Hill v. Quigley

336 F. Supp. 3d 283
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedAugust 28, 2018
Docket12 Civ. 8691 (AKH)
StatusPublished

This text of 336 F. Supp. 3d 283 (Hill v. Quigley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hill v. Quigley, 336 F. Supp. 3d 283 (S.D. Ill. 2018).

Opinion

ALVIN K. HELLERSTEIN, United States District Judge *287This case concerns a tragic series of events that ended with the loss of Tyjuan Hill's life. On September 20, 2012, Mr. Hill was shot and killed by Patrick Quigley, a Sergeant in the New York Police Department. Sgt. Quigley ("Defendant") maintains that his use of force was legally justified because he had probable cause to believe that Mr. Hill, whom officers were attempting to arrest, posed a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to those around him. Carol Hill ("Plaintiff"), Tyjuan Hill's mother and Administratix of the Estate of Tyjuan Hill, claims that the use of force was excessive and violated the Fourth Amendment. The case was first tried to a jury in September 2016, ending in a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict. After a second trial in March 2018, the jury returned a unanimous verdict in favor of the defendant. Now before the Court is Plaintiff's motion for a new trial under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59. For the reasons that follow, the motion is denied.

Background

The Court assumes the parties' familiarity with the facts and procedural history of this case, which has been litigated through two trials. What follows is an abbreviated summary.

On September 20, 2012, New York Police Department officers in Brooklyn's 76th precinct were conducting an undercover prostitution sting in the area of Huntington and West 9th Street. Officer Cairley Rivera, posing as a prostitute, was standing on the corner of Henry and Huntington Street when she was approached by a vehicle with four male passengers. After a brief conversation concerning the price for sexual acts, a passenger exited the vehicle and attempted to pull Officer Rivera into it. Officer Rivera radioed for backup, and a take-down vehicle with other officers arrived. Three of the males in the car submitted to arrest, but the fourth, Tyjuan Hill, fled the scene on foot. Id. Several of the officers gave chase, and Officer Tirol eventually tackled Hill several blocks away at the corner of Hamilton and West 9th Street. Soon thereafter, Officers Gonzalez, Oliver, Ouk, Casella, and Quigley converged on the scene to assist Officer Tirol in attempting to place Mr. Hill in handcuffs. A struggle ensued. The officers succeeded in handcuffing one of Mr. Hill's wrists, but were unable to fasten the handcuffs to the second wrist. Sgt. Quigley arrived last on the scene, placed his left shin on Mr. Hill's back, and assisted his fellow officers. Moments later, Sgt. Quigley claims, Mr. Hill extracted a handgun from his waistband and pointed it at the officers. Sgt. Quigley then fatally shot Hill in the back of the head. A gun was found a short distance away from Mr. Hill's body, situated atop a nearby curb. A forensic examination of the gun revealed traces of Hill's DNA on the trigger of the firearm.

Plaintiff Carol Hill filled this action as Administratrix of Tyjuan Hill's estate on November 29, 2012, under the Civil Rights Law, 42 U.S.C. § 1983. After years of discovery and motion practice, the case was *288tried to a jury in September 2016. Plaintiff asserted two claims at the first trial: excessive force against Sgt. Quigley for the shooting and failure to intervene against Officers Casella, Gonzalez, Oliver, Ouk, and Tirol. After lengthy deliberations, the jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision against any of the defendants. A mistrial was declared. In an Order dated January 25, 2017, I held that defendants Casella, Gonzalez, Oliver, Ouk, and Tirol were entitled to judgment as a matter of law on plaintiff's failure to intervene claims against them. See Order Granting Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law in Part and Denying in Part, Hill v. Quigley et al. , 12 Civ. 8691 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 25, 2017). Plaintiff's claim against Sgt. Quigley remained for retrial.

The case was tried to a jury a second time in March 2018. As in the first trial, defendant "offered testimonial, expert, and forensic evidence-including traces of Hill's DNA on the trigger of the firearm, an audio recording of the incident, and supporting testimony from the other officers that Hill threatened Quigley with a firearm-that would allow a reasonable juror to infer that Quigley shot in self-defense."Id. at *2. Arguing that Sgt. Quigley's use of force was excessive, plaintiff introduced eyewitness testimony from bystanders sitting in nearby cars that Mr. Hill did not have a gun at the time of the shooting and that, in any event, he could not, pinned face down to the ground, have brandished a gun in the manner that Sgt. Quigley and the other officers claimed. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendant, and the Court entered judgment in defendant's favor on April 27, 2018. Plaintiff timely filed this motion for a new trial under Rule 59 on May 25, 2018. For the reasons that follow, the motion is denied.

Discussion

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59 grants a court discretion to "grant a new trial on all or some of the issues ... for any reason for which a new trial has heretofore been granted in an action at law in federal court." Fed. R. Civ. P. 59(a)(1). In general, "[a] motion for a new trial ordinarily should not be granted unless the trial court is convinced that the jury has reached a seriously erroneous result or that the verdict is a miscarriage of justice." Hugo Boss Fashions, Inc. v. Fed. Ins. Co. , 252 F.3d 608, 623 (2d Cir. 2001) (internal quotation marks omitted). A new trial may also be granted "if substantial errors were made in admitting or excluding evidence, or in charging the jury." Fleming v. Stradford , No. 10 CIV. 3345 (KPF), 2018 WL 1033234, at *16 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 22, 2018) (internal quotation marks omitted).

A. Jury Instructions

Plaintiff's motion for a new trial is premised largely on two supposed errors in my charge. The first, based on the Second Circuit's decisions in Rasanen v. Doe , 723 F.3d 325 (2d Cir. 2013), and Callahan v. Wilson , 863 F.3d 144 (2d Cir. 2017), was not adequately raised before the jury was charged. Reviewed for plain error, I find that the error in my charge did not affect plaintiff's substantial rights. Fed. R. Civ. P. 51(d)(2).

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Bluebook (online)
336 F. Supp. 3d 283, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hill-v-quigley-ilsd-2018.