Waddlington v. City of New York

971 F. Supp. 2d 286, 2013 WL 5295247
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedApril 23, 2013
DocketNo. 10-cv-5010(SLT)(RLM)
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 971 F. Supp. 2d 286 (Waddlington v. City of New York) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Waddlington v. City of New York, 971 F. Supp. 2d 286, 2013 WL 5295247 (E.D.N.Y. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

TOWNES, District Judge:

Jullian Waddlington (“Plaintiff’) alleges that his rights were violated when he was unlawfully arrested, detained, and strip-searched along with four other individuals on January 22, 2009 by several members of the New York Police Department (“NYPD”). Asserting violations of both federal and state law, Plaintiff filed this action against Sergeant William Hall and Officers Charles S. McDonald, Richard Arroyo, Mark Whirl, Christopher Esposito, and Abraham Arteaga (collectively, the “Officers”), as well as the City of New York (together with the Officers, “Defendants”). Presently, Defendants seek summary judgment on all of Plaintiffs claims, which Plaintiff has opposed. For the reasons that follow, Defendants’ motion is granted in its entirety.

I. Standards of Review

Summary judgment is appropriate only when “there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). “[G]enuineness runs to whether disputed factual issues can reasonably be resolved in favor of either party, [while] materiality runs to whether the dispute matters, i.e., whether it concerns facts that can affect the outcome under the applicable substantive law.” Mitchell v. Washingtonville Cent. Sch. Dist., 190 F.3d 1, 5 (2d Cir.1999) (internal quotation marks omitted). The moving party bears the burden of showing that no genuine issue of fact exists. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 256, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). The non-movant cannot avoid summary judgment “through mere speculation or conjecture” or “by vaguely asserting the existence of some unspecified disputed material facts.” Western World Ins. Co. v. Stack Oil, Inc., 922 F.2d 118, 121 (2d Cir.1990) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). Moreover, the disputed facts must be material to the issue in the case, in that they “might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law.” Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505.

When evaluating a motion for summary judgment, “[t]he court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the party against whom summary judgment is sought and must draw all reasonable inferences in his favor.” L.B. Foster Co. v. Am. Piles, Inc., 138 F.3d 81, 87 (2d Cir.1998). “No genuine issue exists if, on the basis of all the pleadings, affidavits and other papers on file, and after drawing all infer-[289]*289enees and resolving all ambiguities in favor of the non-movant, it appears that the evidence supporting the non-movant’s case is so scant that a rational jury could not find in its favor.” Chertkova v. Conn. Gen. Life Ins. Co., 92 F.3d 81, 86 (2d Cir.1996). “If the evidence [presented by the non-moving party] is merely colorable, or is not significantly probative, summary judgment may be granted.” Scotto v. Almenas, 143 F.3d 105, 114 (2d Cir.1998) (internal quotation marks omitted) (alteration in original).

II. Background

The parties do not dispute the following facts for purposes of the current motion, which are construed in a light most favorable to Plaintiff, the non-moving party. On January 22, 2009, several police officers, including those named as defendants in this action, arrived at a Brooklyn apartment (“Subject Apartment”) at least in part due to three outstanding warrants for two individuals. (Defendants’ Statement of Facts (“Defs. SOF”) ¶¶2-5.) The warrants were issued for “Tyree Johnson” and “Terry Everson” and indicated that the targets of the warrants lived in the Subject Apartment. (Id. ¶¶ 4 — 5; Plaintiffs Statement of Facts (“Pl. SOF”) ¶¶ 4-5.) Upon arriving at the apartment, the Officers knocked on the front door. Although it is somewhat unclear who greeted the Officers upon their arrival at the apartment, there is no dispute that Plaintiff and his mother, Cynthia Everson, were inside, as were Kareem Everson (“Kareem”), Michael Everson (“Michael”), Tameek Shelly, and James Thompson. (Defs. SOF ¶ 8.) It is also undisputed that the Officers spoke to Plaintiffs mother at the door of the apartment. (Id. ¶7; Pl. SOF ¶7.) The Officers asked Plaintiffs mother if she knew either individual mentioned in the warrants and showed her photographs of two individuals, but she did not recognize either of them. (Cynthia Everson Deposition (“Pl. Mother’s Dep.”) at 13-14.) She did, however, indicate to the Officers that she had a nephew named “Tyree Everson” and offered to show the Officers a photograph of him. (Defs. SOF ¶ 11; Pl. Mother’s Dep. at 14.) While speaking to Plaintiffs mother in the doorway, the Officers heard laughter coming from one of the two bedrooms in the apartment. (Defs. SOF ¶ 12.) The Officers then asked if they could enter the apartment to see whether any of the male individuals in the bedroom (the “Subject Bedroom”) were Tyree Ever-son and entered the apartment. (Id. ¶ 13; Plaintiffs Deposition (“Pl. Dep.”) at 41-42.)

The apartment contained a living room, a kitchen, and a hallway that included two bedrooms, both on the left side of a hall. (Defs. SOF ¶ 15; Deposition of William Hall at 43; Pl. Mother’s Dep. at 7.) The bathroom was located at the end of the hallway. (Pl. Mother’s Dep. at 11.) On January 22, the date of the incident, the bedroom nearest the bathroom was occupied by Plaintiffs mother and the Subject Bedroom — the one closer to the front door — was occupied by someone else. (Id. ¶¶ 16-17.) There is no dispute that Plaintiff resided in the apartment until December 2008, at which time he and his mother were forced to leave because of a fire in the apartment. (Pl. Mother’s Dep. at 5-6.) In January of 2009, Plaintiffs mother returned to the apartment. (Id. at 6.) It appears, however, that Plaintiff did not return to the apartment with his mother at that time, and instead moved in his with girlfriend. (Id.; Plaintiffs 50-H Testimony at 6-7.)

Upon entering the apartment, the Officers entered the living room. (Deposition of Richard Arroyo (“Arroyo Dep.”) at 25.) McDonald and Arroyo then proceeded toward the Subject Bedroom, which is where they had heard the laughter, and entered [290]*290the room. (Deposition of Charles McDonald (“McDonald Dep.”) at 35-36; Defs. SOF ¶ 19.) There is currently no dispute that Plaintiff was in the apartment, but not in the Subject Bedroom when McDonald and Arroyo entered it. (See PI. Dep. at 30-31 (testimony that Plaintiff had recently finished washing his hands and was exiting the bathroom when the Officers entered the apartment); Defendant’s Reply Br. at 4-5 (conceding for purposes of their motion for summary judgment that Plaintiff was not in the Subject Bedroom).)

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Bluebook (online)
971 F. Supp. 2d 286, 2013 WL 5295247, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/waddlington-v-city-of-new-york-nyed-2013.