Opinion ID: 687266
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Functional Test Applied

Text: 27 The conduct on which plaintiff predicates her causes of action against Adago may be summarized as (1) unjustifiably directing that her children be removed from her home; (2) directing the police to arrest her without probable cause; (3) maliciously prosecuting her; (4) conspiring to present falsified evidence to, and to withhold exculpatory evidence from, a grand jury; (5) deliberately suppressing Brady material; and (6) fabricating evidence. 28 The first two acts are not protected by absolute immunity. The investigation of charges of child abuse and the removal of a child from its parents' custody is accorded only qualified protection. See Robison v. Via, 821 F.2d 913, 918-20 (2d Cir.1987). Nor is advising the police during the investigative stage of a case that they have probable cause to arrest an advocacy function. See Burns, 500 U.S. at 493, 111 S.Ct. at 1943. We agree with the district court to the extent it held appellants were not entitled to absolute immunity for these acts. 29 But the trial court erred in refusing to dismiss plaintiff's claims based on the conduct summarized above as the third, fourth and fifth acts. Such conduct on the prosecutor's part is clearly protected by the doctrine of absolute immunity as all are part of his function as an advocate. With respect to the third, malicious prosecution, it has long been settled that prosecutors are entitled to immunity from Sec. 1983 liability for initiating a prosecution. Imbler, 424 U.S. at 431, 96 S.Ct. at 996; Day, 909 F.2d at 77. As to the fourth, we, along with several sister circuits, have consistently stated that prosecutors are immune from Sec. 1983 liability for their conduct before a grand jury. See Burns, 500 U.S. at 490 n. 6, 111 S.Ct. at 1941 n. 6 (listing circuit court cases); Maglione v. Briggs, 748 F.2d 116, 118 (2d Cir.1984) (per curiam); Fine v. City of New York, 529 F.2d 70, 74 (2d Cir.1975). Nor do the plaintiff's allegations of a conspiracy alter this rule. Our recent holding in Dory v. Ryan, 25 F.3d at 83, which established that absolute prosecutorial immunity extends even to conspiracies to present false evidence at trial, compels the same result in the grand jury setting. The fact that such a conspiracy is not something that is properly within the role of a prosecutor is immaterial, id. at 83, because immunity attaches to the function the prosecutor is performing, not the way in which it is performed. As to Adago's failure to turn over Brady material, the fifth act, this omission occurred after the prosecutorial phase of the case had begun and therefore is protected as a discretionary advocacy function. See Imbler, 424 U.S. at 416, 430, 96 S.Ct. at 988, 994-95. Consequently, to the extent that the district court denied absolute immunity to defendant Adago for the third, fourth, and fifth acts, it must be reversed. 30 III Claim of Immunity for Fabricating Evidence 31 We turn to the sixth act, the charge of deliberate fabrication of false evidence, which lies at the heart of the plaintiff's complaint, and which is the question that presents the closest issue on appeal. Hill alleges assistant district attorney Adago (1) coerced Joseph's testimony in part by removing Joseph and his brother from their mother's custody, (2) specifically instructed Joseph to accuse his mother during a videotaped interview, and (3) used this falsified tape while deliberately suppressing an earlier one that exonerated plaintiff Hill. Whether Adago may be sheltered by absolute immunity from liability for these alleged actions turns on whether or not they occurred in the course of his role as an advocate. Because he was preparing a videotaped examination of a witness to be presented to a grand jury, defendant maintains he is absolutely immune for any conduct on his part related to the creation of the videotapes. We recognize that a prosecutor is immune from liability for out-of-court efforts to control a witness' grand jury testimony that are made subsequent to the decision to indict. See Buckley, --- U.S. at ----, 113 S.Ct. at 2615. 32 But such immunity does not protect efforts to manufacture evidence that occur during the investigatory phase of a criminal case. See Buckley, --- U.S. at ---- - ----, 113 S.Ct. at 2616-17. Hence, if the videotapes were made to collect or corroborate evidence against Hill in order to get probable cause to arrest her, the act of making the tapes receives only qualified immunity. 33 In Buckley, the Supreme Court stressed the lapse of time between the manufacture of evidence, the impanelling of a grand jury and the ultimate arrest in holding that the prosecutors were acting as investigators and not advocates. Id. at ---- - ----, 113 S.Ct. at 2616-17. The fabrication of false evidence occurred at a time when the crime being investigated could be classified as unsolved. Id. at ----, 113 S.Ct. at 2617. In the instant case, the time frame is more compressed: the investigation, arrest, and arraignment of Hill occurred within a week of Joseph's visit to the hospital. Nevertheless, as Adago did not order Hill's arrest until after filming the second interview, it is possible to conclude that this latter videotape was made, at least in part, to provide probable cause for Hill's arrest. 34 Adago insists that both videotaped interviews with Joseph were prepared in contemplation of presentation to the grand jury, and that they were conducted pursuant to CPL Sec. 190.32, the New York statute providing for the use of videotaped testimony of child abuse witnesses in grand jury proceedings. During each videotape Adago stated that the interview was being conducted pursuant to Sec. 190.32, and in the second he referred to this grand jury proceeding. The second videotape was shown to the grand jury just six days after it was recorded. Nonetheless, neither the use of the statutory procedure nor the accelerated pace of events is controlling. 35 Further, the functional test for absolute immunity is an objective one; it does not depend upon the state actor's subjective intent. To the extent that the creation of the videotapes fulfilled an investigatory purpose, Adago cannot claim absolute immunity. The Supreme Court points out that investigative work may not be transformed into advocacy simply by being characterized as work in preparation for trial, otherwise, absolute immunity against a suit brought by an innocent citizen for a constitutional wrong would always protect a district attorney who simply forces such a case to trial. Buckley, --- U.S. at ----, 113 S.Ct. at 2617. The same rationale applies when a prosecutor manufactures evidence for the purpose of obtaining probable cause to arrest a suspect, even when the evidence obtained is in a form suitable for later presentation to the grand jury. Therefore, if before obtaining Joseph's second videotaped statement Adago lacked probable cause to arrest Hill, and the results of that interview contributed to his finding probable cause, the interview would then be held to be an investigatory function. 36 It is impossible, as the district court observed, to determine from the pleadings alone what function Adago was engaged in when he and the other defendants videotaped the interview of Joseph Hill. Quite plainly, when it may not be gleaned from the complaint whether the conduct objected to was performed by the prosecutor in an advocacy or an investigatory role, the availability of absolute immunity from claims based on such conduct cannot be decided as a matter of law on a motion to dismiss. See Lawson, 863 F.2d at 263. Because the immunity issue respecting the videotapes raises factual issues that cannot be conclusively determined at this stage in the litigation, it is not appealable under the Cohen doctrine, and we therefore have no jurisdiction to entertain it. See White, 855 F.2d at 962; United States v. Yonkers Bd. of Educ., 893 F.2d 498, 502-04 (2d Cir.1990) (applying same principle in an Eleventh Amendment immunity case). Thus, that portion of this appeal must be dismissed. 37 IV Qualified Immunity and Failure to State a Claim 38 Adago urges that even were he not to be entitled to absolute immunity for some of his conduct, qualified immunity shields him from liability for it. We decline to address this argument because defendants did not raise this defense in their motion to dismiss, nor did the district court decide it. As a general rule, appellate courts do not consider issues that were not raised at the district court. See Singleton v. Wulff, 428 U.S. 106, 120, 96 S.Ct. 2868, 2877, 49 L.Ed.2d 826 (1976); Greene v. United States, 13 F.3d 577, 586 (2d Cir.1994). 39 In addition, the record on appeal is inadequate for us to determine whether Adago can claim the protection of qualified immunity. Like absolute immunity, qualified immunity is an immunity from suit rather than a mere defense to liability ... [and] is effectively lost if a case is erroneously permitted to go to trial. Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 526, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 2815, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985) (emphasis in original). To some extent the availability of qualified immunity turns on inquiries into specific facts. Under qualified immunity, a government official may claim immunity from suit only when in light of clearly established law and the information the official possesses, it was objectively reasonable for him to think that his actions were lawful. See Washington Square Post # 1212 American Legion v. Maduro, 907 F.2d 1288, 1292 (2d Cir.1990). 40 The objective reasonableness of Adago's actions in removing plaintiff's children from her custody and ordering her arrest depends in part upon information available to him at the time. This information would include the content of other statements made by Joseph during off-camera interrogation, the results of any investigation of Joseph's former foster family, and the plaintiff's own history of abusive behavior. The record before us does not indicate those facts upon which Adago based his actions. 41 Appellants further contend that plaintiff's amended complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted and therefore should be dismissed on the merits pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). A denial of a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim is neither a final decision, nor a basis for interlocutory review under Cohen, and is not, standing alone, immediately appealable. See San Filippo v. U.S. Trust Co., 737 F.2d 246, 255 (2d Cir.1984), cert. denied, 470 U.S. 1035, 105 S.Ct. 1408, 84 L.Ed.2d 797 (1985). When jurisdiction over one issue in an interlocutory appeal exists, it is within our discretion to decide other, nonappealable issues in the case where the appealable and nonappealable issues sufficiently overlap so as to warrant taking jurisdiction over the appeal. See id.; see also Golino v. City of New Haven, 950 F.2d 864, 868-69 (2d Cir.1991), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 3032, 120 L.Ed.2d 902 (1992). 42 Such sufficient overlap is not found here. Review of the immunity issue requires a determination of whether Adago was acting in an advocacy or investigatory function; reviewing the motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, in contrast, depends upon whether plaintiff has adequately alleged constitutional violations actionable under Sec. 1983. Because these inquiries do not overlap, we decline to exercise jurisdiction to review the district court's denial of Adago's motion to dismiss on the merits. See White, 855 F.2d at 957 n. 1; cf. Francis v. Coughlin, 849 F.2d 778, 780-81 (2d Cir.1988) (per curiam). 43 Nonetheless, with respect to the remaining appellants, we can review the motion to dismiss without reaching the adequacy of plaintiff's constitutional claims. Adago's co-appellants are charged only with acts of conspiracy, and plaintiff has not alleged facts sufficient to support this charge. Rialano, an employee of the Child Abuse Bureau, assisted in the videotaped interviews of Joseph Hill; Frazier and Mannion, video technicians with the district attorney's office, operated the cameras. Even taking the facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, it would defy credibility to believe these individuals were acting other than in their capacity as employees and at Adago's direction. In particular, plaintiff failed to allege these defendants possessed the requisite intent to engage in a conspiracy to fabricate evidence against the plaintiff and to cause her to be unjustly incarcerated. Thus, the denial of these defendants' motion to dismiss with respect to all charges of conspiracy in plaintiff's complaint must be reversed.