Horton v. Portsmouth Police Department

22 A.3d 1115, 2011 R.I. LEXIS 70, 2011 WL 2177449
CourtSupreme Court of Rhode Island
DecidedJune 6, 2011
DocketNo. 2010-11-Appeal
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 22 A.3d 1115 (Horton v. Portsmouth Police Department) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Horton v. Portsmouth Police Department, 22 A.3d 1115, 2011 R.I. LEXIS 70, 2011 WL 2177449 (R.I. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION

Justice INDEGLIA, for the Court.

Duane Horton (plaintiff or Horton) appeals from a Superior Court grant of sum[1118]*1118mary judgment in favor of the defendants, the Portsmouth Police Department (department) and various Town of Portsmouth officials (collectively, defendants), dismissing the plaintiffs thirteen-count amended complaint alleging malicious prosecution, false arrest, false imprisonment, tortious denial of access to public records, violations of civil rights stemming from these allegations and also from a failure to properly train and supervise the police officers, failure to destroy records after exoneration, and illegal retention of records of identification. The plaintiff argues that the motion justice erroneously determined as a matter of law that the officers of the department had probable cause for each of the prosecutions against Horton and that he inappropriately granted their motion for summary judgment. The case came before this Court for oral argument on May 5, 2011, pursuant to an order directing the parties to show cause why the issues raised in this appeal should not be decided summarily. After an examination of the written and oral submissions of the parties, we are of the opinion that cause has not been shown and the appeal may be resolved without further briefing or argument. For the reasons set forth in this opinion, we affirm the judgment of the Superior Court.

I

Facts and Travel

On January 17, 2006, Horton filed an eleven-count complaint in Newport County Superior Court naming the department, and nine department officials,1 the Portsmouth Town Administrator, Robert Dris-coll, and plaintiffs wife, Josephine Horton (Ms. Horton), as defendants.2 The plaintiff alleged single counts of false arrest, false imprisonment, tortious denial of access to public records, malicious attempt to frame, false reporting, malicious prosecution, abuse of process, failure to properly destroy records after exoneration, and illegal retention of records of identification. The remaining two counts alleged civil-rights violations.

The department and the ten officials named in the complaint filed an answer on March 13, 2006. The defendants denied all the allegations contained in the counts directed toward them. They admitted that Ms. Horton contacted the department, but denied that she provided false information.

The plaintiff filed an amended complaint on February 22, 2007, alleging thirteen counts. He alleged five counts of malicious prosecution relating to his arrests on or about July 24, 2004 (count 1); January [1119]*111923, 2006 (count 2); February 6, 2006 (count 3); February 9, 2006 (count 4); and July 17, 2006 (count 8). The plaintiff also raised one count of malicious prosecution for his incarceration from February 9, 2006, until February 14, 2006 (count 5), and one count of false arrest for his arrest on February 9, 2006 (count 6). The remaining counts alleged one count of false imprisonment for his incarceration from February 9, 2006, until February 14, 2006 (count 7), one count of tortious denial of access to public records (count 9), civil-rights violations (counts 10 and 11), failure to properly destroy records after exoneration (count 12), and illegal retention of records of identification (count 13).3 Horton sought “appropriate compensatory, punitive, injunctive, and exemplary relief and fines, as well as reasonable attorney fees.” On March 2, 2007, defendants filed an answer to plaintiffs first amended complaint. They denied all allegations set forth against them.

On September 22, 2009, defendants filed a motion for summary judgment. They argued in support of the motion that “they had probable cause to prosecute, arrest and/or imprison the plaintiff on each occasion of arrest and/or imprisonment” and therefore counts 1-8 must fail as a matter of law. As for count 9, alleging tortious denial of access to public records, defendants argued that they were entitled to summary judgment because the requested records “were records exempted from the Rhode Island Access to Public Records Act” codified at G.L.1956 chapter 2 of title 38. As to counts 10 and 11, defendants contended that “none of plaintiffs claims [were] covered under the Rhode Island Civil Rights Act of 1990” codified at G.L. 1956 chapter 112 of title 42 and thus their motion for summary judgment should be granted. Finally, defendants argued that they were entitled to summary judgment on counts 12 and 13, alleging failure to properly destroy records after exoneration and illegal retention of records of identification, respectively, because the statute under which these claims were raised, G.L. 1956 § 12-1-12, “does not include a civil remedy.”

The motion was heard before a justice of the Superior Court on January 4, 2010. After hearing the arguments of the parties, the motion justice rendered a decision from the bench. His recitation of the facts was as follows.

Ms. Horton filed for divorce from plaintiff in March 2003, which precipitated approximately three and a half years of litigation.4 At the outset, a Family Court justice issued an order that permitted the couple “to share the same dwelling” but “assigned [them] separate living areas.” Ms. Horton then resided in the “main” living area and plaintiff “in the attached in-law apartment.” As the motion justice noted, and as the record bears out, this “arrangement * * * in retrospect, was less than ideal.”

While the Hortons’ divorce was pending, plaintiff was arrested on five separate occasions by officers of the department on July 24, 2004; January 23, 2006; February 6, 2006; February 9, 2006; and July 17, 2006. He was incarcerated from February [1120]*11209, 2006, until February 14, 2006, after allegedly violating his bail. Each of the arrests was initiated after the department’s receipt of a complaint from Ms. Horton. Horton also unsuccessfully requested “public records regarding his ar-restes].”

The motion justice described in detail each instance in which plaintiff was arrested in connection with this case.5 He then summarized the parties’ respective arguments. Significantly, he noted that plaintiff disputed many of the facts asserted against him and maintained that the “mosaic of facts and circumstances” revealed an absence of probable cause for each arrest. After articulating the standard to which he was required to adhere when ruling on a motion for summary judgment and relevant caselaw governing claims of malicious prosecution, the motion justice proceeded to rule on each of the counts.

He granted the motion for summary judgment as to counts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8 on the grounds that defendants possessed probable cause to arrest in each instance. Having found that there was probable cause for the arrests of plaintiff on February 6, 2006, and February 9, 2006, the motion justice likewise held that probable cause also existed for the Office of the Attorney General’s request for revocation of bail under Rule 46(g) of the Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure and for the resultant denial of bail pending a hearing, which resulted in the period of incarceration underlying count 5 of plaintiffs complaint. Likewise, he held that the existence of probable cause for the underlying arrests precluded defendants’ liability for false arrest and false imprisonment as alleged in counts 6 and 7.

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Bluebook (online)
22 A.3d 1115, 2011 R.I. LEXIS 70, 2011 WL 2177449, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/horton-v-portsmouth-police-department-ri-2011.