Morabito ex rel. Estate of Morabito v. Holmes

628 F. App'x 353
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedOctober 7, 2015
Docket14-3612
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 628 F. App'x 353 (Morabito ex rel. Estate of Morabito v. Holmes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Morabito ex rel. Estate of Morabito v. Holmes, 628 F. App'x 353 (6th Cir. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION

ALAN E. NORRIS, Circuit Judge.

Deborah Morabito, mother of James Morabito and the administrator of his estate,1 sued corrections officers Roger Holmes and Joseph Rauscher, among others, for excessive use of force and denial of medical treatment under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and for related state-law intentional tort claims. Defendants Holmes and Rauscher moved for summary judgment based on qualified immunity, which the district court denied. This appeal followed. For the reasons that follow, we AFFIRM in part, and REVERSE in part.

I.

The morning of February 18, 2011, James Morabito was arrested for disorderly conduct and possessing an open container of alcohol. At just before one o’clock in the afternoon, he was booked into the city jail in Cleveland, Ohio, and this suit arises out of his brief incarceration there. Defendants Holmes and Rauscher reported to work at the jail a couple of hours after he arrived. By that time, Morabito was on “suicide watch,” which means he was dressed in a paper outfit to limit his ability to harm himself, and he was moved to a more visible jail cell so that corrections officers could better monitor him. According to Mrs. Morabito, her son suffered from Tourette’s syndrome, anxiety, insomnia, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and bi-polar disorder; he required medication to control symptoms such as severe ticks, verbal outbursts; anxiety, frustration, and withdrawal. Apparently Morabito had elected to stop taking his medication approximately one week prior to his arrest.

Before and after Defendants arrived for their shift, Morabito repeatedly requested medication. By the time Defendants arrived for work, Morabito already was scheduled to see the jail’s nurse, who was expected to arrive around 5:30 p.m.

Defendants stated that Morabito was loud, verbally combative, ■ and repeatedly demanded medical care. Plaintiff does not dispute this characterization, but explained that the stress of being jailed, exacerbated by being off his medication, triggered the deceased’s disorders and caused him to experience severe emotional distress.

The alleged excessive force occurred at approximately 7:30 p.m. that evening. The parties characterize the incident quite differently, but each characterization is consistent with the video evidence captured by the jail camera and is supported by some testimonial evidence. Plaintiffs version of events is that Defendants entered Morabi-to’s cell without a legitimate purpose— they simply were frustrated with Morabi-to’s outbursts and demands for medical treatment — and stood over him, taunting him. Morabito was sitting on his cell floor in his paper suit, not attempting to hurt himself, and posing no threat to anyone else. Defendants then knocked Morabito’s head aside, pinned him to the ground, punched him, and then used a Taser against his neck for five seconds. Morabi-to was not treated for any injuries at the jail, but he saw the nurse shortly after the [355]*355incident to address his need for medication. Morabito was released the next morning, and complained to his mother about being beaten up and tased. Soon after his release, Morabito visited a doctor complaining of his injuries.

Defendants claim that Morabito stated a desire to harm himself in his cell (unfortunately the jail video .recording does not include audio). In order to calm him and thwart any attempts at self-inflicted harm, Defendants entered Morabito’s cell. Morabito continued his aggressive outbursts and eventually attempted to spit on Defendants. According to Defendants, they responded by pushing his face away with an open hand in order to stop his attempted assault. When he tried to spit again, Defendants pushed his head aside for a second time. Finally, Morabito balled his fists and lunged for Defendants’ legs. Defendants pinned him to the ground to prevent his attack. One of them discharged a Taser near Morabito’s head, warning him that he would use it if he did not calm down. According to Defendants, Morabito was never actually tased but, when it was discharged near Morabito, the distinct electric buzzing sound seemed to frighten him into compliance.2 After Morabito calmed down, Defendants disengaged and left the cell.

Cleveland Police Internal Affairs conducted an investigation, which yielded conflicting witness accounts. Defendants object to the admissibility of the Internal Affairs report, arguing that it cannot properly be considered, even at the summary judgment stage. Plaintiff does reference the report in her brief, highlighting that one witness stated that Defendants “punched the prisoner, then slammed the prisoner to the ground, and then punched the prisoner again.” Another said that Defendants “slapped the prisoner with an open hand and Tasered (Drive Stun) the prisoner while he was pinned down on the ground.” Other witnesses supported Defendants’ version of the events. The Internal Affairs Unit recommended further review by a prosecutor and the Division of Corrections, but the report’s conclusion was that the incident likely occurred as described by Defendants, and therefore the use of force was objectively reasonable.

The district court did not rule on Defendants’ evidentiary objections, holding that material issues of fact precluded summary judgment with or without the disputed evidence, and so the evidentiary disputes could be resolved at trial.

Defendants maintain that (1) their conduct was objectively reasonable and did not constitute excessive force, (2) Morabi-to’s need for medical care was not sufficiently serious to support a denial of care claim, and (3) they are immune from all state law claims under Ohio Rev.Code § 2744.03. Plaintiff asserts that the district court correctly denied immunity on all claims and that this court does not have jurisdiction over this interlocutory appeal because Defendants raise factual issues.

II.

The parties raise a number of preliminary issues to be resolved before turning to the merits of the appeal.

A. Jurisdiction over Interlocutory Appeal

Denial of summary judgment is usually considered an interlocutory order, not a final judgment, and so is ordinarily not appealable. Bishop v. Hackel, 636 [356]*356F.3d 757, 764 (6th Cir.2011) (citing Phelps v. Coy, 286 F.3d 295, 298 (6th Cir.2002)). “However, denial of a motion for summary-judgment on the ground of qualified immunity may be deemed a final, appealable order because the qualified immunity doctrine exists partly to protect officials from having to stand trial, and a defendant wrongly forced to go to trial loses the benefit of the immunity even if exonerated after trial.” Id. Therefore, a district court’s denial of qualified immunity on the federal claims is an appealable final decision “‘to the extent that it turns on an issue of law.’ ” Brown v. Lewis, 779 F.3d 401, 410-11 (6th Cir.2015) (quoting Austin v. Redford Twp. Police Dept., 690 F.3d 490, 495 (6th Cir.2012)). We have “jurisdiction over the legal question of qualified immunity, i.e.,

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Bluebook (online)
628 F. App'x 353, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morabito-ex-rel-estate-of-morabito-v-holmes-ca6-2015.