Tomkins v. Village of Tinley Park

566 F. Supp. 70, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17405
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedApril 26, 1983
Docket81 C 4258
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 566 F. Supp. 70 (Tomkins v. Village of Tinley Park) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tomkins v. Village of Tinley Park, 566 F. Supp. 70, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17405 (N.D. Ill. 1983).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

MORAN, District Judge.

Plaintiff Anne Tomkins brings this action under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983, 1985 and 1986 against the Village of Tinley Park (“Village”), the Metropolitan Sanitary District of Greater Chicago (“Sanitary District”), and three individuals, Michael Soraghan, Sandra Soraghan, and Dean Hanson, to redress alleged violations of her Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Additionally, plaintiff alleges a count of trespass under Illinois tort law. The Village and the individual defendants have moved to dismiss Counts I, III and IV for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, and Count II for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. For the reasons stated below, Counts III and IV are dismissed, but the motion to dismiss Counts I and II is denied.

Accepting plaintiff’s allegations as true for purposes of these motions, Mitchell v. Archibald & Kendall, Inc., 573 F.2d 429, 432 (7th Cir.1978), the following facts emerge as the basis of this lawsuit. Plaintiff and the Soraghans are neighbors in the Village. When originally installed by the Village, the sewer system under their properties was improperly constructed. Consequently, during the summer of 1980, the Soraghans’ building service sewer, which connects the Soraghans’ residential sewer to the Village’s sewer, became obstructed. Numerous efforts to clear this sewer proved unsuccessful. The condition progressively worsened and by the early part of November 1980 the Soraghans were unable to use their toilet and laundry facilities. To remedy this undesirable situation, on November 18 or 19, 1980, the individual defendants entered upon plaintiff’s property and installed a connecting pipe between the Soraghans’ residential sewer and plaintiff’s building service sewer. This connection was made with the prior knowledge and consent of the Village, but without plaintiff’s permission. Furthermore, the Village dispatched police officers to watch and protect the individual defendant’s activities. Moreover, plaintiff asserts that the Village has the custom or policy of approving and condoning trespasses on private property when sewer problems exist, and permitting the installation of sewers without regard to the property rights of individual homeowners.

Claiming that defendants’ activities caused her numerous injuries, including depreciation of her property, damage to her fence and landscaping, and an inability to sell her property, plaintiff alleges in Count I that defendants deprived her of property for public use without just compensation. In Count II plaintiff avers that defendants’ activities constitute a trespass under state law upon her property. Count III contains allegations that defendants conspired to deprive plaintiff of her constitutional rights. Finally, Count IV charges the Village and Sanitary District with neglecting to prevent the conspiracy alleged in Count III.

COUNT I

Plaintiff brings this count pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging a violation of her Fourteenth Amendment right prohibiting taking without just compensation. Initially, then, it must be determined whether plaintiff’s allegations state a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. 1 To state a claim under § 1983 plaintiff must allege both that defendants acted under color of state law and that they deprived her of a right secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States. Gomez v. Taylor, 446 U.S. 635, 100 *74 S.Ct. 1920, 64 L.Ed.2d 572 (1980). The individual defendants contend that neither prong of this test is satisfied; the Village argues that even if state action exists plaintiff was not deprived of any constitutional right.

Generally, private parties do not act under color of state law. In certain situations, however, private parties expose themselves to liability under § 1983. For example, private individuals assisting a state agency in carrying out an unlawful action, or engaging in prohibited conduct with non-immune state officials, act under color of state law for § 1983 purposes. Grow v. Fisher, 523 F.2d 875 (7th Cir.1975); Holmes v. Silver Cross Hospital of Joliet, 340 F.Supp. 125 (N.D.Ill.1972). Were it otherwise, state officials could insulate themselves from § 1983 suits by entrusting certain duties to private individuals. See Braden v. University of Pittsburgh, 477 F.2d 1, 7 (3d Cir.1973).

Determining precisely what conduct by a private party constitutes “state action” has proven to be a difficult task. The Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized that private individuals who wilfully participate in joint activity with the state, or its agents, act under color of state law. Dennis v. Sparks, 449 U.S. 24, 27-28, 101 S.Ct. 183, 186, 66 L.Ed.2d 185 (1980); Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 152, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 1602, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970); United States v. Price, 383 U.S. 787, 794, 86 S.Ct. 1152, 1156, 16 L.Ed.2d 267 (1966). The degree of joint activity must sufficiently demonstrate “some nexus between the conduct complained of and the state, state official or some state entity.” Musso v. Suriano, 586 F.2d 59, 64 (7th Cir.1978). See also Sparkman v. McFarlin, 601 F.2d 261 (7th Cir.1979) (en banc).

This required nexus may be demonstrated in any of three ways. First, plaintiff may show that the state affirmatively supported, encouraged or compelled the actionable conduct of the private party. Jackson v. Metropolitan Edison Co., 419 U.S. 345, 95 S.Ct. 449, 42 L.Ed.2d 477 (1974); Musso v. Suriano, supra. Second, plaintiff may claim that the private individual was performing a function traditionally and exclusively performed by the sovereign. Flagg Brothers, Inc. v. Brooks, 436 U.S. 149, 98 S.Ct. 1729, 56 L.Ed.2d 185 (1978); Anastasia v. Cosmopolitan National Bank of Chicago, 527 F.2d 150 (7th Cir.1975). Finally, plaintiff may allege that the private actor, as a result of his conduct, became an instrumentality of state power. Burton v. Wilmington Park Authority, 365 U.S. 715, 81 S.Ct. 856, 6 L.Ed.2d 45 (1961); Sparkman v. McFarlin, supra (Sprecher, J., concurring).

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