Gaytan v. Kapus

181 F.R.D. 573, 42 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 278, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14117, 1998 WL 596702
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedSeptember 2, 1998
DocketNo. 96 C 393
StatusPublished

This text of 181 F.R.D. 573 (Gaytan v. Kapus) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gaytan v. Kapus, 181 F.R.D. 573, 42 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 278, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14117, 1998 WL 596702 (N.D. Ill. 1998).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

BUCKLO, District Judge.

Pedro Gaytan filed suit against Officer David Kapus alleging false arrest and excessive force under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. After a jury trial, Officer Kapus was found not liable for excessive force, liable for false arrest, and hable for intentional infliction of emotional distress. The jury awarded Mr. Gaytan $10,000 in compensatory damages and $20,000 in punitive damages.

There are several motions before this court. Officer Kapus filed numerous post-trial motions. Mr. Gaytan moves for a new trial on the excessive force claim pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(3), seeks sanctions for discovery abuses, and seeks attorneys’ fees and costs. For the reasons set forth below, Officer Kapus’ post-trial motions are denied, Mr. Gaytan’s motion for a new trial is denied, Mr. Gaytan’s motion for sanctions is granted in part and he is awarded $3,000, and I award Mr. Gaytan $193,361.25 in attorneys’ fees and $3,987.20 in costs.

Officer Kapus’ Post-Trial Motions

Officer Kapus has filed several post-trial motions. First, he seeks judgment as a matter of law on Mr. Gaytan’s false arrest and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims. He argues that Mr. Gaytan offered no evidence of lack of probable cause to support a false arrest claim, that he was entitled to qualified immunity on the false arrest claim, and that Mr. Gaytan did not establish that his conduct was extreme and outrageous or willful and wanton to support intentional infliction of emotional distress. This motion is denied. There was substantial evidence to support the jury’s finding of false arrest and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Officer Kapus seeks to strike the judgment for punitive damages, or in the alternative for a remittitur. He argues that the evidence shows he did not have the resources to pay such a large award and that the judgment is inconsistent with the jury’s verdict in that it found him not liable for excessive force. I do not find the punitive damages [576]*576amount of $20,000 excessive or inconsistent with the verdict. Officer Kapus was found liable on two of the three counts.

Finally, Officer Kapus seeks a new trial on numerous grounds: (1) failure to use Officer Kapus’ proposed jury instructions; (2) erroneous admission of 404(b) evidence; (3) erroneous allowance of jury instructions on 404(b) evidence and on the fact that Mr. Gaytan was not tried; (4) erroneous eviden-tiary rulings; (5) improper argument during Mr. Gaytan’s closing; and (6) discriminatory use of peremptory challenges in violation of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). Except for the issue of peremptory challenges, the motions do not require extensive discussion and are denied as without merit. I gave Office Ka-pus ample opportunity to present his jury instructions and any argument about the denial of any of his proposed instructions is therefore waived. I believe my decision to allow the 404(b) evidence and the jury instruction on 404(b) evidence was correct. I do not find any reversible error in my evi-dentiary rulings, in allowing the instruction on the criminal proceedings against Mr. Gay-tan, or in the arguments during closing.

As for the Batson issue, in J.E.B. v. Alabama ex rel. T.B., 511 U.S. 127, 143, 114 S.Ct. 1419, 128 L.Ed.2d 89 (1994), the Supreme Court extended the reach of Batson to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender in the exercise of peremptory challenges. To prove discrimination, the opponent of a peremptory challenge must first make out a prima facie case of gender discrimination. Purkett v. Elem, 514 U.S. 765, 767, 115 S.Ct. 1769, 131 L.Ed.2d 834 (1995). The burden of production then shifts to the proponent of the strike to come forward with a gender-neutral explanation. Id. The explanation need not be persuasive, or even plausible; it will be accepted unless discriminatory intent is inherent in the explanation given. Id. at 768, 115 S.Ct. 1769. If a gender-neutral explanation is offered, the opponent of the strike must prove purposeful gender discrimination. Id. at 767, 115 S.Ct. 1769. The burden of persuasion regarding gender motivation rests at all times with the opponent of the strike. Id. at 768, 115 S.Ct. 1769.

In this case, Officer Kapus made a timely Batson challenge and presented a prima facie case of gender discrimination. Mr. Gaytan used two of his three peremptory challenges to remove two of the remaining three men left on the venire after the jurors challenged for cause were removed.1

The burden of production then shifted to Mr. Gaytan to offer gender-neutral explanations for striking potential juror number 7, Kenneth Hebner, and number 14, Ronald Gregory. Mr. Gaytan offered two reasons for striking Mr. Hebner. He claimed that Mr. Hebner would not be able to give his “full attention” to the trial because of his “obligations at work” and that he would “not understand some of the intricacies of urban life” involved in the trial given that he resided in Lombard, Illinois. (R. at 112). Mr. Gaytan said that he struck Mr. Gregory because he was a “person who has shown a history of believing in loyalty” and this fact would make him “reluctant to accept [a] code of silence” theory to explain the other officers’ testimony in support of Officer Kapus. (R. at 113-14). Furthermore, Mr. Gaytan believed that Mr. Gregory, “given his background, ... would not award the type of damages that other jurors would award.” (R. at 114). These reasons are gender neutral and are not inherently discriminatory.

Officer Kapus argues that the reasons offered to strike Mr. Hebner were pretext for gender discrimination because Mr. Gay-tan did not seek to strike similarly-situated female jurors. For example, one female juror, Ms. Heintz, voiced concern with the length of the trial because she was moving within 11 days (R. at 59), but Mr. Gaytan did not strike her because she could not give her full attention to the trial. Furthermore, there were several female jurors who were from suburban areas such as Westmont (R. at 31), Glen Ellyn (R. at 34), Addison (R. at [577]*57735), and Plainfield (R. at 39), but Mr. Gaytan did not strike them because of their inability to understand urban life.

“Batson is not violated whenever two veniremen of different [sexes] provide the same responses and one is excused and the other is not.... This is so because counsel must be entitled to make credibility determinations in exercising peremptory challenges.” Matthews v. Evatt, 105 F.3d 907, 918 (4th Cir.) (citation omitted), cert. denied, — U.S. —, 118 S.Ct. 102, 139 L.Ed.2d 57 (1997); see also Burks v. Borg, 27 F.3d 1424, 1429 (9th Cir.1994), cert. denied,

Related

Blum v. Stenson
465 U.S. 886 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Batson v. Kentucky
476 U.S. 79 (Supreme Court, 1986)
JEB v. Alabama Ex Rel. TB
511 U.S. 127 (Supreme Court, 1994)
Purkett v. Elem
514 U.S. 765 (Supreme Court, 1995)
Charles M. Thibeault v. Square D Company
960 F.2d 239 (First Circuit, 1992)
Provident Savings Bank v. Nick Popovich
71 F.3d 696 (Seventh Circuit, 1995)
Matthews v. Evatt
105 F.3d 907 (Fourth Circuit, 1997)
J. E. B. v. Alabama ex rel. T. B.
511 U.S. 127 (Supreme Court, 1994)
Cardona v. Florida
513 U.S. 1160 (Supreme Court, 1995)
Hughes v. City of Cleveland
522 U.S. 833 (Supreme Court, 1997)

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Bluebook (online)
181 F.R.D. 573, 42 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 278, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14117, 1998 WL 596702, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gaytan-v-kapus-ilnd-1998.