Ray v. Twp. of Warren

• Decision Date: 23 November 2010
• Docket Number: No. 09-4353,09-4353
• Citation: 626 F.3d 170
• Parties: Lawrence V. RAY, Appellant, v. TOWNSHIP OF WARREN; Carolann Garafola, Mayor, in her official capacity; Warren Township Police Department; William Stahl, Chief of Police, in his official capacity; Russell W. Leffert, Lieutenant; Angelo Paolella; Joseph E. Cohen, Officer; Donald V. Calabrese, Officer; Larry Frank, Officer; Rae S. Quast, Officer, in their individual capacities and official capacities as Police Officers in the Township of Warren; Richard M. Sasso, Judge of Warren Township Municipal Court, in his official capacity.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

626 F.3d 170 Lawrence V. RAY, Appellant, v. TOWNSHIP OF WARREN; Carolann Garafola, Mayor, in her official capacity; Warren Township Police Department; William Stahl, Chief of Police, in his official capacity; Russell W. Leffert, Lieutenant; Angelo Paolella; Joseph E. Cohen, Officer; Donald V. Calabrese, Officer; Larry Frank, Officer; Rae S. Quast, Officer, in their individual capacities and official capacities as Police Officers in the Township of Warren; Richard M. Sasso, Judge of Warren Township Municipal Court, in his official capacity. No. 09-4353. United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit. Argued Oct. 12, 2010. Filed: Nov. 23, 2010.

Michael V. Gilberti, Epstein & Gilberti, Red Bank, NJ, Paul H. Levinson [Argued], McLaughlin & Stern, New York, NY, for Appellant.

Juan C. Fernandez [Argued], Dawn M. Sullivan, O'Toole Fernandez Weiner Van Lieu, Verone, NJ, for Appellees.

Before: SCIRICA, FUENTES and JORDAN, Circuit Judges.

OPINION OF THE COURT

JORDAN, Circuit Judge.

Lawrence V. Ray appeals from an order of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey granting summary judgment, based on qualified immunity, to several officers of the Warren Township Police Department on his Fourth Amendment claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Ray claims that the officers violated his Fourth Amendment right against unlawful searches when they entered his home while investigating concerns expressed by his estranged wife about the Rays' daughter. For the following reasons, we will affirm.

I. Background

A. Factual Background

On the evening of June 17, 2005, Theresa Ray ¹ went to her husband's home in Warren, New Jersey, to pick up their youngest daughter for court-ordered visitation.² After ringing the doorbell, Ms. Ray observed a man whom she believed to be her husband moving about in the home. Ms. Ray continued to ring the doorbell and knock on the door for several minutes in an attempt to alert the man to her presence. After receiving no response, she called the police.

Sergeant Angelo Paolella and Officers Donald Calabrese and Larry Frank responded to the call and were soon joined by Officer Joseph Cohen (collectively, the "responding officers"). Some of the responding officers had been called by the Rays in the past to deal with domestic problems and were aware of the "acrimonious nature of the Ray's [sic] divorce proceedings and child custody disputes at the home." (App. at 114, 117.) On the evening in question, Ms. Ray informed the responding officers that she had arrived at the home to pick up her child for visitation pursuant to a final restraining order that, in part, addressed visitation rights.³ Sheinformed the officers that she had seen someone inside the home who was not responding to the door, whom she believed to be her husband and whom she assumed had custody of the child at the time.⁴ Ms. Ray was visibly upset and told the officers that she was concerned for the well-being of her daughter.⁵ The officers shared her concern. They circled the perimeter of the house, knocked on the doors and windows, and called Ray's home telephone, but received no response. That heightened the officers' apprehensions because on other occasions when police had been called to the residence, Ray had always responded and turned over his daughter to his wife.

In light of the circumstances, Officer Calabrese, at Sergeant Paolella's instruction, contacted a municipal court judge for guidance as to whether the officers could "go in the house to look" for the child.⁶ (App. at 70.) Exactly what was discussed during the phone call is not clear. Paolella and Calabrese testified that they only sought approval to enter the home out of concern for the Rays' daughter and that the judge gave them such authorization. Both Paolella and Calabrese testified that they did not regard the call to the judge as a request for a warrant of any kind. In contrast, the judge understood the officers to be asking for an arrest warrant based on Ray's violation of the terms of the restraining order, though he indicated that Officer Calabrese "was afraid for the safety of the kids." (App. at 82). Based on the call, the judge issued an arrest warrant for Ray, which was later voided. Regardless of the ambiguity regarding the call to the judge, the record reflects that the primary motivation of the officers on the scene was to enter the home so that they could check on the child.⁷

The officers entered Ray's home through an unlocked door that was ajar, but obstructed by a piece of lumber meant to keep the door secured.⁸ The lumberwas moved aside with a "slim jim," a device used to gain access to a locked vehicle. Upon entering the home, the officers encountered Ray's father, who explained to the officers that he had been sleeping and that his son was not at home. After quickly looking through the home, the officers found neither Ray nor his daughter. The event was captured on video by cameras installed in Ray's home. Shortly after the incident, the officers were informed that someone had made contact with Ray and that he was bringing the child to police headquarters.

B. Procedural History

Ray filed a complaint asserting a claim under § 1983 and several state law claims based upon the allegedly unconstitutional search of his home. Ray named as defendants the responding officers and Lieutenant Leffert in their individual and official capacities, the Township of Warren, the Township of Warren Police Department, and Chief of Police William Stahl in his official capacity, all of whom filed a joint motion for summary judgment.⁹ In that motion, the responding officers and Leffert ("Appellees") asserted that they were entitled to qualified immunity.

The District Court agreed and, based upon qualified immunity, granted summary judgment to the Appellees on Ray's § 1983 claim.¹⁰ The District Court also dismissed Ray's claims against the officers, Lieutenant Leffert, and Chief Stahl in their official capacities, as well as his claim against the Warren Township Police Department, because all of those claims were redundant of the claim against the Township. Thereafter, the parties stipulated to the dismissal of the claims against the Township. Ray then filed this timely appeal.

II. Discussion¹¹

We exercise de novo review over the District Court's grant of summary judgment. Kopec v. Tate, 361 F.3d 772, 775 (3d Cir.2004). An order granting summary judgment is appropriate when the evidence reveals there is "no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). In reviewing the record, we are required to view the facts and draw inferences in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Kopec, 361 F.3d at 775.

"The doctrine of qualified immunity protects government officials from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223, 129 S.Ct. 808, 815, 172 L.Ed.2d 565 (2009) (internal quotations omitted). Thus, if a reasonable officer is not on notice that his or her conduct under the circumstances is clearly unlawful, then application of qualified immunity is appropriate. Qualified immunity protects "all but the plainly incompetent or those whoknowingly violate the law." Malley v. Briggs, 475 U.S. 335, 341, 106 S.Ct. 1092, 89 L.Ed.2d 271 (1986).

The Supreme Court has established a two-part analysis that governs whether a government official is entitled to qualified immunity. Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001). The first question in the Saucier analysis asks whether the official's conduct violated a constitutional or federal right. Id. This is not a question of immunity, but whether there is any wrong to address. Curley v. Klem, 499 F.3d 199, 207 (3d Cir.2007). The second question asks whether the right at issue was "clearly established." Saucier, 533 U.S. at 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151. To be clearly established, "[t]he contours of the right must be sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates that right." Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987). If "the officer made a reasonable mistake about the legal constraints on his actions," then qualified immunity should protect him from suit. Curley, 499 F.3d at 207. In considering that question, we judge the officer's actions from the perspective of an objectively reasonable law enforcement officer under the circumstances, and we endeavor to avoid hindsight. Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 396, 109 S.Ct. 1865, 104 L.Ed.2d 443 (1989).

The Supreme Court has held that the questions in the Saucier analysis need not be addressed in sequence. Pearson, 129 S.Ct. at 818. Instead, courts may "exercise their sound discretion in deciding which of the two prongs of the qualified immunity analysis should be addressed first in light of the circumstances in the particular case at hand." Id.

The constitutional right at issue in this appeal is Ray's right under the Fourth Amendment to be free from an unreasonable search of his home. U.S. Const. amend. IV. Searches of a home without a warrant are presumptively unreasonable, though the warrant requirement is subject to carefully defined exceptions. See Illinois v. Rodriguez, 497 U.S. 177, 191, 110 S.Ct. 2793, 111 L.Ed.2d 148 (1990). Since the responding officers did not have a warrant to search Ray's home, the question of whether Ray's rights have been violated rests on whether an exception to the warrant requirement applies. While one might have thought the officers would claim that their search was justified by exigent circumstances, which is a well-recognized exception to the warrant requirement, they do not. To justify their actions, they instead point to what has come to be called the "community caretaking" exception to the Fourth...