Bailey v. City Of Brd.view Heights

• Decision Date: 14 June 2010
• Docket Number: Case No. 1:09 CV 1096.
• Citation: 721 F.Supp.2d 653
• Parties: Shayne W. BAILEY, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF BROADVIEW HEIGHTS, OHIO, et al., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Ohio

721 F.Supp.2d 653

Shayne W. BAILEY, Plaintiff,

v.CITY OF BROADVIEW HEIGHTS, OHIO, et al., Defendant.

Case No. 1:09 CV 1096.

United States District Court,

N.D. Ohio,

Eastern Division.

June 14, 2010.

Melissa A. Graham-Hurd, Augustin F. O'Neil, Akron, OH, for Plaintiff.

Aimee Weiss Lane, Jonathan D. Greenberg, R. Todd Hunt, Walter & Haverfield, Cleveland, OH, Vincenzo Ruffa, Oakar & Ruffa, Broadview Heights, OH, for Defendant.

Memorandum of Opinion and Order

PATRICIA A. GAUGHAN, District Judge.

Introduction

This matter is before the Court upon plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 28) and Joint Motion for Summary Judgment of Defendants City of Broadview Heights and Samuel J. Alai (Doc. 29). For the following reasons, plaintiff's motion is DENIED and defendants' motion is GRANTED.

Facts

Plaintiff, Shayne W. Bailey, Individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, filed this Complaint against defendants, City of Broadview Heights, Ohio (hereafter, the City) and Samuel J. Alai, in his official capacity as Mayor of the City of Broadview Heights, Ohio (hereafter, Mayor Alai) and in his individual capacity.

The facts are not in dispute. ¹ The City operates a Mayor's Court as provided for in Ohio Revised Code § 1905.01, et seq ².

Mayor Alai presides over the Mayor's Court pursuant to the City's Charter which states, “The Mayor shall have all the judicial powers granted by the general laws of Ohio to mayors of cities....” (Doc. 29 Ex. A) Under the City Charter, Mayor Alai has the executive powers of “chief executive officer” of the City and is one of the City officials responsible for the City's budget and its operation. ( Id. Ex. B; Am. Answer ¶¶ 6, 20) Mayor Alai is also the “chief conservator of the peace” under the City Charter and is required by it to see that all laws and ordinances are enforced within the City. (Doc. 29 Ex. B)

On November 12, 2008, plaintiff was served by a law enforcement officer for the City with a minor misdemeanor traffic citation for failure to maintain his vehicle at an assured clear distance which caused a rear end collision. Plaintiff was served with a summons to appear in the Mayor's Court on November 20, 2008. Plaintiff was present for some period of time at the Mayor's Court on November 20, 2008. Defendant Mayor Alai presided over the Mayor's Court on this date. Mayor Alai accepted a voluntary plea of “no contest” from plaintiff, entered a finding of guilty, and issued a fine of $100.00 plus court costs of $80.00. (pltf. depo. and Exs. thereto)

Plaintiff left the Mayor's Court on November 20, 2008, prior to paying his fine and court costs and without notifying the Court or its Clerk that he was leaving. As a result, the Mayor's Court Clerk signed a criminal complaint against plaintiff for contempt of court for failure to appear and summoned him to appear on December 4, 2008. Plaintiff did appear in Mayor's Court on December 4, 2008. Mayor Alai presided over the Mayor's Court on this date and accepted a voluntary plea of guilty from plaintiff on the contempt of court charge and issued a fine of $100.00 and no court costs. ( Id. Ex. D)

Plaintiff thereafter filed this Complaint wherein he asserts a violation of due process pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The Complaint asserts that in DePiero v. City of Macedonia, 180 F.3d 770 (6th Cir.1999), the Sixth Circuit held that a Mayor of an Ohio municipality who is its Chief Executive Officer with widespread executive powers and administrative responsibilities lacks authority to preside over the Mayor's Court because the powers vested to him put him in inconsistent positions and result in the denial of due process to those appearing before him as defendants. Because DePiero was decided more than nine years before Mayor Alai presided over plaintiff's two cases in Mayor's Court, the law was clearly established that Alai would deny plaintiff due process of law. For the same reason, Alai acted in the clear absence of jurisdiction in plaintiff's cases. Additionally, the City of Broadview Heights is liable for the unconstitutional actions of Mayor Alai. (Verified Compl.)

This matter is now before the Court upon the cross motions for summary judgment filed by the parties. The motions will be addressed simultaneously.

Standard of Review

Summary Judgment is appropriate when no genuine issues of material fact exist and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986) (citing Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c)); see also LaPointe v. UAW, Local 600, 8 F.3d 376, 378 (6th Cir.1993). The burden of showing the absence of any such genuine issues of material facts rests with the moving party:

[A] party seeking summary judgment always bears the initial responsibility of informing the district court of the basis for its motion, and identifying those portions of “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with affidavits,” if any, which it believes demonstrates the absence of a genuine issue of material fact.

Celotex, 477 U.S. at 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548 (citing Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c)). A fact is “material only if its resolution will affect the outcome of the lawsuit.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

Once the moving party has satisfied its burden of proof, the burden then shifts to the nonmoving party. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(e) provides:

When a motion for summary judgment is made and supported as provided in this rule, an adverse party may not rest upon the mere allegations or denials of [his] pleadings, but [his response], by affidavits or as otherwise provided in this rule, must set forth specific facts showing that there is genuine issue for trial. If he does not respond, summary judgment, if appropriate, shall be entered against him.

The court must afford all reasonable inferences and construe the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Cox v. Kentucky Dep't. of Transp., 53 F.3d 146, 150 (6th Cir.1995) (citation omitted); see also United States v. Hodges X-Ray, Inc., 759 F.2d 557, 562 (6th Cir.1985). However, the nonmoving party may not simply rely on its pleading, but must “produce evidence that results in a conflict of material fact to be solved by a jury.” Cox, 53 F.3d at 150.

Summary judgment should be granted if a party who bears the burden of proof at trial does not establish an essential element of his case. Tolton v. American Biodyne, Inc., 48 F.3d 937, 941 (6th Cir.1995) (citing Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548). Accordingly, “the mere existence of a scintilla of evidence in support of plaintiff's position will be insufficient; there must be evidence on which the jury could reasonably find for the plaintiff.” Copeland v. Machulis, 57 F.3d 476, 479 (6th Cir.1995) (quoting Anderson, 477 U.S. at 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505 (1986)). Moreover, if the evidence is “merely colorable” and not “significantly probative,” the court may decide the legal issue and grant summary judgment. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249-50, 106 S.Ct. 2505 (citation omitted).

Discussion (1) Section 1983 Due Process Claim

To prevail on his § 1983 claim, plaintiff “must establish that a person acting under color of state law deprived [him] of a right secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States.” Smoak v. Hall, 460 F.3d 768, 777 (6th Cir.2006). It is undisputed that defendants acted under color of state law. The issue is whether plaintiff's due process rights were violated.

Plaintiff argues that he is entitled to summary judgment on his due process claim because Mayor Alai, under the holding of DePiero, supra, is constitutionally disqualified, per se, from presiding over a mayor's court in that he is the Chief Executive Officer of the City. While agreeing that Mayor Alai has broad executive powers and administrative responsibilities, defendants contend that they are entitled to summary judgment because DePiero is inapplicable to uncontested cases such as the one here where the mayor merely performed a ministerial function. For the following reasons, the Court agrees with defendants.

Citing Tumey v. Ohio, 273 U.S. 510, 47 S.Ct. 437, 71 L.Ed. 749 (1927), Dugan v. Ohio, 277 U.S. 61, 48 S.Ct. 439, 72 L.Ed. 784 (1928), and Ward v. Village of Monroeville, 409 U.S. 57, 93 S.Ct. 80, 34 L.Ed.2d 267 (1972), the DePiero court recognized that constitutional facial challenges to O.R.C. § 1905.01 authorizing Ohio mayor's courts have been rejected by the United States Supreme Court which “found no fatal defect in the overarching system that permits a mayor simultaneously to exercise some combination of executive and judicial functions.” DePiero, 180 F.3d at 777. Nonetheless, “the structure of the courts in practice must be such that the particular combination of executive powers vested in the mayor does not impair his ability to serve also as a neutral arbiter.” DePiero, 180 F.3d at 777. The test has been stated as whether “the mayor's situation is one ‘which would offer a possible temptation to the average man as a judge to forget the burden of proof required to convict the defendant, or which might lead him not to hold the balance nice, clear, and true between the state and the accused ...’ ” Ward, 409 U.S. at 60, 93 S.Ct. 80, (quoting Tumey, 273 U.S. at 532, 47 S.Ct. 437). Thus, in Tumey, due process was compromised where the mayor had a “direct, personal, substantial pecuniary interest” in convicting the defendant who came before him for trial. In Dugan, by contrast, there was no due process violation where the mayor who presided over contested cases was not the chief executive and had no pecuniary interest in cases tried in mayor's court. In Ward, defendant, who was convicted of two traffic offenses in the mayor's court, was deprived of a neutral and detached magistrate, and therefore due process, where the mayor had wide executive powers and...