Miller v. City of New York, 700 F. App'x 57

Marilyn Miller, a retired NYPD officer and part-time real-estate broker, was accused by prospective tenant Deena Allen of withholding a $1,700 refundable deposit after Allen decided not to rent.
Allen filed a police complaint; officers went to Miller’s home on May 21, 2014, confirmed Miller had withheld the deposit, and took her to the 81st Precinct.
Miller was not handcuffed or physically restrained; she stayed in the precinct about six-and-a-half hours while arranging payment of the $1,700 to Allen.
Miller secured the funds from a family member and the police summoned Allen to the station to accept and verify receipt; Miller was released without charges after payment.
Miller sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and New York law alleging false arrest, conversion, excessive pre-arraignment delay, failure to intervene, and respondeat superior.
The district court granted summary judgment for defendants; this appeal affirms that judgment.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
False arrest: whether probable cause existed	Miller argued arrest lacked probable/arguable probable cause because police relied on Allen’s complaint	Police had reasonably trustworthy information from Allen and had attempted to obtain Miller’s account before arrest	Probable/arguable probable cause existed; false arrest claim dismissed
Conversion: whether officers’ conditioning release on payment unlawfully interfered with Miller’s possessory rights	Miller contended requiring payment to secure release amounted to conversion of her property	Defendants argued Miller had no possessory interest because she promised to return the money and failed to do so	No possessory interest shown; conversion claim dismissed
Excessive pre-arraignment detention: whether ~6.5-hour detention was unreasonable	Miller argued custody while waiting for payment and Allen’s arrival was excessive	Defendants argued detention was reasonable and facilitated release without charges; under 48-hour rule, short detentions presumptively reasonable	Detention reasonable under McLaughlin; excessive-detention claim dismissed
Failure to intervene / Respondeat superior	Miller asserted officers failed to stop constitutional violations and City liable under respondeat superior	Defendants: no constitutional violation occurred, so no duty to intervene and no basis for municipal liability	Claims dismissed because underlying constitutional and state-law claims failed

Garcia v. Hartford Police Dep’t, 706 F.3d 120 (2d Cir.) (standard of appellate review for summary judgment)
Hicks v. Baines, 593 F.3d 159 (2d Cir.) (conclusory allegations insufficient to defeat summary judgment)
Weyant v. Okst, 101 F.3d 845 (2d Cir.) (probable cause is a complete defense to false arrest)
Jenkins v. City of N.Y., 478 F.3d 76 (2d Cir.) (definition of probable cause to arrest)
Singer v. Fulton Cty. Sheriff, 63 F.3d 110 (2d Cir.) (victim-signed complaint supplies probable cause absent doubt about veracity)
Curley v. Vill. Of Suffern, 268 F.3d 65 (2d Cir.) (officers need not resolve all credibility disputes before arrest)
Thyroff v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., 460 F.3d 400 (2d Cir.) (elements of conversion under New York law)
Cnty. of Riverside v. McLaughlin, 500 U.S. 44 (U.S.) (presumption of reasonableness for pre-arraignment detentions under 48 hours)
Bryant v. City of New York, 404 F.3d 128 (2d Cir.) (summary judgment on excessive detention where no reasonable jury could find delay unreasonable)