Sirmans v. City of South Miami

86 F.R.D. 492, 30 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1003, 6 Fed. R. Serv. 599, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13344
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedApril 28, 1980
DocketNo. 78-1495-CIV-JAG
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 86 F.R.D. 492 (Sirmans v. City of South Miami) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sirmans v. City of South Miami, 86 F.R.D. 492, 30 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1003, 6 Fed. R. Serv. 599, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13344 (S.D. Fla. 1980).

Opinion

ORDER

GONZALEZ, District Judge.

THIS CAUSE is before the Court upon the Motion to Quash Subpoena and for Protective Order of Janet Reno, State Attorney of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida.

A subpoena duces tecum for deposition was issued commanding the Custodian of Records employed in the office of the State Attorney to testify and to bring with him “Copies of any and all reports, transcripts, memoranda, and papers relating to an investigation conducted by the Office of the State Attorney of one Raymond F. Chisolm in 1975.”

Rule 26(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that “Parties may obtain discovery regarding any matter not privileged which is relevant to the subject matter in the pending action.” As a threshold matter, the plaintiff must demonstrate that the information which is the subject of his subpoena duces tecum is “relevant to the subject matter ... in the pending action.”

The plaintiff, George Lee Sirmans, has filed a seven count Second Amended Complaint containing claims under the Civil Rights Acts, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983, and 1988, as well as pendent state law claims

Sirmans alleges that on May 1,1975, Raymond Chisolm, a detective for the City of South Miami, maliciously and without probable cause obtained a warrant for his arrest thereby causing the plaintiff to be arrested and incarcerated for approximately six months. Sirmans further alleges that Chisolm instituted, and participated in giving false and perjured testimony in the prosecution that resulted from the arrest. After trial by jury Sirmans was acquitted.1 In his allegations against the City of South Miami, the Mayor, the City Manager, and the Chief of Police, Sirmans alleges that they knew or should have known of Chisolm’s propensity to engage in such unlawful activities, and that the hiring and subsequent failure to discipline or remove Chisolm constituted an authorization of or acquiescence in Chisolm’s illegal actions.

Sirmans’ § 1983 claim illustrates the relevance of “reports, transcripts, memoranda, and papers relating to an investigation conducted by the Office of the State Attorney of one Raymond F. Chisolm in 1975”. Section 1983 provides:

Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress.

The City of South Miami cannot be liable under § 1983 based on a theory of respondeat superior. Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 691-95, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 2036-38, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978). “Instead, it is when execution of a government’s policy or custom, whether made by its lawmakers or by those whose edicts or acts may fairly be said to represent official policy, inflicts the jury that the government [494]*494as an entity is responsible under § 1983.” Id. at 694, 98 S.Ct. at 2038.

In Reeves v. City of Jackson, 608 F.2d 644 (5th Cir. 1979) the Court discussed several theories which would make out a § 1983 claim against a municipality under Monell. The § 1983 plaintiff may present “evidence that the City either tacitly or explicitly encouraged” the conduct constituting the alleged deprivation. Id. at 652. Similarly the § 1983 plaintiff may present evidence that the “City was reckless or grossly negligent in its training, supervising, or disciplining of the officers or jailers involved.” Id. at 652. Proof under one of these theories would satisfy the requirement of the existence of either “(a) an official policy or custom which results in constitutional violations or (b) conduct by officials in authority evincing implicit authorization or approval or acquiescence in the unconstitutional conduct.” Popow v. City of Margate, 476 F.Supp. 1237, 1245 (D.N.J.1979). See Rizzo v. Goode, 423 U.S. 362, 371, 96 S.Ct. 598, 604, 46 L.Ed.2d 561 (1976).

Similarly, municipal or supervisory officials cannot be liable under § 1983 based on a theory of vicarious liability. Henzel v. Gerstein, 608 F.2d 654, 658, (5th Cir. 1979); Sims v. Adams, 537 F.2d 829, 831-32 (5th Cir. 1976). To hold supervisory officials liable under § 1983, the plaintiff must demonstrate “some causal connection between an act of the official and the alleged violation.” Henzel v. Gerstein, 608 F.2d at 658.

The investigative files which are the subject of the State Attorney’s motion are “relevant to the subject matter . in the pending action.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(1). The information sought is not only “reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissable evidence” Fed.R. Civ.P. 26(b)(1), it forms the basis of plaintiff’s claim against the municipality and the individual defendants.2

The thrust of the State Attorney’s Motion to Quash Subpoena and for Protective Order is that the materials sought are “privileged” within the meaning of 26(b)(1) Fed.R.Civ.P. In support, the State Attorney relies on three privileges created under Florida law.

First it is argued that if the information does exist, discovery of investigative files would require disclosure of work product and would seriously impede criminal prosecutions. See Eagan v. DeManio, 294 So.2d 639 (Fla.1974). Second, the movant contends that the State' Attorney serves as a one-man Grand Jury and in that capacity communications that are received are not available in a civil action for damages. See Widener v. Croft, 184 So.2d 444 (Fla. 4th DCA 1966). Finally, F.S.A., § 119.07(3)(j) provides an exemption from the disclosure provisions of § 119.07(1) for “all criminal intelligence and criminal investigative information received by a criminal justice agency prior to January 25, 1979.”

The State Attorney’s reliance on these state created privileges is misplaced. It is settled that “privilege” as used in Rule 26 means privilege as determined by the Federal Rules of Evidence. United States v. Reynolds, 345 U.S. 1, 6, 73 S.Ct. 528, 531, 97 L.Ed. 727 (1953).

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86 F.R.D. 492, 30 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1003, 6 Fed. R. Serv. 599, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13344, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sirmans-v-city-of-south-miami-flsd-1980.