Carlisle Ex Rel. Scott v. City of Minneapolis

437 N.W.2d 712, 1989 Minn. App. LEXIS 350, 1989 WL 26854
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedMarch 28, 1989
DocketC1-88-1997
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 437 N.W.2d 712 (Carlisle Ex Rel. Scott v. City of Minneapolis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carlisle Ex Rel. Scott v. City of Minneapolis, 437 N.W.2d 712, 1989 Minn. App. LEXIS 350, 1989 WL 26854 (Mich. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinions

OPINION

NORTON, Judge.

This is an appeal from the granting of partial summary judgment in favor of respondents City of Minneapolis, et al. Appellant Patricia Carlisle, as trustee for the heirs and next-of-kin of Sal Saran Scott, brought a claim pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The trial court found no just reason to delay Carlisle’s appeal on this issue. See Minn.R.Civ.P. 54.02. The three remaining counts of Carlisle’s complaint alleging common law negligence are still pending in Hennepin County.

Carlisle also appeals two orders in which the trial court denied her request for copies of reports of the Minneapolis Police Department Internal Affairs Department regarding the shooting of Sal Scott. We affirm.

FACTS

Sal Saran Scott was killed on September 21, 1984 by officers of the Minneapolis Police Department Decoy Unit. The officers were in the process of arresting Scott for robbing an unarmed undercover police officer. Scott received a contact gunshot wound to the back of his head from a 12-gauge double barreled shotgun, and died instantly.

During the early morning hours of September 21, 1984, Sergeant David Niebur, [714]*714with officers William James, William Hinz, Bruce Johnson and Kenneth Olson, were working a decoy operation for the street crimes decoy unit. Hinz portrayed an unconscious intoxicated driver in a car parked at an odd angle over the curb. Niebur and James were in a surveillance van across the street from Hinz. Olson and Johnson were stationed one block away, out of visual contact with the decoy scene.

Shortly after the decoy was set up, Sal Scott approached Hinz’ vehicle. Scott asked Hinz if he was okay and Hinz did not respond. Scott opened the door, leaned in, began pushing Hinz and talking to him. Scott removed Hinz’ billfold and put the contents into his pocket. Scott then took a ring off Hinz’ finger. After the money was taken from Hinz, Hinz gave a signal, by a steady pushing of the brake lights on his vehicle, to Niebur and James that a crime had been committed.

After Hinz became more responsive, Scott lifted or pulled Hinz from the car. As he was pulled from the car, Hinz fell to the ground toward the rear end of the vehicle. Falling to the ground was a signal to the other officers that Hinz believed he was in danger.

Scott pulled Hinz back to his feet and pushed him against the car. James ran from the van to the decoy vehicle when he saw the second signal. James was carrying a double barreled shotgun at this time. Hinz stated that he heard James yell that he was a police officer, and glanced toward the direction of the voice, and noted that James was running toward him. Hinz stated that Scott, while still pushing him partially over the roof of the car, suddenly spun to his right, away from Hinz and toward James. Hinz then heard a muffled sound of the shotgun discharging.

Niebur, on the other hand, stated in his statement to the police and in his affidavit that James was momentarily distracted by Hinz moving on the ground. At the moment James turned his attention to Hinz, Scott suddenly spun and lunged at James. When Scott lunged at James, the muzzle of the shotgun, being held in a port arms position, impacted with the left side of Scott's head causing the gun to discharge in an upward direction.

The photographs of the scene show Scott lying on his back perpendicular to the car with his feet at the base of the car. The autopsy and homicide reports indicate an entrance wound on the left side of Scott’s head at his ear, and suggest there was a cut under the ear. The medical examiner’s report also notes blood spattering and cuts from skull fragments on the back of Scott’s hands.

In answering questions before a task force on the police decoy unit, Niebur stated that the police decoy unit had been charged with excessive force on prior occasions. Niebur additionally said that the police decoy unit was underfunded; suffered from a lack of training; and was not sufficiently supervised by his superior officers, leaving him in charge of the unit.

The trial court granted partial summary judgment for respondents on Carlisle’s claim brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The court found that the allegations and the totality of the circumstances surrounding the arrest and death of Scott did not comprise sufficient evidence to support a reasonable inference of anything more than mere negligence on the part of the city, its police department, or individual police officers. Appellant argues that all of the evidence submitted including the photographs, autopsy report, toxicologist and medical examiner reports, together with the prior inconsistent statements of the officers, created a genuine issue of fact as to the events of the evening.

ISSUES

I. Are respondents entitled to summary judgment on appellant’s 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim?

II. Did the trial court err in denying appellant’s discovery request?

ANALYSIS

I.

Minn.R.Civ.P. 56.03 states that summary judgment shall be rendered if “the plead[715]*715ings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that either party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.”

Minn.R.Civ.P. 56.05 requires that supporting and opposing affidavits be made “on personal knowledge, shall set forth such facts as would be admissible in evidence, and shall affirmatively show that the affiant is competent to testify to the matters stated therein.” In these opposing affidavits, a party must present specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial. Id.

The United States Supreme Court has stated that the plain language of Rule 56 mandates the entry of summary judgment,

after adequate time for discovery and upon motion, against the party who fails to make a sufficient showing to establish the existence of an element essential to that party’s case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial. In such a situation, there can be “no genuine issue as to any material fact,” since a complete failure of proof concerning an essential element of the nonmov-ing parly’s case necessarily renders all other facts immaterial.

Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552-53, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).

The supreme court does not mean to say “that the nonmoving party must produce evidence in a form that would be admissible at trial in order to avoid summary judgment.” Id. at 324, 106 S.Ct. at 2553. Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(e) [Minn.R.Civ.P. 56.05] only requires summary judgment to be opposed by any of the kinds of evidentiary materials listed in Rule 56(c) [56.03], except the mere pleadings themselves. Id.

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Carlisle Ex Rel. Scott v. City of Minneapolis
437 N.W.2d 712 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1989)

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Bluebook (online)
437 N.W.2d 712, 1989 Minn. App. LEXIS 350, 1989 WL 26854, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carlisle-ex-rel-scott-v-city-of-minneapolis-minnctapp-1989.