Rheuark v. Shaw, 79-3213
| Citation | 628 F.2d 297 |
| Decision Date | 24 September 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 79-3213,79-3213 |
| Parties | Jack RHEUARK, John D. Doescher and Robert Allen Jordan, Plaintiffs-Appellees, Cross-Appellants, v. Bill SHAW, Clerk of Dallas County Courts, et al., Defendants, County of Dallas Texas et al., Defendants-Appellants, Cross-Appellees. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit) |
Earl Luna, Dallas, Tex., Iris Jean Jones, Asst. Atty. Gen., Austin, Tex., for defendants-appellants, cross-appellees.
Charles J. Baldree, Asst. Dist. Atty., Dallas, Tex., for Bastas.
Vincent W. Perini, Elizabeth Unger Carlyle, Dallas, Tex., for Rheuark.
Allen, Knuths, Cassell & Short, Tedford E. Kimbell, Dallas, Tex., for Doescher.
Thompson & Knight, Molly Steele Bishop, Dallas, Tex., for Jordan.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
Before RUBIN, HENDERSON and REAVLEY, Circuit Judges.
Jack Rheuark, John Doescher and Robert Jordan were convicted in a Texas state court of various criminal offenses. They each sought to appeal their convictions to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, but were frustrated in their endeavors to do so by an inordinate delay in the transcription of the testimony and proceedings of their trials by the court reporter. Rheuark, Doescher and Jordan each filed suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the court reporter, the state court trial judge, the county in which they were tried and the commissioners thereof, alleging that they were entitled to damages and injunctive relief because the delay in the preparation of their trial records constituted a violation of their constitutional rights to a speedy appeal and due process.
After a bench trial, the district court held that the delay violated their constitutional due process rights on appeal and awarded Rheuark and Doescher $1.00 nominal damages and Jordan $3,000 actual damages. Because the court held each individual defendant was entitled to either absolute or qualified immunity, only Dallas County was held liable for damages. The county's liability was predicated on a holding that the actions of the county commissioners constituted a policy or custom of the county which violated appellees' constitutional rights. The district court also awarded attorneys' fees to be taxed against the county. See Rheuark v. Shaw, 477 F.Supp. 897 (N.D.Tex. 1979). Each party appeals that part of the district court's decision adverse to him or it.
Appellants present three issues. First, whether the passage of a substantial length of time between conviction and appeal, caused by a prodigious delay in the transcription and preparation of a criminal defendant's trial record, constitutes a denial of due process. Second, whether under the circumstances of this case these individual defendants are clothed with either absolute or qualified immunity due to their respective official capacities. Third, whether a policy or custom of Dallas County existed which violated appellees' constitutional rights, thus rendering the county liable in a § 1983 suit consistent with Monell v. New York City Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978). We agree with the district court's finding of immunity for the individual defendants. However, because we conclude that the district court erred in holding Dallas County liable since the sine qua non of Monell was not satisfied, it is unnecessary for us to decide the first issue. Therefore, we affirm in part and reverse in part, deciding that plaintiffs may not recover from any of the defendants. 1
The factual details are fully set out in the district court's opinion. Rheuark v. Shaw, 477 F.Supp. 897 (N.D.Tex. 1979). The following facts are significant for purposes of this appeal.
Rheuark, Doescher and Jordan were all convicted for various criminal offenses in Criminal District Court No. 2 in Dallas, Texas during 1975 and 1976. The same judge, Judge Metcalfe, presided over each of their trials, and the same official court reporter took shorthand notes in their trials for the purpose of making a verbatim record of the proceedings. After being convicted, each gave timely notice of appeal by filing a pauper's oath which requested the judge to appoint counsel for appeal and to order the court reporter to prepare a statement of facts 2 free of charge. In Rheuark's case, 23 months, 11 days elapsed between the time the judge ordered the statement of facts to be prepared and the actual preparation thereof. The elapsed time between the judge ordering Doescher's and Jordan's statements of facts to be prepared and their actual preparation was 20 months and nine months, respectively.
Since 1965, Texas law has required that in the appeal of a criminal conviction the statement of facts shall be completed and filed with the trial court clerk for inclusion in the record within 90 days of the filing of notice of appeal. Tex.Code Crim.Proc.Ann. art. 40.09, § 3 (Vernon 1979). Until May 25, 1977, the trial court had the power, upon good cause shown, "to extend for as many times as deemed necessary the time for preparation and filing of the transcription (of the statement of facts), and the approval of the record after the expiration of the time provided by law for its approval shall be sufficient proof that the time for filing and transcription was properly extended, . . . ." Id. 3
Neither Rheuark, Doescher or Jordan requested an extension for the preparation of their statements of facts by the court reporter, nor did the trial court extend the time for preparation of their statements of facts. Indeed, all three sent numerous letters to judges and other court personnel in order to secure their respective statements of facts. In addition, Rheuark filed several habeas corpus petitions in various state and federal courts. These courts either ignored his pleas, responded by claiming a lack of jurisdiction, or explained that they were unable to expedite the preparation of his statement of facts.
Under Texas law, each district and criminal district judge is responsible for the appointment of an official court reporter. Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 2321 (Vernon 1971 & Supp. 1980). These judges also possess discretionary authority to appoint an unlimited number of deputy court reporters when illness or disability of the official court reporter or the press of official work requires. Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 2323 (Vernon 1971).
In January of 1973, Judge Metcalfe became the judge of the Criminal District Court No. 2. It was stipulated that when he took office a serious backlog of pending appeals existed. Indeed, the official court reporter was still working on statements of facts for appeals in some cases that had been tried in 1971. At this time, the court reporter had approximately 15 statements of facts to prepare for appeals which were already over the 90 day time limit prescribed by statute. After an informal audit in September, 1973 that discovered an additional 30 to 35 cases on appeal about which the official court reporter previously had been unaware, 4 Judge Metcalfe realized that his court reporter had a sizable backlog of statements of facts to dictate. In response to this problem, the judge hired substitute or deputy court reporters to take notes on trials so that his official court reporter could catch up on his backlog of appeals awaiting transcription. However, substitute court reporters were only used in court for four months each year from 1974 to 1976. Since the time lag in preparing statements of facts for appeals had not been reduced, Judge Metcalfe in late 1976 finally hired a substitute court reporter for at least nine months to enable his official court reporter to eliminate the backlog of appeals. Even during this time, the judge used his official court reporter to perform certain nonstatutory duties, including the preparation of criminal charges, which took the reporter away from dictating appeals for one to three hours per charge.
Although district judges in Texas possess absolute discretionary power to hire as many substitute court reporters as they deem necessary, the commissioners court 5 of the county in which a judge sits is charged with responsibility for paying the salaries of official and substitute court reporters and their fees for the preparation of statements of facts for indigents. See Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. arts. 2323, 2326o, 3912k, § 3(a) (Vernon 1971 & Supp. 1980); Tex.Code Crim.Proc. art. 40.09, § 5 (Vernon 1979).
Some individual members of the commissioners court of Dallas County testified that they were generally aware of the problems the official court reporters were having with appellate backlogs and that substitute court reporters were being used to alleviate these problems. 6 For several years, the commissioners court expressed concern about rapidly expanding budget expenditures for substitute court reporters. This was an especially irksome problem for the commissioners because they lacked budgetary control over the amount of county funds spent, but nevertheless had to pay the bills when they came due. The amount the commissioners budgeted for substitute court reporters was consistently exceeded in 1975, 1976, and 1977. 7
When the yearly budget for substitute court reporters was exceeded, the county auditor would request the commissioners to make a transfer of funds from unallocated revenue to pay bills submitted by the court reporters. This was necessary because the auditor could not legally pay funds from the county treasury unless there had been an appropriation in the budget. Towards the end of 1976 after the budget had been exceeded, there were some instances when payments to substitute court reporters were delayed, a few for over a month. Some commissioners expressed a reluctance to appropriate funds to pay substitute court reporters' bills that had been incurred. Nonetheless, the commissioners never refused to pay substitute reporters hired by the district...
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