Court Opinion

ID: 1001411
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-04 17:55:03.884167+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:38:10.352407
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

JAY PETER MONTEROSE,
Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.

ALPHONSO HARRISON, individually
and in his official capacity; SEAN
SULLIVAN, individually and in his
official capacity,
Defendants-Appellants,

and

TOWN OF BERWYN HEIGHTS,
                                               No. 99-1240
MARYLAND; THOMAS J. LOVE, former
Mayor of the Town of Berwyn
Heights in his official capacity;
WILLIAM T. ARMISTEAD, JR., Mayor
of the Town of Berwyn Heights in
his official capacity; JAMES F. ARTIS,
SR., Chief of Police of the Town of
Berwyn Heights, Maryland
individually and in his official
capacity,
Defendants.

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Maryland, at Greenbelt.

Peter J. Messitte, District Judge.

(CA-98-195-PJM)

Submitted: March 28, 2000

Decided: April 18, 2000
Before NIEMEYER, Circuit Judge,
HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge, and
Deborah K. CHASANOW, United States District Judge
for the District of Maryland, sitting by designation.

_________________________________________________________________

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

_________________________________________________________________

COUNSEL

Ronald McGlenn Cherry, MCGUIRE, WOODS, BATTLE &
BOOTH, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellant. Marcell Solomon,
MARCELL SOLOMON & ASSOCIATES, P.C., Greenbelt, Mary-
land, for Appellee.

_________________________________________________________________

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See
Local Rule 36(c).

_________________________________________________________________

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

In this interlocutory appeal, Alphonso Harrison and Sean Sullivan,
police officers for the town of Berwyn Heights, Maryland, appeal the
district court's denial of their motion for summary judgment in a civil
action filed by Jay Monterose. Monterose's complaint against Harri-
son, Sullivan, other public officials, and the town of Berwyn Heights,
stemmed from his arrest following a traffic stop. It alleged various
state and federal claims, including unlawful arrest and excessive
force. See 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983 (West 1994 & Supp. 1999). The dis-
trict court granted summary judgment to all of the defendants but offi-
cers Harrison and Sullivan. The court concluded that there were
genuine issues of material fact that precluded summary judgment in
favor of the police officers based upon qualified immunity. Having

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previously granted the parties' motion to submit this appeal on the
briefs, we have reviewed the parties' submissions and dismiss the
appeal for lack of jurisdiction.

A district court's interlocutory order denying a defendant's motion
for summary judgment is an appealable collateral order when the
defendant is a public official asserting a qualified immunity defense
and "the issue appealed concern[s], not which facts the parties might
be able to prove, but, rather, whether or not certain given facts
showed a violation of `clearly established' law." Johnson v. Jones,
515 U.S. 304, 311 (1995). Thus, a court's order denying a qualified
immunity defense at summary judgment is appealable if the defen-
dants claim "there was no violation of clearly established law accept-
ing the facts as the district court viewed them." See Winfield v. Bass,
106 F.3d 525, 530 (4th Cir. 1997). However, we have no jurisdiction
over an appeal that requires an assessment of whether or not certain
conduct occurred. See id. We conclude that this is such an appeal and
dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.

DISMISSED

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