Mettler v. Whitledge, s. 98-1279

• Decision Date: 25 January 1999
• Docket Number: 98-1280,Nos. 98-1279,s. 98-1279
• Citation: 165 F.3d 1197
• Parties: Marsha Ann METTLER, individually and as trustee for the heirs of Shawn Michael Mettler, Appellee, v. Edward M. WHITLEDGE, Thomas Haltiner, Appellants. Ramsey County, Defendant. Marsha Ann Mettler, individually and as trustee for the heirs of Shawn Michael Mettler, Appellant, v. Edward M. Whitledge, Thomas Haltiner, Ramsey County Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 1197

165 F.3d 1197

Marsha Ann METTLER, individually and as trustee for the heirs of Shawn Michael Mettler, Appellee, v. Edward M. WHITLEDGE, Thomas Haltiner, Appellants.

Ramsey County, Defendant.

Marsha Ann Mettler, individually and as trustee for the heirs of Shawn Michael Mettler, Appellant, v. Edward M. Whitledge, Thomas Haltiner, Ramsey County Appellees.

Nos. 98-1279, 98-1280.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Nov. 18, 1998.

Decided Jan. 25, 1999.

Susan Gaertner and C. David Dietz, St. Paul, Minnesota, argued, for Appellant.

Robert Bennett, Donald R. McNeil, and Eric Hageman, Minneapolis, Minnesota, argued, for Appellee.

Before BOWMAN, Chief Judge, LOKEN, Circuit Judge, and SIPPEL, ¹ District Judge.

BOWMAN, Chief Judge.

After her son Shawn Michael Mettler was shot and killed during a confrontation with Ramsey County Sheriff's deputies, Marsha Ann Mettler sued Ramsey County, Ramsey County Sheriff Patricia Moen, and Ramsey County Sheriff's Deputies Thomas Haltiner and Edward M. Whitledge for alleged violations of 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985. The District Court granted Ramsey County summary judgment on Ms. Mettler's claim alleging municipal liability under Monell v. Department of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 694, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978), and all defendants summary judgment on Ms. Mettler's § 1985 conspiracy claim. The District Court denied Deputies Haltiner and Whitledge summary judgment on Ms. Mettler's claim they had violated § 1983 by using excessive force when confronting Shawn Mettler. Deputies Haltiner and Whitledge appeal, claiming qualified immunity entitles them to summary judgment. Ms. Mettler cross-appeals the District Court's grant of summary judgment to Ramsey County on the Monell claim and to all defendants on the conspiracy claim, a final order pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b) having been entered with respect to these claims. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand the case with instructions.

I.

When reviewing a grant or denial of summary judgment, this Court considers the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party and draws all reasonable inferences in that party's favor. See Barker v. Ceridian Corp., 122 F.3d 628, 632 (8th Cir.1997). The parties have vigorously disputed some of the facts of this case. Accordingly, where there are factual disputes, we base the following summary on accounts provided by Ms. Mettler, the nonmoving party.

At approximately 1 a.m. on January 22, 1994, Ramsey County Sheriff's Deputies Thomas Haltiner and Edward Whitledge, accompanied by Whitledge's canine partner Bud, responded in separate patrol cars to a 911 call reporting that someone had discharged a firearm at the Montreal Courts apartment complex in Little Canada, Minnesota. Unable to locate the person responsible for discharging the firearm by patrolling the area in their vehicles, the two deputies began searching Montreal Court's rows of single-vehicle garage stalls on foot. Bud remained in Deputy Whitledge's patrol car.

While the deputies were searching one row of garage stalls, Deputy Haltiner saw a person enter a stall about fifty feet away in another row. Haltiner later said he noticed this person was carrying a "long gun" in his left hand. See Joint Appendix (J.A.) at 458 (Haltiner Dep.). Haltiner told Whitledge what he had seen, and the two deputies walked to the row where Haltiner had seen the suspect. As they passed Whitledge's patrol car, Whitledge summoned Bud to join them.

The two deputies, accompanied by Bud, inspected the row of garage stalls. They found one garage door unlocked and open a few inches. The deputies raised this door further and saw a Dodge Stealth parked inside with its nose pointing toward the far end of the twenty-foot-long garage. Standing outside or slightly inside the garage, Haltiner and Whitledge identified themselves as sheriff's deputies and ordered anyone inside the stall to come out. No one responded, so Deputy Whitledge ordered Bud to inspect the stall's interior. Bud entered the garage, and as he approached the far end of the stall--near the nose of the Stealth--he began to growl.

Shawn Mettler, carrying a pump-action, "sawed-off" shotgun, was hiding in the garage, either crouched down or prone near the nose of the Stealth. When Bud growled, Shawn fired one shot from his shotgun. This shot struck and killed Bud. Deputies Haltiner and Whitledge then instantly fired their semiautomatic duty pistols. They fired thirty-two shots, emptying the pistols' magazines. Approximately fourteen of the shots struck Shawn, and one bullet--the sequence of shots is unknown--killed him.

After the shooting, both deputies said that, before they began shooting, they had seen Shawn pointing his gun at Deputy Whitledge. Both deputies also reported that Shawn had fired multiple shots at them. However, evidence uncovered after the shooting proved that Shawn had fired only one shot, the shot that struck and killed Bud. Shawn's shotgun was found lying on the garage floor, under his body, with the spent shell from the shot that killed Bud still in the chamber and some undischarged shells loaded in the shotgun's magazine.

The Ramsey County Sheriff's Department ordered an internal investigation of the shooting, but problems hampered the resulting probe. No one in the Sheriff's Department was qualified to conduct ballistics or trajectory analysis, and such tests were not conducted until this litigation commenced more than two years after the shooting. Sheriff's Department investigators also did not record the locations of the shell casings after the shooting, nor did they chart the bullet holes in the wall of the garage. Furthermore, Sheriff's Department investigators have voiced some confusion regarding who was in charge of the investigation, and the qualifications of that lead investigator.

Many factual questions remain regarding the January 22 shooting. The Sheriff's Department could not determine which deputy's shots struck Shawn or which deputy fired the fatal shot. The Sheriff's Department also could not determine whether Deputies Haltiner and Whitledge were inside or outside the garage when they started shooting, or how long the shooting lasted. (Most estimates indicate the shooting lasted less than ten seconds.) A shooting review board convened, reviewed the January 22 shooting, found the deputies were justified in returning fire after Shawn shot Bud, and cleared them of any wrongdoing.

On April 2, 1996, Ms. Mettler filed suit against Ramsey County, and, in their individual capacities, Sheriff Moen and Deputies Haltiner and Whitledge, alleging the defendants were liable under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985. Count I of Ms. Mettler's four-count complaint alleged that Deputies Whitledge and Haltiner had violated Shawn's constitutional rights by using excessive force during the January 22 confrontation, and that this violation resulted in Shawn's death. Count II alleged that Ramsey County violated Shawn's constitutional rights by training its deputies negligently and by showing deliberate indifference to the deputies' custom, pattern, or practice of using excessive force. Count III alleged that Sheriff Moen had supervisory liability for failing to correct the Sheriff's Department's pattern of providing inadequate training and its deputies' pattern of using excessive force. Count IV alleged that all the defendants had conspired to violate Shawn's constitutional rights by permitting or encouraging the use of excessive force, conducting an inadequate investigation, and concealing evidence of wrongdoing. Ms. Mettler later recharacterized Count IV as a claim that the defendants had conspired to conceal evidence from her, thus violating her constitutional rights by denying her the opportunity to pursue her §§ 1983 and 1985 claims in fair litigation. See J.A. at 272 (Plaintiff's Memorandum in Opposition to Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment at 32 (Aug. 5, 1997)).

The parties stipulated to the dismissal of Count III. The defendants then moved for summary judgment on Counts I, II, and IV. ² The District Court granted summary judgment to Ramsey County on Count II and to all defendants on Count IV. However, the District Court denied defendants Haltiner and Whitledge summary judgment on Count I, despite the defendants' argument that, because they were police officers, qualified immunity protected them from liability on Ms. Mettler's § 1983 claim. Deputies Haltiner and Whitledge filed an interlocutory appeal of the District Court's denial of their motion for summary judgment on Count I on qualified-immunity grounds. The District Court then made its order granting summary judgment to Ramsey County on Count II and to all defendants on Count IV final pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b), and Ms. Mettler cross-appealed the District Court's grant of summary judgment on Counts II and IV.

II.

Before we resolve the issues raised in this appeal and cross-appeal, we pause to explain the limited jurisdiction we have over them. This Court has jurisdiction to hear Haltiner and Whitledge's interlocutory appeals because, under the collateral order doctrine, a district court's denial of a claim of qualified immunity may be appealed immediately. See Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 525, 530, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985); Murphy v. Arkansas, 127 F.3d 750, 754 (8th Cir.1997). However, pursuant to the Supreme Court's decisions in Johnson v. Jones, 515 U.S. 304, 115 S.Ct. 2151, 132 L.Ed.2d 238 (1995), and Behrens v. Pelletier, 516 U.S. 299, 116 S.Ct. 834, 133 L.Ed.2d 773 (1996), this Court's jurisdiction on interlocutory appeal is limited to the resolution of the issue of qualified immunity. See Collins v. Bellinghausen, 153 F.3d 591, 595 (8th Cir.1998). We may not consider summary judgment on the merits of the case at this interlocutory stage. See id. This Court also has jurisdiction to resolve the issues raised in Ms. Mettler's...