Opinion ID: 182211
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Claims Based on Ray's Allegedly Malicious Prosecution

Text: Ray's complaint contains a claim that could be interpreted to include an allegation that Defendants violated her Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights by causing her to be charged with possession of a controlled substance. On appeal, Ray has argued that her complaint states that the police planted the drugs that provided the basis for Ray's possession charge and, hence, that it alleges facts sufficient to support a malicious prosecution tort claim. The district court decision to dismiss this claim was correct. Federal courts are rarely the appropriate forum for malicious prosecution claims. We have previously stated that individuals do not have a federal right not to be summoned into court and prosecuted without probable cause, under either the Fourth Amendment or the Fourteenth Amendment's Procedural Due Process Clause. Tully v. Barada, 599 F.3d 591, 594 (7th Cir.2010). See also Bielanski, 550 F.3d at 638-42 ([T]he interest in not being prosecuted groundlessly is not an interest that the Fourth Amendment protects.) (internal citations omitted). While we have also held that we will allow individuals to bring Section 1983 malicious prosecution suits when the relevant state's law does not provide them with a way to pursue such claims, Newsome v. McCabe, 256 F.3d 747, 750-51 (7th Cir.2001), Illinois law recognizes tort claims for malicious prosecution. See Swick v. Liautaud, 169 Ill.2d 504, 215 Ill.Dec. 98, 662 N.E.2d 1238, 1242 (1996). Hence, it was appropriate for the district court to refuse to hear Ray's claims and conclude that the appropriate venue for her claims is Illinois state court. On appeal, Ray has attempted to recast the malicious prosecution claim set forth in her complaint as a Brady claim, but even if she had originally presented the district court with a Brady claim, it too would have been properly dismissed. Ever since the Supreme Court's decision in Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), we have permitted individuals to file Section 1983 suits alleging that they have been denied a fair trial because the state has failed to provide them with access to material exculpatory evidence. See Newsome, 256 F.3d at 752. Ray has failed to identify a single instance, however, where we have allowed such suits when the individual is merely charged with a crime, but never fully prosecuted. See, e.g., Garcia v. City of Chicago, 24 F.3d 966, 971-72 (7th Cir.1994) (holding that there was no basis for a Brady claim where the charges against an individual were nolle prossed ); Pope v. City of Chicago, No. 08-c-4715, 2009 WL 811625, at  (N.D.Ill. Mar.24, 2009) (The rule against bringing malicious prosecution claims . . . cannot be avoided by mischaracterizing malicious prosecution claims based on providing false information . . . as Brady violations for failing to disclose that the information is false.) (citing Gauger v. Hendle, 349 F.3d 354, 360 (7th Cir. 2003)). Because Ray concedes that the charges against her were dropped at her first post-arrest court appearance, her claim falls outside of the exception recognized in Brady. As Ray has not identified any other exception that would save her from the general bar against malicious prosecution claims, we are left to conclude that the district court was correct in finding her claim to be irreparably flawed.