A federal appeals court overturned a $3.5 million jury verdict for wrongful detention against a Detroit police officer who arrested an innocent man with a name similar to the fugitive being sought, stating the plaintiff had sued the wrong man.

In 2012, police officer Thomas Zberkot, who worked for the Detroit Fugitive Apprehension Team, assisted in the arrest of Marvin Seales, when in fact the fugitive being sought was Roderick Siner, who used the alias Marvin Seals, according to Wednesday’s ruling by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati in Marvin Seales v. City of Detroit, Michigan, et al.; Thomas Zberkot.

Although Mr. Seales protested the wrong man had been arrested, he spent more than two weeks in jail before his case was dismissed. He then filed suit against Mr. Zberkot, as well as Wayne County and Detroit for false arrest, false imprisonment and gross negligence in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

By the time of the trial, only Mr. Zberkot remained as a defendant in the case. The jury awarded Mr. Seales $3.5 million for wrongful detention under federal and state law.

The verdict was overturned by a unanimous three-judge appeals court panel. 

Mr. Zberkot “spent less than three hours on the case,” the ruling said. “Officer Zberkot merely helped to arrest Seales and initiated the booking procedures, all legitimately, under the Fourth Amendment. He wasn’t Seales’ jailor.

“Seales admits that other officers at the precinct had the responsibility to maintain custody over him. Seales offers no explanation why Zberkot, as opposed to the jailers, bears responsibility for the fifteen-day detention.”

While acknowledging that “it’s not lost on us that something’s gone amiss,” the panel said Mr. Seales had “sued the wrong man.” It said the “key failings” regarding the mistaken identify related to the Wayne County jail and those who detained him there.

“Unless or until Seales sues the right people or the right government, there is little we can do,” the ruling said.

Lawrence T. Garcia, corporation counsel for the city of Detroit, said in a statement, “When litigation produces wild results that make no common sense, the system seems more like a lottery than a principled search for truth and justice.

“Where the wrong man is arrested and detained, the authorities may have some explaining to do; however, a $3.5 million judgment against an officer who had custody for only two hours and 50 minutes is a wayward result.  

“Gratefully, the recent opinion makes good sense out of governmental immunity and proximate cause doctrines which are meant to keep litigation on track, and the Sixth Circuit's reversal restores balance to a case which had gone off the rails."

Attorneys for Mr. Seales did not respond to a request for comment.