Kassim Mouzone v. Brian Ahlert

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• Decided: March 27, 2024
• Docket: 22-2885
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

NOT PRECEDENTIAL

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT ___________

No. 22-2885 __________

KASSIM MOUZONE; OMAYRA DIAZ, Appellants

v.

SGT. BRIAN AHLERT, #554, operating in official capacity; PATROLMAN TOM CAUSULLO, #552, operating in official capacity; LT. PHIL D'ALESSIO, #548, operating in official capacity; CITY OF FLORHAM PARK, (operating in own capacity) ____________________________________

On Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (D.C. Civil Action No. 2-21-cv-11697) District Judge: Honorable Brian R. Martinotti ____________________________________

Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) March 27, 2024 Before: BIBAS, PORTER, and MONTGOMERY-REEVES, Circuit Judges

(Opinion filed: March 27, 2024 ) ___________

OPINION * ___________

PER CURIAM

* This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent. Pro se appellants Kassim Mouzone and Omayra Diaz appeal the District Court’s

dismissal of their civil rights action. For the following reasons, we will affirm in part and

reverse in part the District Court’s judgment, and remand for further proceedings.

Appellants filed their complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that their

civil rights were violated by the defendants – the City of Florham Park, Sgt. Brian Ahlert

#554, Patrolman Tom Causullo #552, and Lt. Phil D’Alessio – acting in their official

capacities. According to their complaint, in December 2020, they were subject to a

“consensual stop” by Off. Causullo. 1 ECF No. 1 at 2. Appellants allegedly asked him if

they were being detained. When he responded, “Yes,” they asked why, and requested

that a supervisor come to the scene. Id. Sgt. Ahlert arrived, and Appellants

“immediately dispelled all accusations” against them, explaining that they had just left “a

private business owned by a bank” where they were denied service as a result of

discrimination. Id. Ahlert “immediately concluded that [Appellants] were the victims of

discrimination” and ended the investigatory stop. After initially requesting that Mouzone

provide identification, Ahlert threatened both Appellants with arrest if they did not

provide ID. The Appellants then requested that a “higher ranking supervisor” come to

the scene. Id. Lt. D’Alessio subsequently arrived. Mouzone provided his identification

to Ahlert, while telling the officers that he was doing so “under [d]uress.” Id. Ahlert

1 A police report, attached to defendants’ motion to dismiss, indicates that Ahlert and Causullo were dispatched to a Bank of America in response to a 911 call reporting “a dispute between a bank staff member and customers.” ECF No. 16-6 at 9. While responding, an updated report indicating that the two customers had left the scene on foot and were last seen walking nearby. When they arrived on the scene, the officers observed the Appellants, who matched the description of those customers. 2 then allegedly “snatched” Diaz’s ID out of Mouzone’s hand. After Diaz told Ahlert that

she was not giving consent to view her ID, he threatened her with arrest. She then

indicated to D’Alessio that the ID was turned over “under [d]uress.” Id. The officers ran

a check on the IDs, revealing an active warrant for Diaz for a “dismissed ticket.” Id.

Diaz was released on her own recognizance.

Appellants claimed that their Fourth and Fourteenth amendment rights were

violated because the defendant officers, while “act[ing] under color of law,” illegally

detained and seized them. Id. at 3. Appellants maintained that the officers were acting

pursuant to the Florham Park’s “unconstitutional policy and custom of seizing and

searching individuals without probable cause and otherwise harassing individuals without

legal cause or excuse.” Id. According to the complaint, the officers violated Appellants’

rights because the policy “encouraged them to stop and harass civilians without

reasonable suspicion or probable cause.” Id. As a result, Appellants asserted that they

“sustained significant emotional harm, emotional suffering, humiliation, and

inconvenience in the amount of $140,000.” Id. at 4.

The defendants filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim for relief

pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). The District Court granted the

motion, with leave to amend the complaint within 14 days. Appellants did not amend

within that time, and a text-only entry indicates that the complaint was dismissed with

prejudice. See Weber v. McGrogan, 939 F.3d 232, 240 (3d Cir. 2019) (noting that a

“self-effectuating” order becomes “a final order of dismissal when the time to amend

3 runs out”). Appellants filed a timely notice of appeal. 2

We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. In conducting our review, we

must liberally construe Appellants’ pro se filings, see Higgs v. Att’y Gen., 655 F.3d 333,

339 (3d Cir. 2011), and “accept as true the factual allegations in the complaint and all

reasonable inferences that can be drawn therefrom,” Tourscher v. McCullough, 184 F.3d

236, 240 (3d Cir. 1999) (citation omitted).

To state a claim under § 1983, a plaintiff must allege that a person acting under

color of state law deprived him of rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the

Constitution or laws of the United States. West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42, 48 (1988). The

District Court determined that Appellants failed to allege the deprivation of a

constitutional right. We agree that Appellants wholly failed to allege facts from which it

could be determined that their 14th Amendment equal protection rights were violated. In

particular, they did not allege that they were treated differently than similarly situated

persons. Phillips v. County of Allegheny, 515 F.3d 224, 243 (3d Cir. 2008) (recognizing

that to properly plead an equal protection claim, “a plaintiff must at a minimum allege

that he was intentionally treated differently from others similarly situated by the

defendant and that there was no rational basis for such treatment”). We disagree,

2 Although Appellants listed the wrong date of the judgment in their notice of appeal, the notice clearly specified the “Dismissal order” as the order to be appealed, see ECF No. 23. See Fed. R. App. P. 3(c)(7); see also Powell v. Symons, 680 F.3d 301, 306 n.2 (3d Cir. 2021).

4 however, that the allegations in the complaint were insufficient to state a viable Fourth

Amendment violation.

The Fourth Amendment guarantees “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their

persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” To

lawfully seize an individual, an officer “must have a reasonable suspicion, based on

objective facts, that the individual is involved in criminal activity.” Brown v. Texas, 443

U.S. 47, 51 (1979). Appellants alleged that when the officers first approached them

inquiring about the incident at the bank, the stop was “investigatory.” ECF No. 1 at 2.

They further alleged that the officers accepted their explanation that they were victims of

discrimination by the bank, and that the investigatory stop ended. It is at this point,

Appellants alleged, that they were unlawfully seized when the officers demanded and

seized their identifications “under [d]uress” and threats of arrest absent reasonable

suspicion. ECF Nos. 1 at 2-3; 18 at 3-4; see also Mack v. Warden Loretto FCI, 839 F.3d

286, 291 n.2 (3d Cir. 2016) (recognizing that, in considering a motion to dismiss, a court

may consider a pro se plaintiff's “allegations made in response to the defendants’ motion

to dismiss, which incorporate and are consistent with the allegations in his complaint”).

“[W]henever a police officer accosts an individual and restrains his freedom to walk

away, he has ‘seized’ that person” for purposes of the Fourth Amendment. Terry v.

Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 16 (1968); see also United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 553-54

(1980) (noting that a person is seized during a police interaction when “by means of

physical force or a show of authority, his freedom of movement is restrained” such that

“in view of all of the circumstances surrounding the incident, a reasonable person would

5 have believed that he was not free to leave”). Appellants alleged that they did not feel

free to leave when, without reasonable suspicion, the police threatened them with arrest.

See ECF No. 18 at 3. Taking these allegations in the light most favorable to petitioners,

we cannot conclude that Appellants could prove no set of facts entitling them to relief for

a Fourth Amendment violation.

In dismissing this claim, the District Court did not grapple with the basis for the

stop and whether the facts as alleged indicate that Appellants were unlawfully seized in

violation of the Fourth Amendment. Id. Instead, it emphasized that, even absent

reasonable suspicion, police officers may approach individuals, “pose questions and ask

for identification” without running afoul of the Fourth Amendment. ECF No. 21 at 4

(quoting United States v. Smith, 575 F.3d 308, 312 (3d Cir. 2009)); see also United States

v. Drayton, 536 U.S. 194, 200-01, (2002) (recognizing that officers do not unreasonably

seize individuals “by approaching [them] on the street or in other public places and

putting questions to them if they are willing to listen”). However, as the District Court

acknowledged, Appellants alleged that they were not merely asked for identification but

were compelled to provide it by threats of arrest. See Drayton, 536 U.S. at 201

(emphasizing that, absent reasonable suspicion, “officers may pose questions, ask for

identification, and request consent to search luggage – provided they do not induce

cooperation by coercive means”). The District Court nevertheless determined that there

was no constitutional violation because the officers had the right to arrest the Appellants

under New Jersey law for failing to provide identification. But that conclusion puts an

alleged violation of state law after the alleged violation of constitutional law.

6 The District Court cited case law recognizing that a New Jersey citizen must

provide identification once lawfully seized. See ECF No. 21 at 4 (citing, e.g., State v.

Perlstein, 502 A.2d 81, 84-85 (N.J. Super. Ct. 1985) (motorist who refuses to provide

identification during a traffic stop is subject to arrest for obstruction of justice); see also

See State v. Boston, 263 A.3d 214, 226 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 2021) (recognizing

that a motorist is “seized” for purposes of the Fourth Amendment during the roadside

stop, and may not disobey an officer’s commands). But if, at the relevant time, the stop

here was consensual, as alleged in the complaint and assumed by the District Court, the

Appellants were not required to present their IDs. See id. at 226 (noting that “in the

course of a more casual field inquiry, when the individual has not been ‘seized’ and

remains free, judged from his perspective, to walk away,” “a [New Jersey] citizen may

tell a police officer, metaphorically, ‘to kick rocks,’ that is refuse to listen to what he has

to say, and walk away without answering any of [the officer’s] questions” (internal

quotation marks and citation omitted)); cf. State v. Coles, 95 A.3d 136, 150 (N.J. 2014)

(noting that “[w]hile individuals are not required to carry identifying documents on them

at all times in our free country, we accept that law enforcement acting under reasonable

suspicion of an individual can expend a brief but reasonable period of time to confirm an

individual's identity” while investigating a nearby, reported armed robbery).

The District Court also determined that the officers could seize the identification

card because it was “in plain view during their consensual stop.” ECF No. 21 at 5 (citing

cases). But again, the cases on which the District Court relied were inapposite, as they

involved the seizure of items in plain view where the persons were lawfully detained.

7 See, e.g., United States v. Sanders, 404 F. App’x 613, 617 (3d Cir. 2010) (finding that

officers who “were authorized to stop and detain Sanders in order to investigate the

traffic violation” could lawfully seize a package in plain view); Jewett v. Anders, 521

F.3d 818, 827 (7th Cir. 2008) (determining that an officer could retrieve an individual’s

identification from their wallet during a Terry stop). The allegations in the complaint

sufficiently allege that Appellants were unlawfully seized when the officers demanded

their identification under threat of arrest absent reasonable suspicion. Therefore, the

claim was improperly dismissed under Rule 12(b)(6).

Appellants’ Fourteenth Amendment claim was based on their alleged Fourth

Amendment violation. 3 See Monell v. Dep’t of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 690-91 (1978)

(recognizing that a government body may be liable under § 1983 for a custom or policy

that is responsible for a constitution violation). The District Court dismissed the Monell

claim based on its erroneous determination that Appellants had failed to sufficiently plead

the predicate constitutional claim. Thus, we will vacate the District Court’s judgment

with respect to both the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment claims. We note that the

complaint does not include enough specifics to state a Monell claim but Appellants are

free to amend it on remand to try to cure that deficiency.

3 The District Court properly rejected the individual defendants’ argument that they were entitled to qualified immunity, noting that all defendants were sued solely in their official capacities. See Owen v. City of Independence, Mo., 445 U.S. 622, 650 (1980) (holding that qualified immunity from suit under § 1983 does not extend to municipal defendants or government employees sued in their official capacity). Official-capacity lawsuits are, in all respects other than name, to be treated as lawsuits against the government entities. Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. 159, 166 (1985).

8 Based on the foregoing, we will affirm the District Court’s judgment insomuch as

it dismissed the equal protection claim, vacate the judgment as to the remaining claims,

and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. 4

4 We agree with Appellees that, to the extent that Appellants raise First and Fifth Amendment claims for the first time on appeal, those claims are waived. See Brown v. Philip Morris Inc., 250 F.3d 789, 799 (3d Cir. 2001). 9