Opinion ID: 694580
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Federal Claims against the County of Suffolk12

Text: 52 We must now address the claims asserted by Pinaud against the County of Suffolk, the only other named party in this dispute. Figuring out exactly which claims against the County of Suffolk are before us on appeal is no easy task, however, given Pinaud's amendment of his complaint to withdraw all claims not dismissed by the District Court's decision, and the failure of the parties to focus upon and distinguish different claims on appeal. 53 We begin by reviewing the District Court's holding. First, the District Court ruled that Pinaud was barred by the three-year statute of limitations from maintaining claims against the County grounded in actions which occurred prior to June 17, 1988, and was not time-barred from asserting claims based on actions after that date. See Pinaud, 798 F.Supp. at 921-23, 925. Second, the District Court ruled that, though Pinaud's malicious prosecution claim against the County was timely, his allegations, nevertheless, failed to state a cause of action under Sec. 1983. See id. at 923-24. Since Pinaud withdrew from his complaint all actions not dismissed by the District Court's opinion, our task is limited to considering whether Pinaud can state a claim against the County of Suffolk for malicious prosecution and whether he can maintain any claims against the County based on actions which occurred before June 17, 1988. That is, we review only the claims that the District Court dismissed. 13
54 Since municipalities do not enjoy immunity from suit--either absolute or qualified--under Sec. 1983, Pinaud's malicious prosecution claim against the County of Suffolk is not barred by prosecutorial immunity. Leatherman v. Tarrant County Narcotics Intelligence and Coordination Unit, --- U.S. ----, ----, 113 S.Ct. 1160, 1162, 122 L.Ed.2d 517 (1993); see also Ferran v. Town of Nassau, 11 F.3d 21, 23 (2d Cir.1993), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 572, 130 L.Ed.2d 489 (1994). Nevertheless, his claim raises intricate legal questions, some of which are not addressed by the parties and all of which create serious obstacles for a successful Sec. 1983 cause of action. First, an allegation of deficiencies in the management of the [district attorney's] office, Walker v. City of New York, 974 F.2d 293, 301 (2d Cir.1992), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 1387, 122 L.Ed.2d 762 (1993), would appear to be necessary under our precedents in order for any claim of malicious prosecution against the County of Suffolk to stand. 14 It is highly doubtful that Pinaud has sufficiently made any such allegation. Second, even if we read Pinaud's complaint liberally so as to include allegations sufficient to ground municipal liability, the Supreme Court's splintered decision in Albright v. Oliver, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 807, 127 L.Ed.2d 114 (1994), which sought to limit the constitutional pegs upon which a Sec. 1983 malicious prosecution claim might hang, and our own pre-Albright holdings, make the status and validity of Sec. 1983 malicious prosecution claims, such as this one, uncertain to say the least. 55 Tempted as we are to try to clarify the law in this area in the wake of the many questions left unanswered by the Supreme Court's fragmented ruling in Albright, we nonetheless conclude that this is not the case in which to struggle with the meaning of Albright. The District Court found that Pinaud had not stated a claim under our pre-Albright malicious prosecution decisions. And the parties have not discussed Albright at all and therefore seem to assume that our pre-Albright decisions are controlling in this case. Under these circumstances, given that no claim has been made that any of the pre-Albright requirements for a malicious prosecution claim that are involved here have been eliminated by Albright, we think it is appropriate to await another case--one in which the parties have addressed the impact of Albright and in which the issue is necessarily determinative--to explore that case's effect on Sec. 1983 malicious prosecution claims. 15 56 Relying upon our pre-Albright precedents--which held that a plaintiff seeking to maintain a malicious prosecution action pursuant to Sec. 1983 must establish termination of the prosecution in his favor in accordance with applicable state law, Hygh v. Jacobs, 961 F.2d 359, 367 (2d Cir.1992)--the District Court ruled that Pinaud failed to state a claim because the dismissal of the charges against him was not indicative of his innocence and therefore was not a favorable termination under New York law. 57 As to the dismissal of the stolen property charge against Pinaud, the District Court's decision is clearly on solid ground. The state court dismissed the stolen property indictment in the interest of justice pursuant to N.Y.Crim.Proc.Law Sec. 210.40. The New York Court of Appeals has held that a dismissal in the interests of justice leaves the question of guilt or innocence unanswered. Ryan v. New York Telephone Co., 62 N.Y.2d 494, 504-05, 478 N.Y.S.2d 823, 829, 467 N.E.2d 487 (1984). And we have read Ryan to mean that as a matter of law, [such a dismissal] cannot provide the favorable termination required as the basis for a claim of malicious prosecution. Hygh, 961 F.2d at 367. 58 Pinaud makes a nuanced argument that New York law does not preclude the possibility that a dismissal in the interests of justice could constitute a favorable termination. His argument finds some support in the recent decision by the First Department of New York's Appellate Division in Hankins v. The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., 208 A.D.2d 111, 622 N.Y.S.2d 678 (1st Dep't, 1995), which suggested that Ryan should not be read to establish that, as a matter of law, a dismissal in the interest of justice bars a subsequent claim for malicious prosecution. Id. 622 N.Y.S.2d at 679. However, even if New York law permits a dismissal in the interest of justice to constitute a favorable termination in certain instances, Pinaud's suggestion that the circumstances surrounding the state court's dismissal of the stolen property charge against him might be indicative of his innocence is not supported by the facts in this case. He had twice pleaded guilty to this charge. And, when it ordered dismissal, the state court stressed the fact that Pinaud had already served a full 28-month sentence on this charge. Under the circumstances, it is clear that Pinaud cannot demonstrate that the dismissal of the stolen property charge was on the merits and in [his] favor, id. at 681, and so Pinaud cannot, as a matter of law, satisfy the favorable termination requirement of a malicious prosecution claim as to this charge. See Miller v. Star, 123 A.D.2d 750, 750-52, 507 N.Y.S.2d 223, 224 (2d Dep't 1986) (holding, as a matter of law, on similar facts that dismissal in the interests of justice could not constitute a resolution favorable to the accused); see also Hankins, 622 N.Y.S.2d at 680-81 (justifying the holding in Miller by explaining that in that case the original dismissal was more in the nature of a procedurally-induced gift to the defendant than a determination based on the merits). Thus, we conclude that the District Court was ultimately correct when it found that Pinaud had failed to state a malicious prosecution claim based on the stolen property charge. 59 The bail jumping charge is more difficult. The District Court asserted that this charge was also dismissed in the interests of justice. But a review of the state court's memorandum of dismissal reveals that the nature of its ruling on the bail jumping charge is actually quite difficult to characterize. In dismissing the charge, the state court stressed the district attorney's failure to present potentially exculpatory evidence to the grand jury. And the court intimated that the grand jury might well have failed to indict had it been presented with this evidence. We have not found nor have the parties pointed to any decision of a New York court which gives guidance on whether a ruling of this sort should be characterized as a favorable termination or not. Under these circumstances, it would not be out of the question to deem the dismissal one such that innocence is indicated, Ward v. Silverberg, 206 A.D.2d 522, 614 N.Y.S.2d 757, 759 (2d Dep't 1994), and to hold that it constitutes a favorable termination. 60 In the end, though, we can resolve this case without deciding whether New York would deem the state court's dismissal of the bail jumping charge to be a favorable termination. For, as a matter of law, we find that Pinaud failed to satisfy one of the other requirements for a pre-Albright Sec. 1983 malicious prosecution claim. Besides having to demonstrate a favorable termination, a plaintiff must also establish a lack of probable cause for the commencement of the original prosecution that is alleged to have been malicious. See, e.g., Posr v. Doherty, 944 F.2d 91, 100 (2d Cir.1991); Colon v. City of New York, 60 N.Y.2d 78, 82, 468 N.Y.S.2d 453, 455, 455 N.E.2d 1248 (1983). Here, on the undisputed facts, Pinaud cannot establish a lack of probable cause for his prosecution on the bail jumping charge. 61 Despite the state trial court's initial statement to Pinaud that he need not appear in court on June 15, 1984, the state court on June 15 clearly told Pinaud's attorney that Pinaud was required to appear in court on July 16, 1984. Pinaud failed to appear in court on July 16, or within the next 30 days. These undisputed facts, without more, satisfy the requisites of New York's bail jumping statute. See N.Y. Penal Law Sec. 215.57; People v. Eiffel, 81 N.Y.2d 480, 484, 600 N.Y.S.2d 437, 439, 616 N.E.2d 1099 (1993). Bail jumping is a strict liability statute in that no proof of any culpable mental state is required. People v. McMillian, 174 A.D.2d 759, 761, 571 N.Y.S.2d 782, 784 (2d Dep't 1991). This means that the elements of the offense are met regardless of the validity of Pinaud's claims that he believed that he did not have to appear until November 1984. See People v. Santangelo, 194 A.D.2d 924, 925, 599 N.Y.S.2d 191, 192 (3d Dep't) (explaining that proof of a particular culpable mental state is not an element of bail jumping), leave to appeal denied, 82 N.Y.2d 726, 602 N.Y.S.2d 823, 622 N.E.2d 324 (1993). And, since New York considers informing a defendant's attorney of a required appearance date sufficient to establish constructive knowledge of the date by the defendant, see, e.g., People v. White, 115 A.D.2d 313, 314, 496 N.Y.S.2d 187, 188 (4th Dep't 1985), it follows that Pinaud had no valid defense based on a lack of awareness of the July 16 required appearance date. 62 Since the undisputed facts under New York's law actually provide nearly conclusive evidence of Pinaud's guilt on the bail jumping charge, it is clear that, as a matter of law, there existed probable cause to initiate a bail jumping prosecution against Pinaud in October of 1988. Consequently, though we do so on different grounds from the District Court, we agree that Pinaud failed to state a Sec. 1983 claim based on malicious prosecution.
63 The applicable statute of limitations for Sec. 1983 actions arising in New York requires claims to be brought within three years. See Owens v. Okure, 488 U.S. 235, 250-51, 109 S.Ct. 573, 582, 102 L.Ed.2d 594 (1989); Eagleston v. Guido, 41 F.3d 865, 871 (2d Cir.1994). Pinaud filed his action on June 17, 1991, and this led the District Court to adopt the date of June 17, 1988 as the dividing line between those acts upon which Pinaud could base a timely claim against the County and those acts upon which he could not. Pinaud does not dispute that three years is the correct statute of limitations period. His argument on appeal is rather that there are reasons why, in this instance, a claim based on acts before June 17, 1988 should still be considered timely. 64 Specifically, Pinaud appears to make a couple of closely-related, though ultimately distinct, arguments that claims based on acts before June 17, 1988 should not be barred by the three-year statute of limitations. Pinaud argues that because all the acts about which he complains were part of an out-of-court plot from August 1983 through November 1988--of which he did not become aware until the fall of 1988, and which the defendants sought to conceal--his claims based on acts prior to June 17, 1988 are not time-barred. In essence, Pinaud contends that (1) his claims based on acts prior to June 1988 did not accrue until after June 1988 because he did not know of the wrongful conspiracy before that time, and (2) even if his claims in some sense accrued earlier, the statute of limitations was equitably tolled by virtue of the individual defendants' fraudulent concealment of their actions for which the County is responsible. 65 Pinaud's arguments are unavailing. Even assuming that Pinaud's claims involve more than conclusory, vague, or general allegations that the defendants have engaged in a conspiracy to deprive [him] of his constitutional rights of the sort that we generally reject outright, Dwares v. City of New York, 985 F.2d 94, 100 (2d Cir.1993), 16 the argument that his assertion of a conspiracy should serve to delay the time when his causes of action accrue is foreclosed by this Court's decision in Singleton v. City of New York, 632 F.2d 185 (2d Cir.1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 920, 101 S.Ct. 1368, 67 L.Ed.2d 347 (1981). 66 Singleton involved a set of Sec. 1983 claims, analogous to those lodged by Pinaud in this action, against two police officers and New York City. As here, some of the acts alleged by the plaintiff occurred prior to the statute of limitations cut-off date, others occurred after, and the plaintiff sought to avoid any time-bar through an allegation of a conspiracy. See id. at 188-89, 192-93. After noting that federal law governs the date of accrual for a Sec. 1983 cause of action and that this date is determined by when the plaintiff knows or has reason to know of the injury which is the basis of his action, id. at 191 (citation omitted), this Court in Singleton rejected the use of a conspiracy theory to circumvent the statute of limitations: 67 Characterizing defendants' separate wrongful acts as having been committed in furtherance of a conspiracy or as a single series of interlocking events does not postpone accrual of claims based on individual wrongful acts.... To permit [plaintiff] to wait and toll the running of the statute simply by asserting that a series of separate wrongs were committed pursuant to a conspiracy would be to enable him to defeat the purpose of the time-bar, which is to preclude the resuscitation of stale claims.... The existence of a conspiracy does not postpone the accrual of causes of action arising out of the conspirators' separate wrongs. It is the wrongful act, not the conspiracy, which is actionable, whether that act is labelled a tort or a violation of Sec. 1983. 68 Id. at 192. As the District Court properly concluded, this holding necessarily thwarts Pinaud's attempt to utilize conspiracy allegations to postpone the accrual of his claims based on acts occurring prior to June 1988. See also Eagleston, 41 F.3d at 871. In saying this, we emphasize that our holding in Singleton is not a Catch-22 holding: it does not require a plaintiff to bring a claim of which he or she neither knows nor ought to know. It simply says that when a plaintiff knows or ought to know of a wrong, the statute of limitations on that claim starts to run, and the later awareness that the actionable wrong was also part of a conspiracy does not expand the statutory time limit. 69 The fact that Pinaud's claims here are against the County of Suffolk gives his delayed accrual argument a little more bite. Since an actionable claim under Sec. 1983 against a county or municipality depends on a harm stemming from the municipality's policy or custom, see Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 694, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 2037, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978), a cause of action against the municipality does not necessarily accrue upon the occurrence of a harmful act, but only later when it is clear, or should be clear, that the harmful act is the consequence of a county policy or custom. In fact, Singleton recognizes that sort of delayed accrual theory: Where no single act is sufficiently decisive to enable a person to realize that he has suffered a compensable injury, the cause of action may not accrue until the wrong becomes apparent. 632 F.2d at 192-93. Cf. Eagleston, 41 F.3d at 871-72 (discussing possible delay in accrual date based on when plaintiff is aware of a wrong for which damages may be recovered in a civil action). 17 70 However, given the length of time between the acts Pinaud seeks to use as the basis for his claims and the time he filed his lawsuit, the application of a delayed accrual theory for his claims against the County of Suffolk does not avail him. Almost all of the acts before June 1988 upon which Pinaud seeks to base a claim--e.g., the allegedly wrongful increasing of his bail, the manufacturing of a bogus bail jumping charge, the claimed false representations in his plea agreement--occurred in 1984, more than four years before the date upon which a claim would be timely. Even if we accept Pinaud's assertion that he did not know about, and should not have known about, any County of Suffolk policy or custom at the time these acts occurred, he certainly knew about, or at least had reason to come to know about, the policy or custom, which he now alleges, well before June of 1988. Indeed, a telling submission by Pinaud's counsel in February of 1988--still four months before the crucial statute of limitations date--details all the acts before that time that Pinaud now claims provided him evidence of the County of Suffolk's policy or custom to produce the harms of which he complains. 71 Pinaud's claim for equitable tolling based on a notion of fraudulent concealment must also fail. This court recognizes an equitable tolling doctrine in the context of Sec. 1983 actions, and when a defendant fraudulently conceals the wrong, the time [limit of the statute of limitations] does not begin running until the plaintiff discovers, or by the exercise of reasonable diligence should have discovered, the cause of action. Keating v. Carey, 706 F.2d 377, 382 (2d Cir.1983). To take advantage of this doctrine, however, a plaintiff must submit non-conclusory evidence of a conspiracy or other fraudulent wrong which precluded his possible discovery of the harms that he suffered. See, e.g., Dory v. Ryan, 999 F.2d 679, 681 (2d Cir.1993) (tolling statute of limitations until time when plaintiff received an affidavit from a witness at his trial detailing the existence of a conspiracy by state officials to present perjurious testimony against plaintiff), modified on other grounds, 25 F.3d 81 (2d Cir.1994). 72 Here, however, Pinaud has only submitted evidence that there was a conspiracy to harm him. He provides no direct or even indirect evidence to indicate that any of the defendants, and particularly the County of Suffolk, took tangible steps either alone or through a conspiracy to conceal the nature of their activities toward him. See Davis v. Grusemeyer, 996 F.2d 617, 624 n. 13 (3d Cir.1993) (indicating that fraudulent concealment claim was inadequately pleaded because plaintiff failed to allege active concealment by any defendant). Moreover, even if we were to conclude that Pinaud had sufficiently alleged a conspiracy that served fraudulently to conceal the County of Suffolk's wrongs against him, he has not indicated why by the exercise of reasonable diligence he was only able to discover the wrongs against him after June of 1988. Again, as his counsel's February 1988 submission shows, the majority of harmful acts that Pinaud complains about occurred before that time and he was clearly aware of these acts when, or not long after, they occurred. See id. at 624-25 & n. 13 (rejecting fraudulent concealment tolling claim when plaintiff's letter showed that he was on notice concerning certain acts). 73 In sum, then, we agree with the District Court's determination that Pinaud is barred by the applicable three-year statute of limitations from grounding any federal Sec. 1983 claims on acts occurring before June 17, 1988. 18 And, as we have indicated before, it is Pinaud himself who--wisely or not--has by stipulation withdrawn his claims based on those acts which occurred later.