Court Opinion

ID: 2963857
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2015-09-21 21:16:19.246159+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:10:41.848179
License: Public Domain

USCA1 Opinion

	

        February 9, 1996        [NOT FOR PUBLICATION]

                            UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT

                           

                                 ____________________

        No. 95-1693

                                  RICHARD O. BROWN,

                                Plaintiff, Appellant,

                                          v.

                              TOWN OF WEYMOUTH, ET AL.,

                                Defendants, Appellees.

                                 ____________________

                     APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

                          FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

                      [Reginald C. Lindsay, U.S. District Judge]

                                 ____________________

                                        Before

                                 Selya, Cyr and Lynch,
                                   Circuit Judges.
                                   ______________

                                 ____________________

            Alexander M. Esteves on brief for appellant.
            ____________________
            Douglas I. Louison, Stephen C.  Pfaff  and Merrick  and Louison on
            __________________  _________________      ____________________
        brief for appellees.

                                 ____________________

                                 ____________________

                      Per  Curiam.  In this  suit under 42  U.S.C.   1983
                      ___________

            alleging use  of  excessive force,1  plaintiff Richard  Brown
                                              1

            appeals from  the grant  of summary judgment  for defendants,

            Officer James Bowen  and Captain James  Thomas, and from  the

            denial of his motion  for relief from judgment under  Fed. R.

            Civ. P. 60(b).  We affirm for the following reasons.

                      1.   We  have no  doubt that  summary  judgment was

            proper in  this case,  regardless whether the  district court

            misconstrued Brown's  purpose in stating that  his arrest had

            occurred  "without  incident,"   and  despite  the   parties'

            disagreement on  the  question  whether  Brown  had  resisted

            arrest.   Even  if  it were  undisputed  that Brown  had  not
                                         __________                   ___

            resisted  arrest, Bowen  would have  been justified  in using

            some physical  force to  effect Brown's  arrest.   The police

            report,  which both  parties  submitted in  support of  their

            positions at  summary  judgment, indicated  that Bowen  knew,

            when  he  arrested  Brown,  that  Brown  had  just  assaulted

            Elizabeth Gordon while on bail for a different crime and that

            Brown  was  intoxicated.   In  addition, Brown  had  fled the

            premises, knowing that  Bowen was a police officer  who would

            have  had  cause  to arrest  him  for  that  assault.   Bowen

            therefore had the clear right to use necessary physical force

            in arresting Brown.  See Graham v. Connor, 490  U.S. 386, 396
                                 ___ ______    ______

                                
            ____________________

               1Bowen asserted  other  claims as  well,  but he  has  not
               1
            appealed the dismissal of those claims.

                                         -2-

            (1989); Dean v.  City of  Worcester, 924 F.2d  364, 368  (1st
                    ____     __________________

            Cir. 1991).

                      The critical question  before the court, therefore,

            concerned the  nature and degree of force  used by Bowen.  In

            his affidavit  in support  of summary judgment,  Bowen denied

            forcing Brown's arm up  over his head or forcing his  arm and

            shoulder  into an  anatomically wrong  position.   Given that

            affidavit,  the  contrary  allegations  in the  complaint  no

            longer sufficed to establish a genuine issue as to the degree

            of  force used  by  Bowen.   Brown  was required  to  present

            "definite,  competent evidence" that Bowen had used excessive

            force in order  to rebut  the summary judgment  motion.   See
                                                                      ___

            Mesnick  v. General Electric Co., 950 F.2d 816, 822 (1st Cir.
            _______     ____________________

            1991), cert. denied, 504 U.S. 985 (1992).  That is, he had to
                   ____________

            submit "significantly  probative" evidence, not  simply "some

            evidence" that Bowen had used excessive force.  See Frohmader
                                                            ___ _________

            v. Wayne, 958 F.2d 1024, 1028-29 (10th Cir. 1992).
               _____

                      Brown failed to submit any affidavit describing the

            nature and amount of  force used by Bowen  in support of  his

            opposition to summary judgment.  He submitted medical records

            reflecting  Brown's treatment  at  South  Shore Hospital  the

            night of the arrest.   Evidence of injury suffered  during an

            arrest  is  relevant  in  determining  whether the  arresting

            officer  used excessive or reasonable force.   See Wardlaw v.
                                                           ___ _______

            Pickett,  1 F.3d  1297, 1304  & n.7  (D.C. Cir.  1993), cert.
            _______                                                 _____

                                         -3-

            denied,  114 S. Ct. 2672 (1994).  Here, however, the hospital
            ______

            records showed  only muscle tenderness and  strain in Brown's

            right  shoulder.   Those are  relatively mild  injuries which

            could have  been completely consistent with  a reasonable use
                                                           __________

            of  force  by Bowen.   Thus,  the  hospital records  were not

            sufficiently probative  and created  no trialworthy  issue of

            fact on the  question whether Bowen had used excessive force.

            See Foster  v. Metropolitan  Airports Comm'n, 914  F.2d 1076,
            ___ ______     _____________________________

            1082 &  n.5 (8th  Cir. 1990)  (summary  judgment granted  for

            police officer in part because the medical records reportedly

            showed  only that  the plaintiff  had suffered  mild shoulder

            strain); cf. Dean,  supra, 924 F.2d at  369 (summary judgment
                     ___ ____   _____

            granted for  police officer  in part because  the plaintiff's

            minor  physical injuries  -- cuts,  scratches and  bruises --

            were  insufficient  to  support  an   inference  that  police

            officers had used inordinate  force in arresting plaintiff). 

                      We  have considered  Brown's other claims  of error

            relating  to  the grant  of summary  judgment, but  find them

            meritless.  

                      2.  The district  court properly denied relief from

            judgment under Fed. R.  Civ. P. 60(b).  As  defendants argue,

            Brown and his counsel could have obtained the medical records

            from Massachusetts  General Hospital  in a timely  fashion if

            they had exercised due diligence.  Brown obviously knew those

                                         -4-

            records existed before he retained counsel, but he apparently

            never told  counsel about  them until after  summary judgment

            had been  granted.   Counsel filed  an amended  complaint and

            Brown's  opposition  to summary  judgment  on  the same  day.

            Because  the amended  complaint asserted  that Brown  had had

            shoulder surgery -- a medical procedure not documented in the
                                                    ___

            South  Shore  Hospital  records submitted  in  opposition  to

            summary  judgment, counsel had  reason to  know at  that time

            that  different  records  reflecting  the  surgery must  have

            existed.  He  apparently never asked  his client about  them,

            and he  made no  effort to  obtain them  until nearly  a year

            later, by which time the court had granted summary judgment.

                      3.    Because summary  judgment  for  Bowen on  the

            excessive  force  claim  was   proper,  the  court  correctly

            dismissed the  claim against  Thomas, which had  asserted the

            failure to stop  or report Bowen's  alleged use of  excessive

            force.  See Hinton v. City of Elwood, 997 F.2d 774, 783 (10th
                    ___ ______    ______________

            Cir. 1993).

                      Affirmed.  See Loc. R. 27.1.
                      ____________________________

                                         -5-