PHILADELPHIA – Defendants associated with a civil rights violation case filed by an African-American and Muslim contractor who claimed he was first framed for materials theft by a racist employee and then arrested by members of the Philadelphia Police Department, allege that his claims are barred.
Kareem Rice of Philadelphia first filed suit in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on April 30, versus the Philadelphia Police Department, Officers Melissa O’Leary, Michael Sowell and Jonathan Dedos, Det. Sharon Murphy, Det. John Frei, Sgt. Steven Vanor, all of Philadelphia, plus A.T. Chadwick Company, Inc., A.T. Chadwick Family Limited Partnership, A.T. Chadwick LLC, Jimmy Kratz, Richard Lipinski, Fran Spause, Thomas Walls and Vincent Fitzgerald, all of Bensalem.
The case was removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on May 22.
Rice said he was one of two African-American employees working on a project for A.T. Chadwick Company and since the beginning of the project on Dec. 4, 2017, the plaintiff’s foreman and defendant Kratz had given his employees permission to discard metal that was not being used as it would otherwise be put in the trash.
“Upon information and belief, Kratz, who is white, disliked plaintiff and had told other employees that he wanted to get rid of him. On or around the week of Feb. 12, 2018, Kratz made a phone call to defendant Walls, Project Manager, and advised him that copper was missing from a storage area where copper piping was kept. Kratz advised Walls that he would set up a camera in the storage room where the copper was kept,” the suit stated.
“On or about Feb. 16, 2018, Kratz had cameras set up in the storage room. Kratz told plaintiff and the only other black employee on the project that they could go into the storage area and take any scrap metal from there. Plaintiff and the other employee were then caught on video taking metal from the storage room.”
When he reported for work on Monday, Feb. 19, 2018, Rice was questioned by foreman and defendant Lipinski as to whether he had taken copper piping. Rice said he did, after being given permission to do so by Kratz.
However, Rice and his fellow African-American co-worker then learned they were fired and led off the property, while the supposed theft was reported to the Philadelphia Police Department, the lawsuit said.
In the investigative interview with officers, defendant Lipinski told defendant Murphy that Rice had taken materials from the job site without adding that he had been given permission to do so by Kratz, the lawsuit said.
Rice learned in March 2018 that there was an outstanding warrant for his arrest relating to the supposed theft, so he turned himself into police and was released on bail. On Jan. 23, 2019, Rice was acquitted of all charges against him.
Rice believed he was set up by Kratz because of his race and the police defendants knew there was no probable cause to arrest him and did so regardless, while his career and livelihood has been negatively impacted due to the arrest.
On May 28, the Philadelphia Police Department defendants, through their counsel, filed a motion to dismiss Rice’s complaint for failure to state a claim, via insufficient specificity.
Counsel for the police defendants added the plaintiff failed to show “personal involvement” by any of the police officers identified in the complaint and “failed to state who arrested him or how any of these defendant officers were involved in his arrest and failed to allege any of the defendants’ actions were done with malice or constituted willful misconduct, much less plead facts that would allow the Court to draw such an inference.”
The A.T. Chadwick Company filed its own motion to dismiss the complaint on July 17, for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. Because the company defendants are not state actors, they argued they could not be charged with violating an individual’s rights under the 4th and 14th Amendments.
“Plaintiff alleges in his complaint malicious prosecution, false arrest, false imprisonment, and analogous Pennsylvania state law allegations against moving defendants. Plaintiff’s claims against moving defendants for alleged violations of both state and federal law are legally deficient because they are not state actors,” the motion stated, in part.
UPDATE
Defendants Kratz, Lipinski, Spause and Fitzgerald filed a memorandum of law in support of their motion to dismiss Rice’s complaint on Oct. 9.
“The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit permits defendants to raise the statute of limitations as a defense by way of a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) if the time-bar is apparent on the face of the complaint,” the memorandum read, in part.
“With regard to civil rights claims under Section 1983 and Section 1985, federal courts use the statute of limitations for personal injury actions in the applicable state. Thus, in the present matter, Pennsylvania’s two-year statute of limitation period for personal injury actions governs Rice’s claims for “false arrest/wrongful imprisonment.”
The defendants argued that “with regard to Pennsylvania state law claims for false arrest and false imprisonment, our courts have expressly held that the statute of limitations begins to accrue at the time of the arrest.”
“Rice asserts in the complaint that ‘in or around the beginning of March 2018,’ he was informed that there was a warrant out for his arrest relating to the alleged theft of copper, and he therefore ‘turned himself in and was released on bail,” the memorandum stated.
“As such, the statute of limitations on his ‘false arrest/wrongful imprisonment’ claims began to run by mid-March 2018. Pursuant to the two-year statute of limitation period under Pennsylvania law, the deadline for Rice to file these claims was mid-March 2020.”
Rice did not file the complaint under April 20, and therefore, the named defendants feel his claims should be dismissed.
For counts of malicious prosecution, false arrest, false imprisonment and civil rights violations under Monell, the plaintiff is seeking damages, individually, jointly and/or severally, in excess of $75,000, plus statutory damages, punitive damages, compensatory damages, attorney’s fees, costs and equitable relief.
The plaintiff is represented by David A. Berlin and Matthew B. Weisberg of Weisberg Law in Morton and Gary Schafkopf of Hopkins Schafkopf, in Bala Cynwyd.
The defendants are represented by Katie Cooper Davis and Anne B. Taylor of the City of Philadelphia Law Department, Joseph G. McHale of William J. Ferren & Associates and Carianne P. Torrissi of Goldberg Segalla, all in Philadelphia.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 2:20-cv-02404
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com