Fernandez-Salicrup v. Figueroa-Sancha

790 F.3d 312, 2015 WL 3898842
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedJune 25, 2015
Docket14-1513
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 790 F.3d 312 (Fernandez-Salicrup v. Figueroa-Sancha) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fernandez-Salicrup v. Figueroa-Sancha, 790 F.3d 312, 2015 WL 3898842 (1st Cir. 2015).

Opinion

TORRUELLA, Circuit Judge.

On October 8, 2010, Plaintiffs Brian Fer-nández-Salicrup, María Ramos-Santiago, and the Conjugal Partnership formed between them — on their own behalf and on behalf of their minor children Valerie Fer-nández-Ramos (“Fernández”) and Jesús Fernández-Ramos — filed suit against Puerto Rico Police Department (“PRPD”) Superintendent José Figueroa-Sancha (“Figueroa”), PRPD Carolina Regional Director José ' Caldero-López (“Caldero”), PRPD Canóvanas District Commander Luis Díaz-Portalatín (“Díaz”) (collectively, the “Supervisory Defendants”), and PRPD officer Jeanette Rosado (together with the Supervisory Defendants, the “Defendants”). Plaintiffs alleged, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and analogous provisions of the Puerto Rico Civil Code’s torts statute, that Fernández’s Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated when she was unconstitutionally arrested and subjected to excessive force during an incident at the Luis Hernaiz-Veronne High School (the “School”). Following discovery, the district court struck Plaintiffs’ expert report and granted summary judgment in favor of the Supervisory Defendants; shortly thereafter, it dismissed with prejudice the claims against Rosado as well. Plaintiffs now appeal. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the exclusion of the expert report, the grant of summary judgment in favor of the Supervisory Defendants, and the dismissal with prejudice of Plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment excessive force claim against Rosado. As to Plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment unconstitutional arrest claim against Rosado,, however, we reverse the dismissal and remand for trial.

I. Background

A. Factual Background 1

On October 9, 2009, then-Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuño attended an event at the Jesús T. Pinero Public Housing Project, located across the street from the School. A number of students at the School objected to Fortuño’s presence, so, as a form of protest, they threw objects such as eggs, rocks, and tree branches at *316 the PRPD officers guarding the event and at cars passing through the street. In response, Diaz, the commanding officer at the scene, instructed a number of police officers — including Rosado — to enter the School in order to quiet the situation and arrest those responsible for throwing objects.

Once the officers entered the School’s premises, however, the situation turned chaotic. The students, whether they were throwing objects or not, all ran towards the School building. One of those students was Fernández. Though Fernández never ■ threw anything, she ran away from the PRPD, entered a hallway, closed the gate behind her, and remained nearby. PRPD officers, including Rosado, soon arrived at the gate and ordered Fernández to open it; she immediately complied.

Upon opening the gate, Rosado spoke to Fernández “in a rough manner” and pushed her aside. Fernández, not happy with how she was being spoken to, told Rosado not to speak to her like that, to which Rosado answered that she could speak to Fernández however she liked. Fernández once again expressed her displeasure with Rosado’s tone, at which point Rosado “shoved” Fernández face-first against a wall and placed a handcuff on her left wrist. 2 But before Rosado could finish handcuffing her, Fernández slipped through the gate in an attempt to escape. As this was occurring, a number of students grabbed Fernández’s right arm and tried to help her by pulling her away from Rosado. This led to a small tug-of-war between Rosado and the students, hurting Fernández in the process. Ultimately, this escape attempt failed, and Fernández was escorted to the School Director’s office.

Fernández was later transported to a nearby police station, and then to the Carolina police headquarters where she was given a citation to appear in court. She, along with nine other students, was charged with violating Article 208 (causing aggravated damages), Article 251 (causing violence against the public authority), and Article 258 (rioting) of the Puerto Rico Penal Code. The charges were eventually dismissed.

B. Procedural Background

Plaintiffs filed suit in the district court on October 8, 2010. Following the onset of discovery, a protracted dispute arose regarding documents in the possession of the PRPD. Because the intricacies of this dispute are relevant to Plaintiffs’ claim that the district court erred in excluding their expert’s report, we describe the chronology of this dispute in some detail.

March 29, 2011. Plaintiffs filed a motion to compel documents from non-parties the Internal Investigation Bureau and the Human Resources Office of the PRPD (collectively, the “Non-Parties”). These documents, Plaintiffs claimed, contained critical information to aid their expert witness, Dr. William Gaut, in refuting Rosado’s allegation that Fernández had reached for Rosado’s weapon. Defendants moved to quash the requests the same' day, alleging that Defendants had never received a copy of the subpoena served on the Non-Parties and that in any event the requested personnel files *317 were confidential. On April 5, 2011, the district court issued a show cause order requiring the Non-Parties to explain why the motion to compel should not be granted. On April 22, 2011, the Non-Parties responded, ■ explaining that the documents were confidential, that the request was overly costly and burdensome, and that Plaintiffs refused to examine the files in order to identify the relevant documents to be produced. The district court chose not to immediately resolve the issue, opting instead to leave the motions pending.
• April 20, 2011. Plaintiffs filed a new motion to compel, this time seeking initial disclosures from Defendants. This motion was denied without prejudice on April 23, 2011, because Plaintiffs .failed to show that the parties complied with the court’s meet and confer requirements.
April 25, 2011. Plaintiffs re-filed their April 20 motion to compel initial disclosures. ' This motion provided proof of compliance with the court’s meet and confer requirements. The district court chose not to immediately resolve the issue, opting instead to leave the motion pending.
• June 23, 2011. Plaintiffs filed a request for a court order seeking the release of confidential personnel files held by the PRPD. This motion was in response to an April 25, 2011, informative motion by the Non-Parties in which the Non-Parties confirmed their belief that the personnel files being sought by Plaintiffs were confidential and thus could not be released absent . a court order. The district court chose riot to immediately resolve the issue, opting instead to leave the motion pending.
• August 8, 2011. The district court entered a case management order setting August 30, 2011, as the deadline to serve initial disclosures and December 31, 2011, as the deadline for all discovery. In light of this order, it denied as moot Plaintiffs’ April 25, 2011, motion to compel initial disclosures.

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Bluebook (online)
790 F.3d 312, 2015 WL 3898842, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fernandez-salicrup-v-figueroa-sancha-ca1-2015.