Arnold v. Geary

981 F. Supp. 2d 266, 2013 WL 5951489, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 159730
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedNovember 7, 2013
DocketNo. 09 Civ. 7299(GWG)
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 981 F. Supp. 2d 266 (Arnold v. Geary) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Arnold v. Geary, 981 F. Supp. 2d 266, 2013 WL 5951489, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 159730 (S.D.N.Y. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION & ORDER.

GABRIEL W. GORENSTEIN, United States Magistrate Judge.

Plaintiff Stanley Arnold brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for false arrest and malicious prosecution arising out of his arrest for trespass and possession of a controlled substance. In an earlier opinion, this Court granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment. Arnold [268]*268now moves for reconsideration of that decision. For the following reasons, Arnold’s motion is denied.

I. BACKGROUND

On July 7, 2008, Arnold was arraigned in Yonkers City Court on one count of robbery in the third degree but was released on his own recognizance nine days later. On August 13, 2008, Arnold failed to appear at a scheduled court hearing, and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. Approximately two weeks later, Officers Geary and Salierno claimed to have observed an individual enter 80 School Street in Yonkers and commit the crimes of trespass and criminal possession of a controlled substance. The officers later identified this individual as Arnold, and on September 12, 2008, they signed a “Warrant-Misdemeanor Information” charging Arnold with those crimes. Arnold v. Geary, 2013 WL 4269388, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 16, 2013) (“Arnold I ”).

That same day, Arnold went to court intending to surrender on the outstanding bench warrant for his robbery arrest. Because court was closed that day, he went to “central booking of the Yonkers Police Department,” where he was booked on both the robbery charge and the two misdemeanor charges, and was incarcerated at the Yonkers City Jail. At a court appearance held on September 13, 2008, Arnold was ordered remanded. On September 16, 2008, Arnold appeared in Yonkers City Court, where bail was set on the misdemeanor case in the amount of $1500 and his remand status on the robbery charge was continued. On March 18, 2009, Arnold was indicted on the robbery charge and remained in remand status. On April I, 2009, bail on the robbery charge was set at $25,000. On May 18, 2009, while Arnold was still in custody, both misdemeanor charges were dismissed by the District Attorney’s Office. On October 13, 2009, Arnold pled guilty to the robbery charge and was sentenced to two to four years imprisonment. Arnold I, 2013 WL 4269388, at *2.

Arnold’s suit against the officers asserts that he was never at School Street on the date that the officers claim he was there, and thus, that he was falsely arrested and maliciously prosecuted on the misdemeanor charges. Id., at *1-2. In the decision granting summary judgment, we found that Arnold could not prove his claims for malicious prosecution and false arrest because he could not demonstrate that the defendants’ alleged unconstitutional conduct in falsely charging him with the misdemeanors caused Arnold to suffer a deprivation of liberty. Id., at *7. On September 16, 2013, Arnold filed the instant motion for reconsideration.1 Arnold requests that we reconsider our grant of summary judgment because our judgment “demonstrates clear error of law for failing to apply the proper standard of proximate cause on false arrest and malicious prosecution claims under § 1983 ... and for erroneously determining that plaintiff was in custody on prior charges.” Pl. Mem. at 2.

II. LAW GOVERNING MOTIONS FOR RECONSIDERATION

While plaintiffs notice of motion states that his motion arises under Federal [269]*269Rule of Civil Procedure (“Fed. R. Civ.P.”) 59(e), we look to Local Civil Rule 6.3 and case law arising under it for the substance of the standard to be applied since the standards for a motion for reconsideration under Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(e) and Local Civil Rule 6.3 are identical. See, e.g., Regan v. Conway, 768 F.Supp.2d 401, 408 (E.D.N.Y.2011). Local Civil Rule 6.3 provides that a party moving for reconsideration must set forth “the matters or controlling decisions which counsel believes the Court has overlooked.” Thus, “[a] motion for reconsideration should be granted only where the moving party demonstrates that the Court has overlooked factual matters or controlling precedent that were presented to it on the underlying motion and that would have changed its decision.” Lent v. Fashion Mall Partners, L.P., 243 F.R.D. 97, 98 (S.D.N.Y.2007) (citations omitted). “[A] party may not advance new facts, issues or arguments not previously presented to the Court.” Davey v. Dolan, 496 F.Supp.2d 387, 389 (S.D.N.Y.2007) (citation and internal quotations marks omitted) (alteration in original). Nevertheless, reconsideration may be granted because of “an intervening change of controlling law, the availability of new evidence, or the need to correct a clear error or prevent manifest injustice.” Virgin Atl. Airways, Ltd. v. Nat’l Mediation Bd., 956 F.2d 1245, 1255 (2d Cir.) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 820, 113 S.Ct. 67, 121 L.Ed.2d 34 (1992).

Reconsideration “is an extraordinary remedy to be employed sparingly in the interests of finality and conservation of scarce judicial resources.” In re Health Mgmt. Sys., Inc. Sec. Litig., 113 F.Supp.2d 613, 614 (S.D.N.Y.2000) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). The reconsideration rule must be “narrowly construed and strictly applied so as to avoid repetitive arguments on issues that have been considered fully by the Court.” Mikol v. Barnhart, 554 F.Supp.2d 498, 500 (S.D.N.Y.2008) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). A narrow application of the rule not only “helps to ensure the finality of decisions” but also “prevenís] the practice of a losing party examining a decision and then plugging the gaps of a lost motion with additional matters.” Henderson v. Metro. Bank & Trust Co., 502 F.Supp.2d 372, 376 (S.D.N.Y.2007) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).

III. DISCUSSION

Arnold argues that the decision granting summary judgment amounted to “clear error” for two reasons. First, Arnold contends that we applied the wrong legal standard in finding that there was no genuine issue of material fact as to whether the defendants’ alleged wrongdoing was the cause of Arnold’s deprivation of liberty. PI. Mem. at 3-5. Second, Arnold argues that we erred as a matter of law in finding that Arnold suffered a deprivation of liberty when placed in police custody on the felony robbery charge, because Arnold’s liberty was not impaired until the presiding judge set the remand condition on the robbery charges. Id. at 5-6.

For any claim brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the plaintiff must establish that the defendant’s misconduct was the proximate cause of the plaintiffs injury. See, e.g., Martinez v. California, 444 U.S. 277, 285, 100 S.Ct. 553, 62 L.Ed.2d 481 (1980); Townes v. City of New York, 176 F.3d 138, 146 (2d Cir.1999); Gierlinger v. Gleason,

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Bluebook (online)
981 F. Supp. 2d 266, 2013 WL 5951489, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 159730, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arnold-v-geary-nysd-2013.