Mayorov v. United States

84 F. Supp. 3d 678, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36064, 2015 WL 1345930
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedMarch 23, 2015
DocketNo. 13 C 5249
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 84 F. Supp. 3d 678 (Mayorov v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mayorov v. United States, 84 F. Supp. 3d 678, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36064, 2015 WL 1345930 (N.D. Ill. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

REBECCA R. PALLMEYER, United States District Judge

Plaintiff Sergey Mayorov, a United States citizen, pleaded guilty to residential burglary in Illinois state court in 2010. He received a four-year prison term but was placed in Illinois’ “impact incarceration” program, an alternative sentencing program in which individuals serve just 120 days in “boot camp.” An offender who successfully completes boot camp will be released from custody without having to serve a custodial prison sentence. Halfway through Mayorov’s time in boot camp, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) Officers issued an immigration detainer against him. The ICE detainer requested that the Illinois Department of Corrections (“IDOC”) hold Mayorov up to an additional 48 hours after he would otherwise be released so that he could be detained by the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) for investiga[683]*683tion of whether he was lawfully present in the United. States. Because ICE is prohibited as a matter of law from detaining United States citizens, however, the government had no authority to issue this detainer.

Under IDOC rules, a person subject to a detainer is not eligible to participate in boot camp, so Mayorov was transferred to a state prison, where he remained for about ten months before ICE cancelled his detainer, and IDOC reinstated him to boot camp. Mayorov completed the program successfully and was released from custody on April 14,2012.

Mayorov brings this action pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”), 28 U.S.C. § 2671 et seq., and asserts claims of negligence and false imprisonment against the Government for its actions in issuing a detainer against him. The detainer, he alleges, resulted in his spending 325 days in prison that he otherwise would not have served. The Government asserts various affirmative defenses that, if applicable, defeat Mayorov’s claims. The Government also argues that Mayorov’s claims fail on the merits. Both parties have moved for summary judgment. For the reasons that follow, the court concludes that the Government’s affirmative defenses do not bar Mayorov’s claims, but that the Government is entitled to summary judgment on Mayorov’s claim of false imprisonment. Disputes of fact preclude summary judgment on his negligence claim, however. The Government’s motion for summary judgment [32] is therefore granted in part and denied in part. Mayorov’s motion for summary judgment in his favor on liability [29] is denied.

BACKGROUND

Sergey Mayorov was born in 1990 in Belarus. (Pl.’s Local Rule 56.1 Stat. of Mat. Facts [31], hereinafter “Pl.’s 56.1,” ¶ 6.) He immigrated to the United States in 1999 as a child of his asylee mother, then known as Tatyana Mayorova, and became a lawful permanent resident on July 22, 2005. (See Def.’s Resp. [42] to Pl.’s 56.1, ¶¶ 7-8.) Mayorov’s mother became a naturalized United States citizen on March 22, 2007. (Id. ¶ 10.) On her N-400 naturalization application, Mayorov’s mother listed Mayorov as a dependent minor who lived with her. (Id. ¶ 9.) She also elected to change her name from Tat-yana Mayorova to Tanya May in her application. (Id. ¶ 10.) Because Mayorov was under eighteen years old and in the legal and physical custody of his mother at the time she naturalized, he automatically became a United States citizen the same day pursuant to the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (“CCA”), see 8 U.S.C. § 1431(a).1 (Def.’s Resp. to Pl.’s 56.1 ¶¶ 11-12.) May-orov did not apply for a naturalization certificate, but the CCA confers citizenship automatically — a certificate is not required. (Pl.’s Resp. [37] to Def.’s Local Rule 56.1 Stat. of Mat. Facts [34], hereinafter “Def.’s 56.1,” ¶ 9.)

On December 27, 2010, Mayorov pleaded guilty to residential burglary in the Circuit Court of Cook County and was sentenced to four years in prison. (Def.’s Resp. to Pl.’s 56.1 ¶ 19.) The sentencing judge recommended, however, that Mayo-rov participate in Illinois’ “impact incarceration program,” a program that sends qualified individuals to boot camp for 120 days in lieu of prison confinement. (See [684]*684id. ¶¶ 18-20; Plea Colloquy, Ex. 20 to Pl.’s 56.1 [31-21], 7-9; Sentencing Order, Ex. H to Def.’s 56.1.) Upon successful completion of boot camp, Mayorov would be released from IDOC custody without having to serve any prison time. (Pl.’s 56.1 ¶ 19.)

On December 28, 2010, prior to entering boot camp, Mayorov was processed into IDOC’s Stateville Correctional Center. (Def.’s Resp. to PL’s 56.1 ¶ 21.) There, two ICE officers, Mayra Reynoso and Jennifer Wall, interviewed Mayorov as part of Stateville’s inmate intake procedures. {Id. ¶ 22.) In their depositions, Reynoso and Wall testified that they knew that Mayorov was designated for boot camp; they also knew that inmates who had immigration detainers lodged against them were not eligible to participate in boot camp. (Id. ¶ 23; see Reynoso Dep., Ex. 7 to PL’s 56.1 [31-7], hereinafter “Reynoso Dep.,” 45:1-24; Wall Dep., Ex. 8 to PL’s 56.1 [31-8], hereinafter “Wall Dep.,” 46:5-15.) An immigration detainer is a document issued by DHS that, among other things, asks a state or local law enforcement agency to detain an individual for up to 48 hours (excluding weekends and federal holidays) after the agency’s detention authority has ended so that DHS can determine whether the person is lawfully present in the country. (See Detainer for Sergey Mayorov, Ex. N to Def.’s 56.1.)

There is conflicting evidence about whether Mayorov told Reynoso and Wall that he was a United States citizen. In his deposition, Mayorov does not explicitly say that he told the agents this (and was not directly asked about the matter), but he does make such an assertion in his affidavit. (Mayorov Affidavit, Ex. 22 to PL’s 56.1 [31-22], ¶ 3 (“During my processing at Stateville [], I informed the ICE officers present that day, who[m] I have come to know were Officers Mayra Reynoso and Jennifer Wall, that I was a United States citizen.”). Neither agent remembers meeting Mayorov, but it is undisputed that they did in fact speak with him as part of the Stateville inmate intake procedures on December 28, 2010. (See Wall Dep. at 49:23-50:2; Reynoso Dep. at 28:12-16; see Def.’s Resp. to PL’s 56.1 ¶22.) Reynoso and Wall reviewed DHS’s database entries for Mayorov and his mother, and Reynoso made a notation beside Mayorov’s name on the inmate log explaining that she and Wall did not issue a detainer because May-orov was a “Child of USC [U.S. citizen].” (Def.’s Resp. to PL’s 56.1 ¶¶ 26-28.) Rey: noso does not recall what led her to make this notation. (Reynoso Dep. at 48:1^49:7.) Mayorov recalls that initially, either Rey-noso or Wall was skeptical about his legal status:

She said “I don’t know for sure, but I don’t see any paperwork on you. It doesn’t look like you’re going to boot camp. Let me go ask my boss. Step into the next room over.” I stepped in there and the boss was a lady. She started asking me what was my mom’s name. She found her in the system and then I don’t know what she did. She said[,] “What year did your mom become a citizen or naturalized?” “It was '07. I was 16 back then[,]” and she said[,] “Oh, you were under 18 when your mom became naturalized?” I said “Yeah.” She said[,] “You’re fine.” I just signed some papers and I just went to the next physical, dental.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Martin v. Siciliano
N.D. Illinois, 2023
Sanchez-Rivera v. United States
S.D. California, 2023
United States v. Moyano
N.D. Illinois, 2018
Sebolt v. United States
N.D. Illinois, 2018
Alonzo v. USA
2017 DNH 081 (D. New Hampshire, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
84 F. Supp. 3d 678, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36064, 2015 WL 1345930, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mayorov-v-united-states-ilnd-2015.