Harrison v. Springdale Water & Sewer Com'n

• Decision Date: 07 January 1986
• Docket Number: No. 84-2384,84-2384
• Parties: Rondell HARRISON and Sharon Harrison, Appellants, v. SPRINGDALE WATER & SEWER COMMISSION, McGoodwin, Williams & Yates, Inc., Walter Turnbow, Larry Clinkscales and Harold Henson, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 1422

780 F.2d 1422

54 USLW 2370

Rondell HARRISON and Sharon Harrison, Appellants, v. SPRINGDALE WATER & SEWER COMMISSION, McGoodwin, Williams &amp Yates, Inc., Walter Turnbow, Larry Clinkscales and Harold Henson, Appellees.

No. 84-2384.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted June 14, 1985.

Decided Jan. 7, 1986.

John Lisle, Little Rock, Ark., for appellants.

Thurston Thompson, Springdale, Ark., for Springdale.

Kelly Carithers, Fayetteville, Ark., for McGoodwin, etc.

Before HEANEY, Circuit Judge, FLOYD R. GIBSON, Senior Circuit Judge, and BOWMAN, Circuit Judge.

BOWMAN, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs Rondell and Sharon Harrison appeal from the District Court's dismissal of their federal civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. Secs. 1983 & 1985. For the reasons stated below, we hold that the factual allegations in the complaint are sufficient to state a cause of action under section 1983 for infringement of plaintiffs' constitutional right of access to the courts and that such a claim is not barred by res judicata, but that the complaint fails to state a cause of action under section 1985. We therefore reverse in part, affirm in part, and remand this cause to the District Court for further proceedings.

I.

This action arises out of the same factual scenario as Collier v. City of Springdale, 733 F.2d 1311 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 105 S.Ct. 186 (1984). For purposes of brevity, we simply will refer to Collier for a concise statement of the general factual background. See 733 F.2d at 1312. Drawing on the allegations of the complaint, we will state additional facts pertinent to the present case.

The Harrisons own a blueberry farm in Springdale, Arkansas. Their property is located near a creek into which raw sewage from the Bradshaw sewer lift station is discharged whenever the lift station fails to handle the flow of sewage. In July 1980 the lift station failed, resulting in the discharge of raw sewage into the creek. The sewage entered the groundwater and polluted the Harrisons' only sources of irrigation water for their blueberry crop--their well and the creek. A city investigation confirmed that the discharged sewage surfaced in the Harrisons' well, resulting in damage to their blueberry crop.

In August 1982 the Harrisons filed suit in the Chancery Court of Washington County, Arkansas against the Springdale Water and Sewer Commission (Commission) for injunctive relief and damages resulting from the sewage discharge. ¹ The Commission is a public agency created by the City of Springdale, Arkansas (City), and, pursuant to its authority, operates and maintains the sewer system and the Bradshaw lift station. The Harrisons allege that after they filed their suit the three members of the Commission--Walter Turnbow, Larry Clinkscales, and Harold Henson--conspired to force the Harrisons to sell their property to the City in order to eliminate their complaints regarding sewage discharges. The City made a written offer to purchase the Harrisons' property for $67,500 and threatened to condemn their property if the offer was not accepted. The Harrisons rejected the offer.

In March 1983 the Commission filed a counterclaim in the pending chancery court action to condemn the Harrisons' property and recorded a lis pendens. When the Commission filed its counterclaim, it had an engineer's report indicating that the sewage discharge and overflow problem could be resolved without acquiring additional property. It is alleged, however, that the Commissioners conspired with the consulting engineers to fabricate a need to condemn the Harrisons' property. It is further alleged that the Commissioners, at a special meeting on June 6, 1983, adopted the fabricated need, ratified their prior malicious and unlawful acts, and instructed their attorneys to proceed with the condemnation counterclaim.

On July 14, 1983 a hearing was held by the chancellor to determine whether the Commission's proposed taking of the Harrisons' property was necessary and whether it was for a public purpose. During the hearing, Commissioner Clinkscales and the Commission's attorney, W.H. Taylor, admitted that the condemnation counterclaim was filed only as a tactical measure to pressure the Harrisons to settle their damage claim against the Commission. The Harrisons also allege that, in furtherance of the conspiracy, an employee of the engineering consulting firm testified falsely at the hearing that the City needed the Harrisons' property for sewer improvements. The chancellor dismissed the counterclaim without prejudice in January 1984 on the ground that there was no public purpose for the taking. Nevertheless, it is alleged, the Commission continued its conspiracy by appealing the chancellor's dismissal. ² The Harrisons then filed this action on February 15, 1984 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas.

The Harrisons allege that the Commission's actions were an arbitrary and malicious abuse of power and that the individual Commissioners and the engineers conspired to use their power as public officials "to punish those citizens who seek justice in the courts," in violation of 42 U.S.C. Secs. 1983 & 1985. The Harrisons further allege that the City and the Commission are immune from suit under Arkansas law and that their only remedy is a federal civil rights action.

The City, after filing its answer to the complaint, filed a motion to dismiss the complaint and for the first time raised the affirmative defense of res judicata as to the Harrisons' conspiracy claim. The City argued that such a claim should have been asserted as a compulsory counterclaim under Arkansas law and that the Harrisons' failure to assert it in the state court action barred them from asserting it in the present federal court action. The City apparently construed the complaint as alleging a conspiracy claim only under section 1985. Likewise, the City apparently construed the complaint to allege a section 1983 claim only for a taking without just compensation, and argued that this Court's recent decision in Collier mandated that the section 1983 claim be dismissed.

The District Court agreed with both of the City's contentions and dismissed the complaint with prejudice. The court read the complaint as alleging a section 1983 claim only on the theory of a taking without just compensation, and dismissed that claim on the authority of Collier. As to the section 1985 claim, the court noted that the Harrisons had relied upon a conspiracy theory in defending against the state court condemnation counterclaim, and that such a claim constituted a compulsory counterclaim in the state action under Rule 13 of the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure. The court noted further that even if the Harrisons did not become aware of the conspiracy until the evidence was developed in the state action, they should have amended their pleadings to conform to the proof. Since the Harrisons "had a full and fair opportunity to develop this theory in state court," the District Court held that "the result therein is res judicata as to the issues raised in the instant action." Harrison v. Springdale Water and Sewer Commission, No. 84-5018 (W.D.Ark. Sept. 26, 1984) (order granting motion to dismiss).

II.

In reviewing the dismissal of a complaint for failure to state a claim, we follow the "accepted rule" that a complaint should not be dismissed "unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief." Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 101-02, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957). We must assume the plaintiff's factual allegations to be true and must view them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. See May v. Commissioner, 752 F.2d 1301, 1303 (8th Cir.1985). Moreover, a complaint should not be dismissed "merely because a plaintiff's allegations do not support the particular legal theory he advances, for the court is under a duty to examine the complaint to determine if the allegations provide for relief on any possible theory." Chapman v. Musich, 726 F.2d 405, 408 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 105 S.Ct. 325, 83 L.Ed.2d 262 (1984) (quoting Thomas W. Garland, Inc. v. City of St. Louis, 596 F.2d 784, 787 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 899, 100 S.Ct. 208, 62 L.Ed.2d 135 (1979)).

After reviewing the complaint, we hold that the Harrisons have sufficiently stated a cause of action under section 1983 for infringement of their constitutional right of access to the courts, that they have not stated a cause of action under section 1985, and that the present action is not precluded under Arkansas law by virtue of the prior state court proceeding. We turn now to discuss each of these points.

III.

A.

"[I]n any Sec. 1983 action the initial inquiry must focus on whether the two essential elements to a Sec. 1983 action are present: (1) whether the conduct complained of was committed by a person acting under color of state law; and (2) whether this conduct deprived a person of rights, privileges or immunities secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States." Parratt v. Taylor, 451 U.S. 527, 535, 101 S.Ct. 1908, 1912, 68 L.Ed.2d 420 (1981). ³

As was true in Collier, "it is clear that the alleged conduct of the City and the Commission satisfies the 'under the color of state law' requirement and therefore we must only decide whether [the Harrisons] ha[ve] been deprived of a right, privilege or immunity secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States." Collier, 733 F.2d at 1313. ⁴

In their brief the Harrisons concede that the District Court was correct in dismissing their claim for a taking without just compensation on the authority of Collier. In Collier, this Court held that the availability of a state post-taking remedy for compensating property owners whose property had been taken for public use ⁵ precludes a section 1983 action premised on a "taking" theory. Since...