MORGAN v. ORTIZ

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA STEVEN MORGAN, : Plaintiff, : : v. : CIVIL ACTION NO. 24-CV-1190 : OFFICER ALEJANDRO ORTIZ, et al. : Defendants. : MEMORANDUM SÁNCHEZ, J. MAY 20, 2024 Pro se Plaintiff Steven Morgan, a prisoner currently incarcerated at Chester County Prison, has filed an Amended Complaint asserting civil rights claims along with a Motion to Proceed In Forma Pauperis.1 Named as Defendants are Coatesville Police Officer Alejandro Ortiz and Corporal Jared Davis, both of whom are sued in their official capacities.2 For the following reasons, the Court will grant Morgan in forma pauperis status and permit Morgan to proceed on his excessive force claim against Officer Ortiz. Morgan will be given the opportunity to proceed on the excessive force claim that passes statutory screening, or to file a second amended complaint.

I. FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS Morgan’s allegations are brief. He asserts that the Police Officer Defendants assaulted him on December 24, 2023, while he was being arrested.3 (Am. Compl. (ECF No. 4) at 4-5.)4 More specifically, Morgan avers that Officer Ortiz told him to turn around and place his hands on his head. (Id. at 5.) As Morgan was “getting down,” Ortiz told him to stop resisting and Ortiz jumped on Morgan, allegedly causing Morgan’s left bicep/shoulder to tear. (Id.) Morgan seeks $500,000 in monetary damages and the termination of the Police Officer Defendants from their employment with the Coatesville Police Department.5 (Id.) While Morgan listed Corporal Davis in the caption of the Amended Complaint, he fails to allege any facts about Davis.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW The Court grants Morgan leave to proceed in forma pauperis because it appears that he is incapable of paying the fees to commence this civil action.6 Accordingly, 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) applies, which requires the Court to dismiss the Complaint if it fails to state a claim. Whether a complaint fails to state a claim under § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) is governed by the same standard applicable to motions to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), Morgan avers that he was arrested because of a bench warrant issued “for a miss[ed] court date.” (Am. Compl. at 5.)

As Morgan is proceeding pro se, the Court construes his allegations liberally. Vogt v. Wetzel, 8 F.4th 182, 185 (3d Cir. 2021) (citing Mala v. Crown Bay Marina, Inc., 704 F.3d 239, 244-45 (3d Cir. 2013)). “This means we remain flexible, especially ‘when dealing with imprisoned pro se litigants[.]’” Id. (quoting Mala, 704 F.3d at 244). The Court will “apply the relevant legal principle even when the complaint has failed to name it.” Id. However, ‘“pro se litigants still must allege sufficient facts in their complaints to support a claim.’” Id. (quoting Mala, 704 F.3d at 245).

III. DISCUSSION The vehicle by which federal constitutional claims may be brought in federal court is 42 U.S.C. § 1983. “To state a claim under § 1983, a plaintiff must allege the violation of a right secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States, and must show that the alleged deprivation was committed by a person acting under color of state law.” West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42, 48 (1988). In a §1983 action, the personal involvement of each defendant in the alleged constitutional violation is a required element, and, therefore, a plaintiff must allege how each defendant was involved in the events and occurrences giving rise to the claims. See Rode v. Dellarciprete, 845 F.2d 1195, 1207 (3d Cir. 1998).

A. Official Capacity Claims Morgan has named the Police Officer Defendants in their official capacities. Claims against municipal level officials named in their official capacity are indistinguishable from claims against the municipality that employs them, here the city of Coatesville. See Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. 159, 165-66 (1985) (“Official-capacity suits . . . ‘generally represent only another way of pleading an action against an entity of which an officer is an agent.’”) (quoting Monell v. N.Y.C. Dept. of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 690, n. 55 (1978)). “[A]n official-capacity suit is, in all respects other than name, to be treated as a suit against the entity.” Id. To state a plausible claim for municipal liability, a plaintiff must allege that the municipality’s policies or customs caused the alleged constitutional violation. See Monell, 436 U.S. at 694 (1978); Natale v. Camden Cty. Corr. Facility, 318 F.3d 575, 583-84 (3d Cir. 2003). The plaintiff “must identify [the] custom or policy, and specify what exactly that custom or policy was” to satisfy the pleading standard. McTernan v. City of York, 564 F.3d 636, 658 (3d Cir. 2009).

Because Morgan fails to allege that a policy or custom of the City of Coatesville caused his constitutional rights to be violated, his official capacity/Monell claims against the Police Officer Defendants are not plausible and must be dismissed. However, because the Court cannot say at this time that Morgan can never allege a plausible official capacity/Monell claim, the dismissal will be without prejudice and Morgan will be given the opportunity to file a second amended complaint if he can cure the defects the Court has identified in the official capacity claims.

B. Claims Based on the Use of Excessive Force Morgan appears not to have understood the implication of checking solely the official capacity boxes on the form complaint he used to prepare his pleading. As Morgan is proceeding as a pro se litigant, and further, since the Amended Complaint seeks damages for Defendants’ actions, the Court will liberally construe the Amended Complaint as also asserting claims against the Police Officer Defendants in their individual capacities. See Downey v. Pa. Dep’t of Corr., 968 F.3d 299, 310 (3d Cir. 2020) (“To determine whether a plaintiff sued state officials in their official capacity, we first look to the complaints and the course of proceedings.” (quotations omitted)); Coward v. City of Philadelphia, No. 21-1619, 2021 WL 4169422, at *3 (E.D. Pa. Sept. 13, 2021) (permitting claim against defendant in his individual capacity to proceed even though “[plaintiff] did not check the box indicating a desire to sue [that defendant] in his individual capacity” where the allegations clearly sought relief based on the defendant’s conduct).

Morgan alleges that the Police Officer Defendants used excessive force during the December 24, 2023 arrest. (Am. Compl. at 4-5.) “[C]laims that law enforcement officers have used excessive force . . . in the course of an arrest, investigatory stop, or other ‘seizure’ of a free citizen should be analyzed under the Fourth Amendment and its ‘reasonableness’ standard[.]”

Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 395 (1989); see also Santini v. Fuentes, 795 F.3d 410, 417 (3d Cir. 2015) (“In an excessive force case, we determine whether a constitutional violation has occurred using the Fourth Amendment’s objective reasonableness test.”). “Courts determine whether the force used is ‘objectively reasonable’ based on the totality of the circumstances, . . . and certain factors, including: ‘the facts and circumstances of each particular case, . . . the severity of the crime at issue, whether the suspect poses an immediate threat to the safety of the officers or others, and whether he is actively resisting arrest or attempting to evade arrest by flight.’” Klein v. Madison, 374 F. Supp. 3d 389, 407 (E.D. Pa. 2019) (quoting Graham, 490 U.S. at 386)).

As Morgan makes factual allegations that Officer Ortiz used an unreasonable amount of force against him, including jumping on him and causing Morgan’s left bicep/shoulder to tear (see Am. Compl. at 5), the excessive force claim against Officer Ortiz in his individual capacity passes statutory screening and will be permitted to proceed. However, because Morgan fails to allege any facts indicating that Corporal Davis was even involved in the excessive force incident, any claims against Davis cannot proceed at this time. See Dooley v. Wetzel, 957 F.3d 366, 374 (3d Cir. 2020) (“Personal involvement requires particular ‘allegations of personal direction or of actual knowledge and acquiescence.’” (quoting Rode, 845 F.2d at 1207).

IV. CONCLUSION The Court will grant Morgan leave to proceed in forma pauperis. As set forth more fully above, the Court is prepared to serve Morgan’s excessive force claim against Officer Alejandro Ortiz. However, all other claims will be dismissed without prejudice pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) for failure to state a claim. Considering Morgan’s pro se status, he will be granted the option of filing a second amended complaint to attempt to cure the defects identified by the Court.7 In the alternative, Morgan may advise the Court that he seeks to proceed only on the excessive force claim against Officer Ortiz, which passes statutory screening.

BY THE COURT:

/s/ Juan R. Sánchez JUAN R. SÁNCHEZ, J.

accumulating allegations from superseded pleadings.” Argentina v. Gillette, 778 F. App’x 173, n.3 (3d Cir. 2019). This means that the submission of a second amended complaint in this case will “effectively constitute[] an abandonment of any prior complaints filed by [Morgan].”

Smith v. Price, No. 11-1581, 2012 WL 1068159, at *4 (M.D. Pa. Mar. 5, 2012), report and recommendation adopted, No. 11-1581, 2012 WL 1072282 (M.D. Pa. Mar. 29, 2012).