Greer v. City of Highland Park

• Citation: 884 F.3d 310
• Decision Date: 02 March 2018
• Docket Number: No. 17-1281,17-1281
• Parties: Haskell G. GREER, et al., Plaintiffs–Appellees, v. CITY OF HIGHLAND PARK, MICHIGAN, et al., Defendants–Appellants.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit)

884 F.3d 310

Haskell G. GREER, et al., Plaintiffs–Appellees,

v.CITY OF HIGHLAND PARK, MICHIGAN, et al., Defendants–Appellants.

No. 17-1281

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: January 24, 2018

Decided and Filed: March 2, 2018

ARGUED: James W. McGinnis, LAW OFFICE OF JAMES W. MCGINNIS, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellants. Elizabeth A. Downey, ELIZABETH A. DOWNEY, P.C., Farmington Hills, Michigan, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: James W. McGinnis, LAW OFFICE OF JAMES W. MCGINNIS, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellants. Elizabeth A. Downey, ELIZABETH A. DOWNEY, P.C., Farmington Hills, Michigan, Jeffrey T. Stewart, SEIKALY, STEWART & BENNETT, P.C., Farmington Hills, Michigan, for Appellees.

Before: COLE, Chief Judge; SILER and COOK, Circuit Judges.

SILER, Circuit Judge.

Individual defendants ("the officers") in this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 matter appeal the district court’s denial of their motion for judgment on the pleadings based on qualified immunity. Because we find that the complaint states a plausible claim that the officers violated the plaintiffs’ clearly established Fourth Amendment rights by executing a search warrant on their home in an unreasonable manner, we AFFIRM the district court’s decision.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY¹

Plaintiffs are family members who live in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan. They include a mother, father, three daughters, and a nephew, Alexander Lawrence, who was an overnight guest on the evening at issue ("the Greers"). On October 29, 2014, at approximately 4:00 a.m., thirteen police officers wearing SWAT gear and face masks blew open the door of the Greers’ home with a shotgun. The officers did not knock or announce their presence. The parents and their daughters were ordered onto their knees at gunpoint, and the officers handcuffed the nephew after bringing him up from the basement. The Greers asked to see the search warrant on multiple occasions, but the officers refused to show it. The officers also did not allow the mother to sit with her youngest daughter, who was seven years old at the time.

The officers stated that they were searching for a "dangerous Russian," Vitaliy Strugach, who had evidently resided at the Greers’ home more than a year prior to the search. Neither the suspect nor any contraband was located at the residence. The Greers thereafter filed a complaint with local law enforcement, and West Bloomfield officers investigated the circumstances of the search. The Highland Park Police Department, which had evidently conducted the search of the Greers’ home, produced the underlying search warrant in response to the complaint. The search warrant described the Greers’ home as the place to be searched, and it listed controlled substances and items connected to narcotics trafficking as the items to be seized.

The Greers filed suit in 2015, claiming that the Highland Park officers violated their Fourth Amendment rights by either serving an invalid search warrant or by improperly executing a valid warrant.² The officers filed a Rule 12(c) motion based on qualified immunity, which the district court denied as to the individual defendants.³ Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(c). They now appeal, arguing that the district court should have granted them qualified immunity and dismissed the Greers’ Fourth Amendment claim.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

When defendants appeal denial of a Rule 12(c) motion for judgment on the pleadings based on qualified immunity, "we review de novo whether the complaint alleges violation of a clearly established constitutional right." Heyne v. Metro. Nashville Pub. Sch. , 655 F.3d 556, 562 (6th Cir. 2011). This standard of review is the same as that used for motions to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) : the allegations must state a plausible claim for relief. Reilly , 680 F.3d at 622 ; Gregory v. City of Louisville , 444 F.3d 725, 742 (6th Cir. 2006). "No heightened pleading requirement applies" to our review of a motion to dismiss based on qualified immunity. Heyne , 655 F.3d at 562.

DISCUSSION

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, 231, 129 S.Ct. 808, 172 L.Ed.2d 565 (2009) (quoting Harlow v. Fitzgerald , 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982) ). Because it is not merely a defense to liability but rather one to suit, once qualified immunity is raised, a plaintiff bears the burden of demonstrating that the defendant is not entitled to immunity. Gavitt v. Born , 835 F.3d 623, 640–41 (6th Cir. 2016). At the pleading stage, the plaintiff must state facts "making out a plausible claim that [the defendant’s] conduct violated a constitutional right that was clearly established at the time of the violation." Id. at 641. "To satisfy this requirement, the right allegedly violated must have been clearly established in a particularized sense, such that a reasonable official confronted with the same situation would have known that his actions would be in violation of that right." Id. (quotation marks omitted).

Thus, the Greers must demonstrate that: (1) the officers, acting under color of state law, violated their constitutional right; and (2) the constitutional right was "clearly established" at the time of the alleged violation, in that a reasonable officer would have known that the conduct was unlawful. Hope v. Pelzer , 536 U.S. 730, 739, 122 S.Ct. 2508, 153 L.Ed.2d 666 (2002). We address both of these prongs in turn.

I. Constitutional Violation

Reading the second amended complaint in the light most favorable to the Greers, it is plausible that the officers violated their Fourth Amendment rights by conducting the search of their home in an unreasonable manner. Heyne , 655 F.3d at 562–63.

Officers executing a search warrant must knock and announce that they are seeking entry into a home and then wait a reasonable amount of time before entering. United States v. Spikes , 158 F.3d 913, 925–26 (6th Cir. 1998). Although the potential presence of drugs "lessens the length of time law enforcement must ordinarily wait outside before entering a residence," it does not justify abandonment of the knock-and-announce rule. Id. at 926. Furthermore, when officers execute a warrant at night, "the length of time the officers should wait increases." Id. at 927.

Here, the Greers allege that the officers did not knock or announce but instead immediately blew down their front door with a shotgun. Although the officers were searching for controlled substances, the potential presence of drugs merely lessened the amount of time they should have waited before entering; it did not vitiate the requirement of knocking and announcing their presence. Id. at 926. Moreover, the Greers claim that the officers executed the warrant at approximately 4:00 a.m., when they had "reason to believe that a prompt response from the homeowner would be unlikely." Id. at 927. Thus, the Greers have sufficiently alleged a violation of their Fourth Amendment rights pursuant to the knock-and-announce rule.

Furthermore, the Greers claim that the officers failed to present the warrant when asked. One primary purpose of a search warrant is to demonstrate that the agents have been granted authorization to search. See Camara v. Mun. Court , 387 U.S. 523, 530–33, 87 S.Ct. 1727, 18 L.Ed.2d 930 (1967). This purpose cannot be served if executing officers withhold presentation of the warrant despite repeated requests to see it. The decision to withhold the search warrant, therefore, is "a relevant factor in determining the reasonableness of a search." Baranski v. Fifteen Unknown Agents of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms , 452 F.3d 433, 443 (6th Cir. 2006). Here, the Greers’ allegation that the officers refused to show them the search warrant further supports their claim that the officers executed the search warrant in an unreasonable manner.⁴

The officers argue that the Greers are required to specify what actions each officer took during execution of the warrant. Although "damage claims against government officials arising from alleged violations of constitutional rights must allege, with particularity, facts that demonstrate what each defendant did to violate the asserted constitutional right," Lanman v. Hinson , 529 F.3d 673, 684 (6th Cir. 2008), courts are disinclined to dismiss complaints that fail to allege specific conduct by each officer when the officers’ actions have made them impossible to identify. See Burley v. Gagacki (Burley I ), 729 F.3d 610, 622 (6th Cir. 2013) (upholding denial of qualified immunity because the defendants were present at the search and plaintiffs were unable to distinguish which officers entered their home when "the officers wore black clothing and face masks, with the intent to conceal their identities, and refused to provide their names when asked"); McLeod v. Benjamin , No. 1:15-CV-639, 2016 WL 6947546, at *6 (W.D. Mich. Nov. 28, 2016) ("Defendants’ reading of Sixth Circuit precedent on individual liability would essentially immunize officers to excessive force claims so long as they sufficiently disguise their identities and deny personal involvement.").

Here, the Greers’ "inability to identify the specific officers involved in their alleged deprivation of rights does not mandate dismissal" because the officers allegedly wore face masks and refused to identify themselves. Rauen v. City of Miami , No. 06-21182-CIV, 2007 WL 686609, at *4 (S.D. Fla. Mar. 2, 2007). Thus, "the agents’ intent to conceal contributed to [the Greers’] impaired ability to identify them." Burley I , 729 F.3d at 622. As in Burley I , the parties here do not dispute that a raid of the Greers’ home occurred, and the appealing officers have been identified as the parties who executed the search warrant. Id. Under these circumstances, if we dismissed the Greers’ complaint at the...