McCormack v. Livergood

353 F. Supp. 3d 357
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 7, 2018
DocketCIVIL ACTION NO. 3:17-0407
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 353 F. Supp. 3d 357 (McCormack v. Livergood) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McCormack v. Livergood, 353 F. Supp. 3d 357 (M.D. Pa. 2018).

Opinion

MALACHY E. MANNION, United States District Judge

Presently before the court is the motion for summary judgment filed by remaining defendant Marvin Livergood, Chief of the Frackville Borough Police Department, against plaintiff Sean McCormack. (Doc. 22). The plaintiff filed his civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and alleged violations of his Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights related to his arrest and prosecution by Chief Livergood for the theft of money for small games of chance sold by the Frackville American Legion. The plaintiff also asserted state law claims for malicious prosecution and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The defendant now moves for summary judgment with respect to all of the claims in the plaintiff's complaint, (Doc. 1), against him. The defendant's motion will be GRANTED with respect to the plaintiff's Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment claims. The court will decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the plaintiff's two remaining state law claims.

*360I. MATERIAL FACTS1

Plaintiff was employed with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections at SCI-Frackville, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. In September of 2011, after being a life member of the American Legion, plaintiff was elected as the Treasurer/Steward of the American Legion Post Home Association (the "Legion") in Frackville. Plaintiff held this position at the Legion in addition to his job at the prison. As Steward, plaintiff also became Bar Chairman of the Legion and his duties included the daily management and oversight of the Legion Canteen, i.e., the bar, the register, as well as the small games of chance. Plaintiff was also responsible for collecting money from the pull tab machines at the Legion Canteen. Prior to serving as Bar Chairman, plaintiff had no experience working with pull tab games or with small games of chance. Plaintiff, along with other employees at the VFW, including Joseph Katilas, the President of the Legion, and some bartenders, had access to the vending machine, pull tab small games of chance, the money from the pull tab games, and the records. Plaintiff was also responsible for record keeping functions of the Canteen as well as the bartenders.

Plaintiff remained in the position of Steward at the Legion until about November of 2012, when he testified that he was voted out during a change of administration. The record also reveals that plaintiff was removed from his position with the Legion and permanently expelled from the Legion in February of 2013 for violations of its rules and by-laws. (Doc. 24, Ex. M).

Peter Kostingo was elected to replace plaintiff as Steward of the Legion on November 10, 2012. Kostingo noticed some discrepancies with the Legion's accounts and requested an audit by the Legions' accountant, Norman Lettich. Initially, the audit did not reveal any discrepancies. Thus, Lettich issued his first report dated October 5, 2012, in he found no irregularities. Subsequently, Kostingo discovered that the records for the small games of chance were missing. Based on some of the records for the small games of chance which Kostingo eventually found, i.e., pull-tab invoices, he believed that money was missing from the Legion's account. In addition to the monetary discrepancy between sales and deposits, records for the small games of chance and keys of the Legion were also missing.

Lettich was then asked by the Legion's officers to perform an additional audit due to issues with revenue for the small games of chance and they provided Lettich with the Legion's sales records and invoices. Based on the records he received, Lettich discovered a $45,006.92 discrepancy "in the bar sales and [the deposits for the] small games of chance based on [his] comparison of income to deposits" during plaintiff's tenure as Steward and Bar Chairman. (Doc. 28-5). Lettich then issued a second report dated May 29, 2013, in which he concluded that $45,006.92 was missing from the small games of chance between January 1, 2012 and October 31, 2012. Additionally, Lettich stated that although he believed money was missing from the Legions' account, he did not know who took it.

However, the records Lettich was provided were not complete and some of his assumptions were inaccurate. For example, the records Lettich received did not include the invoices and credits from Total Amusement for the return of unused pull *361tabs and, his numbers erroneously assumed that every box of pull tabs was used. Further, Lettich was not provided with plaintiff's records that plaintiff had kept. Lettich subsequently testified in his deposition regarding the instant case that the invoices and the information with respect to credits would have changed his conclusion about the amount of monetary discrepancy in the Legion's account. In fact, plaintiff later testified in his deposition taken for the instant case that the credits accounted for $28,000 of Lettich's calculations. Further, Lettich testified that he did not know that plaintiff had destroyed some pull tab tickets for a legitimate reason.

Based on Lettich's report and the information he received from Kostingo, Katilas and Legion member John Mellon, defendant Livergood initiated criminal charges against plaintiff regarding the theft of money related to the sales of the pull tab games and the small games of chance at the Legion. Defendant however did not interview plaintiff regarding the allegations of missing funds at the Legion and he did not search plaintiff's bank accounts before he filed criminal charges against plaintiff.

Specifically, on December 13, 2013 defendant filed a criminal complaint charging plaintiff with theft related crimes, supported by his affidavit of probable cause, with Magisterial District Judge Christina Hale.2 On December 17, 2013, Judge Hale arraigned plaintiff on the charges filed against him by defendant.

Plaintiff's preliminary hearing on the charges filed against him by defendant was scheduled for March 5, 2014, before Magistrate Hale. Schuylkill County Assistant District Attorney Gary D. Marchalk was the prosecutor at the preliminary hearing. Marchalk reviewed the charges and spoke to the witnesses. Defendant also provided his records to Marchalk to review. Before the preliminary hearing commenced, Marchalk directed defendant to withdraw all of the charges against plaintiff since "there was not enough evidence to proceed."

After the charges against him were withdrawn, plaintiff left his job on early retirement at SCI-Frackville in August of 2014, and sold his house. Plaintiff then he relocated to California.

Subsequently, defendant discovered additional evidence at the Legion, namely, a cigar box of pull-tab game receipts. Defendant provided these receipts to Lettich to review. However, defendant did not give Lettich the plaintiff's records he maintained of the daily ticket sales, as well as his records of winnings and losses, which the plaintiff had previously provided to Marchalk on March 5, 2014. Defendant had no explanation as to why he failed to provide Lettich with plaintiff's records for review before he filed the second set of charges against plaintiff. (Doc. 28-5 at 15).

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Bluebook (online)
353 F. Supp. 3d 357, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccormack-v-livergood-pamd-2018.