City of Phoenix v. Superior Court

885 P.2d 160, 180 Ariz. 472, 170 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 68, 1994 Ariz. App. LEXIS 159
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedAugust 4, 1994
DocketNo. 1 CA-SA 93-0327
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 885 P.2d 160 (City of Phoenix v. Superior Court) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Phoenix v. Superior Court, 885 P.2d 160, 180 Ariz. 472, 170 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 68, 1994 Ariz. App. LEXIS 159 (Ark. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

OPINION

CONTRERAS, Judge.

Petitioners City of Phoenix (“City”), certain of its police officers (“police defendants”), and Maricopa County (“County”) (collectively “defendants”) bring this special action from the Maricopa County Superior Court’s denial of their motions for partial summary judgment. The defendants contend that the trial court improperly denied their motions for summary judgment which were based on qualified immunity when it deferred certain factual issues for later jury determination. The defendants urge that such matters must be decided as a matter of law well in advance of trial. The defendants City and County also contend that they are entitled to qualified immunity because the Real Party in Interest, Michael J. Smith (“plaintiff”), failed to allege a violation of a clearly established right, or, in the alternative, that the plaintiff failed to link any constitutional injury to a policy or custom within the municipal governmental structure. This court accepted jurisdiction and stayed the proceedings in the superior court pending the issuance of this opinion. For the reasons stated below, we grant, in part, the relief requested.1

JURISDICTION

Generally, this Court declines special action jurisdiction of petitions seeking review of orders denying motions to dismiss or motions for summary judgment. United States v. Superior Court, 144 Ariz. 265, 269, 697 P.2d 658, 662 (1985); Scottsdale Publishing, Inc. v. Superior Court, 159 Ariz. 72, 74, 764 P.2d 1131, 1133 (App.1988). We acknowledge that when 42 U.S.C. section 1983 claims are brought in state courts, the state procedural rules apply only so long as they [476]*476do not obliterate the federal right. Henke v. Superior Court, 161 Ariz. 96, 99, 775 P.2d 1160, 1163 (App.1989) (citing Maine v. Thiboutot, 448 U.S. 1, 100 S.Ct. 2502, 65 L.Ed.2d 555 (1980)). It is well established in federal courts that when the plaintiff advances a claim under section 1983, the defendants may immediately appeal an order denying either a motion to dismiss or for summary judgment in which the defense of immunity has been asserted, but only if the outcome turns on a question of law. Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 527-28, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 2816, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985). Our general policy of declining to accept jurisdiction of these requests for review therefore should yield to the federal practice of allowing an immediate interlocutory appeal in section 1983 immunity claims. We agree that if governmental immunity is to protect government officials from even the possibility of a law suit, questions of immunity should be resolved at the earliest possible opportunity. This Court has, in fact, ruled that the “defendant in a section 1983 action should not be required to await final judgment in order to challenge a trial court’s adverse ruling on the issue of immunity from suit.” Henke, 161 Ariz. at 100, 775 P.2d at 1164.2 Thus, this court has jurisdiction over this claim to the extent that it presents a question of law. See, e.g., Golino v. City of New Haven, 950 F.2d 864, 868 (2d Cir.1991), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 112 S.Ct. 3032, 120 L.Ed.2d 902 (1992).

We must initially determine whether the section 1983 issues presented in this petition may be decided as a matter of law. Plaintiff argues that this Court should not accept jurisdiction because disputed factual issues remain and such issues must be decided by a jury. Plaintiff relies on Golino, 950 F.2d at 868 (“Where the [trial] court has ruled that adjudication of the immunity defense requires resolution of genuinely disputed questions of material fact, the denial of summary judgment is not immediately appealable.”), and Chamberlain v. Mathis, 151 Ariz. 551, 554, 729 P.2d 905, 908 (“If the existence of immunity turns on disputed factual issues, the jury determines the facts____”). We disagree. While these cases suggest that the disputed reasonableness of the defendants’ actions is a jury issue, both Chamberlain and Golino pre-date the United States Supreme Court’s holding in Hunter v. Bryant, 502 U.S. 224, 112 S.Ct. 534, 116 L.Ed.2d 589 (1991), where the Court made clear that the application of qualified immunity is never a jury issue. The plaintiff in Hunter brought a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 suit against two Secret Service agents contending he was arrested without probable cause or a warrant. The agents asserted qualified immunity as a defense. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the reasonableness of the agents’ conduct was an issue for the jury, but the Supreme Court disagreed, stating:

This statement of law is wrong for two reasons. First, it routinely places the question of immunity in the hands of the jury. Immunity ordinarily should be decided by the court long before trial. Second, the court should ask whether the agents acted reasonably under settled law in the circumstances, not whether another reasonable, or more reasonable, interpretation of the events can be constructed five years after the fact.

Id. at 228, 112 S.Ct. at 537 (citations omitted). Thus, the disputed factual issues surrounding the objective reasonableness of the defendants’ conduct is a question of law for the purposes of this section 1983 claim, and we may properly accept special action jurisdiction.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Victim C, a single white female, was brutally assaulted during the early morning hours of January 26, 1991, by a man who broke into her apartment located in the 13000 block of North First Place in Phoenix. The assailant demanded the PIN access number for her bank card, an act unusual in connection with a sexual assault. The victim eventually escaped through a patio door and [477]*477ran to a neighboring apartment where she called the police. The assailant pursued her briefly, but apparently returned to the apartment to remove some of her property. The victim last saw the assailant as he was fleeing on foot.

The victim described her assailant as a muscular black male, 28-34 years old, with fine features, wide eyes, and bushy eyebrows. He used profanity and was abusive. The assailant was clad in ankle length cotton type tights and soft—possibly leather—gloves. Based in part on this information, and on sightings under suspicious circumstances of a person matching the assailant’s description by several other individuals in an apartment complex at the 10000 block of North Seventh Street, the police investigation centered on plaintiff.3 Later that same afternoon, Detective Roberts of the Phoenix Police Department showed victim C six black and white photographs depicting six different individuals; victim C selected the plaintiffs photograph and identified him as her assailant. Based on this identification, the police arrested the plaintiff on the afternoon of January 26, 1991. A complaint was filed on January 29,1991, and, on February 6,1991, the grand jury returned an indictment against the plaintiff for attempted sexual assault of victim C and one count of second degree burglary of her apartment.

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Bluebook (online)
885 P.2d 160, 180 Ariz. 472, 170 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 68, 1994 Ariz. App. LEXIS 159, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-phoenix-v-superior-court-arizctapp-1994.