Romanski v. Detroit Entertainment, L.L.C.
| Decision Date | 28 October 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 04-1354.,04-1354. |
| Citation | 428 F.3d 629 |
| Parties | Stella ROMANSKI, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. DETROIT ENTERTAINMENT, L.L.C., d/b/a/ MotorCity Casino, a Michigan Limited Liability Company; Marlene Brown, Defendants-Appellants, Gloria Brown; Robert Edwards; and JoEtta Stevenson, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
ARGUED: Megan K. Cavanagh, Garan Lucow Miller, P.C., Detroit, Michigan, for Appellants. Neil H. Fink, Law Offices of Neil H. Fink, Birmingham, Michigan, for
Appellee. ON BRIEF: Megan K. Cavanagh, Rosalind Rochkind, Robert F. MacAlpine, Garan Lucow Miller, P.C., Detroit, Michigan, for Appellants. Neil H. Fink, Law Offices of Neil H. Fink, Birmingham, Michigan, Richard G. Lewandowski, S. David McNeill, Freeman McNeill, Birmingham, Michigan, for Appellee.
Before: KEITH, CLAY, and FARRIS, Circuit Judges.*
FARRIS, J. (pp. 650-52), delivered a separate dissenting opinion.
A jury in the Eastern District of Michigan found Defendants Detroit Entertainment, L.L.C., which owns and operates the MotorCity Casino (we refer to both as "the casino"), and Marlene Brown, one of the casino's security personnel and a private security police officer with the power to arrest, liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and under Michigan law for unlawfully arresting Stella Romanski. Defendants contend the judgment must be reversed and a new trial granted because the district court instructed the jury as a matter of law that Defendants acted under color of state law at all times relevant to this case. Defendants also raise other instruction-related claims. In the alternative, Defendants ask us to remit some of the $875,000 punitive damages award or order a new trial on the issue of damages.
We AFFIRM the judgment of the district court in all respects except that we VACATE the portion of the judgment comprised by the punitive damages award and REMAND for a remittitur of the punitive damages award, in accordance with the instructions of this opinion, or a new trial on the issue of punitive damages. The remarkable facts of this case make it indisputable that a substantial punitive damages award is warranted. Defendants' conduct was particularly egregious and a higher award to deter the casino from sanctioning such conduct in the future was appropriate. But an award of $600,000 will just as adequately serve the interests of punishment and deterrence and fits more comfortably in the ballpark of punitive awards that have been upheld in similar cases. We therefore order a remittitur to that amount or, if Romanski so chooses, a new trial on damages.
On August 7, 2001, Romanski, then 72 years old, and her friends Dorothy Dombrowski and Linda Holman, went to Defendant Detroit Entertainment's MotorCity Casino in Detroit, Michigan, to gamble and enjoy lunch at the buffet. After a spate of unsuccessful tries at the slot machines, Romanski took a walk around the gaming floor. During her walk, Romanski noticed a five cent token lying in a slot machine's tray. Seeing no chair at the machine, she picked up the token and returned to the machine at which she had earlier played, intending to use the token there. Soon a uniformed male casino employee approached and asked that she accompany him to the office. She asked why but he did not answer. Romanski then noticed there were also three female casino employees, these not in uniform, surrounding her; she felt she could not move.
One of these plain-clothed security officers was Defendant Marlene Brown, who had been assigned to patrol the casino floor at that time. Brown testified that she approached Romanski, displayed her casino security badge, and began to explain it was the casino's policy not to permit patrons to pick up tokens, which appeared to be abandoned, found at other slot machines, a practice known as "slot-walking." Romanski could not have known this at the time because the casino does not post the so-called policy anywhere. It is undisputed, therefore, that Romanski did not have — and could not have had — notice of the casino's purported policy on slot-walking.
According to Brown, Romanski became loud and belligerent, so, at the advice of Brown's supervisor, JoEtta Stevenson (a defendant below), Brown escorted Romanski to an off-the-floor room where Brown intended to explain the policy in detail. For her part, Romanski testified that Brown did not detain her because of her attitude but rather because Brown suspected her of theft.
It is undisputed that Brown and her colleagues escorted Romanski to what Defendants alternately call the "security office" and the "interview room." Whatever its name, the room is small and windowless, located off the casino's floor. According to Romanski, once they had taken their seats, Brown accused Romanski of stealing the token, whereupon Brown counted Romanski's money and removed one nickel from Romanski's winnings. Stevenson asked Romanski to turn over her social security card and driver's license; Romanski complied and these items were photocopied. Romanski was then photographed. Romanski testified that she acquiesced to these requests because Brown said she was a police officer, had a badge, and appeared to have handcuffs. Brown admitted having presented her badge and possessing handcuffs but testified that she identified herself only as a "security police officer," not as a bona fide police officer. There is no dispute that a uniformed casino security officer stood just outside the room for the duration of the questioning.
Romanski was ejected from the casino for a period of 6 months; Stevenson made the final decision to eject, or "86," Romanski. The precise ground for ejecting Romanski is unclear from the record. Although unknown to Romanski at the time, it is now undisputed that Brown and some of her colleagues on the casino's security staff were licensed under state law as "private security police officer[s]." Mich. Comp. Laws (M.C.L.) § 338.1079. By virtue of being so licensed, a private security police officer has "the authority to arrest a person without a warrant as set forth for public peace officers . . . when that private security police officer is on the employer's premises." M.C.L. § 338.1080. The statute additionally requires that private security police officers make arrests only when they are on duty and in "the full uniform of the[ir]employer." Id. It is undisputed that Brown was on duty during the events of this case. It is also undisputed that Brown was not wearing the uniform worn by some of the other security guards, but Defendants have never contended that this rendered Brown out of uniform for purposes of § 338.1080; indeed, Defendants have conceded from the beginning that the statute applies in this case. Their argument is simply that the power admittedly conferred on Brown by the statute did not make her actions under color of state law. See 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
Brown was in charge of escorting Romanski to the valet parking area of the casino, where Romanski was to wait for her 3 p.m. bus home. Brown and her colleagues denied Romanski's request to meet her friends for lunch at the buffet — indeed, they did not permit Romanski to eat lunch at all. In addition, they did not permit Romanski to enter the restroom by herself; Brown accompanied Romanski into the restroom and waited outside the stall. At 3 p.m., Romanski exited the valet area to board what she thought was her bus; it turned out not to be but instead of returning to the valet area she ran into her friends and stayed outside. It was extremely hot and humid and Dombrowski and Holman persuaded Romanski to return to the casino. Upon entering, the three were confronted by casino employees, who directed them to return to the valet area, which is air-conditioned; they waited there until the bus arrived.
It is undisputed that Brown prepared an incident report following Romanski's ejection in which Brown referred to Romanski as a "suspect." Romanski introduced the casino's security manual into evidence; it instructs security employees to refer to patrons as "suspects" only if the employee arrested the patron and otherwise to refer to the patron as a "subject." Stevenson confirmed that this policy was in effect when Romanski was ejected. Finally, it is undisputed that as a matter of course, the casino notifies the Michigan State Police when it ejects someone; the casino notified the Michigan State Police of Romanski's ejection.
As these facts reflect, Defendants' treatment of Romanski was inexplicable and egregious. The district court aptly expressed the egregiousness of Defendants' conduct in its opinion denying Defendants' motion for summary judgment: Romanski v. Detroit Entertainment, L.L.C., 265 F.Supp.2d 835, 848-49 (E.D.Mich.2003) (citations omitted). Indeed, a jury did make such an exclamation: it found in Romanski's favor and made a substantial punitive damages award.
In November 2001, Romanski sued Defendants MotorCity Casino and two un-named employees of the casino in the Circuit Court of Wayne County, Michigan, alleging false arrest, false imprisonment, defamation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. In an...
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