Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
THE U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Friday, March 8, affirmed the decision of the District Court for the NMI to deny Nicholas Yarolfalchuw’s motion for summary judgment against two Department of Public Safety police officers.
In Jan. 2022, Yarolfalchuw, represented by attorney Joseph Horey, filed a complaint against John Cabrera and Danny Fitial, alleging unlawful arrest and deprivation of civil rights. Yarolfalchuw asked for an order awarding him an undetermined amount for damages.
The police officers were represented by Assistant Attorneys General Keisha Blaise, Charles P. Reyes Jr. and Leslie Healer.
In Dec. 2022, Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona denied Yarolfalchuw’s summary judgment motion and dismissed the lawsuit, saying she “found [that] there was not an unlawful seizure.” Yarolfalchuw appealed the decision to Ninth Circuit.
The lawsuit
According to Yarolfalchuw’s lawsuit in federal court, on May 10, 2021, at approximately 5 p.m., he was sitting and talking with relatives at a pavilion within the premises where he resided when Cabrera drove inside the premises and parked beside the pavilion.
After a short discussion, the plaintiff advised Cabrera that he was trespassing and instructed him to depart.
“Cabrera did not depart, and instead used his [police] vehicle to block the driveway constituting the entrance to the premises,” the lawsuit stated.
Fitial then arrived at the premises in another vehicle. Under the direction of Cabrera, Fitial ordered the plaintiff to place his hands behind his back.
Fitial put handcuffs on the plaintiff and ordered the plaintiff to get into Fitial’s vehicle.
Fitial drove the plaintiff to police headquarters where the plaintiff was held in custody for the rest of the day and the following night. He was released around 4 p.m. on the following day.
“At no time did defendants, or either of them, have any warrant for either the search of the premises or the arrest of plaintiff,” the lawsuit added.
According to the defendant, they had probable cause to arrest him.
They said a turtle field survey technician of the Division of Fish and Wildlife had complained that Yarolfalchuw harassed the DFW employee twice at Tank Beach.
Ninth Circuit ruling
“The district court did not err in granting Defendants’ motion for summary judgment,” said Ninth Circuit Judges Richard A. Paez, Milan D. Smith, and Lucy H. Koh in their ruling.
“We assume without deciding that Yarolfalchuw was seized by a show of authority when [John] Cabrera failed to leave the property and the officers blocked the driveway with their cars. However, Yarolfalchuw has not met his burden to show that the alleged violation of his rights was clearly established by law,” the judges said.
“Yarolfalchuw argues that the officers violated his right to be free from an unlawful seizure and defines the right as one to be ‘free to disregard the police, terminate the encounter with them, and go about his business,’ ” said the judges.
“But that right is defined at too high a level of generality to put officers on notice of a potential violation, and the cases Yarolfalchuw cites in support of his position are materially distinguishable from the facts at issue here,” they added.
“Even if Yarolfalchuw’s physical arrest was unlawful, no clearly established law put the officers on notice that arresting him between the hedges at the end of his driveway would constitute an arrest within the curtilage of his home,” the judges said.
Moreover, they said, the district court “did not abuse its discretion in denying plaintiff’s motion to amend.”
The judges noted that the plaintiff “sought leave to add an excessive force claim at the same hearing where the district court denied his motion for summary judgment, on Dec. 1, 2022.”
The judges said the district court properly exercised its discretion by enforcing the deadlines in the scheduling order and ensuring that the plaintiff did not manipulate deadlines once “he s[aw] the value of an alternative claim or theory of liability after an adverse ruling by the Court.”
Yarolfalchuw filed a separate action for excessive force in Superior Court on Oct. 6, 2022 — 10 months after the district court complaint was filed, and six months after the deadline for any amendment of pleadings in the federal case.
