American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, Inc. v. Wicomico County, Md.

• Citation: 999 F.2d 780
• Decision Date: 06 August 1993
• Docket Number: No. 92-1764,92-1764
• Parties: AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF MARYLAND, INC., a Maryland Corporation; American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Maryland, Inc., a Maryland Corporation; Monica M. Chester, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. WICOMICO COUNTY, MARYLAND; Wicomico County Detention Center; John W. Welch, Jr., Warden, individually and in his official capacity; Richard Darling, Colonel, individually and in his official capacity; William Young, Major, individually and in his official capacity; Michael Hunter, Sergeant, individually and in his official capacity, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)

Page 780

999 F.2d 780

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF MARYLAND, INC., a Maryland Corporation; American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Maryland, Inc., a Maryland Corporation; Monica M. Chester Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. WICOMICO COUNTY, MARYLAND; Wicomico County Detention Center; John W. Welch, Jr., Warden, individually and in his official capacity; Richard Darling, Colonel, individually and in his official capacity; William Young, Major individually and in his official capacity; Michael Hunter Sergeant, individually and in his official capacity Defendants-Appellants.

No. 92-1764.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued March 2, 1993.

Decided July 23, 1993.

Amended by Order Filed Aug. 6, 1993.

Daniel Karp, Allen, Johnson, Alexander & Karp, Baltimore, MD, argued (Denise Ramsburg Stanley, on brief), for defendants-appellants.

John H. Morris, Jr., Venable, Baetjer & Howard, Baltimore, MD, argued (Catherine J. Schuster, on brief), for plaintiffs-appellees.

Before PHILLIPS and NIEMEYER, Circuit Judges, and HILL, Senior Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, sitting by designation.

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

This appeal arises from a suit brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and Maryland state law by the Maryland American Civil Liberties Union ("ACLU"), the Maryland ACLU Foundation ("ACLUF") and Monica Chester, an ACLU paralegal (collectively "Appellees", "the ACLU" or "Chester" as appropriate) against Wicomico County, Maryland and four employees ¹ of the Wicomico County Detention Center ("WCDC") in their individual and official capacities (collectively "Appellants" or "WCDC"). The defendants in their individual capacities appeal the denial of their summary judgment claim of qualified immunity. All Defendants-Appellants request that the court exercise pendent jurisdiction over two additional claims: (1) that the district court erred in its partial denial of their motion to dismiss all counts under Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c) or under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) for failure to state claims; and (2) that the court erred in ordering discovery on the issue of immunity. For the reasons that follow, we reverse in part and affirm in part.

I. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

A. Background

Between March and September, 1990, Monica Chester made periodic visits to the Wicomico County Detention Center in order to document inmate complaints for the ACLU. Prior to her first visit, Chester was informed that paralegals were not permitted "contact" visits with inmates. ² Her ACLU supervisor subsequently negotiated an arrangement with WCDC's legal representative which provided that Chester could make contact visits as long as she brought with her a letter from an ACLU attorney requesting access to individual inmates. Under the terms of this agreement, Chester conducted several visits with WCDC inmates and also documented some complaints by WCDC employees who approached her during those visits.

In September, 1990, based at least in part on the results of Chester's investigations, the ACLU filed an employment discrimination suit (hereinafter "the Baker lawsuit") on behalf of a former employee of WCDC, alleging that the employee was fired in retaliation for his complaints about the treatment of African-American prisoners. Filing of the suit created some tension among prison employees and heightened administrators' concerns about staff and inmate contact with outsiders. When Chester next visited WCDC on November 29, 1990, she was not permitted to visit with inmates.

Six WCDC inmates, represented by the ACLU, filed suit (hereinafter "the Vernet lawsuit"), alleging that this restriction on Chester's contact visits denied them meaningful access to the legal system and legal counsel. For reasons not apparent on the record, the Vernet lawsuit was not pursued and, in late 1991, was dismissed.

On December 12, 1990, representatives of the ACLU met with prison officials to discuss Chester's status. WCDC claimed that Chester represented a threat to institutional security, suggesting that she had pursued prison employees for interviews and had acted unprofessionally during her visits. Appellees deny these allegations of impropriety. The parties failed to settle their dispute at the meeting, but the attorneys present were permitted to visit with inmates on that date.

WCDC subsequently provided Appellees with a list of conditions which Chester would have to meet before making any future paraprofessional visits to the facility. The new restrictions disqualified Chester from contact visits with inmates and forbade her to interview WCDC employees on site. She was barred from paraprofessional visits, contact or non-contact, with inmate Gairy Williams, with whom she had a personal friendship. In addition, Chester was to give a personal history statement, agree to a criminal history check and agree in writing to abide by the rules of the Detention Center. She was to continue providing, on each visit, a letter from an ACLU attorney identifying the inmates she was to meet, the means by which those inmates had requested to meet with her, and the attorney's acceptance of responsibility for her. At no time did WCDC restrict Chester's access to inmates in a personal capacity; Appellees make no claim that she was forbidden the non-contact visits available to other non-lawyers. ³

The ACLU objected to the restrictions placed on Chester and, in April, 1991, filed suit. The complaint included three claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 that the restrictions on Chester deprived the ACLU, the ACLUF, and Chester of First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Appellees also included state law claims for tortious interference with contract and defamation. These last two claims arose from allegations that WCDC administrators had pressured inmates to reveal the substance of conversations with ACLU representatives and had disparaged the ACLU in an effort to persuade inmates to disclaim ACLU representation.

Appellants filed a motion to dismiss or for summary judgment, asserting (1) that they were immune from suit in their individual capacities on the basis of qualified immunity; (2) that the ACLU had failed to demonstrate the existence of factors triggering municipal liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983; (3) that Appellees had failed to state claims for violation of the rights asserted; and (4) that they were entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law.

B. District Court Opinion

The district court ordered discovery on the issue of immunity and treated the motion as one for summary judgment. On the basis of the discovery material, the court found that Appellees had raised an inference that Wicomico County officials sanctioned the change in restrictions on Chester and had thus stated a claim for municipal liability.

The district court next weighed each count of the complaint for statement of a claim and the existence of genuine factual disputes precluding summary judgment. The court found a triable issue precluding summary judgment on Count I (retaliation) and Count III (equal protection) and dismissed Count II (due process) for failure to state a claim. The court denied the individual Appellants' claim of qualified immunity on the basis that determining whether Appellants had violated Appellees' clearly established rights turned on their disputed motive for altering their policy toward Chester.

With regard to the state law claims, the court denied WCDC's claim of governmental immunity under state law and found that the ACLU had stated claims for tortious interference with contract and defamation.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Jurisdiction

A district court's denial of qualified immunity on a motion for summary judgment is an immediately appealable final order under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 526, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 2815, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985). We review de novo the question of qualified immunity and construe all facts in the light most favorable to Appellees as the non-moving party. Mitchell v. Rice, 954 F.2d 187, 190 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 299, 121 L.Ed.2d 222 (1992). We may, in the interests of judicial economy, exercise pendent jurisdiction over claims related to and raised in conjunction with an interlocutory appeal of a denial of qualified immunity. O'Bar v. Pinion, 953 F.2d 74, 80 (4th Cir.1991).

B. Qualified Immunity

The doctrine of qualified immunity shields public officials, including state prison officials, from civil liability as long as their conduct does 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); Procunier v. Navarette, 434 U.S. 555, 561, 98 S.Ct. 855, 859, 55 L.Ed.2d 24 (1978) (state prison officials). The existence of qualified immunity "generally turns on the 'objective legal reasonableness' of the actions," Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 639, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 3038, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987) (quoting Harlow, 457 U.S. at 819, 102 S.Ct. at 2739), without regard to the knowledge or subjective intent of the particular official. Id. 483 U.S. at 641, 107 S.Ct. at 3039. Where, however, the defendant's entitlement to immunity turns on a factual dispute, that dispute is resolved by the jury at trial. Turner v. Dammon, 848 F.2d 440 (4th Cir.1988).

In order to weed out insubstantial § 1983 claims without resort to a trial or extensive pre-trial proceedings, a trial court confronted with an assertion of qualified immunity should first determine whether the plaintiff has properly asserted a constitutional violation. Siegert v. Gilley, --- U.S. ----, ----, 111 S.Ct. 1789, 1793, 114 L.Ed.2d 277 (1991). As a panel of the Eleventh Circuit has remarked:

The district courts should first focus on whether the plaintiff has established a constitutional violation before determining whether material issues of fact are present. No material issues can...