Melinda Williams v. Mark Papi

714 F. App'x 128
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedOctober 25, 2017
Docket16-4354
StatusUnpublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 714 F. App'x 128 (Melinda Williams v. Mark Papi) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Melinda Williams v. Mark Papi, 714 F. App'x 128 (3d Cir. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION *

CHAGARES, Circuit Judge.

The defendant officers appeal from the District Court’s denying them summary judgment on the basis of qualified immunity in an excessive force case brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Because the District Court’s decision rested upon findings of disputed facts that we would have to review to resolve the case, we lack jurisdiction to consider the merits question of the officers’ entitlement to qualified immunity. However, because the District Court erred as a matter of law in failing to grant summary judgment in favor of some of the officers on the supervisory liability claims, we have jurisdiction over that issue only. We accordingly will dismiss in part and reverse in part,

I.

We assume the parties’ familiarity with the factual and procedural history, which we describe only as necessary to explain our decision. Plaintiff Melinda Williams (“Mrs. Williams”) brought this § 1983 action on behalf of her husband, Brian Williams (‘Williams”), who was killed by police who were attempting to take him into custody pursuant to an involuntary commitment warrant obtained after Williams’ psychiatrist identified him as a clear and present danger to others.

Officers from multiple municipalities responded to Williams’ home in Overfield Township to help take Williams, who had barricaded himself inside, into custody. By the time all the officers had assembled, on the scene were defendants Officer Slade Profka and Corporal Paul Miller of Over-field Township, 1 Chief Stanley Ely and Officers Robert Roberts and Mark Papi of Tunkhannock Township, Chief William Olszewski and Sergeant Roger Hardy of Tunkhannock Borough, and Chief John Kreig of Meshoppen Borough, as well as non-defendants Corporal Dunleavy and Troopers Flynn and Lopez of the Pennsylvania State Police. Defendant Terry Fisher, Chief of the Overfield Township Police, was off duty and did not come to the scene. Fisher, however, was informed of the situation and spoke with Williams— whom he knew—about surrendering to the police.

Ely led negotiations and spoke to Williams several times from outside a side door to the home. While negotiations continued, a group of officers stationed at the front door entered the house using a key that Mrs. Williams had given them. The officers proceeded to the basement where they witnessed an unarmed Williams lock himself in a bedroom. The officers demanded that Williams surrender and he repeatedly warned the officers not to enter. The officers forced their way into the room, where they found Williams wielding a fireplace poker, in a manner that is disputed. Three officers fired Tasers at Williams, which had no effect; Mrs. Williams contends that the barbs never hit him. The officers assert that Williams then raised the poker upward and moved towards them, at which point he was four feet from the nearest officer. Mrs. Williams disputes that Williams raised the poker in such a manner. Papi then shot Williams twice, killing him.

As relevant on appeal, Mrs. Williams brought Fourth Amendment claims against the officers for using excessive force when entering Williams’ home and bedroom; a claim of excessive force against Papi for lethally shooting Williams; and supervisory liability claims against certain officers. The defendants moved for summary judgment on all counts on the basis of qualified immunity and Mrs. Williams cross-moved for partial summary judgment on, inter alia, the excessive-force entry claims. On December 7, 2016, the District Court denied both motions, holding that factual disputes precluded it from determining either whether the officers violated Williams’ constitutional rights or whether the officers were nevertheless entitled to qualified immunity. Among other facts, the District Court found disputed whether Williams posed an imminent threat to the officers or himself, whether he attempted to resist arrest, and, if so, whether his resistance included the use of threats or violence. The defendants timely appealed.

II.

A.

We review our jurisdiction to consider issues in a qualified immunity appeal on a claim-by-claim basis. Blaylock v. City of Philadelphia, 504 F.3d 405, 409 n.3 (3d Cir. 2007). Our jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 is limited to “final decisions,” which under the collateral order doctrine includes “a district court’s denial of a claim of qualified immunity, to the extent that it turns on an issue of law,” because such rulings are “separable from, and collateral to, [the] rights asserted in the action.” Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 527, 530, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985) (quoting Cohen v. Beneficial Indus. Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 546, 69 S.Ct. 1221, 93 L.Ed. 1528 (1949)). Where, on the other hand, the issue on appeal is a “fact-related dispute” about “whether or not the evidence in the pretrial record [is] sufficient to show a genuine issue of fact for trial,” an order is not immediately appealable and we lack jurisdiction to hear the case. Johnson v. Jones, 515 U.S. 304, 307, 115 S.Ct. 2151, 132 L.Ed.2d 238 (1995); see also Behrens v. Pelletier, 516 U.S. 299, 313, 116 S.Ct. 834, 133 L.Ed.2d 773 (1996) (“[I]f what is at issue in the sufficiency determination is nothing more than whether the evidence could support a finding that particular conduct occurred, the question decided is not truly ‘separable’ from the plaintiffs claim, and hence there is no ‘final decision’ under Cohen and Mitchell.”). For each of Mrs. Williams’ claims, our jurisdiction “depends on whether the defendants’ appeal raises pure questions of law or whether it challenges the District Court’s determination of which facts were sufficiently supported by evidence.” Blaylock, 504 F.3d at 409.

Given this limitation on our jurisdiction, the defendants assert that for the purposes of appeal they accept all of the District Court’s factual findings and argue that even taking the facts in that light, they are entitled to qualified immunity as a matter of law. The defendants therefore insist that they are not seeking review of whether the District Court’s factual determinations were supported by the record and so Johnson does not preclude appellate jurisdiction to consider this purely legal claim. We agree that such an approach is theoretically permissible, see Behrens, 516 U.S. at 313, 116 S.Ct. 834 (“Johnson permits petitioner to claim on appeal that all of the conduct which the District Court deemed sufficiently supported for purposes of summary judgment met the [Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 102 S.Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
714 F. App'x 128, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/melinda-williams-v-mark-papi-ca3-2017.