Campbell v. Porter

Citations

• 212 Conn. App. 377

Syllabus

The plaintiff sought to recover damages from the defendants, a church and its pastor, P, and the city of Hartford and its police officer, J, in connec- tion with his arrest by J for his alleged trespass at the church. The plaintiff had been a member of the church for several decades, but, after a dispute between the plaintiff and P, church leaders voted to dismiss the plaintiff from the church. Church leadership sent the plaintiff a letter notifying him of his dismissal and informing him that he was no longer allowed on the church premises. After the plaintiff received the letter from the church, he instituted a lawsuit challenging his dis- missal. While the lawsuit was pending, the plaintiff attended a funeral at the church. After P called the police, J arrested the plaintiff for criminal trespass in the first degree. That charge was later dismissed. The plaintiff revised his complaint in this action to set forth, inter alia, a claim against J and the city for J falsely arresting him without probable cause in violation of the applicable federal law (42 U.S.C. § 1983), a civil conspiracy claim alleging that all of the defendants had conspired to violate his civil rights in violation of the applicable federal law (42 U.S.C. § 1985 (3)), and a claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress against the church and P. The city and J filed a motion to strike the civil conspiracy claim, and the trial court granted that motion. In their answer and special defenses, the city and J pleaded several special defenses of immunity, including that J was entitled to qualified immunity because his conduct was reasonable under the circumstances. After trial, the jury returned a verdict for the city and J on the § 1983 claim. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff on the claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress and awarded him $30,000 in compensa- tory damages, but found that he was not entitled to punitive damages. The trial court rendered judgment in accord