00-1004 Robinson v. John Doe, et al.

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“He isn’t challenging the arrest, or the seizure of evidence pursuant to it, but the (alleged) use of excessive force by the police in effecting the arrest. It might appear that because the defendants deny having used excessive force, the plaintiff could not prevail in this suit without proving them to be liars; and that would undermine the testimony on the basis of which the arrest itself and the search incident to it were held lawful in Robinson’s criminal trial. Not necessarily. Police might well use excessive force in effecting a perfectly lawful arrest. And so a claim of excessive force in making an arrest does not require overturning the plaintiff’s conviction even though the conviction was based in part on a determination that the arrest itself was lawful.

“The plaintiff still must lose, however. He did not try to establish the timeliness of his complaint until after the district court had given him more than a month to reply to the defendants’ motion to dismiss his suit as untimely. He has given no legitimate excuse for his tardiness in replying to the motion and the judge therefore did not abuse his discretion in dismissing the suit for want of prosecution.”

Affirmed.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois, McDade, J., Posner, J.