Alkire v. Irving
| Decision Date | 18 September 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 00-4567.,00-4567. |
| Parties | Lloyd D. ALKIRE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Judge Jane IRVING, et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Gary M. Smith (argued and briefed), Equal Justice Foundation, Columbus, OH, Edward A. Icove (briefed), Smith & Condeni, Cleveland, OH, for Appellant.
Timothy T. Reid (argued and briefed), Reid, Berry, Marshall & Wargo, Cleveland, OH, for Appellees.
Before MOORE and COLE, Circuit Judges; TARNOW, District Judge.*
Plaintiff Lloyd D. Alkire was arrested for drunk driving and held almost seventy-two hours without a probable cause hearing. He was subsequently incarcerated for failure to appear for show cause hearings and failure to pay fines and court costs. Alkire sued defendants Holmes County, Judge Jane Irving, Holmes County Court, and Sheriff Timothy Zimmerly under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, arguing that his constitutional rights were violated by his warrantless detention and civil debt-related incarceration. After a partial settlement disposed of several issues in the case, the district court denied Alkire's summary judgment motion and granted defendant's summary judgment motion on the remaining constitutional issues raised. The district court also denied Alkire's class certification motion. This appeal followed.
Alkire raises five issues in his appeal. The first four ask whether the district court properly denied Alkire's summary judgment motion and granted defendant's summary judgment motion as to the liability of Holmes County and Sheriff Zimmerly for violating Alkire's: (1) Fourth Amendment right not to be held on a warrantless arrest without arraignment for forty-eight hours; (2) Thirteenth Amendment right not to be imprisoned for a civil debt; (3) Fourteenth Amendment right to due process and equal protection for failing to allow credit toward fines and costs for time served; and (4) Fourteenth Amendment right not to lose his liberty due to indigency. The fifth issue on appeal is whether the district court properly denied Alkire's motion for class certification. For the reasons stated below, we REVERSE the district court on the first issue and REMAND to the district court for further proceedings. We AFFIRM the district court on the second, third, fourth, and fifth issues.
On Saturday, August 19, 1995 at 9:40 a.m., plaintiff Lloyd Alkire was arrested for driving while intoxicated ("DWI"). Alkire was taken to the Holmes County Jail where he remained all weekend. There was a warrant for Alkire from another jurisdiction. The parties dispute whether Alkire was held on the DWI arrest or the warrant. Alkire was arraigned in Holmes County Court before Judge Jane Irving on Tuesday morning, August 22, 1995—almost seventy-two hours after his arrest. No probable cause hearing was held prior to the August 22nd hearing.
At a subsequent hearing on September 1, 1995, Alkire pleaded no contest to the DWI charges. He was sentenced to fifteen days in jail and fined $575 and court costs of $45, for a total of $620. Alkire signed a payment contract agreeing to pay $50 monthly installments starting September 11, 1995. No inquiry was made into Alkire's ability to pay, but it appears from the record that he signed the contract voluntarily.
Alkire did not make any payments toward the money owed. Due to Alkire's failure to pay, on November 15, 1995, Judge Irving signed a show cause letter ordering him to appear at a hearing on December 13, 1995 at 11:00 a.m. The letter advised that failure to appear or to pay the amount owed ($635.00)1 in full would result in the issuance of a bench warrant for Alkire's arrest. Alkire responded with a letter dated November 22, 1995, which informed Judge Irving that he was disabled and explained his financial difficulties.2
Alkire did not appear for the December 13, 1995 hearing. Judge Irving issued a bench warrant for his arrest. Alkire sent a second letter, dated December 15, 1995, explaining his failure to appear at the hearing. The letter stated that he was in the hospital on the hearing date, further explained his financial difficulties, and outlined his inability to find employment.
On May 20, 1996, Alkire was arrested on the outstanding bench warrant. At a hearing on May 21, 1996, Judge Irving found Alkire in contempt and sentenced him to thirty days in jail for "failing to pay any fine or costs." The Judge further stated that Alkire could work off the fine and costs. There was no inquiry at the hearing into Alkire's ability to pay.
Alkire served the thirty day sentence from May 21, 1996, to June 20, 1996. During that time, he worked at a recycling center, receiving the current minimum wage rate of $4.25 per hour, which was credited toward his fine. As a result, according to Alkire, he was able to work off his entire fine. In fact, he says that he worked 4.75 more hours than his fine, but he received no compensation for that extra work. The county's policy does not allow defendants to work off their court costs, so Alkire calculates that after the thirty days in jail, he still owed court costs in the amount of $173.30. However, Holmes County Court records indicate he owed $295.22.
Five days after his release, on June 25, 1996, another show cause letter was sent to Alkire for failure to pay the $295.22 amount. The letter set a hearing date of July 24, 1996, and stated that he was required to either pay in full before the date or appear. Alkire again failed to appear. Judge Irving found him in contempt for "failure to obey a previous order" and issued another bench warrant. Alkire was arrested on July 29, 1996, and released on his own recognizance on July 31, 1996. The bond notice set a hearing date of August 28, 1996, to answer the charges of "contempt of court-non-payment of costs." The bond also noted that Alkire must pay the court costs in the amount of $156.603 by the next court date.
Alkire sent a letter dated August 27, 1996, which explained that he lost his job as a result of his last stay in jail. He also stated he had just started a new job on August 27th. He said that, since he cannot pay the fines without a job, it would make no sense to arrest him and cause him to lose the new job. Alkire proposed a payment schedule based on his anticipated earnings from the new job.
Alkire again failed to appear at the August 28, 1996, hearing. Judge Irving again held Alkire in contempt and issued a third bench warrant for "failure to obey a previous order of this court." He was arrested on October 22, 1996, on the third warrant. At a hearing on the same day, he was found guilty of contempt and ordered to serve thirty days in the Holmes County Jail. There was no inquiry at the hearing regarding his ability to pay. Also, no credit was given toward the money owed during this period of incarceration.
On October 24, 1996, while Alkire was still serving the thirty day sentence, a third show cause letter was issued demanding payment of $173.30 or an appearance on November 20, 1996. The hearing was continued to December 18, 1996. After the present action was filed, the final show cause hearing date was postponed indefinitely.
Plaintiff Alkire filed a complaint and a motion for class certification on December 16, 1996, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, alleging violations of his constitutional rights for the extended warrantless detention and debt-related imprisonment. Alkire filed an amended complaint on January 7, 1997. Alkire filed summary judgment motions against all the defendants on December 1, 1998. Defendants Holmes County, Holmes County Court, and Sheriff Zimmerly filed summary judgment motions on December 1, 1998. Judge Irving filed her summary judgment motion on December 3, 1998.
The parties agreed to a stipulation of settlement, but it did not resolve all the issues between the parties; it only purported to settle the declaratory and injunctive portions of the suit. Thus, in a June 30, 2000, order accepting the stipulation of settlement, the district court dismissed all the pending motions without prejudice to their being resubmitted to reflect the settlement between the parties. The class certification and summary judgment motions were resubmitted, but the parties merely re-filed their initial motions, so they do not reflect the settlement as ordered by the district court.4
The district court denied the motion for class certification on September 26, 2000. On November 9, 2000, the court denied Alkire's summary judgment motions and granted defendants' summary judgment motions. Alkire timely appealed the district court's judgment on December 4, 2000.
We review the district court's order granting defendants' and denying Alkire's motions for summary judgment de novo using the same summary judgment test as the district court. See Crawford v. Roane, 53 F.3d 750, 753 (6th Cir.1995).5 Summary judgment is proper where there are no genuine issues of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); see also Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). All facts and inferences must be construed in a light most favorable to the party opposing the motion. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986).
We review a class certification decision for abuse of discretion. Sprague v. Gen. Motors Corp., 133 F.3d 388, 397 (6th Cir.1998) (en banc). An abuse of discretion is present when the district court "applies the wrong legal standard, misapplies the correct legal standard, or relies on clearly erroneous findings of fact." Schachner v. Blue Cross...
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