Nahmod Law

I blogged on Sept. 11, 2009, about the basic elements of so-called section 1983 “malicious prosecution” claims. I then blogged on 9-8-11, 9-26-11, 8-7-13 and 4-8-14 about section 1983 malicious prosecution cases in the circuits.

What follows is an important recent Seventh Circuit decision dealing with such claims, a decision that I ran across in preparing the 2015 Update to my treatise, CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES LITIGATION: THE LAW OF SECTION 1983 (4th ed. West).

A subsequent post will address several other recent circuit court decisions dealing with section 1983 malicious prosecution claims. But this Seventh Circuit decision deserves its own post.

Llovet v. City of Chicago (7th Cir. 2014)

In Llovet v. City of Chicago, 761 F.3d 759 (7^th Cir. 2014), a decision written by Judge Posner, the plaintiff, acquitted in state court of aggravated battery, then sued police officers and the City of Chicago alleging section 1983 malicious prosecution under both due process and the Fourth Amendment.

The Due Process Claim

Affirming the dismissal of plaintiff’s due process-based claim on the authority of Newsome v. McCabe, 319 F.3d 301 (7th Cir. 2003), the Seventh Circuit, refusing to overrule Newsome, reaffirmed that case’s holding that such a suit, insofar as it is based on due process, is available only where the forum state does not provide an adequate remedy. Here, Illinois provided such a remedy.

The Fourth Amendment Claim

The Seventh Circuit then went on to reject the plaintiff’s additional arguments, premised on a section 1983 Fourth Amendment malicious prosecution theory, that “the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of seizures of persons without probable cause does not terminate when the person arrested becomes detained pursuant to legal process (normally an arraignment …); and further that a [Fourth Amendment] claim … for malicious prosecution ‘accrues upon the favorable termination of criminal proceedings’ and thus does not have to be filed within the statute of limitations for the unlawful arrest.”

According to the Seventh Circuit in Llovet, a seizure was necessary for a Fourth Amendment-based malicious prosecution claim (the possible existence of which Newsome did not deny). Here, the initial seizure was supported by probable cause because the plaintiff was already in jail on a misdemeanor charge and was unable to make bail. Also, there was no causal relation between the aggravated battery charge and the deprivation of plaintiff’s liberty in being arrested and jailed on the misdemeanor charge. Even if the plaintiff was in jail longer than he would have been had it not been for the defendants’ alleged framing of him for aggravated battery, the initial seizure was still supported by probable cause.

The Continuing Seizure Doctrine

The Seventh Circuit then rejected the continuing seizure doctrine in this case. For one thing, Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994), and Wallace v. Kato, 549 U.S. 384 (2007), implied that the Fourth Amendment falls out of the picture when detention by arrest becomes detention by arraignment. For another, some of the other circuits did not accept the continuing seizure argument. The Seventh Circuit also expressed concern that the continuing seizure doctrine would unduly enlarge the scope of the Fourth Amendment. Finally, the court rejected the plaintiff’s alternative argument that there was a second seizure in this case when the filing of the aggravated battery charge caused the plaintiff to be held in jail longer than he would otherwise have been for the misdemeanor charge. “There is a difference between seizing a person and not letting him go.” In the latter situation, the due process clause becomes applicable.

See also Welton v. Anderson, 770 F.3d 670 (7^th Cir. 2014), reaffirming that the continuing seizure doctrine is not the law in the Seventh Circuit.

Comment

Llovet certainly covers a lot of section 1983 malicious prosecution ground: due process, the Fourth Amendment and, especially, continuing seizures.

For those interested in the subject, Llovet is worth reading in its entirety.