PUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
JAMES VALLADARES,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v. No. 07-1995
VICTOR CORDERO,
Defendant-Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Alexandria.
James C. Cacheris, Senior District Judge.
(1:06-cv-01378)
Argued: October 30, 2008
Decided: January 12, 2009
Before GREGORY and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges,
and Richard D. BENNETT, United States District Judge for
the District of Maryland, sitting by designation.
Affirmed by published opinion. Judge Gregory wrote the
opinion, in which Judge Duncan and Judge Bennett joined.
COUNSEL
Mary Alice Rowan, COUNTY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE,
Prince William, Virginia, for Appellant. James Arthur
2 VALLADARES v. CORDERO
DeVita, BUTLER LEGAL GROUP, P.L.L.P., Washington,
D.C., for Appellee.
OPINION
GREGORY, Circuit Judge:
In this case, Officer Victor Cordero, Appellant, challenges
the district court’s denial of his motion for summary judgment
in which he asserted the affirmative defense of qualified
immunity. For the reasons stated herein, the district court’s
decision is affirmed.
I.
At approximately 8:00 p.m. on December 8, 2005, Officers
Cordero and Anthony Notarantonio arrived at the home of
Josefina Valladares in response to a domestic disturbance
reported to the Prince William County Police Department.
The officers discovered that Ms. Valladares called the police
because she was having a dispute with her elder son, Boris
Valladares ("Boris"), age twenty-five, who had come home
intoxicated. Officer Cordero, a native Spanish speaker,
attempted to mediate the dispute. According to Officer
Cordero, he told Boris to respect his mother but, despite Ms.
Valladares’ insistence, refused to arrest Boris.
Before the officers arrived, James Valladares ("James"),
Ms. Valladares’ fifteen-year-old son, became so frustrated by
the fight between his mother and brother that he ran outside
to his driveway and sat by his mother’s car text messaging his
girlfriend. When Officer Cordero left the Valladares’ home he
approached James, shined a flashlight in James’ eyes, asked
him where he lived, and asked him to put his cell phone away.
James answered the officer’s question and complied with the
request to put his phone away.
VALLADARES v. CORDERO 3
While the officers were talking to James, Boris came out of
the house to smoke a cigarette. When he saw the officers talk-
ing to his younger brother he yelled, "Why are you talking to
him? He didn’t do anything wrong." (J.A. 38-39.)1 According
to James, Officer Notarantonio responded, "You’re 25-years-
old. You’re living with your mom. She needs to kick your ass
out." (J.A. 39.) Boris responded by yelling, "Get off my prop-
erty white boy." (Id.) Officer Notarantonio immediately
placed Boris under arrest, in response to which Boris repeat-
edly asked what he had done wrong and refused to put his
arms behind his back.
Officer Cordero attempted to assist his partner in Boris’
apprehension by grabbing the resisting man’s legs, which
resulted in Boris falling to the ground and hitting his face on
the concrete driveway. At some point, Officer Notarantonio
sprayed Boris with pepper spray. James saw his brother bleed-
ing and the two officers "still on top of him," so he jumped
into the middle of the dispute and tried to push Officer
Cordero off of Boris. (J.A. 39.) Officer Cordero claims that
James was enraged and punched him repeatedly in the back
of the head. Nonetheless, James testifies that he did not hit the
officer.
At this point in the altercation, the facts that the Valladares
family asserts and the facts that the officers assert differ
greatly. Officer Cordero’s version of the facts are as follows:
After James "attacked him," he grabbed and held James with
his arms behind his back as the boy kicked rearward at the
officer. The kicks made James lose his balance and caused
them both to fall facedown on the driveway. On the way
down they both hit James’ stepfather’s truck. Officer Cordero
speculates that James broke his jaw when they fell to the
ground. Once they were on the ground, the officer could not
handcuff James because his body armor was in the way, so he
1
"J.A." refers to the contents of the Joint Appendix filed by the parties
in this appeal.
4 VALLADARES v. CORDERO
lifted James up off the ground and handcuffed him against the
car.
Conversely, James testifies that the officer grabbed him and
swung him headfirst into his mother’s car several times.
Eventually, James fell to the ground; Officer Cordero stood
him up and had him under full control. The officer then
slammed the teenager’s face into the car, at which point
James heard his jaw snap.
At the time of the incident, James was fifteen years old,
five-feet-three-inches tall, and weighed 130 pounds. Officer
Cordero was six-feet-two-inches tall and weighed approxi-
mately 250 pounds.
After the altercation, an ambulance transported James to
Prince William County Hospital, where an x-ray confirmed
that his jaw was broken. The following day, a doctor wired
his jaw shut and it remained shut for the next six weeks. Dur-
ing those six weeks, James could consume only liquid meals;
as a result, he lost eighteen pounds. Further, during this period
he vomited, which caused his jaw to crack open again. Ulti-
mately, James missed two months of school, experienced
great pain, and incurred significant medical expenses.
On December 7, 2006, Ms. Valladares filed her complaint,
pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2000), alleging that her son had
been battered, negligently injured, and subjected to excessive
force in violation of his Fourth Amendment rights. On Janu-
ary 5, 2007, Officer Cordero moved to dismiss the complaint
or, in the alternative, for summary judgment, claiming he was
entitled to qualified immunity. On February 5, 2007, the dis-
trict court denied the motion on the grounds that the facts in
the case are heavily disputed. On February 5, 2007, Officer
Cordero submitted a supplement to his motion for summary
judgment. On March 8, 2007, the district court granted the
supplemental motion as to the claims of negligence and
VALLADARES v. CORDERO 5
denied the motion as to the claims of battery and gross negli-
gence.
On July 19, 2007, Officer Cordero filed a motion for leave
to renew his motion to dismiss or for summary judgment. The
district court denied this motion on August 27, 2007, finding
that Ms. Valladares alleged sufficient facts to demonstrate the
existence of excessive force. On September 4, 2007, Officer
Cordero filed a notice of appeal and a motion for reconsidera-
tion, again on the basis of qualified immunity. On September
24, 2007, the district court denied this motion and on October
4, 2007, Officer Cordero filed an amended notice of appeal.
II.
Under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (2000), this Court possesses juris-
diction over final orders of district courts. To the extent that
a district court’s rejection of a government official’s qualified
immunity defense turns on a question of law, it is a final deci-
sion under the collateral order doctrine and is subject to
immediate appeal; but if the appeal seeks to argue the insuffi-
ciency of the evidence to raise a genuine issue of material
fact, this Court does not possess jurisdiction under § 1291 to
consider the claim. Bailey v. Kennedy, 349 F.3d 731, 738 (4th
Cir. 2003). Thus, this Court has appellate jurisdiction to con-
sider appeals from denials of qualified immunity only "to the
extent that the official maintains that the official’s conduct did
not violate clearly established law." Winfield v. Bass, 106
F.3d 525, 529 (4th Cir. 1997) (en banc).
The inquiry into whether a defendant is entitled to qualified
immunity includes a two-part analysis. First, we must deter-
mine whether the underlying allegations of a claim substanti-
ate a violation of a constitutional right. See Ridpath v. Bd. of
Governors Marshall Univ., 447 F.3d 292, 306 (4th Cir. 2006).
In order to determine whether the facts demonstrate that the
officer’s conduct violated a constitutional right, we evaluate
the facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Saucier
6 VALLADARES v. CORDERO
v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 121 (2001). Second, if there is an
alleged violation of a constitutional right, the court must
determine whether the violation was of a "clearly established"
right. Ridpath, 447 F.3d at 306. In order for the right to be
clearly established it must be:
"sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would
understand that what he is doing violated that right.
This is not to say that an official action is protected
by qualified immunity unless the very action in ques-
tion has previously been held unlawful; but it is to
say that in the light of pre-existing law the unlawful-
ness must be apparent."
Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640 (1987) (internal
citation omitted); see also Ridpath, 447 F.3d at 306 (citing
Mellen v. Bunting, 327 F.3d 355, 365 (4th Cir. 2006) (noting
that if there is an alleged violation of a constitutional right, the
court must determine whether the "violation was of a ‘clearly
established’ right ‘of which a reasonable person would have
known.’")); Saucier, 533 U.S. at 201.
It is clearly established that citizens have a Fourth Amend-
ment right to be free from unreasonable seizures accom-
plished by excessive force. Waterman v. Batton, 393 F.3d
471, 476 (4th Cir. 2005). In this case, the district court found
that Ms. Valladares alleged sufficient facts to establish a vio-
lation of a constitutional right. Here, Officer Cordero appeals
the court’s conclusion that he knew or should have known
that his actions were excessive. See Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457
U.S. 800, 818 (1982).
The test for whether an officer knew or should have known
whether a particular seizure under the Fourth Amendment was
excessive is a "reasonableness" test. See Rowland v. Perry, 41
F.3d 167, 172 (4th Cir. 1994); see also Graham v. Connor,
490 U.S. 386, 396 (1989); Jones v. Buchanan, 325 F.3d 520,
527 (4th Cir. 2003) (providing that a court determines
VALLADARES v. CORDERO 7
"whether an officer has used excessive force to effect a sei-
zure based on a standard of ‘objective reasonableness.’")
(quoting Graham, 490 U.S. at 399). The Supreme Court
found that the test for "reasonableness" under the Fourth
Amendment is not "capable of precise definition." Jones, 325
F.3d at 527 (quoting Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 559
(1979)). Nonetheless, the Court stated that proper application
requires "careful attention to the facts and circumstances of
each particular case, including 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." Id.
"We review de novo the district court’s denial of qualified
immunity, employing our full knowledge of our own and
other relevant precedents." Wilson v. Kittoe, 337 F.3d 392,
397 (4th Cir. 2003).
III.
Appellant’s appeal is limited to the second prong of the
qualified immunity analysis: whether a reasonable officer
would have known that his actions violated a clearly estab-
lished right. Harlow, 457 U.S. at 818. This Court must take
the facts in the light most favorable to James, Anderson v.
Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249 (1986), and view them
from the perspective of a reasonable officer.2 The relevant
2
Officer Cordero argues that James "filed no statement of genuine issue
in opposition to . . . Officer Cordero’s Statement of Undisputed Facts."
(Appellant’s Br. 26.) Officer Cordero asserts that James’ reliance on his
affidavit in his pleadings was improper because "James’ Affidavit is
directly contradictory to James’ deposition in certain respects that are
vitally important to the qualified immunity issue." (Appellant’s Br. 27.)
Officer Cordero’s effort to persuade this Court to value his testimony over
James’ testimony is futile. See Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249. Furthermore,
to the extent that Officer Cordero asks this Court to evaluate the district
court’s stated genuine issues of material fact, his argument must fail pro-
cedurally. This Court does not have jurisdiction to decide whether the dis-
8 VALLADARES v. CORDERO
facts viewed in the light most favorable to James dictate that
James shoved Officer Cordero; Officer Cordero responded by
trict court was presented with sufficient evidence to determine that there
was a genuine issue of material fact. Bailey, 349 F.3d at 738.
Additionally, Officer Cordero invites this Court to disregard James’
affidavit because of its "inconsistencies"; specifically, James’ affidavit tes-
timony that he went "limp" early in the fight and his deposition testimony
that he "went loose" at a "significantly later point in the fight, immediately
after he admitted to lying on the ground ‘kicking again’ at Officer
Cordero." (Appellant Br. 29.) Nonetheless, this "inconsistency" does not
invalidate James’ argument. Both the testimony in James’ affidavit and in
his deposition claim that Officer Cordero broke his jaw after James
stopped struggling. James makes this point consistently. Whether James
contradicted himself to the point of discrediting his testimony is a question
for a trier of fact to decide. The district court considered the record as a
whole, including James’ separate testimonies, and determined that there
are several genuine issues of material fact. Again, this Court does not have
jurisdiction to evaluate the sufficiency of the evidence presented to the
district court to raise a genuine issue of material fact.
Finally, Officer Cordero argues that the district court must have agreed
with the logic of his inconsistency argument because "the September 24,
2007 Order corrects the August 27, 2007 Opinion by substituting language
from James’ deposition instead of the language taken from James’ Affida-
vit." (Appellant’s Br. 27.) Officer Cordero asserts that the order’s substitu-
tion of the language from the deposition for the language in the affidavit
supports his argument that James’ testimonies directly contradict each
other and, therefore, there is no genuine issue of material fact. (Id.)
This incredible leap in logic could not be consistent with the logic of
the district court or else the court would not have repeatedly denied Offi-
cer Cordero’s motion for summary judgment. Moreover, it is unclear why
the district court entered its "corrected" order. The one-page order claimed
to grant in part and deny in part the defendant’s motion for reconsideration
of the court’s denial of the defendant’s motion for summary judgment. To
this end, the order bulleted its amendments to the previous opinion, grant-
ing Officer Cordero’s motion to stay and inserting corrected language, yet
it never explicitly stated which parts of the motion would remain denied.
Therefore, this Court must assume that apart from the corrected language
and the newly granted motion to stay, the court wished to maintain its
denial of Officer Cordero’s motion. Thus, this part of the officer’s argu-
ment also fails.
VALLADARES v. CORDERO 9
swinging James into a car, resulting in James falling to the
ground; Officer Cordero then picked James up off the ground,
had James under full control, stood him on his feet, and
slammed James’ head into a car twice, eventually breaking
James’ jaw.
Officer Cordero argues that when viewing the facts in the
light most favorable to James, a reasonable officer would not
have known that he was violating a clearly established right
because a reasonable officer would not have known that
James had surrendered. Yet, in both James’ affidavit and his
deposition, James claims that Officer Cordero broke his jaw
after slamming him into the car and after he either went
"limp" or "loose." Even if this Court disregarded James’ testi-
mony about going "limp" or "loose" because he later testifies
that he was kicking while on the ground, James and Officer
Cordero both testify that, after that point, the officer picked
James up off the ground and neither party testifies that James
resisted being lifted up. This signifies a point of surrender. Of
course, Officer Cordero claims that he then placed James
against his mother’s car and handcuffed him. Nonetheless,
James testifies that after Officer Cordero had him under full
control he then forcefully shoved his face into his mother’s
car and broke his jaw. Again, this Court must accept James’
version of the facts.
In Officer Cordero’s brief and during oral argument, coun-
sel for the officer seemed to indicate that James should have
verbally communicated his intent to surrender to the officer.
This Court knows of no case, and Appellant does not cite a
case, that requires a person to verbally communicate his or
her wish to surrender before a reasonable officer is put on
notice that further force is unnecessary. Such a requirement
would create an unduly steep burden. A trial court must have
the freedom to distinguish between the circumstances sur-
rounding a person who says he is surrendering while continu-
ing to fight and those surrounding a person who does not
articulate that he is surrendering but clearly has ceased fight-
10 VALLADARES v. CORDERO
ing. In this case, the district court properly determined that
James surrendered before Officer Cordero broke his jaw.
Moreover, the district court correctly determined that a rea-
sonable officer would not have exerted the level of force that
Officer Cordero used in the situation with which Officer
Cordero was confronted. See Saucier, 533 U.S. at 202.
Despite Officer Cordero’s argument to the contrary, this
Court agrees with the district court’s evaluation of the exces-
sive force issue in this case. The district court did a full Gra-
ham analysis of the facts from the perspective of a reasonable
officer, finding that the first Graham factor (severity of the
underlying offense) weighed against Ms. Valladares because
James should never have shoved Officer Cordero. Nonethe-
less, the district court found that the second Graham factor
(whether the suspect poses an immediate threat to the safety
of the officer or others) weighed against Officer Cordero
because James did not pose a threat. This is a fair assessment
because when viewing the facts in the light most favorable to
James, this Court finds that the officer was able to control
James before he broke the young man’s jaw. Additionally,
according to James’ testimony, his brother Boris was not an
immediate threat because he was on the ground bleeding and
restrained. Finally, the court determined that James stopped
resisting the arrest before the alleged excessive force
occurred, which satisfies the last prong of the Graham analy-
sis (whether he was actively resisting arrest).
Thus, as a legal matter, the district court correctly deter-
mined that James proffered evidence of a violation of a con-
stitutional right and that, as alleged, Officer Cordero
knowingly violated James’ clearly established right. See Gra-
ham, 490 U.S. at 396. Furthermore, the district court correctly
characterized the officer’s actions as "unnecessary, gratuitous,
and disproportionate" (J.A. 298) and properly concluded that
he was not entitled to qualified immunity. This Court agrees
with the district court’s analysis and finds that it is supported
VALLADARES v. CORDERO 11
by relevant law.3 See Schultz v. Braga, 455 F.3d 470, 478 (4th
Cir. 2006); Young v. Prince George’s County, Maryland, 355
F.3d 751, 756 (4th Cir. 2004).
IV.
Based on the standard for summary judgment, the district
court correctly determined that the facts viewed in the light
most favorable to James indicate that Officer Cordero’s
actions were not objectively reasonable and violated James’
clearly established Fourth Amendment right to be free from
excessive force. Thus, the officer was precluded from protec-
tion under the doctrine of qualified immunity.
AFFIRMED
3
At the end of Officer Cordero’s brief, he argues, "Although the state
law battery claim is not in issue on appeal, if this Court disposes of James’
federal claims, James’ state law claims should also be dismissed on
remand to District Court." (Appellant’s Br. 49) (citation omitted). This
issue is moot because this Court finds that the district court properly deter-
mined that "taking the facts in the light most favorable to the Plaintiff, the
Court cannot find Officer Cordero acted reasonably as a matter of law."
(J.A. 297.)