Estate of Phillips v. City of Milwaukee

928 F. Supp. 817, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11181, 1996 WL 284876
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedApril 24, 1996
Docket94-C-0999
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 928 F. Supp. 817 (Estate of Phillips v. City of Milwaukee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Estate of Phillips v. City of Milwaukee, 928 F. Supp. 817, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11181, 1996 WL 284876 (E.D. Wis. 1996).

Opinion

DECISION AND ORDER

WARREN, Senior District Judge.

Before the Court is Plaintiff’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment and Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment. On November 1, 1995, the Estate of James Phillips, III and Raye M. Phillips filed a Motion for Partial Summary Judgment. On November 15, 1995, the City of Milwaukee, Police Chief Philip Arreola, and Milwaukee Police Officers Theodore Busch, Robert Duarte, Dennis Hintz and Mary Riley, filed a Motion for Summary Judgment. For the reasons that follow, the Court concludes that Milwaukee Police Officers Busch, Duarte, Hintz and Riley are entitled to dismissal from suit under the doctrine of qualified immunity and that plaintiff has failed to establish a deprivation of a constitutional right or a policy or custom to support the theory that the City of Milwaukee and its Police Chief may be held hable in this cause of action. Therefore, the Court denies plaintiffs Motion and grants defendants’ Motion.

I. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND AND FINDINGS OF FACT

This lawsuit results from events that occurred at the Ambassador Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on May 6, 1993. By way of brief background, on May 6,1993, Milwaukee Police Officers were called to the Ambassador Hotel in order to remove Mr. James Phillips, III, who had been asked to leave the hotel but had reentered his room. The police officers attempted to engage Mr. Phillips in conversation but he was noncommunicative and clenched two pens in his hands. The officers attempted to remove the pens from Mr. Phillips but he resisted and the police officers brought Mr. Phillips to the ground, handcuffed him behind his back and determined that he should be transported to the *822 Milwaukee County Medical Complex for medical observation. While Mr. Phillips was on the floor, hand-cuffed and face-down, he stopped breathing. The police officers attempted to perform emergency rescue procedures and when ambulance personnel arrived on the scene they continued with the emergency procedures and transported Mr. Phillips to Sinai Samaritan Hospital. Mr. Phillips died the next day.

Mrs. Phillips, as special administratrix of the estate of James Phillips, her son, and on her own behalf, brought suit against the City of Milwaukee, a municipality, Police Chief Philip Arreola, and Police Officers Theodore Busch, Robert Duarte, Dennis Hintz and Mary Riley. Mrs. Phillips also named in her complaint as defendants, James Rice and Harold Ray Schmidt. Mrs. Phillips brought a civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 charging the police officers with misconduct in handcuffing Mr. Phillips and leaving him face down, without adequate supervision, and argues this misconduct was deliberate, intentional, malicious, willful and wanton and violated Mr. Phillips’ rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Furthermore, the Complaint argues that Police Chief Arreola did not provide the police officers adequate training and supervision which reflected a reckless disregard and/or deliberate indifference toward Mb'. Phillips. Finally, Mrs. Phillips brings pendent state law claims charging wrongful death, battery and a survival action.

On November 1, 1995, the plaintiff filed a Motion for Partial Summary Judgment contending that the policies and procedures implemented by the City of Milwaukee and Police Chief Arreola regarding restraining and transporting of individuals constituted unconstitutional municipal policies as a matter of law, and that the unconstitutional policies violated the constitutional rights of Mr. Phillips causing the deprivation of life and liberty without due process of law, cruel and unusual punishment and an unreasonable search and seizure. On November 15, 1995, the defendants’ filed a Motion for Summary Judgment arguing that the police officers are entitled to dismissal from this lawsuit under the doctrine of qualified immunity and that the plaintiff has failed to assert an actionable training and supervision claim against the City of Milwaukee and Police Chief Arreola. The defendants responded to plaintiffs Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on December 1, 1995, contending that the policies, practices and procedures of the Milwaukee Police Department, including its training of officers, are constitutionally sound and had no causal relationship to any injuries sustained by Mr. Phillips. The plaintiff requested and was granted an extension to respond to defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment, and responded on January 2, 1996. Plaintiff submitted a Reply Brief in Support of Plaintiffs Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on January 2, 1996. On January 19, 1996, the defendants filed a Reply Brief in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment. Therefore, the case is fully briefed and ready for review by this Court.

This Court has jurisdiction over this lawsuit pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1343. The Eastern District of Wisconsin is the proper venue for this cause of action because the claims arise entirely within the geographical boundaries of the Eastern District, in compliance with 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b).

The Court notes at the outset that factual disputes do not preclude summary judgment based on qualified immunity. The Court must consider factual disputes in a light most favorable to the plaintiff, the non-moving party, and decide whether, under those facts, defendants’ conduct violated law clearly established at the time. Moreover, pursuant to Local Rule 6.05(d), when the nonmoving party fails to respond to the moving party’s proposed findings of fact and fails to introduce any evidentiary material, the Court will adopt the factual findings proposed by the moving party. The nonmoving party cannot generally object to the moving party’s proposed findings of fact. Rather, the nonmoving party must specifically respond to each disputed finding of fact supported by evidentiary material. See Langenfeld v. Stoelting, Inc., 902 F.Supp. 847, 849 (E.D.Wis.1995).

The Court’s findings of fact are the following. Mr. Phillips had stayed at the Ambassador Hotel on occasion. According to Rick *823 Scott, the general manager of the Ambassador Hotel, Mr. Phillips had engaged in “strange” behavior while a resident at the hotel. For example, Mr. Phillips had placed furniture and clothing in the hallway outside of his room, stuffed his clothing in the bathtub and then proceeded to fill the bathtub with water to the point of overflowing, and threw a chair out of his hotel window. (Scott Depo. at 9-11.) Scott observed that Mr. Phillips’ personal hygiene habits were deteriorating and that his room was in a state of disarray with furniture overturned and the carpeting soaked with water irom the bathroom. (Scott Depo. at 27-28, 38.) Consequently, Scott determined that Mr. Phillips would be asked to leave the hotel. (Scott Depo. at 38.) While the record is not entirely clear, apparently, Mr. Phillips was asked to vacate his room, room 316, but returned on May 6, 1993, and unbeknownst to the hotel management, reentered his room. Mr. Scott arrived at the hotel around 9:00 a.m.

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928 F. Supp. 817, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11181, 1996 WL 284876, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/estate-of-phillips-v-city-of-milwaukee-wied-1996.