Crockett v. Cumberland College
| Decision Date | 13 January 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 01-5306.,01-5306. |
| Citation | 316 F.3d 571 |
| Parties | Torre S. CROCKETT; DuShon L. Greene, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. CUMBERLAND COLLEGE; Michael B. Colegrove; K. David Kersey, Defendants, City of Williamsburg, Kentucky; Don Hamlin, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Julie A. Butcher (argued and briefed), Lexington, KY, for Plaintiffs-Appellees.
R. William Tooms Tooms & House, London, KY, Steven J. Moore, Corbin, KY, William B. Pettus, Asst. Atty. Gen., Office of Attorney General Civil & Environmental Law Div., Frankfort, KY, Peggy L. Tolson (briefed), Sarannah L. McMurtry (argued and briefed), Clark, Ward & Cave, Brentwood, TN, for Defendants-Appellants.
Before: MOORE and COLE, Circuit Judges; TARNOW, District Judge.*
On December 4, 1998, defendant-appellant, Don Hamlin, then the Co-Chief of Police for the City of Williamsburg, Kentucky (the "City"), arrested plaintiffs-appellees, Torre S. Crockett and DuShon L. Greene, both students at Cumberland College, for complicity in the rape of another Cumberland College student. Following their arrest, Crockett and Greene were detained in jail for ten days. Although they were never indicted, Crockett and Greene were suspended from Cumberland College and given failing grades in all their classes. As a result of these events, Crockett and Greene sued Hamlin, the City, Cumberland College, Michael B. Colegrove, the Vice-President of Cumberland College, and K. David Kersey, the Whitley County Attorney. Crockett and Greene sought relief in federal court on seven counts, two under § 1983 for due process violations and five under Kentucky tort law. Hamlin and the City moved for summary judgment and in so doing raised several defenses, including qualified immunity. Although the district court granted summary judgment in favor of Hamlin and the City on one state-law claim, it rejected Hamlin's qualified immunity defense and denied summary judgment on the § 1983 claims. Hamlin and the City immediately appealed the denial of summary judgment arguing that qualified immunity protected Hamlin and that the City was not liable based on principles of § 1983 municipal liability. For the reasons that follow, we REVERSE the district court's denial of qualified immunity and DISMISS the City's appeal for lack of jurisdiction.
On the evening of December 3, 1998, two female students, Jane Doe and Sally Roe,1 accompanied three male students, Rod Bostic and plaintiffs-appellants Crockett and Greene, into a male student residence hall at Cumberland College. In Bostic's dorm room, with the lights out, the students engaged in dancing, tickling, and slap boxing. On one bed, Bostic and Greene tickled Doe, while, on another bed, Crockett and Roe tickled each other and became intimate. At times, the women playfully called to each other for help.
As these events were transpiring, another male student, Demetrus Shannon, entered the room. Shannon whispered to Bostic. According to Doe, shortly after Shannon entered the room, Bostic held Doe while Shannon touched her vagina with his finger and then raped her.
At about this time, Roe looked up and saw Shannon standing in the middle of the room. In her words, Roe "finally got away from Crockett", left him on the bed by himself, and went over to the other bed to "help" Doe get away from Greene and Bostic. As Roe approached the other bed in the dark, Greene, who had stopped tickling Doe, grabbed Roe and pulled her on top of him. Roe tried to get away, but Greene persisted. As she struggled with Greene, Roe noticed that Doe was hitting Bostic on the back and telling him to get off of her. Roe also saw Shannon standing in front of Doe, who had her pants and underwear removed. At this point, Roe recognized that Doe was not laughing any more and tried to investigate further, but Greene refused to let her go.
Shortly after the alleged rape began, another student, Aaron Philips, knocked on the door. At that point, someone inside the room turned the light on, and Doe put her clothes on, told Philips and Shannon that nothing was wrong, and left the room alone. Roe remained in the room a short while before leaving too. Crockett and Greene returned to their dorm room to play video games. When Roe left, she encountered Doe outside. Doe then explained that Shannon had raped her. Roe, learning this for the first time, cried with Doe. Together, Roe and Doe reported the incident to the Dean of Student Life, Linda Carter.
Cumberland College personnel took Doe and Roe to Corbin Hospital so that Doe could undergo a rape examination. Carter informed the City police and Cumberland College Vice-President Michael Colegrove of the alleged rape. Carter filed a campus incident report and a police report.
Cumberland College personnel brought Bostic, Crockett, Greene, and, eventually, Shannon to the Student Center. Over a period of several hours, Colgrove questioned Crockett and Greene, who responded that they did not know what was going on, including that Doe had been raped.
Hamlin arrived at Cumberland College to speak with college officials. Hamlin did not interview Shannon, Bostic, Crockett, and Greene. Rather, Hamlin went to the hospital where he questioned Doe and Roe extensively and reviewed their version of the events that took place earlier that evening. The Whitley County Attorney, defendant Kersey, later joined Hamlin and interviewed Doe and Roe at the hospital. After discussing the allegations, Kersey drafted affidavits for the arrest of Shannon, Bostic, Crockett, and Greene, which Hamlin signed and Kersey notarized. The affidavits alleged that Crockett and Greene were "unlawfully acting with knowledge that Demetrius [sic] Shannon was intending and did forcibly rape an adult female, prevented other persons from coming to her aid and remained present during the rape actively preventing assistance." Hamlin gave the affidavits to another police officer, Rick Moseley, and then Hamlin escorted Doe and Roe to City Hall, where they provided written accounts of the incident. Moseley presented the affidavits to a Whitley County district judge, who issued warrants to arrest Shannon for first degree rape, Bostic for facilitation of a first degree rape, and Crockett and Greene for complicity in a first degree rape. Moseley gave the warrants to police officer E.J. Miller, who arrested Shannon, Bostic, Crockett, and Greene, and took the four students to the Whitley County Jail, Crockett and Greene remained there for ten days. Crockett and Greene were never indicted by a grand jury. Nevertheless, Cumberland suspended Crockett and Greene for one year, revoked their scholarships, and gave them failing grades in all their classes.
In response to their arrest, imprisonment, scholarship revocation, suspension, and receipt of failing grades, Crockett and Greene sued Cumberland College, Colegrove, the City, Hamlin, and Kersey.2 The original complaint alleged seven counts: (1) deprivation of liberty without due process pursuant to § 1983; (2) deprivation of property without due process pursuant to § 1983; (3) false arrest and false imprisonment; (4) malicious prosecution; (5) abuse of process; (6) intentional infliction of emotional distress; and (7) defamation. Hamlin and the City moved for partial summary judgment on all counts except the defamation count. Although they raised several arguments in their initial brief, Hamlin and the City did not raise the qualified immunity defense until their reply brief. The district court granted summary judgment to Hamlin and the City on the malicious prosecution count but denied the remainder of their motion.
Hamlin and the City immediately appealed the denial of qualified immunity. In response, Crockett and Greene moved to dismiss the appeal, arguing that this Court had no jurisdiction to consider the denial of qualified immunity because that decision was not a final order. This Court denied Crockett and Greene's motion because the appeal presented clear issues of law. See Crockett v. Cumberland Coll., No. 01-5306, Order (6th Cir. June 11, 2001).
Following the denial of the motion to dismiss, the parties briefed the substance of the appeal. Hamlin and the City argued that: (i) summary judgment was proper because probable cause existed to arrest Crockett and Greene; (ii) the qualified immunity determination does not depend on a jury's assessment of whether probable cause existed; (iii) Hamlin should have received qualified immunity because his conduct was objectively reasonable; and (iv) due to the established law of municipal liability under § 1983, the City is not liable. Crockett and Greene responded that (a) there is no interlocutory jurisdiction because Hamlin does not construe the material facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs; (b) there is no interlocutory jurisdiction because Hamlin asserts grounds for qualified immunity not presented to the district court; (c) there is no interlocutory jurisdiction over the City's appeal because it is not entitled to qualified immunity; and (d) even if there is interlocutory jurisdiction over Hamlin, he is not entitled to qualified immunity. We now consider the issues presented by the appeals lodged by Hamlin and the City.
We must first assess whether we have jurisdiction to consider the issues raised on this interlocutory appeal by Hamlin and the City. See Frantz v. Village of Bradford, 245 F.3d 869, 871 (6th Cir.2001). Essentially, Hamlin appeals the district court's order denying him qualified immunity with regard to the plaintiffs' allegation, pursuant to § 1983, that Hamlin deprived Crockett and Greene of their liberty without due process when he arrested and jailed them for complicity in the rape of Doe without probable cause. The City argues for the first time on appeal that, under the principles...
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