Malloy v. Coleman

961 F. Supp. 1568, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5126, 1997 WL 189093
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedApril 9, 1997
DocketNo. 96-1588-CIV-T-17A
StatusPublished

This text of 961 F. Supp. 1568 (Malloy v. Coleman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Malloy v. Coleman, 961 F. Supp. 1568, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5126, 1997 WL 189093 (M.D. Fla. 1997).

Opinion

ORDER ON DEFENDANTS’ MOTIONS TO DISMISS

KOVACHEVICH, Chief Judge.

This action is before the Court on the following motions and responses:

1. Defendant, Michael Sweeting’s, Motion to Dismiss or, Alternatively, for Summary Judgment and Memorandum of Law (Docket No. 9), filed September 30,1996.

2. Plaintiffs Response to Defendant’s Mo-^ion Dismiss (Docket No. 15), filed Novem^er 1996.

3. Defendants, Coleman and Verhuel’s, Motion to Dismiss (Docket No. 16), filed November 12,1996.

4. Plaintiffs Response to Defendants Coleman and Verhuel’s Motion to Dismiss (Docket No. 17), filed November 19,1996.

FACTS

Plaintiff, a pro se litigant, commenced this action claiming that the named Defendants conspired to deprive Plaintiff of his constitutional right of due process. These alleged actions occurred during the disposition of a criminal action that was pending against Plaintiff in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court for the State of Florida. Specifically, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant Sweeting, his defense attorney in the criminal proceeding, and Defendant Coleman, an investigator appointed by the court to submit a report regarding Plaintiffs background, conspired to withhold exculpatory information from the court. Plaintiff alleges that Defendants Sweeting and Coleman participated in “unauthorized and improper meetings” during which, they conspired to produce a report that was biased against Plaintiff. Plaintiff claims that because he was misled into believing that the court had been given all relevant, exculpatory background information, he entered a plea of nolo contendere that he would not have entered had he been aware of the conspiracy between Defendants Sweeting and Coleman.

Plaintiff also claims that Defendant Verhuel, the prosecutor in the criminal action, “knowingly and willfully” allowed a biased report to be presented to the court, and exculpatory background information to be withheld from the court. Plaintiff alleges that these actions by the Defendants constitute a violation of “42 U.S.C., 18 U.S.C. and Plaintiffs right to due process....” Because of this deprivation of Plaintiffs constitutional right to due process, Plaintiff claims that he has suffered injury in the form of “loss of income, occupation, reputation, property, physical and psychological well-being....”

[1570]*1570Because Plaintiffs complaint did not identify clearly the basis for his cause of action, Defendant Sweeting, in his Motion to Dismiss or for Summary Judgment, identifies several causes of action under which Plaintiff might be attempting to proceed. The most likely cause of action, Defendant Sweeting assumes, is an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. In the remainder of the pleadings at issue, both Plaintiff and the additional Defendants address the complaint as if it attempts to state a cause of action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for the deprivation of due process by persons acting under color of state law.

Defendant Sweeting’s Motion to Dismiss alleges that Plaintiffs complaint must fail as to Sweeting because Plaintiff cannot establish that Sweeting was a “person acting under color of state law,” a required element in a § 1983 action. In Defendants Coleman and Verhuel’s Motion to Dismiss, Defendant Verhuel claims that Plaintiffs complaint must fail because Defendant Verhuel is entitled to prosecutorial immunity, and Defendant Coleman claims that her actions were discretionary in nature, and therefore are subject to qualified immunity.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

A complaint should not be dismissed for failure to state a claim unless it appears beyond a doubt that Plaintiff can prove no set of facts that support a claim for relief. Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 101-02, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957). A trial court, in ruling on a motion to dismiss, is required to view the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974). The allegations in the complaint must be taken as true for purposes of the motion to dismiss. Luckey v. Harris, 860 F.2d 1012, 1016 (11th Cir.1988). Additionally, the Court should construe the pro se complaint more liberally than it would formal pleadings drafted by lawyers. Hughes v. Rowe, 449 U.S. 5, 9, 101 S.Ct. 173, 175, 66 L.Ed.2d 163 (1980).

DISCUSSION

Viewing the complaint liberally, and in light of the arguments and case law presented by Plaintiff in his Responses to Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss, this Court will assume that Plaintiff intended to allege a cause of action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for the deprivation of his Fourteenth Amendment due process rights by persons acting under color of state law. Because each Defendant has alleged a different basis upon which Plaintiffs § 1983 action must fail, the Court will address each separately.

1. Defendant Verhuel

Prosecutors are absolutely immune from § 1983 damage claims for actions which are an “integral part of the judicial process.” Schlosser v. Coleman, 818 F.Supp. 1534, 1539 (M.D.Fla.1993) (quoting Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. 409, 430, 96 S.Ct. 984, 995, 47 L.Ed.2d 128 (1976)). In Imbler, the Supreme Court held that prosecuting attorneys are immune from § 1983 damages claims that involve the initiation of prosecution and the presentation of the state’s case. Imbler, 424 U.S. at 431, 96 S.Ct. at 995. Application of this standard for prosecutorial immunity to the instant ease reveals that Plaintiff has not alleged sufficient facts to defeat prosecutorial immunity and support a § 1983 action against Defendant Verhuel.

Plaintiffs complaint fails to allege facts which suggest that Defendant Verhuel participated in any actions outside of the initiation of a prosecution and the presentation of the state’s case. As to Defendant Verhuel, Plaintiff makes only the conclusory allegation that Defendant Verhuel “did knowingly allow biased, incorrect, and misleading reports to be presented to the 12th Judicial Circuit....” (Plaintiffs Complaint, pp. 2-3). As the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals stated in the case of Wahl v. McIver, “[prosecutors] are absolutely immune from section 1983 claims that they offered false testimony or suppressed material at trial, ... [or] suppressed exculpatory evidence....” Wahl, 773 F.2d 1169 (11th Cir.1985). Additionally, although Plaintiff fails to specifically allege that Defendant Verhuel was part of the conspiracy he claims existed between Defendants Sweeting and Coleman, that claim would also fail as to Defendant Verhuel since “the allegation that a challenged official act is [1571]

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Bluebook (online)
961 F. Supp. 1568, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5126, 1997 WL 189093, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/malloy-v-coleman-flmd-1997.