Barrese v. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department

CourtDistrict Court, D. Nevada
DecidedAugust 10, 2020
Docket2:18-cv-01671
StatusUnknown

This text of Barrese v. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (Barrese v. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nevada primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barrese v. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, (D. Nev. 2020).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 6 * * *

7 JOSEPH BARRESE, Case No. 2:18-cv-1671-KJD-DJY

8 Plaintiff, ORDER

9 v.

10 LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT, et al., 11 Defendants. 12 In the middle of the night on September 4, 2016, plaintiff, Joseph Barrese, was attacked 13 and strangled by a fellow inmate at the Clark County Detention Center. At the time, Barrese was 14 serving a 120-day sentence after pleading guilty to stealing a scooter. Though the attack did not 15 kill Barrese, it left him with physical and emotional injuries. Barrese filed this suit against the 16 Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (“Metro”), Deputy Chief Richard Suey, and 17 Corrections Officer Kevin Gale to recover damages related to the attack. Barrese’s claims against 18 Metro and the individual officers break down into two groups: federal claims under 28 U.S.C. 19 § 1983 and state law negligence claims. The three defendants now move for summary judgment 20 on each of Barrese’s claims (ECF No. 17). Barrese has responded in partial opposition (ECF No. 21 20), and the three defendants replied (ECF No. 22). 22 I. Background 23 On July 28, 2016, Joseph Barrese pleaded guilty to one count of attempted grand larceny 24 auto after trying to steal a motorized scooter. See Plea Agreement and Information, ECF No. 21- 25 5. Barrese received a 120-day sentence with credit for 21 days already served. P.’s Resp. 4, ECF 26 No. 20. Barrese was assigned to the Clark County Detention Center to serve his sentence. During 27 that time, Barrese was housed in CCDC’s South Tower, Module 3P, a dormitory-style housing 28 1 unit. Id. Unlike other housing units in CCDC, there were no cells in Barrese’s module, and the 2 inmates were afforded more liberty to move around the facility. 3 Non-party Franklin Sharp also lived in Barrese’s module. Sharp was awaiting trial on 4 charges of robbery with a deadly weapon. Allegedly, Sharp approached his victim near a bus 5 stop, brandished a fixed-blade knife, and forced the victim to “beg for [his] life” while stealing 6 the victim’s phone. Police Report 2–3, ECF No. 21-6 (internal quotations omitted). Sharp’s 7 robbery charge was the latest in his long and diverse criminal history. To that point, Sharp had 8 been convicted of ten felonies and twenty-seven misdemeanors. Sharp Pre-Trial Information 9 Sheet, ECF No. 21-7. 10 Despite the differing severity of Barrese and Sharp’s charges (scooter theft versus armed 11 robbery) and the variance in their criminal histories, the two were housed in the same dormitory- 12 style module. Just after 1:00 a.m. on September 4, 2016, Sharp left his bed, unraveled a piece of 13 his bedsheet, approached a sleeping Barrese, and used the bedsheet to strangle Barrese. Arrest 14 Report 2, ECF No. 21-3. While strangling Barrese, Sharp uttered “die motherfucker” repeatedly 15 until Corrections Officer Kevin Gale stopped the assault. Id. The attack left Barrese with 16 physical and psychological injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, and insomnia. See P. Med. 17 Records, ECF No. 21-8. 18 Barrese brought this case in September of 2018 to recover damages related to Sharp’s 19 attack. Barrese chose not to sue Sharp for the attack. Instead, he brought federal and state claims 20 against the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, who operates the Clark County 21 Detention Center, Corrections Officer Kevin Gale, who intervened in Sharp’s attack, and Deputy 22 Chief Richard Suey, who oversees the Detention Services Division of the detention center. The 23 three defendants now move for summary judgment on each of Barrese’s claims. 24 II. Legal Standard 25 The purpose of summary judgment is to isolate and dispose of factually unsupported 26 claims or defenses. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323–24 (1986). It is available only 27 where the absence of material fact allows the Court to rule as a matter of law. Fed. R. Civ. P. 28 56(a); Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322. Rule 56 outlines a burden shifting approach to summary 1 judgment. First, the moving party must demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material 2 fact. The burden then shifts to the nonmoving party to produce specific evidence of a genuine 3 factual dispute for trial. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587 4 (1986). A genuine issue of fact exists where the evidence could allow “a reasonable jury [to] 5 return a verdict for the nonmoving party.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248 6 (1986). The Court views the evidence and draws all available inferences in the light most 7 favorable to the nonmoving party. Kaiser Cement Corp. v. Fischbach & Moore, Inc., 793 F.2d 8 1100, 1103 (9th Cir. 1986). Yet, to survive summary judgment, the nonmoving party must show 9 more than “some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts.” Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 586. 10 III. Discussion 11 Barrese’s claims break down into two groups: six civil rights claims under 42 U.S.C. 12 § 1983 and one state-based negligence claim. Barrese’s federal claims are: (1) an Eighth 13 Amendment failure-to-protect claim against each defendant, arising out of Sharp’s attack; (2) a 14 Fourth Amendment over-detention claim against each defendant; (3) a Fourth Amendment false 15 imprisonment claim; (4) a municipal liability claim under Monell v. Dept. of Soc. Sec. Svcs., 16 436 U.S. 658 (1978); (5) a failure-to-train claim against each defendant under § 1983; and (6) a 17 claim for mental or emotional suffering against each defendant under § 1983. Barrese’s lone 18 state claim is for negligence against each defendant. The parties agree that Barrese’s sixth claim 19 for mental or emotional suffering is not a cognizable claim under § 1983. See P.’s Resp. 13 n.8, 20 ECF No. 20. Accordingly, the Court grants summary judgment on that claim. The Court will 21 evaluate each of Barrese’s other claims below. 22 A. Barrese’s Federal Claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 23 Title 42 U.S.C. § 1983 allows plaintiffs to bring civil rights claims against any individual 24 or agency who deprives them of their civil rights. Section 1983 does not create rights on its own. 25 It is merely a vehicle for a plaintiff to vindicate rights conferred elsewhere. Baker v. McCollan, 26 443 U.S. 137, 144 n.3 (1979). Because the statute itself does not confer additional rights, the 27 plaintiff must first identify the source of the allegedly infringed civil right. Once it does, the 28 plaintiff must demonstrate (1) that the infringing person or agency acted under the color of state 1 law and (2) that their conduct deprived the plaintiff of some right guaranteed by the Constitution 2 or laws of the United States. It is undisputed that Metro and Officers Gale and Suey acted under 3 color of state law. The parties dispute whether any of the three defendants deprived Barrese of 4 his civil rights. The Court turns first to Barrese’s Eighth Amendment claim. 5 1.

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Barrese v. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barrese-v-las-vegas-metropolitan-police-department-nvd-2020.