Sofarelli v. Pinellas County
| Decision Date | 29 April 1991 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 90-3274,90-3281,s. 90-3274 |
| Citation | 931 F.2d 718 |
| Parties | Michael SOFARELLI, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. PINELLAS COUNTY, Pinellas County Sheriff Dept., Norman Hibbing, Alfred Swetay, Jeffrey S. Harman, Edward D. Carlson, Jr., Marytherese Bancroft, Defendants-Appellees. Norman HIBBING, Marytherese Bancroft, Edward D. Carlson, Jr., Jeffrey Harman, Alfred Swetay, Plaintiffs-Counter-Defendants, Appellees, v. Michael SOFARELLI, Defendant-Counter-Claimant, Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit |
Ward A. Meythaler, Tampa, Fla., for plaintiff-appellant.
Carol B. Abernathy, Clearwater, Fla., Jean H. Kwall, Largo, Fla., for defendants-appellees.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
Before FAY, ANDERSON and MARKEY *, Circuit Judges.
This appeal involves two consolidated cases addressing whether appellant Michael Sofarelli should be permitted to transport a house by trailer through John's Parkway, a public roadway in Pinellas County, Florida. The first case was filed in Florida state court on September 19, 1989 by appellee Norman Hibbing seeking an injunction to prohibit Sofarelli from moving the house. Sofarelli subsequently removed this case to federal district court on September 25, 1989, alleging that Hibbing and other plaintiffs who had subsequently intervened in the lawsuit had violated his civil rights under 42 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1983 (West 1981) and the Fair Housing Act. We will refer to this case as the "removed case."
Sofarelli filed the second lawsuit in federal court alleging identical claims under Sec. 1983 and the Fair Housing Act and named as defendants Pinellas County (through its employee, the Pinellas County Sheriff), the Pinellas County Sheriff, Hibbing, Swetay, and the other named plaintiffs in the removed case to whom we will refer as the "neighbors." Sofarelli also sought to enjoin the defendants from interfering further with the move of the house. We will refer to this case as the "original federal case."
The district court denied Sofarelli's motions for injunctive relief and dismissed all claims under Sec. 1983 and the Fair Housing Act. The district court declined to decide whether the right-of-way on John's Parkway is thirty feet or forty feet wide, permitting that issue to be resolved in proceedings pending in Florida state court or in the removed case which the district court remanded to state court.
We affirm the district court's dismissals of all claims against Pinellas County and the Pinellas County Sheriff under Sec. 1983 and the Fair Housing Act. We also affirm its denial of injunctive relief against the county and sheriff. In addition, we affirm the dismissal of the Sec. 1983 claims against Hibbing, Swetay and the neighbors. However, we vacate the dismissal of Sofarelli's claims against Hibbing, Swetay and their neighbors under the Fair Housing Act.
On September 16, 1989, Sofarelli loaded a house onto a trailer and moved it down various streets, pursuant to proper permits, in Pinellas County and Clearwater, Florida. Quite close to his destination, Sofarelli's progress was blocked on John's Parkway, a public roadway, by a vehicle owned by Hibbing. The Pinellas County Sheriff refused to remove Hibbing's automobile and ordered Sofarelli to stop the move. The house currently remains on its trailer in the middle of John's Parkway. A genuine dispute exists between the parties as to whether the public right-of-way on John's Parkway is thirty feet or forty feet wide, and thus whether moving the house (which exceeds thirty feet in width) down the road would trespass on private property.
On September 19, 1989, Hibbing filed suit in Pinellas County Circuit Court to enjoin permanently the house move and filed a motion for a temporary restraining order. The court conducted a hearing the next day at which Sofarelli agreed to Hibbing's request for an injunction prohibiting Sofarelli from trespassing because the move could be accomplished without crossing Hibbing's property. The court then denied Hibbing's motion for an injunction to stop the move.
On September 21, 1989, the day after the hearing, a number of Hibbing's neighbors--Alfred Swetay, Jeffrey S. Harman, Edward D. Carlson, Jr., and Marytherese Bancroft--intervened in the case, joining Hibbing's efforts to stop the move. That same day, an article in the St. Petersburg Times quoted Hibbing and Swetay as stating that they had racial motivations for halting the house move. As a result, Sofarelli removed the case to federal district court under 28 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1443 (West 1973) based on a counterclaim that the plaintiffs' efforts to block the move were racially motivated and that such behavior violated his civil rights under 42 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1983 and under the Fair Housing Act. Hibbing subsequently filed a motion to remand the case back to state court, which was pending when the district court issued its final order in the case, which is the subject of this appeal.
On September 25, 1989, Sofarelli filed suit in federal district court alleging identical claims under Sec. 1983 and the Fair Housing Act not only against Hibbing, Swetay, and their neighbors, but also against Pinellas County and the Pinellas County Sheriff's Department. In addition, Sofarelli asked for a permanent injunction to prevent the defendants from interfering with the house move or with his use of John's Parkway under proper permits.
Sofarelli later filed motions for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to prohibit the defendants from impeding the house move so that he could move the house to its ultimate destination. Pinellas County responded by filing motions for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction that would require Sofarelli to remove the house from John's Parkway. The magistrate judge denied both parties' motions for temporary restraining orders but conducted a hearing on October 11, 1989 to consider the motions for preliminary injunctions. The magistrate judge subsequently issued a report and recommendation that both parties' motions for preliminary injunctions be denied.
Hibbing and the Pinellas County Sheriff each filed a motion to dismiss the original federal case. Pinellas County and Edward Carlson, one of the neighbors, each filed a motion to strike and a motion to dismiss.
On March 22, 1990, the district court entered a consolidated order ruling on the pending motions in both the removed case and the original federal case. The court granted Hibbing's motion to remand the removed case back to Florida state court. 733 F.Supp. 1470. In the original federal case, the court granted appellees' motions to dismiss, denied all other motions, and entered judgment for the defendants. Sofarelli now appeals both the remand of the removed case and the dismissal of the original federal case.
Sofarelli presents similar claims in both the removed case and the original federal case. We will address each of his substantive claims in turn and explain when necessary whether our resolution of that claim applies to one or both of the consolidated cases.
The district court dismissed all of Sofarelli's claims under Sec. 1983 and the Fair Housing Act pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.Proc. 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. In order to dismiss a claim under Rule 12(b)(6), the district court must find that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts 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). In making that determination, the court must view the allegations of the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1947).
Sofarelli alleges that Pinellas County (through its employee, the Pinellas County Sheriff), the Pinellas County Sheriff, Hibbing, Swetay, and other participating members of Hibbing's community to whom we will refer as the "neighbors," violated his civil rights under the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C.A. Secs. 3604 and 3617. Sofarelli argues that his plan to move the house onto a lot abutting John's Parkway and potentially to sell the house and lot to a minority purchaser constitutes aiding or encouraging that prospective purchaser's exercise of the right to housing under Sec. 3604. 1 Therefore Sofarelli contends that appellees' efforts to prevent the move of the house violate Sec. 3617 2 as unlawful interferences with his aid and encouragement of the purchaser's right to obtain the housing to which he is entitled under Sec. 3604.
We will first address Sofarelli's Fair Housing Act claims against Hibbing, Swetay and their neighbors. In order to prevail under the Act, Sofarelli has to establish that race played some role in the actions of Hibbing, Swetay and the neighbors. See United States v. Mitchell, 580 F.2d 789, 791-92 (5th Cir.1978). 3
We find that Sofarelli may be able to prove a set of facts which would establish violations of the Fair Housing Act. Sofarelli alleges that members of Hibbing's community committed certain actions--such as leaving a note threatening "to break [Sofarelli] in half" if he did not get out of the neighborhood and running up to one of Sofarelli's trucks, hitting it, shouting obscenities and spitting at Sofarelli--which would clearly constitute coercion and intimidation under Sec. 3617. In addition, Sofarelli presented evidence to the district court which suggests that Hibbing, Swetay, and their neighbors had racial motivations for these actions. An article in the September 21, 1989 issue of the St. Petersburg Times quotes Swetay as stating, Marie Tessier, Tug of War Over...
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