Thorp v. Dist. of Columbia

327 F. Supp. 3d 186
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Thorp v. Dist. of Columbia. Read the opinion of the Court — 319 F. Supp. 3d 1
Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit·Decided July 30, 2018·No. Civil Action No. 15-195 (JEB)·Published

Opinion

JAMES E. BOASBERG, United States District Judge

In a May 24, 2018, Opinion, this Court granted summary judgment to Defendants District of Columbia and a police officer on claims arising from the search of Plaintiff Mark Thorp's home and the subsequent seizure of his Doberman Pinscher. In now seeking reconsideration, Thorp contends that the Court committed numerous errors in its analysis of his constitutional and common-law claims. Although Plaintiff spends thirty pages describing his many criticisms of the prior Opinion's findings (as well as launching a variety of ad hominem attacks on Defendants and the Court), he demonstrates no cause for reconsideration under the requirements of Rule 59(e).

I. Background

Given that the Court has already described this suit at length in a couple of prior Opinions, see Thorp v. D.C. (Thorp I), 142 F.Supp.3d 132 (D.D.C. 2015) ; Thorp v. D.C. (Thorp II), 2018 WL 2364291 (D.D.C. May 24, 2018), it will include only a brief summary of the facts and procedural history below.

This case arose out of events that took place over three years ago, when Lieutenant Ramey Kyle of the Metropolitan Police Department executed a search warrant of Plaintiff's home. Although the initial warrant was predicated on an allegation of animal cruelty committed by Thorp against his dog, an inspection of his freezer during the search revealed substances that tested positive for amphetamines. Following that discovery, Kyle sought an additional search warrant and subsequently arrested Plaintiff on charges of animal cruelty and possession with intent to distribute illegal drugs.

Aggrieved by the search of his home and the seizure of his dog, Thorp brought this suit against the District and Kyle. See Thorp I, 142 F.Supp.3d at 136-37. He filed his First Amended Complaint on February 15, 2015, see ECF No. 12, and added a Second Amended Complaint on July 13, *1902015. See ECF No. 22 (Second Amended Complaint). That latter Complaint, which remains the operative pleading in this case, originally advanced ten separate counts under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983, 1985 and the common law of the District of Columbia. Id., ¶¶ 81-133. After Defendants subsequently moved to dismiss, see ECF Nos. 23, 24, 26, the Court winnowed the claims to the following: Counts II and III against Kyle only, for limited Fourth Amendment violations; Count IV against the District only, under D.C. law for negligent supervision and retention; and Counts VIII and IX, consolidated into a single abuse-of-process claim, against Kyle on a direct-liability theory and against the District on a vicarious-liability theory. See Thorp I, 142 F.Supp.3d at 149. Both sides subsequently filed cross-motions for summary judgment and, on May 24, 2018, the Court granted Defendants'. SeeThorp II, 2018 WL 2364291. The next month, Plaintiff filed the instant Motion for Reconsideration, which Defendants subsequently opposed. See ECF Nos. 119 (Mot. for Recon.), 121 (Def. Opposition). Although Plaintiff filed no reply, the Motion is ripe for review.

II. Legal Standard

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e) permits the filing of a motion to alter or amend a judgment when such motion is filed within 28 days after the judgment's entry. The Court must apply a "stringent" standard when evaluating Rule 59(e) motions. See Ciralsky v. CIA, 355 F.3d 661, 673 (D.C. Cir. 2004). "A Rule 59(e) motion is discretionary and need not be granted unless the district court finds that there is an intervening change of controlling law, the availability of new evidence, or the need to correct a clear error or prevent manifest injustice." Firestone v. Firestone, 76 F.3d 1205, 1208 (D.C. Cir. 1996) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted); see also 11 C. Wright & A. Miller, Fed. Prac. & Proc. Civ. § 2810.1 at 158-62 (3d ed. 2012) (stating that "four basic grounds" for Rule 59(e) motion are "manifest errors of law or fact," "newly discovered or previously unavailable evidence," "prevent[ion of] manifest injustice," and "intervening change in controlling law"). Critically, Rule 59(e)"is not a vehicle to present a new legal theory that was available prior to judgment." Patton Boggs LLP v. Chevron Corp., 683 F.3d 397, 403 (D.C. Cir. 2012).

III. Analysis

In seeking reconsideration, Thorp launches a fusillade of attacks on the Court's prior Opinion. Although certain of his arguments are difficult to parse, the Court believes it most efficient to begin with two threshold disputes - Thorp's filing of depositions and the application of qualified immunity with respect to Defendant Kyle - before moving on to Plaintiff's more specific grievances.

A. Depositions

Thorp's Motion asserts that the Court improperly "proceed[ed] to judgment without at least some effort to obtain [deposition] transcripts or even a cursory mention to the parties of their absence." Mot. at 6. The Court had noted in the prior Opinion that "Thorp does not attach copies of the depositions to which he cites," and that it was therefore "rely[ing], when available, on the excerpts of those depositions provided by Defendants." Thorp II, 2018 WL 2364291, at *1. Thorp now claims that he "provided all deposition transcripts to this Court at the time of filing Plaintiff's summary judgment motion," Mot. at 2, attaching as proof Postal Service records demonstrating that a compact disk was sent to chambers. See Mot., Exhs.

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