Alexander v. Beale Street Blues Co., Inc.

• Decision Date: 19 March 1999
• Docket Number: No. 98-2715-TUV.,98-2715-TUV.
• Parties: Donald V. ALEXANDER and Erma A. Alexander, Individually, and as the Natural Parents and Next of Kin of Jeffrey Alexander, Deceased, Plaintiffs, v. BEALE STREET BLUES COMPANY, INC. a/k/a B.B. King's Blues Club, Inc. d/b/a B.B. King's Blues Club, et al., City of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis Police Department, Mike Jones, Robert Whipple and Jack Does I-X, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Tennessee

108 F.Supp.2d 934

Donald V. ALEXANDER and Erma A. Alexander, Individually, and as the Natural Parents and Next of Kin of Jeffrey Alexander, Deceased, Plaintiffs, v. BEALE STREET BLUES COMPANY, INC. a/k/a B.B. King's Blues Club, Inc. d/b/a B.B. King's Blues Club, et al., City of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis Police Department, Mike Jones, Robert Whipple and Jack Does I-X, Defendants.

No. 98-2715-TUV.

United States District Court, W.D. Tennessee, Western Division.

March 19, 1999.

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R. Sadler Bailey, Jr., Bailey & Clarke, Memphis, TN, for David V. Alexander, Erma A. Alexander, Jeffrey Alexander, plaintiffs.

William F. Burns, Waring Cox, Louis F. Allen, Robert B.C. Hale, Memphis, TN, for Beale Street Blues Company, Inc. aka B.B. King's Blues Club, Inc. dba B.B. King's Blues Club, John Lawrence Ferguson, Richard Leachman, Solomon McDaniel, James Everett Bowen, Chad Rowan, Rodney Dunn, Barry Myers, John Does I-X, defendants.

ORDER ON JONES', WHIPPLE'S, CITY OF MEMPHIS' AND MEMPHIS POLICE DEPARTMENT'S MOTIONS TO DISMISS, THE B.B. KING'S DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND PLAINTIFFS' MOTION TO DELAY CONSIDERATION

TURNER, District Judge.

Plaintiffs Donald and Erma Alexander are the parents of Jeffrey Alexander, who died in July 1997. Plaintiffs allege that all the named defendants caused or contributed to their son's death and are liable under various theories of state and federal law. Presently before the court are motions to dismiss or, in the alternative, for summary judgment filed by officers Mike Jones and Robert Whipple, a motion to dismiss filed by the Memphis Police Department and the City of Memphis, a motion for partial summary judgment filed by the Beale Street Blues Company, Inc. and several of its agents (hereinafter referred to as "the BB King's defendants"), and a motion to delay consideration of Jones' and Whipple's motions.

I. Standard of Review

When considering a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, all factual allegations of the plaintiff are to be believed and the claim must not be dismissed unless it appears that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his allegations which would entitle him to relief. Gazette v. City of Pontiac, 41 F.3d 1061, 1064 (6th Cir.1994) (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957)).

II. Factual Background

The following factual allegations are set forth in plaintiffs' Amended Complaint and are taken as true for purposes of this order. On July 19, 1997, Jeffrey Alexander went to BB King's nightclub with a group of co-workers. During the evening, Alexander and an unidentified third-party got into an altercation.

BB King's employees responded to the altercation, but it had subsided by the time they arrived. Nevertheless, the BB King's employees ordered Alexander and his party to leave the club. The BB King's employees began to escort Alexander out of the club, but Alexander requested permission to retrieve his belongings from the table where he had been sitting.

As Alexander moved to retrieve his belongings, the BB King's employees suddenly and without warning or provocation threw him to the floor. Alexander was then forced to the prone position, with his chest to the floor. Several of the BB King's employees then held Alexander down with their body weight, and continued to do so despite Alexander's lack of resistance or motion. Several club patrons expressed their concern that Alexander could not breathe, but their pleas were ignored. The BB King's employees remained on top of Alexander for approximately ten to fifteen minutes, and their weight ultimately caused his death by traumatic asphyxia.

As a result of the incident, Memphis police were summoned to the scene. Officers Mike Jones and Robert Whipple responded to the call. Once they arrived, it was obvious that Alexander's medical condition had deteriorated and that he was in need of medical attention. Despite his obvious need for medical attention, the officers assisted the BB King's employees in handcuffing Alexander. After cuffing Alexander, the officers and BB King's employees carried Alexander's motionless body outside of the club and placed him behind a police cruiser in a contorted position, placing Alexander at grave risk of death by positional asphyxiation. The officers failed to provide Alexander with timely medical treatment, and delayed in summoning medical personnel.

Alexander was taken to the hospital by ambulance, where he later died as a result of traumatic asphyxia.

III. Legal Posturing

Plaintiffs originally filed suit in state court against Beale Street Blues Company, Inc. a/k/a BB King's Blues Club, Inc. d/b/a BB King's Blues Club and several of its employees alleging various state law claims. In their answer, the BB King's defendants set forth the affirmative defense of comparative fault, alleging that agents of the Memphis Police Department, including Jones and Whipple, either caused or contributed to Alexander's death.¹ Based on the allegations of fault made by the BB King's defendants against the Police Department, Jones, and Whipple, plaintiffs amended their complaint to add those parties and the City of Memphis as defendants (hereinafter referred to as "the Memphis defendants"), and asserted various claims against them, including state law claims and claims brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The action was then removed to this court, which has original jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1343.

Jones and Whipple filed motions to dismiss or, in the alternative, for summary judgment, and the City and Memphis Police Department filed a motion to dismiss.² The BB King's defendants also filed a motion for partial summary judgment, which raised only legal issues.³ Plaintiffs have responded to all of the above mentioned motions.⁴

On September 16, 1998, the court entered an order ruling that the officers' motions would be treated solely as motions to dismiss with respect to the issue of qualified immunity, and staying discovery until those motions had been decided. There are several other legal issues raised in the officers' motions, and the court finds it appropriate to rule on those issues at this time. To the extent the officers' motions raise issues not addressed in this order, the court finds those issues would be more appropriately resolved after discovery has been completed as motions for summary judgment. Thus, to the extent the officers' motions raise issues not decided by this order, those motions are denied without prejudice.⁵

IV. Officers Jones and Whipple

Plaintiffs' Amended Complaint sets forth three causes of action against Officers Jones and Whipple. First, plaintiffs claim Jones and Whipple are liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violations of Alexander's Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Second, plaintiffs claim Jones and Whipple are liable for violations of Alexander's rights under the Tennessee Constitution. Third, plaintiffs claim Jones and Whipple are liable under various state tort theories.

A. Plaintiffs' § 1983 Claims

The Amended Complaint alleges that the officers' actions deprived Alexander of several rights guaranteed him by the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, including: a) his right to receive medical attention; b) his right to be free from unlawful arrest; c) his right to be free from the use of unreasonable unjustified and excessive force; d) his right to be free from unreasonable seizure of his person; e) his right to be free from deprivation of property without due process of law; and f) his right to be free from arbitrary and conscious-shocking behavior.

Upon its own initiative and under the authority of Rule 12(f) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the court finds that several of plaintiffs' federal constitutional allegations against the officers should be stricken as being redundant or immaterial. First, the court finds that there is no substantive difference between plaintiffs' claim for unreasonable seizure and claim for unlawful arrest. Both claims arise under the Fourth Amendment which secures individuals' rights to be free from unreasonable seizure. Accordingly, the court will treat plaintiffs' claims for unlawful arrest and unreasonable seizure as a single claim.

The court also finds that all of plaintiffs' allegations arising under the Fourteenth Amendment should be stricken as being immaterial. All of plaintiffs' allegations share the common nucleus that they are based on the officers' alleged conduct in seizing Alexander and their failure to provide medical attention during the seizure. Such claims are more appropriately analyzed under the reasonableness standard of the Fourth Amendment rather than under a substantive due process approach. Estate of Phillips v. City of Milwaukee, 123 F.3d 586, 595-96 (7th Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 1116, 118 S.Ct. 1052, 140 L.Ed.2d 115 (1998); Guseman by Guseman v. Martinez, 1 F.Supp.2d 1240, 1259-60 (D.Kan.1998). See also County of Sacramento v. Lewis, 523 U.S. 833, 118 S.Ct. 1708, 1714, 140 L.Ed.2d 1043 (1998) (finding substantive due process claims are inappropriate where other specific textual guarantees exist in the Bill of Rights that cover plaintiff's situation). Cf. Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 395, 109 S.Ct. 1865, 104 L.Ed.2d 443 (1989) ("[A]ll claims that law enforcement officers have used excessive force — deadly or not — in the course of an arrest, investigatory stop, or other `seizure' of a free citizen should be analyzed under the Fourth Amendment and its `reasonableness' standard, rather than under a `substantive due process' approach."). Accordingly, plaintiffs' due process and arbitrary and conscious-shocking claims are stricken as being immaterial. Plaintiffs' medical indifference claim will be examined under...