Court Opinion

ID: 9617093
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:51:55.33497+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:04:05.613260
License: Public Domain

WOOD, Chief Judge (dissenting). I agree with Judge Sutin that the only issue is the propriety of the summary judgment in favor of defendants on the false imprisonment claim; the false arrest and kidnapping claims have been abandoned. I also agree with Judge Sutin that defendants made a prima facie showing that it had reasonable cause to escort the plaintiffs through the clearance procedure as it did and that, in light of that showing, the issue is whether plaintiffs made a showing of a factual question sufficient to defeat summary judgment. Plaintiffs’ claim as to a factual question is limited. They state: “Since the Plaintiffs ... deny that they disrupted work activities on the morning of June 28, 1977, or that they threatened sabotage of the facility, the issue of reasonable cause is in conflict.” This contention is based on the statement in Stienbaugh v. Payless Drug Store, Inc., 75 N.M. 118, 401 P.2d 104 (1965): “The denial of the appellees placed the evidence as to probable or reasonable cause in conflict.” The opinions of Judges Lopez and Sutin, at least sub silentio rely on this statement in Stienbaugh. How does the denial of plaintiffs raise a factual question as to the reasonableness of defendants’ belief? A police officer, answering a silent burglar alarm in a closed building and seeing a person emerge from that building, has reasonable grounds to detain that person in connection with a possible burglary. The person’s denial of the burglary raises no issue as the the reasonableness of the officer’s belief. Similarly, defendants’ information about implied threats and disruptive activities by members of plaintiffs’ group, information about the harassment of employees who refused to go along with the time card scheme, and the work disruption known to defendants are the facts pertinent to the reasonableness of defendants’ belief. The fact that plaintiffs denied that they disrupted work and denied that they threatened sabotage raises no issue as to the reasonableness of defendants’ belief. The issue is not whether defendants’ belief was true, but whether the belief was reasonable. The above-quoted statement from Stienbaugh, supra, should not be applied literally. Inasmuch as the only claim of plaintiffs as to a factual question is incorrect, I would affirm the summary judgment.