Montanez v. City Of Milford

706 F.Supp.2d 222

Joseph M. MONTANEZ, Plaintiff,v.CITY OF MILFORD, Keith L. Mello, Michael McCormack, Daniel Sharoh, Macharelli, and Kiely, Defendants.

Civil No. 3:08cv825 (JBA).

United States District Court D. Connecticut.

March 29, 2010.

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Joseph M. Montanez, Enfield, CT, pro se.

James Newhall Tallberg, Kerry L. Keeney-Curtin, Karsten, Dorman & Tallberg LLC, West Hartford, CT, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON SUMMARY JUDGMENT

JANET BOND ARTERTON, District Judge.

Plaintiff Joseph M. Montanez, incarcerated at Enfield Correctional Institution and proceeding pro se, brings suit against the City of Milford (the “City”), Milford Police Chief Keith L. Mello, Sergeant Daniel Sharoh, and Officers Michael McCormack, Macharelli, and Kiely pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, in connection with a warrantless entry into his home on April 9, 2006. Defendants moved for summary judgment. At oral argument, the Court gave Defendants express notice that it was considering granting summary judgment sua sponte, in favor of Plaintiff against Sharoh and McCormack, and gave the parties the opportunity to respond with supplemental briefing and exhibits. Having considered the parties' submissions on summary judgment as well as their supplemental submissions, and for the reasons that follow, Defendants' motion will be granted as to the City, Mello, Macharelli, and Kiely, and denied as to Sharoh and McCormack. In addition, the Court will sua sponte grant summary judgment on liability in favor of Plaintiff against Sharoh and McCormack.

I. Facts

The following undisputed facts are drawn from the record.

In the Spring of 2006, Plaintiff Joseph M. Montanez lived on Clinton Street in Milford with his wife, Kristen Lender, her seven-year-old daughter, and their one-month-old daughter. On April 8, 2006, certain members of the Milford Police Department (“MPD”) served and executed a search-and-seizure warrant on Plaintiff's Clinton Street home. When the police arrived, Lender and one of her two daughters, but not Plaintiff, were at home. MPD officers found and seized drugs and drug paraphernalia as well as one Uzi 9mm pistol, three loaded 30-round magazines, two empty 30-round magazines, one handgun holster, and two boxes of ammunition (.22 and .380 caliber). While MPD officers were at the Clinton Street home, Plaintiff called Lender's phone, and MPD Detective Arthur Huggins answered the phone and spoke with Plaintiff. Plaintiff stated he would be home within an hour, but after the officers waited an hour and a half and Plaintiff did not arrive, the officers left the Montanez-Lender home. Detective Huggins thereafter obtained an arrest warrant for Plaintiff from the Connecticut Superior Court for seven crimes, including two charges of risk of injury to a minor in violation of Conn. Gen.Stat. § 53-21.¹

Under Conn. Gen.Stat. §§ 17a-101 through 17a-101d, “police officers,” as “mandated reporters,” must “report” to the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (“DCF”) whenever they have “reasonable cause to suspect or believe that any child ... has been abused or neglected ... [or] is placed at imminent risk of serious harm.” According to Detective Huggins, after MPD officers executed the search-and-seizure warrant on the Montanez-Lender home, a Detective Zavaglia reported to a DCF hotline that he had seen “young children” living in a home with drugs and guns, and that “the dangerous items that were seized from the residence that day [had been] easily accessible to young children.” There is no evidence that any warrant or court order was sought or obtained by any MPD or DCF employee that authorized them to re-enter the home on Clinton Street.

According to MPD Sergeant Daniel Sharoh and Officer Michael McCormack, on April 9th a DCF caseworker came to the MPD and requested a police escort to Plaintiff's home “to conduct a welfare check of a child residing there.” Sergeant Sharoh and Officer McCormack, along with Officers Macharelli and Kiely (whose first names are not revealed in the record), accompanied the caseworker to the Montanez-Lender home, where the lights were on. Sharoh and McCormack knocked on the door “and announced [their] police presence.” There was no response to the knock. They then “requested that the MPD Communications Room place a telephone call to the residence.” There was no response to the call. Then, according to McCormack, “[a] security check of the residence was conducted,” and they finally went to “[t]he south side door of the residence,” which they “found to be” either “open” or “unlocked.” Both Sharoh and McCormack aver that they entered the Montanez-Lender home through that door, conducted “a brief sweep of the residence” and “determined that no one was home” but “did not conduct a full search” and did not seize anything; each aver that they were only briefly in the Montanez-Lender home. (Sharoh estimated that they were inside for seven minutes; McCormack's estimate was five minutes).

In a supplemental affidavit Sharoh avers that he was not involved in the April 8th execution of the search-and-seizure warrant and was not involved “in the investigation of the criminal charges against Mr. Montanez.” He avers that the April 9th entry took place “at approximately 1:00 a.m.,” that he knew the basic facts but not “the specific details” that “there had been a history of DCF involvement with the occupants of that residence,” that “DCF had a serious concern about the child's health, welfare and care,” and that DCF wanted to remove the seven-year-old child from the Montanez-Lender home. He also averred that “[he] didn't know if the child that was the subject of the DCF investigation was in the residence, or if there were any occupants in the residence.” Finally, he averred:

Our entrance into the [P]laintiff's residence was not an exercise of our law enforcement function and we did not search for evidence or seize anything; instead, we were simply trying to determine if there were any occupants in the house so that DCF could conduct its welfare check concerning the child or children.

Given the circumstances, including the potential danger presented by [P]laintiff being a fleeing felon, believed to be armed and dangerous, we were concerned that DCF could not carry out its statutory obligation to ensure the safety and well being of the [P]laintiff's children without our assistance.

Three days later, on April 12, 2006, Plaintiff turned himself in to the MPD. On June 6, 2006, he pleaded guilty to two felony counts-possession of narcotics, and possession of an assault weapon-for which he is currently serving a sentence of imprisonment.

II. StandardsA. Summary Judgment

“Summary judgment is appropriate where, construing all evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party,” Pabon v. Wright, 459 F.3d 241, 247 (2d Cir.2006), “the pleadings, the discovery and disclosure materials on file, and any affidavits show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law,” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c)(2). An issue of fact is “material” if it “might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law,” and is “genuine” if “a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party” based on it. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

B. Qualified Immunity

Government officials are immune from liability for civil damages when their conduct “ ‘does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.’ ” Pearson v. Callahan, --- U.S. ----, 129 S.Ct. 808, 815, 172 L.Ed.2d 565 (2009) (quoting Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982)). The two-pronged qualified-immunity inquiry mandated in Saucier v. Katz-which asks first, whether “the facts alleged show the officer's conduct violated a constitutional right,” and if so, second, “whether the right was clearly established,” such that “it would be clear to a reasonable officer that his conduct was unlawful in the situation he confronted,” Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 201-02, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001) (citations omitted)-may take place in any order “in light of the circumstances in the particular case at hand,” Pearson, 129 S.Ct. at 818, so long as the “immunity questions” are resolved “at the earliest possible stage in litigation,” id. at 815 (internal quotations omitted). Thus, qualified immunity protects a defendant if “(1) his conduct does not violate a clearly established constitutional right, or (2) it was ‘objectively reasonable’ for the officer to believe his conduct did not violate a clearly established constitutional right.” Hartline v. Gallo, 546 F.3d 95, 102 (2d Cir.2008) (citations omitted).²

III. Discussion ³

A. Warrantless Entry Claim Against Sharoh and McCormack

Plaintiff alleges that Sharoh and McCormack violated his rights under the Fourth Amendment when they entered his home in Milford without a warrant on April 9, 2006. In support of summary judgment Defendants assert that (1) no warrant was required because Sharoh and McCormack were not engaged in a law enforcement function; (2) Sharoh and McCormack's entry was justified by the emergency or exigent-circumstances exception to the warrant requirement; and (3) that even if their entry was not, in fact, justified by emergency or exigent circumstances, Sharoh and McCormack are entitled to qualified immunity because it was objectively reasonable for them to believe that it was justified.⁴

1. Whether the Fourth Amendment's Warrant Requirement Applies

Defendants argue that because Sharoh and McCormack were accompanying a DCF worker investigating the welfare of a child, they were engaged in a “community caretaking function” rather than a law-enforcement function. (Defs.' Mem. Supp. at 17 & n. 3.) Thus, they argue, “[a] warrant was not considered on April...