvenience, but the apparently personal choice of his counsel not to appear until the hearing before the magistrate cannot support the allegation of a denial of counsel by the defendants. 18 It is clear from the foregoing that if Basista is to prevail in the suit at bar it must be on the ground that he was deprived of his right to be undisturbed in his home and deprived of his right not to be subjected to an unreasonable and illegal arrest, rights secured to him by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Beck v. Ohio, 85 S.Ct. 223 (1964). That an individual may not be deprived of a federally protected right by an unlawful arrest and detention is no longer open to question. Cf. Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167, 81 S.Ct. 473, 5 L.Ed.2d 492 (1961). Monroe v. Pape is the leading case involving Civil Rights Acts. In that case, a man's home was entered by police in the middle of the night, and he and his wife were made to stand in the center of their bedroom while the police ransacked their home, supposedly searching for evidence of a two year old burglary. The plaintiff was taken to jail without a warrant of any kind and was held incommunicado on an open charge and finally released without any charges being placed against him. The Supreme Court held that he was deprived of federally protected rights. Several circuits, including our own, have reached the same conclusion in a number of cases. See Nesmith v. Alford, 318 F.2d 110, 124 (5 Cir. 1963), cert. denied 375 U.S. 975, 84 S.Ct. 489, 11 L.Ed.2d 420 (1964); Cohen v. Norris, 300 F.2d 24 (9 Cir. 1962); Hughes v. Noble, 295 F.2d 495 (5 Cir. 1961); Brazier v. Cherry, 293 F.2d 401 (5 Cir. 1961); Coleman v. Johnston, 247 F.2d 273 (7 Cir. 1957); United States ex rel. Potts v. Rabb, 141 F.2d 45 (3 Cir.), cert. denied, 322 U.S. 727, 64 S.Ct. 943, 88 L.Ed. 1563 (1944). 19 The trial judge was disturbed that the case at bar may have arisen because of personal animosity between Basista and Scalese. The statutory words under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory do not exclude from the purview of the Civil Rights statutes acts of an official who can show no authority for what he does. Monroe v. Pape, supra, 365 U.S. at 171-187, 81 S.Ct. 473. The misuse of power possessed by virtue of state law and made possible only because the wrongdoer is clothed with the authority of state law is action pursued under color of law within the meaning of 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983. United States v. Classic, 313 U.S. 299, 326, 61 S.Ct. 1031, 85 L.Ed. 1368 (1941); Screws v. United States, 325 U.S. 91, 107-113, 65 S.Ct. 1031, 89 L.Ed. 1495 (1944); Picking v. Pennsylvania R. Co., 151 F.2d 240 (3 Cir. 1945). Assuming arguendo that Scalese's actions were in fact motivated by personal animosity that does not and cannot place him or his acts outside the scope of Section 1983 if he vented his ill feeling towards Basista by subjecting him to a physical beating, to humiliation before his neighbors, and to incarceration, all under color of a policeman's badge. 5 The Civil Rights Act is not to be interpreted narrowly. Valle v. Stengel, 176 F.2d 697, 702 (3 Cir. 1949). In Hague v. C. I. O., 101 F.2d 774, 789 (3 Cir.), modified, 307 U.S. 496, 59 S.Ct. 954, 83 L.Ed. 1423 (1939), we said [s]uch an action sounds in tort. In Picking v. Pennsylvania R. Co., supra, 151 F.2d at 249 we stated, [W]e are compelled to the conclusion that Congress gave a right of action sounding in tort to every individual whose federal rights were trespassed upon by any officer acting under pretense of state law. In Monroe v. Pape, supra, 365 U.S. at 187, 81 S.Ct. at 484, it was said that Section 1979 [42 U.S.C.A. § 1983] should be read against the background of tort liability that makes a man responsible for the natural consequences of his actions. While a specific intent to deprive a person of his constitutional rights is required under criminal sections of the Civil Rights Acts, 18 U.S.C. §§ 241, 242, neither specific intent nor purpose to deprive an individual of his civil rights is a prerequisite to civil liability under the civil provisions of the Civil Rights Act. See Stringer v. Dilger, 313 F.2d 536 (10 Cir. 1963). If Basista was forcibly taken from his home without just cause or provocation and subjected to physical abuse and unlawfully detained by Scalese, absence of motive, purpose, or intent on the part of Scalese to deprive Basista of his federally protected rights is immaterial. 20