Mudd v. City of New Haven

196 F. Supp. 3d 882, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96360, 2016 WL 3971562
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedJuly 25, 2016
DocketCause No.: 1:15-CV-177
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 196 F. Supp. 3d 882 (Mudd v. City of New Haven) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mudd v. City of New Haven, 196 F. Supp. 3d 882, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96360, 2016 WL 3971562 (N.D. Ind. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

William C. Lee, Judge, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Indiana

This matter is before the court on the motion for summary judgment filed by Defendants City of New Haven, Indiana, and Officer James Krueger on April 18, 2016 (DE 30). Plaintiff James Mudd filed a response in opposition to the motion on May 12, 2016 (DE 35) and Defendants filed a reply brief on May 23, 2016 (DE 36). For the reasons discussed below, the motion for summary judgment is GRANTED and this case is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.

BACKGROUND

The material facts giving rise to this lawsuit are mostly undisputed. On December 29, 2013, at approximately 2:30 a.m., Mudd was pulled over for speeding by New Haven police officer James Krueger. After Krueger stopped Mudd’s vehicle, he saw Mudd lean over to reach for something in the vehicle. Fearing that Mudd might have a weapon, Krueger drew his service revolver and kept it pointed at Mudd until backup arrived,1 at which time Mudd was instructed to exit his vehicle and show his hands to officers. Mudd did so and Krueger saw that Mudd was holding his wallet in his left hand, so Krueger holstered his weapon. Krueger suspected that Mudd was intoxicated and administered a field sobriety test and portable breathalyzer test, the latter of which indicated a blood alcohol level of .16, twice the legal limit in Indiana. Krueger also obtained a search warrant for a blood draw, but Mudd refused to allow anyone to draw blood from him the morning of his arrest. A state court eventually ruled that Mudd was in contempt of court as a result of his refusal to submit to a blood draw and sentenced Mudd to 30 days in jail. The state court acquitted Mudd of the other charges arising out of his arrest on December 29, 2013. Mudd contends that he was not speeding or intoxicated when he [885]*885was stopped. At no point during his encounter with police did Mudd resist officers, threaten them, or attempt to flee.

The parties present and argue about many more facts, but most of them are either not determinative or not really relevant at all. The facts just recited form the foundation of Mudd’s complaint, in which he asserts the following:

1) a claim against the City of New Haven for “unconstitutional/constitutionally deficient policies, practices, procedures, and/or customs in effect (including the custom and policy of inadequate training) that resulted in the excessive and unreasonable force Plaintiff suffered the hands of Officer Krueger in violation of Plaintiffs federally protected rights under the Fourth Amendment and 42 U.S.C. § 1983[.]” (Third Amended Complaint (DE 23)), p. 1-2;
2) an excessive force claim against Krueger (Id., p. 2); and
3) a Fourth Amendment claim and/or state law claim against Krueger for false arrest (Id., p. 3).

SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD

Summary judgment is appropriate when the record shows that there is “no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P, 56(c); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). Disputes concerning material facts are genuine where the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the non-moving party.Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). In deciding whether genuine issues of material fact exist, the court construes all facts in a light most favorable to the non-moving party and draws all reasonable inferences in favor of the non-moving party. See id. at 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505. However, neither the “mere existence of some alleged factual dispute between the parties,” id., 477 U.S. at 247, 106 S.Ct. 2505, nor the existence of “some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts,” Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986), will defeat a motion for summary judgment. Michas v. Health Cost Controls of Ill., Inc., 209 F.3d 687, 692 (7th Cir.2000).

Summary judgment is not a substitute for a trial on the merits nor is it a vehicle for resolving factual disputes. Waldridge v. Am. Hoechst Corp., 24 F.3d 918, 920 (7th Cir.1994). Therefore, after drawing all reasonable inferences from the facts in favor of the non-movant, if genuine doubts remain and a reasonable fact-finder could find for the party opposing the motion, summary judgment is inappropriate. See Shields Enterprises, Inc. v. First Chicago Corp., 975 F.2d 1290, 1294 (7th Cir. 1992); Wolf v. City of Fitchburg, 870 F.2d 1327, 1330 (7th Cir.1989). If it is clear that a plaintiff will be unable to satisfy the legal requirements necessary to establish his or her case, summary judgment is not only appropriate, but mandated. See Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548; Ziliak v. AstraZeneca LP, 324 F.3d 518, 520 (7th Cir.2003).

DISCUSSION

I. Claim against City of New Haven.

Mudd brought his claim against the City of New Haven pursuant to Monell v. Dep’t of Soc. Serv. of City of N.Y., 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978). Amended Complaint, pp. 1, 3. In his response brief, however, Mudd states that he “agrees to dismiss his Monell claims against the City of New Haven, with prejudice.” Plaintiffs Response, pp. 9-10. Accordingly, Mudd’s claim against the City of New Haven is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.

[886]*886II. Excessive force claim.

“ ‘In order to establish an excessive force claim under § 1983, plaintiffs must demonstrate that a state actor’s use of force was ‘objectively unreasonable’ under the circumstances.’ ” Jones v. Phillips, et al., 2016 WL 3255022, at *3 (E.D.Wis. June 13, 2016) (quoting Thompson v. City of Chicago, 472 F.3d 444, 454 (7th Cir. 2006)).... “An officer’s use of force is unreasonable from a constitutional point of view only if, ‘judging from the totality of the circumstances at the time of the arrest, the officer used force greater than necessary to make the arrest.’” Id. (quoting Gonzalez v. City of Elgin, 578 F.3d 526, 539 (7th Cir.2009)).

The analytical framework the court follows to assess such claims is as follows:

Where, as here, an excessive force claim “arises in the context of an arrest or investigatory stop of a free citizen, it is most properly characterized as one invoking the protections of the Fourth Amendment...” Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 394, 109 S.Ct. 1865, 1871, 104 L.Ed.2d 443 (1989). Determining whether force used to effect a seizure is “reasonable” under the Fourth Amendment^]

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Bluebook (online)
196 F. Supp. 3d 882, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96360, 2016 WL 3971562, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mudd-v-city-of-new-haven-innd-2016.