Peterson v. City of Plymouth, Minn.

• Decision Date: 18 November 1991
• Docket Number: No. 90-5476,90-5476
• Citation: 945 F.2d 1416
• Parties: James Harold PETERSON and Paula Peterson, Appellants, v. CITY OF PLYMOUTH, MINNESOTA; Michael Ridgley; David Lindman; Mark Bevins; Steven Scollard; and Scott Kluck, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 1416

945 F.2d 1416

James Harold PETERSON and Paula Peterson, Appellants, v. CITY OF PLYMOUTH, MINNESOTA; Michael Ridgley; David

Lindman; Mark Bevins; Steven Scollard; and

Scott Kluck, Appellees.

No. 90-5476.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted March 12, 1991.

Decided Oct. 1, 1991.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc

Denied Nov. 18, 1991.

Barry G. Reed, Minneapolis, Minn., for appellants.

Gail Langfield-Seiberlich, Circle Pines, Minn., for appellees.

Before WOLLMAN and BEAM, Circuit Judges, and FLOYD R. GIBSON, Senior Circuit Judge.

BEAM, Circuit Judge.

James and Paula Peterson brought an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging violations of their rights under the Third, Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments as well as a variety of state law actions ¹ against the City of Plymouth, three Plymouth police officers, and two other non-municipal defendants. In two separate orders, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the City of Plymouth and the police officers on all of the Petersons' claims except for one, which the court simply dismissed without prejudice. The court later dismissed without prejudice the remaining claims against the non-municipal defendants on the stipulation of the parties. The Petersons appeal. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

I. BACKGROUND

The Petersons are the owners of a house, which they rented to three individuals, including defendant Scott Kluck, on approximately November 1, 1985. The Petersons allege that the tenants substantially damaged the house and the lawn, stole items from the premises, failed to pay the rent, and left unpaid utility bills. Kluck and another co-tenant moved out of the house on approximately July 31, 1986. The third co-tenant, David Schummer, asked to remain in the house and Mr. Peterson agreed.

Schummer moved out of the house on September 27, 1986, and, according to Mr. Peterson, left it in disarray. Several items, including an old car and a snowblower were left in the garage. The car was removed within a few days, but the snowblower and other items remained. Peterson concluded that these items had been abandoned and hauled them to a locked shed belonging to a friend. Peterson, a lawyer, understood that pursuant to Minnesota landlord/tenant law, he was entitled after sixty days to sell or otherwise dispose of property abandoned by vacating tenants to recover part of his losses. See Minn.Stat.Ann. § 504.24 (West 1990).

On October 7, 1986, Steven Scollard, a person not previously known to Peterson, came to the house and spoke with Peterson. Scollard stated that his name was Steve, claimed to own the snowblower, and demanded its return. Peterson told Scollard that he was very angry and wanted Kluck to pay for the damage done to the house and lawn. Peterson also told Scollard that he considered the snowblower abandoned property. Doubting Scollard's unsupported claim of ownership, Peterson refused to surrender the snowblower.

After talking with Peterson, Scollard returned to his car and called the police from a cellular phone. Peterson went inside the house, but returned shortly and stood at the bottom of the house's front doorstep, watching Scollard. At this time, a City of Plymouth Police squad car pulled up in front of the house. The police officers, defendants David Lindman and Mark Bevins, approached Scollard and talked with him briefly. Scollard accused Peterson of stealing his snowblower. The officers then walked across Peterson's front yard to ask him some questions. Peterson told the police that he owned the property, that the dispute was a civil matter and that unless they had a warrant, they should leave his property. When the officers asked Peterson what his name was, he responded that he was not answering any questions and again told them to leave.

Peterson turned to go inside his house, but the police officers stepped in front of him and blocked his way. Peterson again told the officers to acquire a warrant and attempted to enter the house. The officers then seized Peterson's arms and began to take him back to their squad car. Peterson asked the officers if he was under arrest and they responded no. ² Peterson, however, protested that placing him in the back of the squad car would constitute an arrest. Disregarding Peterson's protest, the officers searched him and placed him in the back of their car for over twenty minutes while they continued their investigation. A grill separated the back of the car from the front and the closed rear doors could not be opened from the inside. The officers ultimately warned Peterson that he might be charged with felony theft and released him after another unsuccessful attempt to question him.

Defendant Michael Ridgley was assigned to investigate the charges. After receiving the patrol officers' reports, Ridgley obtained a statement from Scollard dated October 8, 1986. Scollard claimed that he owned the snowblower and that he had left it with a friend (Schummer). Scollard also indicated that Kluck was his partner in a snow removal business. Finally, Scollard asserted that Peterson had removed the snowblower and demanded ransom for its return. Ridgley also obtained a statement from Kluck, dated October 22, 1986. Kluck admitted that he had moved out of the house by August 1, 1986, but asserted that he and Scollard had asked Schummer to store the snowblower. Kluck also indicated that at the time he moved out, he and Scollard were co-owners of the snowblower, but stated that Scollard now had full ownership. On November 24, 1986, Ridgley telephoned Schummer who also stated that he had been storing the snowblower on behalf of Kluck and Scollard. Ridgley later called Peterson at his office on October 16 and 17, 1986, but Peterson never returned the calls.

On October 29, 1986, Ridgley obtained a search warrant for the Petersons' home. Ridgley and two other officers of the Plymouth Police Department executed the warrant the next day. While searching for the snowblower and a copy of a lease, Ridgley entered the Petersons' whirlpool room and discovered Mrs. Peterson naked in the bath. Two days later, on October 31, 1986, Ridgley signed a sworn complaint and obtained an arrest warrant for Mr. Peterson. The complaint incorrectly alleged that Kluck had moved out of the house in October. The same day, two Hennepin County sheriffs executed the warrant and arrested Peterson, a Minneapolis city attorney, at his office in front of his staff and colleagues. Peterson agreed to report to the Hennepin County Adult Detention Center where he was charged with felony theft and detained. The charges against Peterson eventually were dismissed for lack of probable cause.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Qualified Immunity

The Petersons initially assert that the district court improperly granted summary judgment in favor of officers Bevins, Lindman and Ridgley on the basis of qualified immunity. State officials are entitled to immunity in a section 1983 action if their conduct did not "violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 2738, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982). The court must examine the " 'objective legal reasonableness' of the action, assessed in light of the legal rules that were 'clearly established' at the time it was taken." Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 639, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 3038-39, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987) (quoting Harlow, 457 U.S. at 818-19, 102 S.Ct. at 2738-39).

A threshold question in determining whether an officer's conduct violated a constitutional right " 'clearly established' at the time" is "whether the plaintiff has asserted a violation of a constitutional right at all." Siegert v. Gilley, --- U.S. ----, ----, 111 S.Ct. 1789, 1793, 114 L.Ed.2d 277 (1991). At least as to their Fourth Amendment claim, the Petersons satisfy this threshold requirement. ³ The Petersons allege, inter alia, that officers Bevins and Lindman arrested Mr. Peterson without probable cause and that officer Ridgley caused a second unlawful arrest of Mr. Peterson by swearing out a complaint and arrest warrant without probable cause. These allegations state clear violations of the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable seizures. See, e.g., Malley v. Briggs, 475 U.S. 335, 341, 106 S.Ct. 1092, 1096, 89 L.Ed.2d 271 (1986); Sartin v. Commissioner of Pub. Safety, 535 F.2d 430, 434 (8th Cir.1976).

1. Officers Bevins and Lindman

Officers Bevins and Lindman admit that there was no objective or subjective basis to establish probable cause to arrest Peterson, but instead insist that their actions constituted nothing more than an investigatory stop based on articulable suspicion that Peterson had committed a crime. Bevins and Lindman, therefore, are entitled to immunity for their conduct only if there is an objectively reasonable basis for one to believe that they were not arresting Peterson when they placed him in the squad car.

The general rule governing when a seizure constitutes an investigatory stop, and not an arrest, is well established. The police have seized someone if "in view of all of the circumstances surrounding the incident, a reasonable person would have believed that he was not free to leave." United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 554, 100 S.Ct. 1870, 1877, 64 L.Ed.2d 497 (1980); see Florida v. Bostick, --- U.S. ----, ----, 111 S.Ct. 2382, 2386, 115 L.Ed.2d 389 (1991). A seizure is merely an investigatory stop, however, where "the officer's action was justified at its inception, and ... was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place." Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 20, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1879, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). In determining whether an officer's conduct during a purported investigatory stop exceeded the scope justified under the circumstances, thereby transforming the stop into an arrest, the court should...