Riley v. City of Philadelphia

136 F.R.D. 571, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4576, 1991 WL 90429
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 1, 1991
DocketCiv. A. No. 90-1713
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 136 F.R.D. 571 (Riley v. City of Philadelphia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Riley v. City of Philadelphia, 136 F.R.D. 571, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4576, 1991 WL 90429 (E.D. Pa. 1991).

Opinion

JAMES McGIRR KELLY, District Judge.

The court has considered the unrebutted testimony of the defendant and movant Nancy Beam Winter presented at the hearing on March 25 and 26, 1991 in relation to the Motion of Defendant Nancy Beam Winter for Imposition of Attorney’s Fees and is now prepared to make its Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law and decision.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. This case was originally filed in state court to redress alleged negligent and willful actions taken in connection with the state court criminal prosecution of the plaintiff’s son, Raymond Charles.

2. The complaint was removed to federal court on March 12, 1990 by the defendant City of Philadelphia as a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action.

3. The plaintiff alleged in her complaint that the three witness/complainants in the state court prosecution, the two assistant district attorneys in the state court prosecution, the City of Philadelphia, and the two police officers involved in the investigation of the plaintiff’s son violated the plaintiff’s son’s constitutional rights by criminally prosecuting him in state court.

4. On May 26, 1987, the plaintiff’s son was convicted of burglary and two simple assault counts.

5. On June 5, 1987, the Motion for Arrest of Judgment was granted in favor of the plaintiff’s son.

6. Defendant Nancy Beam Winter was one of the assistant district attorneys responsible for handling the case against the plaintiff’s son and was sued in her official capacity as district attorney.

7. Fincourt B. Shelton, Esquire was the attorney for the plaintiff’s son during the state court prosecution and the attorney of record for this suit as well.

8. Uncontradicted testimony presented at the hearing described the conduct of Mr. Shelton towards Ms. Winter during the state court proceedings as vituperative; throughout the trial, he made statements such as that she was a “white bitch,” she should “rot in hell,” and that “God will get you for this.”

9. On March 15, 1990, Ms. Winter was served with this complaint.

10. Mr. Shelton was attempting to harass Ms. Winter by filing this suit against her.

11. On April 17, 1990, Ms. Winter filed her answer to the complaint.

[573]*57312. On May 24, 1990, Ms. Winter’s counsel, Assistant District Attorney Sarah B. Vandenbraak sent Mr. Shelton a letter explaining the defense of absolute immunity for prosecutors, which made the plaintiff’s claims against Ms. Winter groundless.

13. A proposed stipulation for voluntary dismissal of the claim against Ms. Winter was enclosed for Mr. Shelton to sign.

14. Ms. Vandenbraak never received a copy of the signed stipulation.

15. On July 24, 1990, Ms. Vandenbraak called Mr. Shelton, during which phone call, Mr. Shelton agreed to dismiss the case.

16. Also during the July 24, 1990 phone call, Mr. Shelton stated that he had told his associate to send the stipulation and assumed it had been done.

17. No stipulation was received after this phone call by Ms. Vandenbraak, this Court or the city solicitor representing the other parties.

18. On September 24, 1990, two months after the phone call to Mr. Shelton, Ms. Winter filed a Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings, contending that she was protected by absolute immunity.

19. On October 2, 1990, Mr. Shelton’s associate, Ronald K.M. Williams, Esquire, sent to Ms. Vandenbraak a letter with a copy of a stipulation signed by Mr. Williams that was dated June 10, 1990. This signed stipulation was never received by Ms. Vandenbraak.

20. Mr. Williams did not explain in the letter why, after the July 24, 1990 phone call alerted Mr. Shelton to the fact that this stipulation allegedly dated June 10, 1990 was not received by the district attorney’s office, Mr. Shelton did not send another stipulation, as agreed.

21. On October 16, 1990, this Court dismissed Ms. Winter’s unopposed Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings due to the communication that a stipulation to dismiss the claim against Ms. Winter would be filed.

22. The stipulation was not received until January, 1991, at the prompting of the Deputy Clerk of this Court.

23. Ms. Winter filed this motion for attorney’s fees and sanctions on November 7, 1990.

24. In Mr. Shelton’s response to Ms. Winter’s motion, he stated, “Once [Ms. Winter] raised the defenses of immunity this defense was researched.” Plaintiff’s Answer to Defendant Beam’s Motion for Imposition of Attorney’s Fees, at 3.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

1. Ms. Winter requests attorney’s fees based on two grounds: Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 and 28 U.S.C. § 1927.

2. Rule 11 states in pertinent part:
Every pleading, ... shall be signed by at least one attorney of record in the attorney’s individual name, ... The signature of an attorney constitutes a certificate by the signer that the signer has read the pleading, motion, or other paper; that to the best of the signer’s knowledge, information, and belief formed after reasonable inquiry it is well grounded in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law, and that it is not interposed for any improper purpose, such as to harass or to cause unnecessary delay or needless increase in the cost of litigation.

3. No possible basis existed for the plaintiff’s claim against Ms. Winter: prosecutorial immunity is a clear and absolute defense against lawsuits for the behavior of district attorneys during trials. See Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. 409, 96 S.Ct. 984, 47 L.Ed.2d 128 (1976).

4. Reasonable inquiry prior to filing suit would have uncovered this case; therefore, Mr. Shelton did not complete the modicum of research required by Rule 11 before filing a complaint that is “warranted by existing law.” Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11. See Leib v. Topstone Industries, Inc., 788 F.2d 151, 157 (3d Cir.1986).

5. An uncontested motion could have been filed by Mr. Shelton to dismiss the claim against Ms. Winter, so that any disputes regarding receipt of a signed stipula[574]*574tion by the district attorney’s office are irrelevant.

6. Mr. Shelton was responsible for dismissing the case once it was removed to federal court. See Herron v. Jupiter Transportation Co., 858 F.2d 332, 336 (6th Cir.1988).

7. Mr. Shelton filed this lawsuit against Ms. Winter for an improper purpose, harassment, in violation of Rule 11.

8. Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
136 F.R.D. 571, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4576, 1991 WL 90429, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/riley-v-city-of-philadelphia-paed-1991.