Rankin v. Evans

Decision Date29 January 1998
Docket NumberNo. 95-4744,95-4744
Parties, 11 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C 1033 Doug RANKIN, Victoria Rankin, Plaintiffs-Appellants, Cross-Appellees, v. Mark EVANS, Richard Willie, Sheriff of Palm Beach County, Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department, Defendants-Appellees, Cross-Appellants.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Robert L. Hinkle, Radey Hinkle Thomas, Tallahassee, FL, Donald M. Hinkle, Fonvielle, FL, for Plaintiffs-Appellants, Cross-Appellees.

Marjorie Gadarian Graham, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, Monroe A. Coogler, Jr., West Palm Beach, FL, David J. Glatthorne, West Palm Beach, Fl, for Defendants-Appellees, Cross-Appellants.

Before BARKETT, Circuit Judge, KRAVITCH, Senior Circuit Judge, and HARRIS *, Senior District Judge.

HARRIS, Senior District Judge:

This case, like some others involving allegations of sexual abuse of a child, inevitably evokes feelings of compassion for all of the participants involved in the long-running dispute. However, obviously the issues must be resolved dispassionately.

Plaintiff-appellant Doug Rankin was arrested in late November of 1988 and charged with the sexual abuse of a child under the age of twelve. Thereafter, not only did a grand jury not indict him; it affirmatively found that he was "completely innocent." He and his wife, plaintiff-appellant Victoria Rankin, brought an action against the arresting officer, Deputy Sheriff Mark Evans, and the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and also made a state claim for false arrest.

At the conclusion of the evidentiary portion of the civil trial, the district judge denied defendants' motion for a directed verdict and permitted the case to go to the jury, which returned a substantial verdict for plaintiffs. Thereafter, upon defendants' motion, the district court set aside the verdict on the ground that probable cause for Doug Rankin's arrest and detention had existed as a matter of law. That ruling is before us, as is defendants' cross-appeal of the district court's conditional denial of their motion for a new trial and its denial of their motions for remittitur and to alter or amend the judgment on the state count. We affirm the district court's grant of a JNOV and dismiss the cross-appeal as moot. (In light of the cross-appeal, for clarity we often refer to the parties as plaintiffs and defendants).

I. Factual History 1

Plaintiffs Doug and Victoria Rankin owned and operated the Sugar Plum School House, a pre-school program located in Lake Worth, Florida. Dr. Martha Brake's three-and-a-half-year-old daughter Amber began attending Sugar Plum on November 7, 1988. On November 21, 1988, Amber made a statement to her mother, who is a child psychologist, indicating that she had been sexually abused. Dr. Brake then made an audio tape of her daughter's statement in which the child again indicated that she had been abused. That evening, Dr. Brake took her daughter to a pediatrician, Dr. Drummond, to be examined for possible evidence of abuse. During the examination, Dr. Drummond found physical signs which were consistent with sexual abuse. The next morning, Dr. Brake went to Amber's prior school--Victory Baptist--and played the tape in an attempt to get Amber readmitted to that school. At approximately nine o'clock that morning, Dr. Brake called the sheriff's department to inform it that she had proof that her daughter had been sexually molested. Deputy Mark Evans, who was assigned to the case, called Dr. Brake and scheduled an interview with her and Amber for that morning.

Deputy Evans and a representative from the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitation Services and Victim's Services (HRS) interviewed Dr. Brake while another officer observed Amber. Dr. Brake informed Evans that: (1) Amber had made a spontaneous statement to her which indicated that she had been molested by a person named Ba Ba Blue; (2) she had heard Amber refer to Doug Rankin as Ba Ba Blue on several occasions and had never heard her refer to anyone else by that name; (3) a teacher had informed her that children frequently called Doug Rankin Baba Loo; 2 (4) Doug Rankin worked at the school, Sugar Plum, which Amber attended; (5) the only men who had had access to Amber in the recent past were Rankin and one of Dr. Brake's coworkers; (6) she had seen Rankin on the playground with the children; (7) Amber had attended Sugar Plum for about two weeks; (8) Amber started exhibiting behavioral changes starting at the end of her first week at the school; 3 (9) Amber had used the age-inappropriate term "boobies" in reference to her chest after starting school at Sugar Plum; (10) Dr. Brake was so disturbed by Amber's behavioral changes that she tried to get her re-enrolled at her prior school, Victory Baptist; (11) Dr. Brake saw Rankin pick Amber up, and Amber hit him in response, on the day that Amber made her initial statement indicating sexual abuse; (12) it was unusual for Amber to strike an adult; (13) Dr. Brake had had an argument with Rankin regarding what she considered to be insufficient supervision of the children; (14) she had taken Amber to be examined by Dr. Drummond (their pediatrician) the day Amber made her initial statement, and he told Dr. Brake that there was physical evidence consistent with abuse; and (15) a colleague of hers who was also a child psychologist, Dr. Decharme, had seen Amber on the evening of November 21, 1988, and told Dr. Brake that Amber had indicated that she had been abused.

Dr. Brake also informed Evans that she had made an audiotape of Amber's recounting of her previous statement. Evans listened to that tape. On it, Amber stated that Ba Ba Blue had made "a hole in [her] bottom" and that he put "his fingers in [her] bottom and it pinched and it feels bad." She also indicated that, after Ba Ba Blue was finished with her, he sent her to the playground.

Officer Honholz, who had been with Amber during Evans's interview of her mother, informed Evans and Dr. Brake that Amber made a statement to him regarding the abuse.

Deputy Evans then conducted a videotaped interview with Amber in which she again indicated that a man at school named Ba Ba Blue had abused her. Prior to identifying Ba Ba Blue as her abuser, Amber named two cartoon characters in response to police questioning regarding the identity of her abuser. Baba Loo is the name of a cartoon character from a video the children watched in school. Rankin used the term as a general nickname to refer to the children. The children, including Amber, also referred to Rankin by this nickname.

Amber also made several improbable or inconsistent statements regarding the timing of the abuse. She indicated that the abuser had used both his hand and a spoon, taken pictures of her, touched her with his genitalia, and had been naked. She also indicated that the abuse had happened both inside the school and outside on some steps.

Deputy Evans telephoned Dr. Drummond regarding Amber's physical examination. Dr. Drummond told Evans that there were several physical symptoms that could be the result of sexual abuse: (1) a fresh abrasion (2) an enlarged hymenal opening; and (3) a healed notch on the hymen. Dr. Drummond indicated that the first symptom could be consistent with improper sexual conduct such as rubbing, but that there were other possible causes. Dr. Drummond stated that the hymenal notch and the enlargement of the area suggested some form of limited penetration--possibly digital. Dr. Drummond also noted that the notch to the hymen was at least two to three weeks old.

On the morning of November 23, 1988, with the authorization of his superiors, Evans went to Sugar Plum to arrest Doug Rankin for sexual battery on a child under the age of twelve. Rankin was not there. Evans did not inform anyone at the school of the purpose of his visit, nor did he interview anyone at the school regarding the alleged abuse. Instead, he returned several hours later, when he had been informed Rankin would be present, at which time he arrested Rankin.

During his subsequent interview with police, Rankin repeatedly proclaimed his innocence and informed Evans that he had never been alone with Amber (a fact that he asserted the teachers could corroborate), that he was physically unable to fit on or reach into the playground equipment on which the police stated that the abuse occurred, that Baba Loo was the name of a cartoon character, that he was not the only person at the school who was called Baba Loo, and that Amber had attended the school for only two weeks.

During his interview, Rankin also conceded that he was the only male who worked at the school, that the children referred to him as Baba Loo, that he had access to the entire schoolhouse, and that he had been at school on November 21, 1988. He also made numerous specific comments regarding Amber's personality and behavior during the two weeks she had been at school, even though he stated that there were 120 students at the school and that he had relatively little contact with the children. Furthermore, he made progressively more critical comments regarding Dr. Brake as the interview proceeded.

Following the interrogation, Rankin formally was charged with sexual battery of a child under the age of twelve pursuant to Fla. Stat. 794.011(2). He subsequently was released on bond with no opposition from Deputy Evans. A grand jury later exonerated Rankin, specifically stating that he was "completely innocent."

II. Procedural History

Following those events, plaintiffs Doug Rankin and his wife Victoria filed a complaint asserting both state and federal claims. The claims resolved by the jury at trial were as follows. 4 Count I stated a claim pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that defendant Mark Evans, as a Deputy Sheriff of Palm Beach County, while acting under the color of state law, arrested and seized plaintiff Doug Rankin without a warrant or probable cause in...

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