Safar et al v. Tingle et al

Filing 94

MEMORANDUM OPINION. Signed by District Judge T. S. Ellis, III on 4/4/2016. (rban, )

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
Alexandria Division

FADWA SAFAR, etaL,
Plaintiffs,
Case No. l:15-cv-467
V.

LISA TINGLE,
Defendants.

FADWASAFAR,e^a/.,
Plaintiffs,
Case No. l:15-cv-469
V.

COSTCO WHOLESALE

CORPORATION,
Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

These two cases, consolidated for discovery and pre-trial purposes, arise from a set of

facts that can be described only as sad and regrettable. Plaintiffs, a husband and wife, were
arrested, and the wife was incarcerated briefly, not only for a crime they did not commit, but in
fact for a crime that never occurred. Based on these events, plaintiffs here sue (i) the company

that erroneously reported that they committed a crime, (ii) the police officer who investigated the
matter and filed an affidavit that led to the issuance of arrest warrants for plaintiffs, and (iii) the
prosecutor, who, at the time the husband's case was dismissed, became aware that no crime had

been committed, but then failed to take steps to withdraw the warrant for the wife's arrest, which
led six months later to the wife's incarceration over Christmas.