Marceline v. Town of Darien

974 F. Supp. 2d 123, 2013 WL 5434601, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 142772
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedSeptember 30, 2013
DocketNo. 3:12CV777(AWT)
StatusPublished

This text of 974 F. Supp. 2d 123 (Marceline v. Town of Darien) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marceline v. Town of Darien, 974 F. Supp. 2d 123, 2013 WL 5434601, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 142772 (D. Conn. 2013).

Opinion

RULING ON DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS

ALVIN W. THOMPSON, District Judge.

The plaintiffs, Charles Marceline and Kimberly Marceline, have brought this action against the Town of Darien (the “Town”), Officer Thomas J. Moore (“Officer Moore”) and Chief Duane J. Lovello (“Chief Lovello”) for third-party spoliation, fraudulent and negligent misrepresentation, indemnification, violations of the Connecticut Retention Records Schedule, and violations of the First, Fourth, Fifth1 and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The defendants have moved to dismiss the claims against them pursuant to Rules 12(b)(1), 12(b)(6) and 12(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. For the reasons set forth below, the motion is being granted.

I. FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS

“The complaint, which [the court] must accept as true for purposes of testing its sufficiency, alleges the following circumstances.” Monsky v. Moraghan, 127 F.3d 243, 244 (2d Cir.1997).

A. The May 16, 2009 Incident

On May 16, 2009, Charles Marceline was traveling with his teenage daughter Kimberly on Interstate 95 in Connecticut when he noticed that a black sedan, which was using its horn and flashing its lights, was following his car. Ms. Marceline contacted Emergency 911 and stayed on her cell [126]*126phone during the incident. Eventually, the 911 dispatcher advised the plaintiffs to exit the highway. Mr. Marceline exited the highway at Exit 12 and stopped his car in front of a firehouse near the highway exit ramp in the Town.

Mr. Marceline got out of the car and began walking toward the firehouse. Ms. Marceline also got out of the car, while still on the cell phone with the 911 dispatcher. The black sedan pulled up near them. A woman got out of the black sedan and pointed a semi-automatic pistol at Ms. Marceline’s head. The woman, subsequently identified as off-duty Stamford Police Officer Miriam Delgado (“Delgado”), instructed Ms. Marceline to put the cell phone on the ground.

Six Darien police officers responded to the 911 call at approximately 7:36 a.m. and 7:54 a.m. Each police officer arrived in his or her own vehicle. Each vehicle was equipped with a laptop-style computer, and each computer was linked to the mobile server and to each of the other police vehicle computers.

Some of the Darien police officers remained on the scene, with their vehicles running and their computer laptops in use, for more than one hour. While speaking to Mr. Marceline, one of the police officers detected the odor of marijuana. Mr. Marceline was arrested after admitting to police that he had smoked marijuana earlier that day. The plaintiffs were transported to the Connecticut State Police barracks. Mr. Marceline was charged with reckless driving, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of less than four ounces of marijuana. Ms. Marceline was not charged with any offense or violation. Mr. Marceline posted bail.

In Mr. Mareeline’s criminal case, on May 28, 2009, the Connecticut Superior Court directed that all records and data pertaining to the incident be preserved. Specifically, the order directs the preservation of

all documents, including all tapes, transcription or other recording of all telephone calls to the police department or law enforcement entity from any party or witness reporting this incident, including all 911 and E911 calls ... all dispatch tapes, all records of broadcasts concerning this incident by any law enforcement agency involved, all handwritten, typewritten or any other notes ... including cell phone calls to and from officers in the field and phone bills reflecting such information, and any and all other records, reports, statements, videotapes and photographs pertaining to this case....

Doc. No. 28, Ex. A. (emphasis in original); Compl. ¶ 24. On June 8, 2009, Mr. Marceline served a copy of the court’s order on the Selectman’s Office and the Town Clerk’s Office.

On May 29, 2009, the plaintiffs, through their counsel, sent a letter to Lieutenant Thomas Heinseen of the Connecticut State Police Troop G in Bridgeport and Chief Lovello, notifying them of their forthcoming civil action against the Town of Darien Police Department and its employees, based on the incident.

The charges against Mr. Marceline were nolled.

B. 2009 Federal Action

On October 7, 2009, the plaintiffs brought a § 1983 action against Delgado in this district for civil rights violations. See Marceline v. Delgado, No. 3:09-CV-1591(VLB) (D.Conn.). The plaintiffs sent notice of the civil case to the defendants.

On or about May 12, 2010, Delgado was a police officer with the Stamford Police Department. She provided documents, including police reports, as well as a tran[127]*127script and CD of the 911 calls. The plaintiffs allege that “absent from the production was any police-to-police communications, CAD [computer aided dispatch] reports, data from the police cars’ mobile data terminal which is stored on the Town of Darien’s mobile server.... ” Compl. ¶ 29. In March 2011, the Town produced a police report, an email and a list of police officers and their telephone numbers by fax as well as hardcopies of the previously produced documents and a CD containing the 911 calls.

On June 23, 2011, the court ruled on the defendant’s motion for summary judgment. The court granted the motion as to nine out of the twelve claims but permitted the excessive force and the intentional infliction of emotional distress claims to proceed to trial. The court granted the motion with respect to the false arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution claims because the defendant had probable cause to make the traffic stop; with respect to the substantive due process and Eighth Amendment claims because they were duplicative of the Fourth Amendment excessive force claims; with respect to the equal protection claim because no protected class was involved; and with respect to the tortious inference with a 911 call claim because it is not a private cause of action under Connecticut law.

On September 16, 2011, the Town, through its legal counsel, produced additional responsive documents, including a CD of 911 calls and radio traffic, a detailed call log from CAD, a computerized incident report and a detailed timesheet concerning personnel who worked on May 16, 2009. Moreover, on September 28, 2011, Officer Moore, the records officer and court liaison and information systems manager for the Darien Police Department represented to the plaintiffs’ counsel, after “a motor vehicle hearing in an unrelated matter,” that all the plaintiffs needed to do to obtain the data from the police vehicles’ mobile computer and GPS was to file a request. Id. at ¶ 41.

Trial was scheduled for October 2011, but at the request of the plaintiffs, the trial was continued so that the plaintiffs could conduct additional discovery.

On October 12, 2011, the plaintiffs deposed Officer Moore. Officer Moore testified that in 2009, when he was asked by Chief Lovello to retrieve information related to the incident on May 16, 2009, he had never seen and did not know that there was a court order regarding the preservation of evidence.

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974 F. Supp. 2d 123, 2013 WL 5434601, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 142772, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marceline-v-town-of-darien-ctd-2013.