Krueger v. Miller

• Citation: 489 F. Supp. 321
• Decision Date: 27 January 1978
• Docket Number: No. CIV-2-77-59.,CIV-2-77-59.
• Parties: Deborah KRUEGER, Plaintiff, v. Ron MILLER et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Tennessee

489 F. Supp. 321

Deborah KRUEGER, Plaintiff, v. Ron MILLER et al., Defendants.

No. CIV-2-77-59.

United States District Court, E. D. Tennessee, Northeastern Division.

September 16, 1977.

On The Merits January 27, 1978.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

W. Stanley Yarbro, and Michael J. Davenport, Johnson City, Tenn., for plaintiff.

R. Jan Jennings, Nashville, Tenn., and Ed E. Williams, III, Johnson City, Tenn., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

NEESE, District Judge.

This is an action for monetary damages for deprivation of civil rights. 28 U.S.C. § 1343. Inter alia, the plaintiff claims the defendant Mr. Ron Miller was acting at the pertinent times under color of Tennessee law. 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983, 1985. Each defendant moved for an involuntary dismissal of the plaintiff's claim against him, it or her for the failure of the plaintiff to so state a claim on which relief can be granted. Rules 12(b)(6), 41(b), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

A United States magistrate of this district submitted to the undersigned judge a recommendation that each of those motions to dismiss, except the motion therefor of the defendant Mr. Miller, be granted. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B). After such recommendation was filed on August 29, 1977 with the clerk of this Court, copies thereof were mailed to all parties hereto. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(C). The only party hereto who served and filed a timely written objection thereto was such defendant Mr. Miller. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). The undersigned judge hereby makes a de novo determination of the portion of such recommendation to which such objection was addressed. Idem.

Mr. Miller concurred with such magistrate's conclusion that he (Mr. Miller), as a justice of the peace of Washington County, Tennessee at the times pertinent herein, enjoyed an absolute immunity from a lawsuit seeking monetary damages for acts he did in his official capacity as a judicial officer; but, he dissented from such magistrate's further conclusion that this grant of immunity does not extend to Mr. Miller's alleged acts in arresting personally the plaintiff which, such magistrate found, were beyond Mr. Miller's jurisdiction. That contention is meritless.

Mr. Miller argues that, unless he arrested the plaintiff in his (Mr. Miller's) official capacity as a Tennessee justice of the peace, he has not deprived the plaintiff of her civil right "* * * under color of State law, * * *" 42 U.S.C. § 1983; but, that, if he arrested the plaintiff in his (Mr. Miller's) official capacity as a Tennessee justice of the peace, he is absolutely immune from liability under the provisions of 42 U.S.C. § 1983. This (somewhat ingenious) theory is baseless: for the purposes of his motion to dismiss,^* Mr. Miller admitted the material allegation of the complaint, that he was acting at the pertinent times under color of Tennessee law. Jenkins v. McKeithen (1969), 395 U.S. 411, 421, 89 S.Ct. 1843, 1848, 23 L.Ed.(2d) 404, 416-4175 (per Marshall, J., Warren, Ch. J., and Brennan, J.).

The aforesaid recommendations of the magistrate hereby are ACCEPTED in their entirety. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). The respective motions for an involuntary dismissal hereof of all the defendants, except the defendant Mr. Miller, hereby are GRANTED, and this action hereby is DISMISSED as to the defendants SSS Bonding Company, Inc., Messrs. Harry Story and Danny B. Story and Ms. Margaret Story. Such motion as to the defendant Mr. Ron Miller hereby is

OVERRULED.

ON THE MERITS¹

This is an action by the plaintiff Miss Deborah Krueger, a citizen of the United States, for compensatory and punitive damages upon her claim that the defendant Mr. Ron Miller, under color of Tennessee law, subjected her to the deprivation of her federal immunity against unreasonable seizure and interference with her liberty, Constitution, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. 42 U.S.C. § 1983.² This Court has jurisdiction of the subject matter, 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3),³ and of the parties. There was a bench trial herein on January 5, 1978.

Miss Krueger is a Texan. Her parents experienced marital difficulties, and on occasions she resided in Johnson City, Tennessee where other of her relatives reside. She was 18 years of age at the time with which we are concerned and evinces certain feminine appeal. She was employed as a waitress in a fast-food facility.

While she was on this duty on Thursday, January 20, 1977⁴ at about 8:00 o'clock, p. m., 7 warrants of arrest of the state of Tennessee were served upon her by deputies of the sheriff of Washington County, Tennessee, charging her with drawing unlawfully 7 checks on her bank account without sufficient funds. T.C.A. §§ 39-1959, 39-1965. Each of these warrants was issued by the defendant Mr. Miller, in his capacity as an elected justice of the peace⁵ of such county, on the respective affidavits of Mr. John S. Willis, the operator of an establishment for the sale of package-beer and grocery items.

To obtain her enlargement on bond as to these charges, Miss Krueger applied to a private bonding company⁶ to provide her bail. She appeared personally before Mr. Miller, this time in his capacity as an elected notary public of such county, and made oath and qualified as a party to certain documents included in this surety transaction in which she pledged her automobile as security for the bail provided her.

Soon thereafter, Miss Krueger and Mr. Miller were introduced socially in a bar and cafe where he was enjoying a drink of Scotch whiskey. Mr. Miller, a middle-aged man, interrogated the plaintiff in inquisitive detail concerning the identities of her friends locally, the place of her residence, and the identity of any person with whom she resided. He then turned the conversation to the subject of Miss Krueger's problems concerning the aforementioned checks, advising her that she had provided a topic of much conversation "* * * down at the sheriff's office * * *" and advised her she "* * * ought to get her a lawyer. * * *"

Miss Krueger assured Mr. Miller that she had not written the signatures on those checks, and that a quantity of her blank checks had been stolen from her. Nonetheless, Mr. Miller continued to return insistently to this subject, telling the plaintiff that all the sheriff's men believed her to be guilty, and that she should arm herself with the assistance of counsel. Miss Krueger was not overly impressed with Mr. Miller's "advice", and the parties soon parted company.

Some 31 hours after having first dealt with Miss Krueger, as a notary public while she was in custody and desired release on bail, on Saturday, January 22, at 3:00 o'clock in the morning, Mr. Miller, while impersonating a deputy sheriff, seized Miss Krueger in her house without a warrant, transported her in his private automobile to the local county jail, and caused her to be incarcerated therein the remainder of that Saturday, all the ensuing Sunday, and for a portion of the following Monday.

Magistrate Miller testified that, late the preceding afternoon, Mr. Willis had applied again to him to issue a warrant of the state of Tennessee against Miss Krueger in connection with an 8th check uttered at his establishment. He had taken no action at that time on that latest request. Mr. Miller testified he was told by Miss Krueger's bondsman afterward on the same Friday that he (the bondsman) had information that the plaintiff had arranged to surrender to some third party the possession of her previously hypothecated automobile, and might be preparing to flee this jurisdiction. He requested Mr. Miller to "* * * check and see if there's anything suspicious. * * *" Before beginning this investigation, Mr. Miller fortified himself with two drinks of Scotch whiskey and water.

While conducting a midnight-hour surveillance of the parking area of the apartment building in which the plaintiff resided, Mr. Miller claims that he witnessed two or more persons engaged in packing luggage in Miss Krueger's automobile. He testified that this information caused him to suspect strongly that Miss Krueger just might be preparing to commit the public offense of jumping her bond, and it was his desire to investigate further inside her apartment. Thereupon, he rapped his knuckles upon the entrance-door of the living-quarters of this unmarried, 18-year-old girl in the darkest and quietest hours of night.

Inside that apartment, Miss Krueger was being visited at this time by two young male friends. In this semi-party atmosphere, when the knock was heard upon her door, Miss Krueger shouted "* * * come on in. * * *" Mr. Miller entered, sat-down in a convenient rocking-chair, and rocked silently.

In due course, Miss Krueger inquired the reason for this unexpected pleasure of Mr. Miller's company, and he responded testily: "* * * You know exactly what I'm doing here. * * *" Mr. Miller then resumed the topic of his earlier conversation with Miss Krueger regarding her still-extant problems with reference to the aforementioned checks.

He admonished her to admit she had written the bad checks, reporting that all the sheriff's men were certain that she had. As Miss Krueger continued to maintain her innocence of any wrongdoing, reiterated the previous information about her checks' having been stolen, and repeated that the signatures thereon were not hers, Mr. Miller appeared to her to grow angry and informed Miss Krueger that "* * * the NCIC⁷ has a `hit' on you about writing checks and jumping bonds. * * *"

Miss Krueger professed ignorance of "the NCIC", so Mr. Miller elaborated and explained that, through this records-service to law officers locally, they had been informed that she "* * * was running a check-writing organization. * * *" Again, the plaintiff denied any complicity in any illegal activity, reexplained how her blank checks had been stolen, signed by someone else, and uttered, and rejected all suggestion that she was "the ringleader" of any organized check-writing ring.

With this,...