Court Opinion

ID: 9390243
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-04-27 14:00:34.295112+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:18:33.142269
License: Public Domain

22-582
     Richardson v. McMahon

                             UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                 FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT

                                      SUMMARY ORDER
RULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT. CITATION TO A SUMMARY
ORDER FILED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2007, IS PERMITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY FEDERAL RULE OF
APPELLATE PROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT’S LOCAL RULE 32.1.1. WHEN CITING A SUMMARY ORDER
IN A DOCUMENT FILED WITH THIS COURT, A PARTY MUST CITE EITHER THE FEDERAL APPENDIX OR AN
ELECTRONIC DATABASE (WITH THE NOTATION “SUMMARY ORDER”). A PARTY CITING A SUMMARY
ORDER MUST SERVE A COPY OF IT ON ANY PARTY NOT REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL.

 1                 At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit,
 2   held at the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, in the City of
 3   New York, on the 27th day of April, two thousand twenty-three.
 4
 5   PRESENT:
 6               GUIDO CALABRESI,
 7               MICHAEL H. PARK,
 8               EUNICE C. LEE,
 9                     Circuit Judges.
10   _____________________________________
11
12   Jewu Richardson,
13
14                            Plaintiff-Appellant,
15
16                    v.                                                   22-582
17
18   James McMahon, City of Waterbury,
19   Edward Mills, Juan Rivera,
20                      Defendants-Appellees. *
21   _____________________________________
22
23   FOR PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT:                                              ALEXANDER T. TAUBES, New
24                                                                         Haven, CT.
25
26   FOR DEFENDANTS-APPELLEES:                                             JOSEPH A. MENGACCI (Daniel
27                                                                         J. Foster, on the brief), City
28                                                                         of Waterbury, Office of the
29                                                                         Corporation Counsel,
30                                                                         Waterbury, CT.

             *
                 The Clerk is respectfully directed to amend the caption accordingly.
 1           Appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut

 2   (Hall, J.).

 3           UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND

 4   DECREED that the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.

 5           Plaintiff-Appellant Jewu Richardson appeals from the district court’s grant of Defendants-

 6   Appellees’ motion for summary judgment.          Richardson brought false-arrest and malicious-

 7   prosecution claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and Connecticut law against the City of Waterbury

 8   (the “City”) and three Waterbury Police Department officers (James McMahon, Juan Rivera, and

 9   Edward Mills) (collectively, “Defendants”). The district court granted Defendants’ motion for

10   summary judgment, concluding that (1) Richardson’s federal claims for false arrest and malicious

11   prosecution are barred by qualified immunity, and (2) Richardson’s claims against the City fail

12   because they are contingent on the federal claims. Richardson challenges both aspects of the

13   district court’s ruling. We assume the parties’ familiarity with the underlying facts, the procedural

14   history of the case, and the issues on appeal.

15           “We review de novo a district court’s decision to grant summary judgment, construing the

16   evidence in the light most favorable to the party against whom summary judgment was granted

17   and drawing all reasonable inferences in that party’s favor.” Bey v. City of New York, 999 F.3d

18   157, 164 (2d Cir. 2021).

19   I.      Qualified Immunity

20           The district court correctly granted summary judgment on Richardson’s false-arrest and

21   malicious-prosecution claims based on qualified immunity. Qualified immunity “shields police

                                                      2
 1   officers acting in their official capacity from suits for damages unless their actions violate clearly-

 2   established rights of which an objectively reasonable official would have known.” McKinney v.

 3   City of Middletown, 49 F.4th 730, 738 (2d Cir. 2022) (quoting Jones v. Parmley, 465 F.3d 46, 55

 4   (2d Cir. 2006) (ellipses omitted)). “When a defendant moves for summary judgment based on

 5   qualified immunity,” we apply a two-prong test: (1) “whether the facts shown make out a violation

 6   of a constitutional right,” and (2) “whether the right at issue was clearly established at the time of

 7   [the] defendant’s alleged misconduct.” Id. (cleaned up). We may address the prongs in either

 8   order. See Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223, 236 (2009). A right is “clearly established” if the

 9   “contours of the right [are] sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what

10   he is doing violates that right.” Taravella v. Town of Wolcott, 599 F.3d 129, 133 (2d Cir. 2010).

11          “Probable cause is a complete defense to a constitutional claim of false arrest . . . [a]nd

12   continuing probable cause is a complete defense to . . . malicious prosecution.”              Betts v.

13   Shearman, 751 F.3d 78, 82 (2d Cir. 2014). In the false-arrest and malicious-prosecution contexts,

14   “qualified immunity protects an officer if he had arguable probable cause to arrest the plaintiff.”

15   Myers v. Patterson, 819 F.3d 625, 632 (2d Cir. 2016) (internal quotation marks and citation

16   omitted); see Betts, 751 F.3d at 82–83. “Arguable probable cause exists if either (a) it was

17   objectively reasonable for the officer to believe that probable cause existed, or (b) officers of

18   reasonable competence could disagree on whether the probable cause test was met.” Myers, 819

19   F.3d at 633 (citation omitted).

20          The district court correctly determined the individual Defendants had arguable probable

21   cause to arrest and prosecute Richardson. Based on several undisputed facts, an “officer of

22   reasonable competence” in McMahon’s and Rivera’s positions “could have made the same choice”

                                                       3
 1   to arrest Richardson. Id. (citation omitted). The officers received statements from Candice

 2   Binns and her daughter (an alleged eyewitness) suggesting that Richardson assaulted Binns.

 3   Richardson presents no evidence beyond speculation that the two statements were coordinated. It

 4   is undisputed that Rivera observed that “Binns appeared disheveled”; “her face, neck and shirt

 5   were a little wet”; McMahon “noticed the floor [of Binns’s apartment] was wet”; and Binns “was

 6   cleaning up before Officers McMahon and Rivera arrived as there was stuff in the trash.” Plaintiff

 7   Jewu Richardson’s Local Rule 56(A) Statement of Facts in Opposition to Summary Judgment at

 8   10, Richardson v. City of Waterbury, 19-cv-707 (D. Conn. Sept. 3, 2021), ECF 54-2 (“Rule 56

 9   Statement”). Moreover, in his Rule 56 Statement, Richardson did not dispute that “Binns may

10   have stated . . . to McMahon” that Richardson “began to yell at her[,] pushed her around the

11   kitchen,” and “pushed her against the sink, put his hands on her throat and began to choke her,

12   turned on the sink and was pouring water on her face.” Id. at 7. Under the circumstances, it was

13   “objectively reasonable” for McMahon and Rivera to believe probable cause existed to arrest

14   Richardson for assault. Myers, 819 F.3d at 633. So Defendants had arguable probable cause to

15   arrest Richardson.

16          The same holds true for Richardson’s malicious-prosecution claim. Arguable probable

17   cause to charge exists when “even with distance and new information, it was not manifestly

18   unreasonable . . . to charge.” Lowth v. Town of Cheektowaga, 82 F.3d 563, 572 (2d Cir. 1996).

19   Although Richardson provided a post-arrest sworn statement to Mills suggesting Binns and her

20   daughter lied, Binns also provided a post-arrest statement that conflicted with Richardson’s

21   statement. Moreover, as the district court found, following Richardson’s arrest, the police “did

22   not uncover any further exculpatory evidence beyond” Richardson’s own statement. App’x at

                                                     4
 1   JA82. So we are not persuaded that this new evidence rendered the individual Defendants’

 2   charging decision “manifestly unreasonable” under the circumstances. Lowth, 82 F.3d at 572.

 3   Defendants thus had arguable probable cause to charge Richardson, so they are entitled to qualified

 4   immunity.

 5          The individual Defendants did not waive qualified immunity when they testified at

 6   Richardson’s criminal trial. Richardson failed to raise this argument below, so we deem it

 7   forfeited on appeal. See United States v. Graham, 51 F.4th 67, 79–80 (2d Cir. 2022). In any

 8   event, Richardson’s invocation of Ricciuti v. N.Y.C. Transit Authority, 124 F.3d 123 (2d Cir. 1997),

 9   is misguided. In that case, the court found a genuine issue of material fact as to whether a

10   defendant officer “knowingly fabricated and distributed a false confession to prosecutors” when

11   he “heard the content of the document in question, knew that [the plaintiff] had not made the

12   statements attributed to him and nonetheless forwarded the statement to the prosecutor’s office.”

13   Id. at 129. We held that “[w]hen a police officer creates false information likely to influence a

14   jury’s decision and forwards that information to prosecutors, he violates the accused’s

15   constitutional right to a fair trial.” Id. at 130. Here, Richardson does not raise a fabrication-of-

16   evidence or fair-trial claim, and we are not persuaded by his contention that the officers provided

17   false testimony at his criminal trial. Richardson points to minor inconsistencies between the

18   officers’ and Binns’s trial testimony and the officers’ alleged lack of investigative rigor. This

19   falls well short of the compelling evidence of false testimony in Ricciuti and does not create a

                                                      5
 1   genuine dispute of material fact as to the existence of arguable probable cause. So we hold that

 2   the district court correctly found that the individual Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity.

 3   II.    Municipal Claims

 4          The district court correctly granted summary judgment on the state-law claims against the

5    City. Richardson’s arguments to the contrary are unavailing. Under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-

 6   557n(a)(1)(A), “a political subdivision of the state shall be liable for . . . [t]he negligent acts or

7    omissions of . . . any employee, officer or agent thereof acting within the scope of his employment

 8   or official duties.” But there is a malice exception to § 52-557n’s waiver of municipal immunity.

9    Under the malice exception, a “political subdivision of the state shall not be liable” for “[a]cts or

10   omissions of any employee, officer or agent which constitute[s] . . . malice.”             Id. § 52-

11   557n(a)(2)(A) (emphasis added). So if we were to find that the individual Defendants acted with

12   malice by, for example, arresting Richardson without probable cause, the City would not be liable.

13          Moreover, in the absence of malice, all that Richardson alleges would fall under § 52-

14   557n(a)(2)(B), which provides another exception to § 52-557n’s waiver of municipal immunity

15   for “negligent acts or omissions which require the exercise of judgment or discretion as an official

16   function.” Id. § 52-557n(a)(2)(B).

17                                               *     *    *

18          We have considered all of Richardson’s remaining arguments and find them to be without

19   merit. For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.

20                                                   FOR THE COURT:
21                                                   Catherine O’Hagan Wolfe, Clerk of Court
22

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