Meyer v. Robinson, 92-1595

• Decision Date: 06 May 1993
• Docket Number: No. 92-1595,92-1595
• Citation: 992 F.2d 734
• Parties: James MEYER, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Lana J. ROBINSON, individually and as a Police Officer of the City of Lawrence, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 734

992 F.2d 734

James MEYER, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Lana J. ROBINSON, individually and as a Police Officer of

the City of Lawrence, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 92-1595.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued Dec. 10, 1992.

Decided May 6, 1993.

Offer Korin, Sutherlin & Korin, Michael K. Sutherlin (argued), Indianapolis, IN, for plaintiff-appellee.

Michael R. Morow, Stephenson & Kurnik, Indianapolis, IN (argued), for defendant-appellant.

Before COFFEY and MANION, Circuit Judges, and WOOD, Jr., Senior Circuit Judge.

MANION, Circuit Judge.

In the process of subduing an arrested suspect, Lawrence County, Indiana police officer James Meyer wrapped gauze around the suspect's mouth to stop him from spitting. After conducting an extensive investigation, Sergeant Lana Robinson, also a member of the Lawrence County Police Department, signed a probable cause affidavit against Meyer, alleging battery against a prisoner. The case went to trial and the court granted dismissal at the close of the prosecution's evidence. Meyer filed this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 based upon Robinson's signing an allegedly false probable cause affidavit and under pendent state law claims of abuse of process, false arrest and malicious prosecution. Robinson filed a motion to dismiss which the district court granted and denied in part, and the court denied Robinson qualified immunity. Robinson later moved for summary judgment and again for qualified immunity, which the court denied. Although much of the case remains in the district court, Robinson appeals the single issue of qualified immunity. For the following reasons we affirm the district court's denial of qualified immunity and remand for further proceedings.

I. Background

A. The Facts

On May 15, 1988 Lawrence County, Indiana, police officers arrested William Kielblock for public intoxication and disorderly conduct. While being transported to the police station, Kielblock was also non-cooperative and boisterous to the officers. At the station, after removing Kielblock from the squad car, Officer Steven York rammed a nightstick against Kielblock's neck and wrapped his handcuffs around the nightstick. When Kielblock requested that Officer York stop the pressure on the handcuffs, York slammed Kielblock head first into a wall. After Kielblock was searched and placed in a holding cell, Sergeant James Meyer, plaintiff-appellee, entered the cell to check Kielblock for injury. Still handcuffed, Kielblock began spitting, even after being warned to stop. Meyer then obtained six feet of Kerlix gauze and wrapped it over Kielblock's mouth and behind his head. Soon thereafter the gauze slipped off Kielblock's mouth; he said he would not spit again, and the gauze hung as a collar around his neck. Officers removed the gauze when they transferred Kielblock to the Marion County lock-up.

The following week Kielblock's attorney telephoned Mayor Tom Schneider and complained that the police had beaten Kielblock. Schneider contacted Chief of Police Robert Jones, who initiated an investigation under the direction of Sergeant Lana Robinson, defendant-appellant. The investigation took weeks and included viewing a videotape of the incident and taking numerous statements from the officers involved, from witnesses at the bar where the officers arrested Kielblock, and from Kielblock himself. Robinson also spoke with Officer James Fouch, a defensive tactics instructor, who told Robinson that the Kerlix gauze could not have caused the injuries Kielblock claimed to have received. Although Meyer was ultimately cleared of any brutality charges by the Lawrence County Board of Safety, his problems with the Kielblock incident were not over.

Meyer alleges that Mayor Schneider took part in the investigation to "get James Meyer." For reasons unknown, the Mayor viewed the videotape and also drafted the probable cause affidavit against Meyer. ¹ Although Robinson admitted "having problems with it," she signed the affidavit upon the Mayor's orders. Specifically, on June 15, 1988, Robinson signed an information and affidavit charging Meyer with knowingly touching Kielblock in a rude, insolent and angry manner. Robinson had Meyer arrested, locked up and processed on the charge of battery. (Prior to Meyer's arrest, citizens accused of battery were issued a summons to appear, rather than a warrant to take immediate custody.) At trial, the Marion County Court dismissed the charges at the close of the state's case. This lawsuit followed. ²

B. The District Court Proceedings

On May 11, 1990, Meyer filed a complaint against Sergeant Robinson, Police Chief Jones and the City of Lawrence, for the events that proceeded from Robinson's signing of the probable cause affidavit. The district court dismissed the claim of malicious prosecution as redundant to the claim of false arrest and the pendent state law claim as barred by sovereign immunity. The court dismissed the abuse of process claim because the administrative investigation never led to the convening of a board of captains. Also, the allegations involved maliciously causing process to issue, not for improper use of process. The court dismissed the City of Lawrence because the allegations involved an isolated incident, not the result of any municipal policy. The lawsuit now surviving charges Robinson and Jones with violating Meyer's constitutional protection against unreasonable seizure based upon an unlawful probable cause affidavit and the pendent state law claim of false arrest.

In its January 28, 1991 ruling, the district court denied Robinson's and Jones's motion for qualified immunity. The court adopted the following rule: "The question determining the existence of qualified immunity is whether a reasonable person could have believed the defendants' actions to be lawful in light of clearly established law and the information possessed," citing Henry v. Perry, 866 F.2d 657, 659 (3d Cir.1989) (citing Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 642, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 3040, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987)). Taking the facts in the complaint as true, the court noted that "Robinson was aware of the findings of the internal police investigation clearing Meyer of misconduct yet filed her affidavit anyway. [p] Whether Robinson withheld or misrepresented information in her affidavit" was a critical question of fact resolved in Meyer's favor. After numerous affidavits were filed, on March 6, 1992, the court in a one page entry denied the defendants' motion for summary judgment or in the alternative for qualified immunity. It is from this latter ruling that Robinson appeals.

II. Jurisdiction

Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we have jurisdiction over final decisions of the district court. First Nat'l Bank v. Comptroller of the Currency of the United States, 956 F.2d 1360, 1363 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 93, 121 L.Ed.2d 55 (1992). In this case, however, the district court has not finalized the case. The parties stipulate that the state law false arrest claims remain in the dispute. With no final decision from the district court, the general rule of section 1291 normally prevents our hearing of this appeal. However, "[a] district court's denial of a claim of qualified immunity, to the extent it turns on an issue of law, is an appealable, 'final decision' within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1291." Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 530, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 2817, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985). The qualified immunity exception to the general rule of section 1291 seeks to free governmental officials from the burdens, distractions and expenses of trial, and ultimately to provide less deterrence to people desiring public service employment. Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 817-18, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 2737-38, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982); Scott v. Lacy, 811 F.2d 1153 (7th Cir.1987).

Under the Harlow standard, qualified immunity should be granted when the official's conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known. The objective standard is designed to protect the public interest in deterrence of and compensation for an official's ability to make difficult decisions with independence and without fear of consequences.

Cleveland-Perdue v. Brutsche, 881 F.2d 427, 430 (7th Cir.1989) (citations omitted), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 949, 111 S.Ct. 368, 112 L.Ed.2d 331 (1990).

If the qualified immunity question on appeal concerned disputed, material facts, however, we would still have no jurisdiction. Elliott v. Thomas, 937 F.2d 338, 342-43 (7th Cir.1991), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 1242, 117 L.Ed.2d 475 (1992). For example, if the parties were disputing who did what, when, any question of qualified immunity would have to wait until those fact issues were resolved. But if the acts committed are not in dispute, this court can examine those undisputed facts to determine if they violated a law that was clearly established at the time. Robinson does not argue that "we didn't do it." Id. Rather, Robinson argues that her signed probable cause affidavit suffices to establish the necessary elements of battery under Indiana law and thus the law was "clearly established" that she had probable cause to believe Meyer had committed a battery. Although as shown below we reject Robinson's view of this case, it nevertheless presents us with a question of law, giving this court jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and Mitchell.

III. Discussion

In her "Statement of Material Facts Not in Dispute," filed with the district court, Robinson states that she did not personally witness the incident of May 25, 1988, when Meyer wrapped Kerlix gauze over Kielblock's mouth. She also wants this court to ignore the actions of the Lawrence County Board of Safety, stating that the Board at that point had made no findings or conclusions; although Meyer was ultimately cleared of any brutality charges, Robinson states that this determination...