Butler v. Windsor

143 F. Supp. 3d 332, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 144061, 2015 WL 6449128
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedOctober 22, 2015
DocketCase No.: PWG-13-883
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 143 F. Supp. 3d 332 (Butler v. Windsor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Butler v. Windsor, 143 F. Supp. 3d 332, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 144061, 2015 WL 6449128 (D. Md. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Paul W. Grimm, United States District Judge

Plaintiff Franz Butler brought a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action, with related state law claims, against Prince George’s County, Maryland (the “County”) and County Police Officers William Windsor and Richard Reynolds, based on his arrest on June 7, 2012. Am. Compl., ECF No. 36. I granted summary judgment in the County’s favor on all but Plaintiffs claims for violations of the Maryland Declaration of Rights, Articles 24 and 26. ECF Nos. 30, 31. Further, I denied the individual defendants’ motions for summary judgment on all counts. Id. At the end of a three-day trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Windsor and against Butler on all outstanding counts, and in Butler’s favor and against Reynolds and the County on all outstanding counts. Order of Jmt., ECF No. 58. Specifically, Plaintiff was awarded $50,845.00 in compensatory damages against Reynolds and the County, as well as punitive damages against Reynolds in the amount of $100,000.00 with respect to his § 1983 claim and $50,000.00 with respect to his claims for violations of Articles 24 and 26 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights and for false arrest, false imprisonment, assault, battery, and malicious prosecution. Id.

Defendant Reynolds filed a Motion for a New Trial, “or, alternatively, remittitur of the punitive damages awards,” arguing that “the awards are grossly excessive and violate Reynolds’ due process rights guaranteed him under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” such that they “result in a miscarriage of justice.” Mot. 1, ECF No. 62; Mem. 1, 4, ECF No. 62-1.1 [335]*335Because a total award of punitive damages in the amount of $100,000.00 with respect to Plaintiffs § 1983 claim and state law claims is reasonable and does not violate Officer Reynolds’s due process rights, I will deny Defendant’s motion for a new trial as to punitive damages in that amount, but grant his motion for remitti-tur of the punitive damages awarded in excess of that amount. And, because I find that the additional punitive damages awarded on Plaintiffs state law claims are excessive under the circumstances, I will afford the Plaintiff the' opportunity to elect either to accept a total punitive damages award in the amount of $100,000.00, or to decline to accept this reduced amount, in which case I will order a new trial as to punitive damages alone.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

At the time of the June 7, 2012, incident, Butler was outside with two friends and “had a brown paper bag in his hand that was ultimately determined to contain chips and a soda.” Stip., Pre-Trial Order 4, ECF Nos. 44, 46. Based on the fact that Butler was drinking a concealed beverage, id., and, in Officer Reynolds’s experience, paper bags were used to conceal alcohol when it was illegally consumed in public, Officer Reynolds approached Plaintiff and searched him, then asked him to sit on the ground. Notably, Butler did not initiate the interaction with Officer Reynolds.

Evidence at trial showed that, when Butler did not comply immediately with the command to sit down, Reynolds, who “was bigger than [Plaintiff,] came at [him] full throttle like a football tackle” and “tackled [him] to the ground,” causing him to experience “[p]ain all over [his] back” and “all over [his] total body.” Trial Tr. 12:10-13:5, Def.’s Mem. Ex. A, ECF No. 62-2. Photographic evidence showed that one of Plaintiffs eyes was completely swollen shut from Officer Reynolds punching him in the face. According to Plaintiff, he sustained injuries including “headaches,” “contusions,” and “skin irritation ... on [his] right arm and [his] ankle” that healed in “[a]bout two months.” Trial Tr. 11:1— 10, 14:11-12, Def.’s Mem. Ex. B, ECF No. 62-3. During those two months, he “was taking Percocets and [he] was taking Motrin, 800 milligrams” for the pain, as well as “Amoxicillin for something like infection, so it wouldn’t get infected and things like that.” Id. at 11:11-16. Additionally, he testified that, when the trial occurred in July 2015, he still had a scar by his eye, “a little ache” in his foot, his “back [was] hurting,” and his “head still [was] hurting and dazed.” Id. at 61:8-62:2. Plaintiffs medical records and photographs taken immediately after his arrest indicate that he suffered a laceration to his head and face. Ft. Washington Med. Ctr. Emergency Registration, Tr. Ex. 6; Photographs, Tr. Ex. 15. Plaintiff also claimed emotional injury from “public humiliation” and having “no contact with his mother for over two months while his body healed.” Pl.’s Opp’n 6.

The jury awarded Plaintiff $50,845.00 in compensatory damages, which included $50,000.00 in non-economic damages, suggesting a finding of emotional injury. The jury also awarded punitive damages against Reynolds in the amount of $100,000.00 on Plaintiffs § 1983 claim and $50,000.00 on Plaintiffs state-law claims.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Fed. R. Civ. P. 59(a)(1)(A) governs motions for new trial following a jury trial. It provides that “[t]he court may, on motion, grant a new trial on all or some of the issues — and to any party — ... for any reason for which a new trial has heretofore been granted in an action at law in federal court.” Whether to grant a new trial “rests within the sound discretion of the [336]*336trial court but such discretion must not be arbitrarily exercised.” City of Richmond v. Atl. Co., 273 F.2d 902, 916 (4th Cir.1960); see Atkinson Warehousing & Distrib., Inc. v. Ecolab, Inc., 115 F.Supp.2d 544, 546 (D.Md.2000), aff'd, 15 Fed.Appx. 160 (4th Cir. Aug. 9, 2001). The Court must “ ’grant a new trial[ ] if ... (1) the verdict is against the clear weight of the evidence, or (2) is based upon evidence which is false, or (3) will result in a miscarriage of justice, even though there may be substantial evidence which would prevent the direction of a verdict.’ ” Knussman v. Maryland, 272 F.3d 625, 639 (4th Cir.2001) (quoting Atlas Food Sys. & Serv., Inc. v. Crane Nat’l Vendors, Inc., 99 F.3d 587, 594 (4th Cir.1996)).

The court considers the “miscarriage of justice” prong when a plaintiff challenges the amount of punitive damages awarded, because “[t]he jury’s determination of the amount of punitive damages ... is not a factual determination ... but is, rather, an almost unconstrained judgment or policy choice about the severity of the penalty to be imposed.” See Atlas Food Sys., 99 F.3d at 594. Although it is based on “the jury’s underlying factual determinations about the defendant’s con-duett,] • • • the factual record provides no direct foundation for the amount of punitive damages.” Id. Therefore, “a court cannot generally test the amount of a punitive damage award against record facts.” Id. Indeed, “policy-related elements — e.g., the likelihood that an award will deter the defendant or others from engaging in similar conduct — are ... more appropriately decided by the trial judge,” whose “unique vantage point and day-to-day experience with such matters lend expertise and consistency.” Id.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
143 F. Supp. 3d 332, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 144061, 2015 WL 6449128, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/butler-v-windsor-mdd-2015.