Zawacki v. City of Colorado Springs

759 F. Supp. 655, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3738
District Court, D. Colorado·Decided March 20, 1991·No. Civ. A. No. 89-S-1011·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

SPARR, District Judge.

THIS MATTER comes before the court on a motion for summary judgment by the County Defendants and a motion for summary judgment by the City Defendants. The court has reviewed the motions, the exhibits, the entire court file, the applicable law, has heard argument from counsel in open court, and is fully advised in the premises. The court incorporates herein its oral comments made in open court and ORDERS as follows.

Initially, the Plaintiff has represented that he does not intend to pursue his claims against County Commissioners Gary Shupp, Loren Whittemore, Marcy Morrison, Jeri Howells, and James Campbell or against City Council members Robert M. Isaac, Leon Young, Wayne Fisher, Mary Lou Makepeace, Mary Ellen McNally, Frank Parisi, Randall Purvis, Mary Vieth, and David White. Those Defendants are, therefore, dismissed.

The court will address the motions as they concern Plaintiffs 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claims against County Defendants El Paso County, Sheriff Bernard Barry, Deputy Sheriffs David E. Smith and William Mis-tretta and against City Defendants City of Colorado Springs, Chief of Police James Munger, and Police Officers Sue Duffy and Phil Dancy.

The Standard for Summary Judgment:

Fed.R.Civ.P. 56 provides in pertinent part:

When a motion for summary judgment is made and supported as provided in this rule, an adverse party may not rest upon the mere allegation or denial of the adverse party’s pleading, but the adverse party’s response, by affidavits or as otherwise provided in this rule, must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial. If the adverse party does not so respond, summary judgment, if appropriate, shall be entered against the adverse party.

In a trilogy of cases, the United States Supreme Court set down the standard for consideration of summary judgments. The plain language of Rule 56(c) mandates the entry of summary judgment against a party who fails to make a showing that is sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party’s case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). Justice Powell in Mat-[659]*659sushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986) emphasized that in the face of a summary judgment, the non-movant must come forward with specific facts showing a genuine issue for trial. Justice White in Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247-49, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2509-10, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986) set forth the Court’s position on what constitutes “genuine issues of material fact” precluding the entry of summary judgment. Justice White stated:

“Rule 56(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that summary judgment ‘shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.’ By its very terms, this standard provides that the mere existence of some alleged factual dispute between the parties will not defeat an otherwise properly supported motion for summary judgment; the requirement is that there be no genuine issue of material fact.” (emphasis in original)
“... there is no issue for trial unless there is sufficient evidence favoring the non-moving party for a jury to return a verdict for that party.” First National Bank of Arizona v. Cities Service Co., 391 U.S. 253, 288-289, 88 S.Ct. 1575, 1592-1593, 20 L.Ed.2d 569 (1968), cited in Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249, 106 S.Ct. at 2510.

The standard enunciated by Justice White mirrors, in his words, the standard for a directed verdict under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50(a) which dictates that the trial judge must direct a verdict if, under the governing law, there can be but one reasonable conclusion as to the verdict. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 250, 106 S.Ct. at 2511, quoting Brady v. Southern R. Co., 320 U.S. 476, 64 S.Ct. 232, 88 L.Ed. 239 (1943). It has long been the law that judges are not required to submit a question to the jury merely because some evidence has been introduced by the party bearing the burden of proof. Such issues need only be submitted where the evidence is sufficient to warrant a jury verdict in favor of the party in question. This mandate requires more than a scintilla of evidence. Rather, it requires an inquiry by the court before submitting matters to juries as to whether there is sufficient evidence upon which a jury could properly proceed to find a verdict for the party bearing the burden of proof. Improvement Co. v. Munson, 14 Wall. 442, 448, 20 L.Ed. 867 (1872), quoted with approval in Anderson, 477 U.S. at 251, 106 S.Ct. at 2511.

It is clear that a Plaintiff may not rest on mere allegations to get a question to a jury without significant probative evidence tending to support the complaint. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249, 106 S.Ct. at 2510, citing First National Bank of Arizona, 391 U.S. at 290, 88 S.Ct. at 1593 (emphasis added). It is incumbent upon the trial judge to grant summary judgment if there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and if the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. The inquiry performed is the threshold inquiry of determining whether there is a need for trial — whether, in other words, there are any genuine factual issues that properly can be resolved only by a finder of fact because they may reasonably be resolved in favor of either party.

Official Capacity Liability vs. Personal Capacity Liability:

Section 1983 personal capacity suits seek to impose personal liability upon a government official for actions he takes under color of state law. Section 1983 official capacity suits, in contrast, generally represent another way of pleading an action against an entity of which an officer is an agent. Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. 159, 165-67, 105 S.Ct. 3099, 3104-06, 87 L.Ed.2d 114 (1985). As long as the government entity receives notice and an opportunity to respond, an official capacity suit is to be treated as a suit against the entity. Graham, 473 U.S. at 166, 105 S.Ct. at 3105. To establish personal liability in a [660]

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Zawacki v. City of Colorado Springs, 759 F. Supp. 655, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3738 (D. Colo. 1991).

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Zawacki v. City of Colorado Springs
759 F. Supp. 655 (D. Colorado, 1991)