B.C. v. Plumas Unified Sch. Dist. Et al

• Decision Date: 08 December 1998
• Docket Number: No. 97-17287,97-17287
• Parties: (9th Cir. 1999) B.C., suing through his legal guardian Cinthia Ann Powers, CINTHIA ANN POWERS, suing on behalf of B.C., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. PLUMAS UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT, Defendant, and PLUMAS COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT; JOSEPH HAGWOOD, in his individual capacity and his official capacity as Superintendent of Plumas Unified School District; RICHARD SPEARS, in his individual capacity and in his official capacity as Principal of Quincy High School; ARTURO BARRERA, in his individual capacity and his official capacity as Vice Principal of Quincy High School; ROD DECRONA, in his individual capacity and his official capacity as Plumas County Assistant Sheriff; DEAN CANALIA, Assistant Sheriff; STEVEN HITCH, Detective, Defendants-Appellees
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 1260

192 F.3d 1260 (9th Cir. 1999)

B.C., suing through his legal guardian Cinthia Ann Powers, CINTHIA ANN POWERS, suing on behalf of B.C., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. PLUMAS UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT, Defendant, and PLUMAS COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT; JOSEPH HAGWOOD, in his individual capacity and his official capacity as Superintendent of Plumas Unified School District; RICHARD SPEARS, in his individual capacity and in his official capacity as Principal of Quincy High School; ARTURO BARRERA, in his individual capacity and his official capacity as Vice Principal of Quincy High School; ROD DECRONA, in his individual capacity and his official capacity as Plumas County Assistant Sheriff; DEAN CANALIA, Assistant Sheriff; STEVEN HITCH, Detective, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 97-17287

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

Argued and Submitted December 8, 1998--San Francisco, California

Decided September 20, 1999

Amended October 21, 1999

[Copyrighted Material Omitted] J. David Nick and Kenneth N. Frucht, San Francisco, California, for the plaintiff-appellant.

Franklin G. Gumpert and Valentina Reiner, Barkett, Gumpert & Reiner,

Sacramento, California for defendants-appellees Sheriff's Department and Officers.

Laurence L. Angelo and May H. Ruggles, Angelo, Kilday & Kilduff, Sacramento, California for defendants-appellees School Officials.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California; Lawrence K. Karlton, Chief District Judge Emeritus, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-96-01130-LKK

Before:Harry Pregerson and Melvin Brunetti, Circuit Judges, and Ann L. Aiken,¹ District Judge.

Opinion by Judge PREGERSON; Concurrence by Judge BRUNETTI.

PREGERSON, Circuit Judge:

This case involves a dog sniff of students at Quincy High School in Plumas County, California. Plaintiff B.C., a Quincy High School student, brought this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. S 1983 and alleged several deprivations of his Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures and various state law claims.² B.C. named as defendants the Plumas Unified School District, Superintendent Joseph Hagwood, Principal Richard Spears, Vice Principal Arturo Barrera, Assistant Sheriff Rod Decrona, Deputy Sheriff Dean Canalia, and Detective Steven Hitch.³ B.C. sought injunctive relief, money damages, and certification of a plaintiff class.

Plaintiff and defendants filed cross motions for summary judgment. The district court denied plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction, plaintiff's motion for class certification, and plaintiff's motion for summary judgment. The court granted defendants' motions for summary judgment and ruled that all defendants were entitled to immunity from money damages. Finally, the court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over plaintiff's state law claims. Plaintiff appeals. We affirm. I.

The material facts are not disputed. B.C. was a student at Quincy High School in Plumas County, California, in May 1996. On May 21, 1996, Principal Spears and Vice Principal Barrera told plaintiff and his classmates to exit their classroom. As they exited, the students passed Deputy Sheriff Canalia and "Keesha," a drug-sniffing dog, stationed outside the classroom door. Keesha alerted to a student other than plaintiff.

The students were told to wait outside the classroom while the dog sniffed backpacks, jackets, and other belongings which the students left in the room. When the students were allowed to return to their classroom, they again walked past Deputy Canalia and the dog. Keesha again alerted to the same student. That student was taken away and searched by school officials. No drugs were found that day at Quincy High School.

II.

We have jurisdiction to review the district court's denial of plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction under 28 U.S.C. S 1292(a)(1). We have jurisdiction to review the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants under 28 U.S.C. S 1291. We also have jurisdiction to review the district court's denial of plaintiff's motion for class certification and cross motion for summary judgment under the same statute. See Hanon v. Data products Corp., 976 F.2d 497, 500 (9th Cir. 1992) (court of appeals has jurisdiction to review denial of plaintiff's motion for class certification when reviewing grant of defendant's motion for summary judgment); Abend v. MCA, Inc., 863 F.2d 1465, 1482 n.20 (9th Cir. 1988) (on cross motions for summary judgment,"the district court's grant of summary judgment [for defendant is] a final decision giving us jurisdiction [underS 1291] to review its denial of plaintiff's motion for summary judgment").⁴

III.

B.C. sought a preliminary injunction on his own behalf, and on behalf of a class of plaintiffs.⁵ The district court dismissed this claim as moot. We affirm, however, on the alternate ground that B.C. and the class he seeks to represent lack standing to seek injunctive relief. See United States v. Washington, 969 F.2d 752, 755 (9th Cir. 1992) (court of appeals may affirm on any ground supported in the record).

The standing issue was not raised in the district court. Nor was it raised by the parties before this court. But federal courts are required sua sponte to examine jurisdictional issues such as standing. See Bender v. Williamsport Area Sch. Dist., 475 U.S. 534, 541 (1986) (lack of standing raised by the court when not raised by either party).

To have standing to seek injunctive relief, B.C. must demonstrate a real or immediate threat that defendants will again subject him to an illegal dog sniff of his person. See City of Los Angeles v. Lyons, 461 U.S. 95, 105-10 (1983); O'Neal v. City of Seattle, 66 F.3d 1064, 1066 (9th Cir. 1995); see also Imagineering, Inc. v. Kiewit Pac. Co., 976 F.2d 1303, 1308-09 (9th Cir. 1992) (holding that plaintiffs failed to allege sufficient facts to confer standing for purposes of injunctive relief because complaint did not allege that the named plaintiffs "would suffer the same purported injury in the future"). B.C. cannot make this showing because he no longer is a student at Quincy High School or at any other school in the Plumas Unified School District; he has not been a student at Quincy since mid-1996; and he has no plans to return to school anywhere in the district. Because B.C. has no standing to seek injunctive relief, we affirm the district court's dismissal of his claim.

We also affirm the district court's dismissal of B.C.'s class claims for injunctive relief. A class of plaintiffs does not have standing to sue if the named plaintiff does not have standing. See Cornett v. Donovan, 51 F.3d 894, 897 n.2 (9th Cir. 1995).

IV.

Plaintiff B.C. also seeks money damages against all defendants in their official capacities. He claims that defendants conducted an unreasonable search of his person.

A.

The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the school officials in their official capacities on B.C.'s individual claims for money damages. The district court held that B.C.'s claims for money damages against Superintendent Joseph Hagwood in his official capacity were barred by the Eleventh Amendment. The district court construed B.C.'s claims against Principal Spears and Vice Principal Barrera as claims against Quincy High School as an entity and dismissed those claims on the ground that a high school is not an entity capable of being sued under S 1983. B.C. has not appealed these rulings, and we do not address them here.

B.

The district court also granted summary judgment for the Sheriff's Department officials in their official capacities on the ground that B.C. failed to demonstrate a direct causal link between an official policy or custom of the Sheriff's Department and the alleged deprivation of B.C.'s constitutional rights. See City of Canton v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378, 385 (1989); Monell v. Department of Social Servs. , 436 U.S. 658, 694 (1978). We review de novo, see Margolis v. Ryan, 140 F.3d 850, 852 (9th Cir. 1998), and we affirm.

In reviewing the district court's grant of summary judgment, we must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party and determine whether there are any genuine issues of material fact and whether the district court correctly applied the relevant substantive law. See id. (citing Warren v. City of Carlsbad, 58 F.3d 439, 441 (9th Cir. 1995)). In support of their motion for summary judgment, the Sheriff's Department defendants presented evidence that departmental policy only permits the use of drug-sniffing dogs on objects and not on persons. In opposing the Department's motion, B.C. presented no credible evidence to refute that this is in fact the Department's policy.

B.C. also attempted to satisfy the causation requirement by contending that the Sheriff's Department failed to train its officers in the proper use of drug-sniffing dogs, and that such failure amounts to a custom and policy of deliberate indifference toward his constitutional rights. The district court properly granted summary judgment for the Sheriff's Department officials in their official capacities after those defendants produced uncontroverted evidence that officers are trained in the use of dogs, and that they are trained to use dogs to sniff property, not people.

V.

B.C. also sought money damages against all defendants in their individual capacities. Defendants moved for summary judgment on the grounds that: (1) their actions did not constitute a "search" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment; (2) even if they performed a search, it was reasonable; and (3) even if they performed an unreasonable search, they were entitled to qualified immunity from liability. The district court determined that the dog sniff at issue here constituted an unreasonable search.⁶ But the court also determined that defendants were entitled to qualified immunity because the parameters of permissible dog sniff searches were not ...