Smook v. Minnehaha County

• Decision Date: 09 August 2006
• Docket Number: No. 05-1363.,05-1363.
• Citation: 457 F.3d 806
• Parties: Jodie SMOOK, individually and on behalf of all other persons similarly situated, Appellee, v. MINNEHAHA COUNTY, South Dakota; Jim Banbury, in his individual capacity; Todd Cheever, as Director of Minnehaha County Juvenile Detention Center, Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

457 F.3d 806

Jodie SMOOK, individually and on behalf of all other persons similarly situated, Appellee, v. MINNEHAHA COUNTY, South Dakota; Jim Banbury, in his individual capacity; Todd Cheever, as Director of Minnehaha County Juvenile Detention Center, Appellants.

No. 05-1363.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: December 14, 2005.

Filed: August 9, 2006.

Gary P. Thimsen, argued, Sioux Falls, South Dakota (Susan M. Sabers and Mary A. Akkerman, on the brief), for appellant.

Counsel who presented argument on behalf of the appellee was Matthew J. Piers of Chicago, Illinois. Also appearing on the brief were Joshua Karsh and Fredrick S. Rhine.

Before MELLOY, COLLOTON, and BENTON, Circuit Judges.

COLLOTON, Circuit Judge.

Jodie Smook filed this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, "individually and behalf of all other persons similarly situated," alleging, among other things, that the policy of the Minnehaha, South Dakota, County Juvenile Detention Center ("JDC") to "strip search[ ] minors without probable cause" was unconstitutional. The complaint sought damages and injunctive relief. After granting Smook's motion for class certification, the district court denied the defendants' motions for summary judgment on the search claims, and granted the plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment on those claims. Defendants Jim Banbury and Todd Cheever, directors of the JDC, appeal the district court's denial of qualified immunity, and Minnehaha County also appeals the court's denial of its motion for summary judgment. We reverse and remand.

I.

Smook's complaint alleged that on August 8, 1999, when she was 16 years old, she and three minor friends were arrested by the Sioux Falls City Police Department after 11:00 p.m. for violating local curfew laws. All four juveniles were transported to the JDC. Smook alleged that as part of the admission process at the detention center, she and each of her friends were taken into a bathroom and "strip searched" by JDC personnel. (Complaint, R. Doc. No. 1, at 3-4). In her complaint, Smook asserted that the institution's search policy or practice was a violation of her right against unreasonable search and seizure under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments.

The district court certified two classes of plaintiffs who:

when they [were] under the age of eighteen years, were charged with minor offenses from November 1, 1997 to a date to be set by the Court or were charged with non-felony offenses from April 16, 1999 to a date to be set by the Court, and were, pursuant to JDC policy, strip searched at the Minnehaha County Juvenile Detention Center.

(R. Doc. Nos.42, 78). One class was defined as individuals in this category seeking injunctive relief; the other encompassed individuals seeking compensatory and punitive damages. The court further defined "minor offenses" to include petty theft, liquor violations, being a runaway, and curfew violations, and defined "non-felony offenses" to include a litany of other specific non-violent offenses, such as truancy, tobacco, contempt of court, disturbance of school, and damage to public and private property.¹

According to the written admission policy in effect at the time of Smook's arrest in 1999, when juveniles arrived at the JDC for admission, staff members were to take them to an intake area, to ask them to remove their personal items, and then to conduct an interview while an admission form was filled out. A photograph was to be taken, and the juvenile was to be given a wristband identification bracelet. The policy then called for the juvenile to take a shower, during which time a detention officer was to conduct a visual inspection of the person's body and a manual search of the person's clothes, including pockets and linings. The policy dictated that searches should "only be conducted by members of the same sex" and that "[t]he juvenile is not touched throughout this procedure." (Appellees' App. at 60).

It is undisputed, however, that when Smook was admitted to the JDC, she was not required to take a shower or to disrobe completely. Rather, she was required to remove her outer clothing so that it could be searched, but she remained clothed in her undergarments in a private room with a female staff member. One female JDC official testified that she did not recall ever asking a juvenile to remove her undergarments, because "you can pretty much see what's there when they're in undergarments." (Appellants' App. at 4). Banbury testified to his belief that some staff were performing searches as described in the written policy, while others were not. (Appellees' App. at 152).

In September 1999, the JDC admissions policy was revised. One revision provides that when juveniles are arrested on minor charges or detained as children in need of supervision, the detention officials shall attempt for two hours to contact a parent, and if the parent agrees to pick up the minor, then the minor may not be searched or admitted to the secure area of the facility. In addition, the JDC modified the shower area by installing a screen that shields from view all but the head, neck, and lower leg area of a showering youth's body. In response to a state law passed in 2000, which provides that "[n]o person under the age of eighteen detained solely for a curfew violation may be strip-searched," S.D. Codified Laws § 26-11-1.1, the JDC also modified its policy to disallow strip searches of such juveniles, unless the detention officer first fills out a "probable cause" form indicating why the search is warranted.

After discovery, the defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that strip searches of juveniles who were admitted to the facility was a reasonable administrative procedure, and further asserting that even if the searches were not constitutional, the defendant directors of the JDC were entitled to qualified immunity. The plaintiffs also filed a motion for summary judgment on their Fourth Amendment claim, arguing that the undisputed facts established that the policy of strip-searching all juveniles without individualized suspicion was a violation of clearly established constitutional law.

The district court denied the defendants' motions for summary judgment. The court concluded that the JDC's written search policy in effect in August 1999 was unconstitutional and that the subsequent changes to the policy did not cure the constitutional defects. (Mem. Op. and Order, R. Doc. No. 116, at 11). The court also concluded that the search of Smook in August 1999 violated her constitutional rights. (Id. at 14). The court further held that Banbury and Cheever were not entitled to qualified immunity because it was "clearly established for several years" prior to the time of the alleged violations that the Fourth Amendment prohibited "the kinds of searches of which Plaintiff and the class complain." (Id. at 15).

The district court then granted partial summary judgment for the plaintiffs on the Fourth Amendment claim. The court identified three remaining issues relating to these claims: "(1) what type of injunctive relief is appropriate in this case; (2) what amount of monetary damages are appropriate and how should the class members' damages be determined; (3) what should the ending date be for membership in the first two classes certified by the Court." (Id. at 18).

After the district court entered its order, the defendants filed a motion to reconsider based on a decision of the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, N.G. v. Connecticut, 382 F.3d 225 (2d Cir.2004), which was filed shortly before the district court granted partial summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs. The court in N.G. held that the disrobing and visual inspection of two juveniles upon their admission to a detention facility was not a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 237. The defendants here argued that the N.G. decision supported the constitutionality of the JDC policy, and at least demonstrated that the institution's search policy did not violate clearly established rights in 1999. (Defs.' Mot. for Recons., R. Doc. No. 130, at 11-12). On reconsideration, however, the district court reiterated its holding that the searches violated the constitutional rights of the minors, and that the law was clearly established prior to the searches at issue. (Mem. Op. and Order, R. Doc. No. 140, at 12; Add. at 12).

II.

A.

We begin with the damages claim of the named plaintiff and class representative, Jodie Smook. The district court concluded that the search of Smook upon initial admission to the JDC, which required her to remove her outer clothing but not her undergarments, was unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment. The individual appellants, Banbury and Cheever, contend that the search was reasonable and, alternatively, that even if the search was unreasonable, the law was not clearly established on that point as of August 1999.

The Fourth Amendment proscribes "unreasonable" searches, and "[t]he test of reasonableness . . . requires a balancing of the need for the particular search against the invasion of personal rights that the search entails." Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 559, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979). "A search unsupported by probable cause may be reasonable when special needs, beyond the normal need for law enforcement, make the warrant and probable-cause requirement impracticable." Bd. of Educ. v. Earls, 536 U.S. 822, 829, 122 S.Ct. 2559, 153 L.Ed.2d 735 (2002) (internal quotations omitted). To determine whether a "special needs" situation justifies a search without individualized suspicion, a court must undertake "a fact-specific balancing of the intrusion . . . against the promotion of legitimate governmental interests." Id. at 830, 122 S.Ct. 2559.

The most apposite precedent is the Second Circuit's recent opinion in N.G. v. Connecticut, where the court applied the foregoing principles to a strip search of juveniles upon...