Anaya et al. v. Crossroads Managed Care Systems

• Decision Date: 02 November 1999
• Docket Number: XVI-XXX,D,I-X,No. 97-1358,97-1358
• Citation: 195 F.3d 584
• Parties: (10th Cir. 1999) JUDE ANAYA; GASPER R. BARELA; LEONARD DOMINGUEZ; PAT DOMINGUEZ; ERICA FABEC; DANIEL V. GALLEGOS; JOHN A. GARCIA; HASKELL HOOKS; MARIO J. INCITTI; CLYDE T. JONES; THOR JONES; EDWARD WILLIAM LEROUX; MICHAEL A. ROMERO; OWEN SHUGARD; STEVEN M. TORMA; CHARLENE K. VILLANI, individually and as representatives of a class of all other persons similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CROSSROADS MANAGED CARE SYSTEMS, INC., a Colorado nonprofit corporation; LOU GIRODO, Las Animas County Sheriff, in his official capacity; John Doeseputy Sheriffs of Las Animas County, individually and in their official capacities; JAMES MONTOYA, Chief of the Trinidad Police Department, in his official capacity; John Does, peace officers of the Trinidad Police Department, individually and in their official capacity; CITY OF TRINIDAD; HARRY SAYRE, Mayor of the City of Trinidad, in his official capacity and as successor mayor; LAS ANIMAS COUNTY, COLORADO; LAS ANIMAS COUNTY, BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS; EUGENE LUJAN, Commissioner, in his official capacity; STANLEY BIBER, Commissioner, in his official capacity; PHIL VALDEZ, Commissioner, in his official capacity, Defendants-Appellees
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

Page 584

195 F.3d 584 (10th Cir. 1999)

JUDE ANAYA; GASPER R. BARELA; LEONARD DOMINGUEZ; PAT DOMINGUEZ; ERICA FABEC; DANIEL V. GALLEGOS; JOHN A. GARCIA; HASKELL HOOKS; MARIO J. INCITTI; CLYDE T. JONES; THOR JONES; EDWARD WILLIAM LEROUX; MICHAEL A. ROMERO; OWEN SHUGARD; STEVEN M.

TORMA; CHARLENE K. VILLANI, individually and as representatives of a class of all other persons similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CROSSROADS MANAGED CARE SYSTEMS, INC., a Colorado nonprofit corporation; LOU GIRODO, Las Animas County Sheriff, in his official capacity; John Does I-XV, Deputy Sheriffs of Las Animas County, individually and in their official capacities; JAMES MONTOYA, Chief of the Trinidad Police Department, in his official capacity; John Does XVI-XXX, peace officers of the Trinidad Police Department, individually and in their official capacity; CITY OF TRINIDAD; HARRY SAYRE, Mayor of the City of Trinidad, in his official capacity and as successor mayor; LAS ANIMAS COUNTY, COLORADO; LAS ANIMAS COUNTY, BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS; EUGENE LUJAN, Commissioner, in his official capacity; STANLEY BIBER, Commissioner, in his official capacity; PHIL VALDEZ, Commissioner, in his official capacity, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 97-1358

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT

November 2, 1999

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO (D.C. No. 96-WY-1396-AJ)

[Copyrighted Material Omitted] Robert T. Fishman, (Jay S. Horowitz with him on the briefs), of Krendl Horowitz & Krendl, Denver, Colorado, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.

Theodore S. Halaby, (R. Craig Hess with him on the brief), of Halaby Cross Leichty & Schluter, Denver, Colorado, for City of Trinidad, Harry Sayre, Las Animas County, Colorado, Las Animas County, Board of County Commissioners, Eugene Lujan, Stanley Biber and Phil Valdez, Defendants-Appellees.

Phillip A. Vaglica, (Elizabeth A. Maldonado with him on the brief), of Vaglica, Meinhold & Maldonado, LLC, Denver, Colorado, for Crossroads Managed Care Systems, Inc, Lou Girodo and James Montoya.

Before SEYMOUR, Chief Judge, BRORBY, and HENRY, Circuit Judges.

ORDER ON PETITION FOR REHEARING

HENRY, Circuit Judge.

This matter is before the court on appellants' petition for rehearing filed on September 20, 1999. The petition for rehearing is granted. The court's opinion filed on September 3, 1999, is withdrawn and an amended opinion is attached to this order.

OPINION

Plaintiffs brought the instant suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, for violation of rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution, and under the Colorado Constitution and Colorado common law. The United States District Court for the District of Colorado dismissed all claims against all defendants on motions for summary judgment. From the dismissals the plaintiffs now appeal, and we reverse the dismissals and remand for further consideration in accordance with this opinion.

I. BACKGROUND

The plaintiffs in this case are persons who were seized by the police, transported to a detoxification facility and detained in some cases for days. The record indicates that among the plaintiffs are persons seized from their front porches, from their bedrooms and from the back seats of cars. One plaintiff was seized while in her night clothes. Another was seized while on a college break, visiting home, after she consumed a glass of wine.

All the plaintiffs allege the seizures violated their Fourth Amendment rights not to be seized without probable cause to believe they were a danger to themselves or others. Further, they allege the seizures were made pursuant to a written policy of the City of Trinidad, adopted by collaboration between the defendants.

A. Crossroads and the Original Trinidad Detox

Crossroads Managed Care Systems ("Crossroads") operates alcohol detoxification facilities. Sometime prior to 1995, Crossroads operated one detox center in Trinidad, Colorado. The state paid Crossroads for use of the facility on a per day per patient basis. The Trinidad facility was eventually closed due to "unprofitability." See Aplt's App. at 44.

After the Trinidad facility closed, Trinidad police transported people in need of detoxification services to Pueblo, Colorado, where Crossroads operated another treatment center. The cost of transportation to Pueblo was $60.00 per trip. See Aplt's App. at 255.

B. Establishment of the Advisory Committee and the Meetings

On January 6, 1994, Leroy Lucero the Executive Director of Crossroads sent several citizens invitations to serve on a newly established Trinidad Area Advisory Committee ("the Advisory Board") for the area of Trinidad, Colorado. See id. at 251-53. The invitations were sent to members of the Trinidad Police Department, members of the county Sheriff's Department, members of the Colorado State Patrol, the district attorney, a judge and various city officials, among others. See id. The stated purposes of the Advisory Board were to "allow[] the local communities the opportunity to provide input into the service delivery system," "to allow[] the advisory members to actively participate in decisions that affect their communities and alcohol and drug services," and "to work toward the re-establishment of local Detox services [in Trinidad]." See id. at 251, 272(a).

Crossroads gets paid by the government. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 1996, 92.9% of Crossroads revenue came from federal, state or city budgets. See id. at 288 (76.5% from the State of Colorado Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division of the Department of Human Services; 14.7 % from local and city revenues; 1.7% from other federal and state agencies).

The Advisory Board meetings addressed efforts to increase utilization of the Pueblo detox facility so that Crossroads could apply to the State to reopen the Trinidad detox facility. For example, at the February 23, 1994 meeting of the Advisory Board, Chief of Police Montoya asked "if utilization reached a high sustained level, would the Detox be reopened?" to which Mr. Lucero of Crossroads responded, "the Board of Directors may consider reopening of residential Detox services in the future depending on high and stable utilization of existing Detox services and the availability of funding." Id. at 258. At the same meeting the Board referred to the prior closing of the Trinidad detox as "a crisis," and Mr. Lucero stated that such crisis could only "be avoided through the efforts of the Trinidad Advisory Committee." Id. at 259. Chief Montoya responded that he expected to see an increase in referrals to the Pueblo detox in the next few weeks. See id.

The next meeting, on March 23, opened with Mr. Lucero presenting the number of referrals from the Trinidad area. See id. at 261. Chief Montoya asked "what will it take to re-open a full service detox unit? How long does a client stay in detox?" Id. at 261. Mr. Lucero responded that "we should have, at a minimum, 50 referrals a month for a full service detox [in Trinidad]." The group shared methods of increasing utilization that had worked in Alamosa, Colorado and Pueblo, and Mr. Lucero concluded, "we all need to come together and find solutions to the money problems." Id. at 263. Chief Montoya and Mr. Lucero both agreed it was important not to use a quota system: "We cannot use a quota system," said Mr. Lucero. Id. at 263. Admitting quotas needed to be avoided, Chief Montoya maintained, "maybe we could re-open a full service detox by all coming together and help to conquer the problem." Id. at 264.

At the following meeting, April 27, Chief Montoya announced, in case there was lack of clarity before, that "the intent of the group was to re-open the Detox." Id. at 266. Mr. Lucero followed by stating that "the main reason for Detox closing was the number of referrals and drop in state funding." Id. He continued that in order to open the detox, "referrals must be sustained over a long period . . . [at] approximately 50-60 referrals per month and [with] fiscal support from both city and county." Id.

At the May 25 meeting, Chief Montoya again announced that "a priority is to return Detox services back to Trinidad . . . . Utilization [of the Pueblo Detox by Trinidad] is up as a result of new policies." Id. at 269. At a meeting on October 19, Mr. Lucero restated the importance of maintaining utilization in order to justify re-opening a detox in Trinidad and "complemented the City Police Department on their referrals." Id. at 274.

C. Reopening the Trinidad Detox and Implementation of a New Policy for Utilization

On June 30, 1995, the Advisory Board realized its goal: The Crossroads detoxification facility for Trinidad reopened. See id. at 63. That same day the Trinidad Police Department issued General Order 95-03. The Order declared, "[e]ffective immediately, when an Officer has contact with any individual who exhibits any potential of intoxication resulting from the ingestion of alcohol, drugs, inhalants or any combination of those substances, the subject is to be evaluated by Detox center staff for consideration of detox treatment." Id. (emphasis added). The Order concluded: "The [Crossroads] Detox will remain available contingent on full utilization. A great deal of cooperation, effort and resources went into the re-opening of this facility. If client referrals are not frequently made the facility will not remain available." Id.

The effect of this Order was dramatic. The referrals to detox in June of 1995, the month which culminated with the issuance of General Order 95-03, numbered 32. See id. at 279-80. In July 1995, following the issuance of the order, referrals numbered 114. See id. In fact, in the eighteen months preceding the Order, the average number of monthly referrals was 34.6. See id. In the fifteen months following the Order, the average number of monthly referrals had increased to 85.5. See id.

General Order 95-03 survived for a number of months, but in October, 1995, the...