Abshire v. Walls, s. 86-7700
Decision Date | 02 October 1987 |
Docket Number | Nos. 86-7700,86-7701,s. 86-7700 |
Citation | 830 F.2d 1277 |
Parties | 23 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 1286 Thomas D. ABSHIRE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Stanley I. WALLS, Individually and as a Police Officer; Harold B. Queen, Individually and as a Police Officer; Ronald C. Joynes, Individually and as a Police Officer; Barry C. Barber, Individually and as a Police Officer; Carolyn Cook, Individually and as a Police Officer; John Krach, Individually and as a Police Officer; Cornelius J. Behan, Individually and as Chief of Police; Baltimore County Police Department, Agency of Baltimore County; Baltimore County, a Body Politic of the State of Maryland, Defendants- Appellees. Thomas D. ABSHIRE, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Stanley I. WALLS, Individually and as a Police Officer; Harold B. Queen, Individually and as a Police Officer; Ronald C. Joynes, Individually and as a Police Officer; Barry C. Barber, Individually and as a Police Officer; Carolyn Cook, Individually and as a Police Officer; John Krach, Individually and as a Police Officer; Cornelius J. Behan, Individually and as Chief of Police; Baltimore County Police Department, Agency of Baltimore County; Baltimore County, a Body Politic of the State of Maryland, Defendants- Appellants. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
John A. Austin, Asst. Co. Atty., Towson, Md., (Malcolm F. Spicer, Jr., Co. Atty., Baltimore, Md., on brief), for plaintiff-appellant.
Leslie L. Gladstone, Baltimore, Md., for defendants-appellees.
Before WINTER, Chief Judge, and MURNAGHAN and SPROUSE, Circuit Judges.
Stanley I. Walls, Harold B. Queen, and John Krach--police officers in Baltimore County, Maryland--appeal from the district court's order denying their request for judgment notwithstanding the verdict in Thomas D. Abshire's 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 action against them. The jury had awarded Abshire $7,000 after it found that Walls, Queen and Krach had participated in an unreasonable strip search of Abshire following his arrest for disorderly conduct on August 3, 1982. The police officers also contend on appeal that the district court made a number of other errors during the course of this litigation, i.e., evidentiary rulings, jury instructions, and the timing of its grant of summary judgment. Abshire cross-appeals from the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of other defendants and from the district court's limited award of attorneys' fees. We affirm all of the district court's rulings except its limited award of attorneys' fees.
The testimony at trial revealed the following sequence of events. Abshire, a deputy sheriff for the City of Baltimore, Maryland, spent the evening of August 2, 1982, drinking and conversing with friends in a number of different establishments. In the early morning hours of August 3, he took a taxicab to his fiancee's residence in the Towson area of Baltimore County. He got out of the cab about a block from his fiancee's home and began walking toward her house. As he crossed the street, Abshire tripped on the curb and fell backwards, striking his head on the pavement and knocking himself unconscious. An anonymous caller notified the police of Abshire's predicament. Officers Walls and Queen responded to the call at approximately 6:20 a.m. and discovered Abshire still lying in the street unconscious. As the officers helped him to his feet, Queen observed a .38 caliber revolver on the ground underneath the spot where Abshire had lain. Queen secured the weapon and asked Abshire why he was carrying a gun. Abshire identified himself as a deputy sheriff and produced his badge and other identifying information. The officers continued to question him about the gun, as well as the contents of his briefcase and why he was in the neighborhood. 1 After ten to fifteen minutes of questioning, Abshire attempted to leave the scene and go to his fiancee's house, but the officers detained him and continued their questioning. Later, a second police car driven by Officer Barber arrived at the scene and, after a brief conference, Abshire was arrested for disorderly conduct and taken to Towson Precinct # 6 of the Baltimore County Police Department.
At the police station, Abshire was processed 2 and then handcuffed to a railing. He testified that he made numerous requests to use the telephone, all of which were denied. He also testified that after one such request Officer Krach approached him and told him to "be quiet or I will have you unhandcuffed and have the boys have a go around with you around back." After Abshire responded indignantly, Krach said "let's strip search him." Abshire was then unhandcuffed and escorted to a utility room, where he was forced to disrobe and subject himself to a strip search by Officers Walls and Queen. Abshire testified that a number of other officers were also present in the room and observed the search. After the search, Abshire was placed in a cell until he was released on his own recognizance following a bail hearing later that day. 3
Abshire filed this Sec. 1983 action in federal court in May 1984. Count One of his amended complaint alleged false arrest and named Officers Walls and Queen as defendants. Count Two alleged false imprisonment and named Officers Walls, Queen and Joynes (the desk sergeant at the precinct) as defendants. In Count Three, Abshire alleged that Officers Walls, Queen and Barber were liable for malicious prosecution. In Count Four, Abshire alleged a Sec. 1983 violation, i.e., an unconstitutional strip search. Named as defendants were Officers Walls, Queen, Joynes, Krach, Cook 4 and Barber; Cornelius J. Behan, the Chief of Police of Baltimore County; the Baltimore County Police Department; and Baltimore County. Finally, in Count Five, Abshire alleged that Officers Walls, Queen, Joynes, Krach, Cook and Barber had violated 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1985 by conspiring to deprive him of his constitutional rights.
On December 9, 1985, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of Officer Joynes on Counts Two and Four, and in favor of Officer Cook, Chief of Police Behan, the Baltimore County Police Department, and Baltimore County on Count Four. The remainder of the case proceeded to trial. After the close of Abshire's case-in-chief, the court directed a verdict on Count Five (the Sec. 1985 claim) in favor of each defendant. The court submitted the remaining counts to the jury, which found in favor of each of the defendants on Counts One, Two and Three and in favor of Officer Barber on Count Four. The jury, however, found in favor of Abshire on Count Four (his strip search claim) against Officers Walls, Queen and Krach. It awarded him compensatory damages of $500 against both Walls and Queen and $1,000 against Krach. The jury also awarded Abshire punitive damages of $1,250 against both Walls and Queen and $2,500 against Krach.
After trial, Walls, Queen and Krach moved for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict on the strip search claim, contending that the search of Abshire was reasonable as a matter of law and that this issue should never have been submitted to the jury. The district court denied the motion, ruling that the reasonableness of the search was a question for the jury. Abshire moved for an award of attorneys' fees and costs under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1988. He requested $17,366.25 in fees and $482.55 in costs for his legal counsel, Leslie Gladstone. Relying on the Supreme Court's decision in Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983), the district court awarded Abshire only one-fourth of the requested amount.
This appeal and cross-appeal follow.
The standard in this circuit for judging the constitutionality of a strip search of a pre-trial detainee is firmly established. In Logan v. Shealy, 660 F.2d 1007 (4th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 942, 102 S.Ct. 1435, 71 L.Ed.2d 653 (1982), we stated that
Strip searches of detainees are constitutionally constrained by due process requirements of reasonableness under the circumstances.
Id. at 1013 (quoting Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 559, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 1884, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979)). On appeal, the officers contend that the evidence clearly established that the "need for the ... search" outweighed "the invasion of personal rights." They argue that the search was therefore reasonable as a matter of law and the district court erred in denying their motions for directed verdict and judgment notwithstanding the verdict. We disagree.
In support of their position, the officers point to the following evidence. First, Baltimore County's strip search policy provided that "[a]rrestees shall not be subject to a strip search unless specific factors are present which establish [a] reasonable belief that the search will uncover or recover a weapon or a controlled substance." Officer Krach, who authorized the search of Abshire, testified that he had a "reasonable belief that the search [would] uncover or recover a weapon or a controlled substance" because
number one, he was intoxicated, and there was no way to tell what he was intoxicated from or what combination of things he was intoxicated from [and,] [n]umber two, he was carrying a service revolver with one spent cartridge and one empty round and he was also carrying additional ammunition.
Second, the officers contend that the evidence established that the search was no more intrusive than necessary to determine if Abshire carried "a controlled substance or a weapon." Finally, Officer Walls testified...
To continue reading
Request your trial-
Knop v. Johnson, File No. G84-651.
...related legal theories. City of Riverside v. Rivera, 477 U.S. 561, 571, 106 S.Ct. 2686, 2693, 91 L.Ed.2d 466 (1986); Abshire v. Walls, 830 F.2d 1277, 1283 (4th Cir.1987); Davis v. City of Charleston, 827 F.2d 317, 323 (8th Cir.1987); Toussaint v. McCarthy, 826 F.2d 901, 905 (9th Cir.1987); ......
-
Timberlake By Timberlake v. Benton
...and the search was carried out in front of several other officers with the door partially open to the hallway. Abshire v. Walls, 830 F.2d 1277, 1280 (4th Cir.1987). 8 See, e.g., People v. Evans, 43 N.Y.2d 160, 165, 400 N.Y.S.2d 810, 813, 371 N.E.2d 528, 531 (1977) citations To adopt the pro......
-
Johnson v. Hugo's Skateway
...arose from "a common core of facts." See Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983); Abshire v. Walls, 830 F.2d 1277, 1282-83 (4th Cir.1987). Because the extent to which that impermissible factor contributed to the final fee award, if at all, is not clear from ......
-
Thomas v. Peacock
...is true that "no fees should be awarded for time spent on unsuccessful claims that were unrelated to successful ones." Abshire v. Walls, 830 F.2d 1277, 1282 (4th Cir.1987). Where, however, the facts of an unsuccessful claim are "inextricably intertwined" with those of a successful claim, fe......