Michael Evans v. Multnomah County

MEMORANDUM

Michael Evans appeals the district court’s: (1) grant of partial summary judgment in favor of Multnomah County on his battery claim stemming from the actions of Sergeant Catherine Gorton; (2) grant of partial summary judgment in favor of the County on his claim for malicious prosecution; (3) denial of Evans’s motion for mistrial; (4) order sustaining the County’s objection to Evans’s proposed use of a rebuttal witness; and (5) denial of Evans’s motion to amend the verdict form.

We have jurisdiction over this appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We reverse and remand the district court’s grant of partial summary judgment in favor of the County on the battery claim arising from Gorton’s actions but affirm the remainder of the district court’s rulings.

A. Facts

Evans was involved in a scuffle while he was being booked at the Multnomah County Detention Center (“MCDC”). When Sergeant Gorton saw several officers wrestling with Evans, she displayed a taser and informed Evans that she was going to use it if he did not stop resisting. Gorton shined the taser’s aiming laser in Evans’s eye and he stopped resisting.

That night, Deputy Richard Hathaway reported that Evans…