Rizzo v. Edison, Inc.

172 F. App'x 391
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedMarch 24, 2006
DocketNo. 05-3707
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 172 F. App'x 391 (Rizzo v. Edison, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rizzo v. Edison, Inc., 172 F. App'x 391 (2d Cir. 2006).

Opinion

SUMMARY ORDER

Plaintiff Mary Rizzo appeals from the Decision and Order of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York (Telesca, J.) entered March 10, 2005, granting defendants’ motions for summary judgment, dismissing the Complaint with prejudice, and denying plaintiffs partial motion for summary judgment, and from the June 8, 2005 Order denying her motion for reconsideration. Plaintiffs action arose out of her arrest and prosecution for allegedly making a bomb threat to the Edison, Inc., Charter School of Science and Technology (“Edison Tech.”), where Ms. Rizzo had been a science teacher. The Complaint alleged state law claims of negligence, false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and libel; and violations of civil rights under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983, 1985. Familiarity is assumed as to the facts, the procedural context, and the issues specified for appellate review.

(1) Plaintiffs contention that her arrest by Rochester police officers was [393]*393unconstitutional under the rule of Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980) has been waived because Plaintiff never raised this issue before the district court. See Singleton v. Wulff, 428 U.S. 106, 120-21, 96 S.Ct. 2868, 49 L.Ed.2d 826 (1976); Mycak v. Honeywell, Inc., 953 F.2d 798, 803 (2d Cir.1992). Plaintiff did not object to the arrest on the ground that the police lacked an arrest warrant. General statements in Plaintiffs complaint — that the arrest was “false”, “unlawful”, and without consent — did not put defendants or the district court on notice that Plaintiff was contesting anything other than the lack of probable cause. We therefore decline to consider the issue on appeal.

(2) Plaintiff’s claims against the Rochester defendants of false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, and violation of her civil rights were properly dismissed because there was probable cause for Plaintiff’s arrest and subsequent prosecution. See Zanghi v. Incorporated Village of Old Brookville, 752 F.2d 42, 45 (2d Cir.1985) (“It is abundantly clear that a finding of probable cause will defeat state tort claims for false arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution.”); Weyant v. Okst, 101 F.3d 845, 852 (2d Cir.1996) (“The existence of probable cause to arrest constitutes justification and is a complete defense to an action for false arrest, whether that action is brought under state law or under § 1983.”) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). There is no jury question here. Probable cause is an objective standard; and it is a question of law whether undisputed facts constitute probable cause. Moreover, “probable cause can exist even where it is based on mistaken information, so long as the arresting officer acted reasonably and in good faith in relying on that information.” Bernard v. United States, 25 F.3d 98, 102 (2d Cir.1994).

The Edison Tech, secretary who took the call (Rochelle Alston) testified that she informed Officer Coriddi that the caller identified herself as Mary Rizzo and that she recognized the voice. “Both New York State and federal courts have held that a purported crime victim’s identification of the alleged culprit will generally suffice to create probable cause to arrest.” Donovan v. Briggs, 250 F.Supp.2d 242, 251-52 (W.D.N.Y.2003) (citing Minott v. City of New York, 203 A.D.2d 265, 609 N.Y.S.2d 334, 336 (2d Dep’t 1994)). Officer Coriddi, who investigated the threat, and Captain Bell, who made the decision to arrest Plaintiff, also knew that Plaintiff had recently been in an altercation with a student and was on leave from the school. Given the context and the voice identification, “a person of reasonable caution [would be warranted] in the belief that the person to be arrested has committed ... a crime.” Weyant, 101 F.3d at 852.

“Under New York law, even when probable cause is present at the time of arrest, evidence could later surface which would eliminate that probable cause.” Lowth v. Town of Cheektowaga, 82 F.3d 563 (2d Cir.1996) (internal quotation marks omitted). As no exculpatory evidence became known after Plaintiff’s arrest, there was also probable cause to prosecute her.1 See [394]*394McDermott v. City of New York, 94CV2145, 1995 WL 347041, *5 (E.D.N.Y. May 30, 1995) (“In the absence of some indication that the authorities became aware of exculpatory evidence between the time of the arrest and the subsequent prosecution that would undermine the probable cause which supported the arrest, no claim for malicious prosecution may lie.”); cf. Feinberg v. Saks & Co., 56 N.Y.2d 206, 211, 451 N.Y.S.2d 677, 436 N.E.2d 1279 (1982) (finding the relevant inquiry to be whether “there was no evidence at trial that the defendant, between the time of detention and the time of instituting the criminal proceeding against the plaintiff, had knowledge of some intervening fact exonerating plaintiff’) (emphasis in original).

Plaintiff argues that there are disputable issues of fact as to whether Alston did, in fact, recognize Rizzo’s voice, and whether Alston told Officer Coriddi that she recognized the voice. To avoid summary judgment, however, Plaintiff must “set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial. Such an issue is not created by a mere allegation in the pleadings ... nor by surmise or conjecture on the part of the litigants[.]” United States v. Potamkin Cadillac Corp., 689 F.2d 379, 381 (2d Cir.1982) (per curiam) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). Plaintiff here offers no evidence — beyond conjecture — to cast doubt on the testimony of three witnesses that Alston believed she recognized the voice of the caller making the bomb threat to be Ms. Rizzo, and that Alston told this to both Principal Accongio and Officer Coriddi. Plaintiff offers no evidence to suggest that Officer Coriddi or Captain Bell should have doubted the credibility of Alston. And Plaintiff offers no evidence to controvert the testimony that Officer Coriddi then advised Captain Bell of the positive identification, which formed the basis of Bell’s decision to arrest Plaintiff.2

(3) Plaintiff contends that the district court erred, as a matter of law, in rejecting expert opinion testimony on whether the police investigation was adequate to establish probable cause. As the district court explained, however, the existence of probable cause is a question of law that is not properly the subject of expert testimony. See United States v. Bilzerian, 926 F.2d 1285

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Bluebook (online)
172 F. App'x 391, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rizzo-v-edison-inc-ca2-2006.