Greene v. Virgin Islands Water & Power Authority

65 V.I. 67, 2016 V.I. LEXIS 109
CourtSuperior Court of The Virgin Islands
DecidedAugust 11, 2016
DocketCivil No. SX-13-CV-224
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 65 V.I. 67 (Greene v. Virgin Islands Water & Power Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of The Virgin Islands primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Greene v. Virgin Islands Water & Power Authority, 65 V.I. 67, 2016 V.I. LEXIS 109 (visuper 2016).

Opinion

MOLLOY, Judge

MEMORANDUM OPINION

(August 11, 2016)

THIS MATTER comes before the Court on the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority’s (“WAPA”) Motion for Summary Judgment filed on August 4, 2014. Plaintiff filed a response on September 26, 2014, and Defendants filed a reply on October 10, 2014. For the reasons stated below, the Court will grant the motion for summary judgment and enter judgment in Defendant’s favor.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND1

At all times relevant to the pertinent facts of this case, Plaintiff Carl Greene (“Greene”) was employed as a line manager at WAPA2 until he was terminated from that position on April 7, 2005. Defendant Alberto [71]*71Bruno-Vega (“Bruno-Vega”)3 served as WAPA’s Executive Director from July 1989 to August 1995 and again from December 2002 to May 2007.

During the time of Greene’s employment, the Virgin Islands Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) commenced an investigation — requested by WAPA — into allegations surrounding water and electrical line losses at WAPA’s facilities located on St. Croix. The OIG issued a report detailing the results of the investigation on December 13, 2004. Among the major findings in the report were WAPA employees made unauthorized installations, line personnel allowed thefts of electricity, and employees facilitated thefts and themselves stole WAPA property as a result of a severe lack of proper supervision. See WAPA’s Statement of Material Facts in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment — Exhibit 1 — Investigative Report — Letter dated December 13, 2004 at 2. The OIG also submitted a copy of its report and investigative findings to the Virgin Islands Department of Justice.

On July 27, 2006, the Virgin Islands Department of Justice — Office of the Attorney General (“Office of the Attorney General”) filed a single-count criminal information charging Greene with buying and receiving stolen property in violation of 14 V.I.C. § 2101(a). The Information alleged, inter alia, that Greene caused a WAPA electrical pole and safety light to be erected at his residence without WAPA’s authorization or consent. See People of the Virgin Islands v. Greene, Super. Ct. Crim. No. 315/2006. The Information was accompanied by an affidavit executed on February 21, 2006, by Charles Allen, Chief of Investigations for the OIG. In his affidavit, Allen stated that based on the OIG’s investigation in April 2003 into excessive electrical and water line losses at WAPA, he believed there was probable cause to arrest Greene for buying and receiving stolen property in violation of 14 V.I.C. § 2101(a) and tampering with a utility in violation of 14 V.I.C. § 1263(b)(2), (3) and (c). After several months of hearings and court proceedings, the judge assigned to Greene’s criminal• case eventually dismissed the criminal proceedings against Greene on May 9, 2007, on a motion made by the Office of the Attorney General.

Prior to the filing of the present complaint in the Superior Court, Greene filed a civil complaint in the District Court of the Virgin Islands [72]*72(“District Court”) against WAPA and Bruno-Vega on January 24, 2006, based on the April 7, 2005 termination of Greene’s employment as well as the institution of criminal charges that were filed against him.4 In that case,. Greene asserted several federal and territorial law causes of action including claims for abuse of process and malicious prosecution. After the Defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, the District Court dismissed all of Greene’s claims except for the claims for abuse of process and malicious prosecution.5 The District Court ultimately declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the two remaining territorial claims and dismissed the case on May 22, 2013.6

Greene commenced this litigation in the Superior Court on June 25, 2013, alleging claims against WAPA and Alberto Bruno-Vega for malicious prosecution and abuse of process arising from arrest and criminal prosecution. Compl. ¶¶ 127, 141-146. The parties have concluded discovery in this case and WAPA has filed this motion requesting that the Court grant summary judgment in its favor.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

The legal standard for a motion for summary judgment is well established. The Court must grant summary judgment in favor of the moving party when “there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). The moving party’s initial burden is met by merely “pointing out to the . . . court that there is an absence of evidence to support the non-moving party’s case.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 325, 106 S. Ct. 2548, 91 L. Ed. 2d 265 (1986). “The non-moving party then [73]*73has the burden of ‘set[ting] out specific facts showing a genuine issue for trial.’ ” Williams v. United Corp., 50 V.I. 191, 194 (V.I. 2008) (citing Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(e)). In making a determination of whether there is no genuine issue for trial, the Court must draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the non-moving party. See Bd. of Educ. v. Earls, 536 U.S. 822, 850, 122 S. Ct. 2559, 153 L. Ed. 2d 735 (2002). A factual dispute is deemed genuine if “the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S. Ct. 2505, 91 L. Ed. 2d 202 (1986). The facts, and all reasonable inferences drawn from them, must be viewed “in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, and [the Court] must take the non-moving party’s conflicting allegations as true if supported by proper proofs.” Brodhurst v. Frazier, 57 V.I. 365, 368-69 (V.I. 2012) (internal quotations omitted). In all cases, however, the moving party has the burden of proving that there is no genuine issue of material fact in dispute. See Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 585, 106 S. Ct. 1348, 89 L. Ed. 2d 538 (1986).

III. DISCUSSION

WAPA contends that there are no genuine issues of material fact and it is entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law on Greene’s claims for abuse of process and malicious prosecution. In his opposition, Greene does not address WAPA’s motion on the merits. Instead, Greene argues that the Court should summarily deny WAPA’s motion. He argues that the issues raised in the motion were already decided in Greene’s favor and are precluded under collateral estoppel and the law of the case doctrine. For the reasons stated below, the Court finds that neither of these legal doctrines are applicable to the facts of this case. The Court also finds that there are no genuine issues of material facts in dispute and that WAPA is entitled to summary judgment on all of Greene’s claims.

A. Collateral Estoppel

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Bluebook (online)
65 V.I. 67, 2016 V.I. LEXIS 109, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/greene-v-virgin-islands-water-power-authority-visuper-2016.