Beard v. Whitmore Lake School Dist.
| Decision Date | 04 April 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 03-1942.,No. 03-1904.,03-1904.,03-1942. |
| Citation | 402 F.3d 598 |
| Parties | David BEARD; Theo Downs, as next friend of Peggy Shumway; Peggy Shumway; Edward Gariepy, as next friend of Alyssa Chappa; Alyssa Chappa; Tamara Bleau, as next friend of Robert Cook; Robert Cook; Ronald Ford, Sr., as next friend of Ronald Ford, Jr.; Ronald Ford, Jr.; Nancy Huskinson, as next friend of Stacy Huskinson; Stacy Huskinson, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. WHITMORE LAKE SCHOOL DISTRICT, Defendant, Charmaine Balsillie; Brian Carpenter; Jay Munz; Wendy Lemons; Sue Langen, Defendants-Appellants. David Beard; Theo Downs, as next friend of Peggy Shumway; Peggy Shumway; Edward Gariepy, as next friend of Alyssa Chappa; Alyssa Chappa; Tamara Bleau, as next friend of Robert Cook; Robert Cook; Ronald Ford, Sr., as next friend of Ronald Ford, Jr.; Ronald Ford, Jr.; Nancy Huskinson, as next friend of Stacy Huskinson; Stacy Huskinson, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Whitmore Lake School District; Charmaine Balsillie; Brian Carpenter; Jay Munz; Wendy Lemons; Sue Langen, Defendants, R. Mayrand, Officer, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
ARGUED: Timothy J. Mullins, G. Gus Morris, Cox, Hodgman & Giarmarco, Troy, Michigan, for Appellants. Matthew E. Krichbaum, Soble & Rowe, LLP, Ann Arbor, Michigan, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Timothy J. Mullins, G. Gus Morris, Cox, Hodgman & Giarmarco, Troy, Michigan, for Appellants. Matthew E. Krichbaum, Richard A. Soble, Soble & Rowe, LLP, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Michael J. Steinberg, Kary L. Moss, American Civil Liberties Union, Detroit, Michigan, Scott S. Yaldo, Yaldo & Domstein, Bingham Farms, Michigan, for Appellees.
Before: GUY and ROGERS, Circuit Judges; DOWD, District Judge.*
The defendants in this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action appeal the district court's denial of their motion for summary judgment based on a defense of qualified immunity. This case stems from a strip search of over twenty students that occurred after a student in a high school gym class reported that her prom money had been stolen.1 The plaintiffs in this case include both male and female high school students who were subjected to the search; the defendants are the teachers who were involved in the search and the police officer who instructed the teachers to search the female plaintiffs.
The actions of the defendants in this case were unconstitutional. However, at the time the searches occurred, the law regarding the reasonableness of a strip search under these circumstances was not clearly established. The denial of summary judgment is therefore reversed.
On May 24, 2000, a student in the second-hour gym class at Whitmore Lake High School reported to her gym teacher, Brian Carpenter, that her prom money had been stolen at some point during the class. The school principal was absent on the date of the incident, so the acting principal, school teacher Charmaine Balsillie, was advised of the theft. Balsillie called the police to report the incident and asked two female teachers, Sue Langen and Wendy Lemons, and one male teacher, Jay Munz, to assist her.
When Balsillie arrived at the gymnasium, the male students were in the boys' locker room, and the female students were in the gymnasium. Lemons, Langen, and the female students searched the gymnasium and the female students' backpacks. Balsillie then went to the boys' locker room and told Carpenter that the police were on their way. At this time, Balsillie noticed Munz heading towards the shower area. Carpenter told Balsillie that they had searched the male students' backpacks, but had failed to locate the money. By the time Balsillie exited the locker room, Police Officer Mayrand had arrived.
Munz and Carpenter were the only defendants that participated in the search of the male students in the boys' locker room. Carpenter searched book bags and lockers, while Munz searched the boys individually in the shower room. The search consisted of the boys' individually lowering their pants and underwear and removing their shirts.2 The boys were not physically touched. The teachers claim that the police arrived and came into the boys' locker room after about one-half of the boys had been searched. According to the teachers, Mayrand told Carpenter to continue searching the students and that teachers had "a lot more leeway" than police officers when it came to searching students. About twenty boys were searched.
Officer Mayrand also spoke to Balsillie and asked if the girls had been searched. According to Balsillie, Mayrand told her that the boys had been checked in their underwear and that the teachers needed to check the girls in the same way so as to prevent any claims of gender discrimination. Balsillie and Langen then took the female students into the girls' locker room where the girls pulled up their shirts and pulled down their pants while standing in a circle.3 The girls were never touched and did not remove their underwear. About five girls were searched. The stolen money was never discovered.
The defendants appeal the district court's denial of their motion for qualified immunity in this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action. The district court found that, at the time the searches occurred, the law clearly established that "[a] strip search of students for missing money in the absence of individualized suspicion is not reasonable," and accordingly denied the teachers' request for qualified immunity. With respect to Officer Mayrand, the district court found that the facts, taken in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, supported a finding that Mayrand had subjected the female plaintiffs to a constitutional violation by setting the strip search in motion. The district court therefore denied summary judgment as to both the teachers and Officer Mayrand.4
The searches performed on the students in this case were unconstitutional. However, at the time the searches were performed, the law did not clearly establish that the searches were unconstitutional under these circumstances. The denial of summary judgment is accordingly reversed.
Although the denial of a motion for summary judgment is generally considered interlocutory and not appealable, a denial based on a determination that the defendant is not entitled to qualified immunity may be reviewed on appeal. Solomon v. Auburn Hills Police Dept., 389 F.3d 167, 172 (6th Cir.2004) (citing Phelps v. Coy, 286 F.3d 295, 298 (6th Cir.2002)). When reviewing a district court's denial of qualified immunity, all facts are to be taken in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs5 and the only issues appropriate for review are those that are "strictly legal." Id. (citing Phelps, 286 F.3d at 299). Because the availability of qualified immunity is a legal question, we review the decision of the district court de novo. Id. (citing Thomas v. Cohen, 304 F.3d 563, 568 (6th Cir.2002)).
The doctrine of qualified immunity protects government officials who perform discretionary functions from civil liability "insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982). This court employs a three-part test when determining whether a grant of qualified immunity is proper:
First, we determine whether, based upon the applicable law, the facts viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs show that a constitutional violation has occurred. Second, we consider whether the violation involved a clearly established constitutional right of which a reasonable person would have known. Third, we determine whether the plaintiff has offered sufficient evidence to indicate that what the official allegedly did was objectively unreasonable in light of the clearly established constitutional rights.
Champion v. Outlook Nashville, Inc., 380 F.3d 893, 900-01 (6th Cir.2004) (citation omitted). If the answer to all three questions is yes, then qualified immunity is not proper. Id. at 901. In this case, the searches performed by the defendants were unconstitutional; however, at the time that the searches occurred, the law did not clearly establish the unlawfulness of the defendants' actions. We accordingly do not reach the third prong of the test — whether the plaintiff has offered sufficient evidence that the defendants' actions were unreasonable in light of clearly established law.
The initial inquiry in determining whether a grant of qualified immunity is proper is whether the facts asserted, taken in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, establish a constitutional violation. Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001). In this case, approximately twenty male students were searched, in the absence of individualized suspicion and without consent, in the hopes of locating missing money. Approximately five female students were searched under similar circumstances, but were also required to remove their clothes in the presence of one another. Under these circumstances, the searches were a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Assuming arguendo that Officer Mayrand was aware of these circumstances when ordering the female students to be searched, his conduct was also unlawful.
As explained by the Supreme Court in New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U.S. 325, 341, 105 S.Ct. 733, 83 L.Ed.2d 720 (1985), a school search violates the Fourth Amendment when the school undertakes a search of a student that is unreasonable. In T.L.O., a school official searched a student's purse for cigarettes after the student had been caught smoking in the restroom. Id. at 328, 105 S.Ct. 733. Upon searching the purse, the school official found a pack of cigarettes and rolling papers, which were often used by students to smoke marijuana. Id. A...
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