Bigford v. Taylor
| Decision Date | 05 January 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 87-2334,87-2334 |
| Citation | 834 F.2d 1213 |
| Parties | Willie BIGFORD, Jr., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Joe Max TAYLOR, Individually and as Sheriff of Galveston County, Texas, et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Beatrice Mladenka-Fowler, Nelson, Locke & Fowler, Houston, Tex., for plaintiff-appellant.
Scott Lyford, Galveston County Legal Dept., Galveston, Tex., for defendants-appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Before CLARK, Chief Judge, GEE and RUBIN, Circuit Judges.
Galveston County sheriff's police towed and kept a young man's battered pickup truck on the suspicion that it might once have been stolen because certain identification stickers were missing or appeared to have been altered. Although the police soon decided that the truck had not been stolen, and the owner repeatedly sought return of his truck, the county justice of the peace did not order that it be returned until almost five months later. By that time, the owner had lost his job because he could not drive to work, and the storage fees amounted to almost the value of the truck. Frustrated in his every attempt to obtain relief from Galveston County, the young man sued the county, the sheriff, and the officers who had seized the truck. The district court dismissed all claims, ruling that the police had probable cause to seize the truck, the young owner had notice of the available remedies and so was not denied due process, and the county and the sheriff could not be charged for the magistrate's failure to return the truck. We affirm the holdings that the county and the sheriff may not be held liable. Because, however, the officers lacked probable cause to seize the truck originally, we reverse on this claim against one of the officers sued in his individual capacity, and we remand for the district court to determine damages.
Willie Bigford, an 18 year old, had a young American's dream: a vehicle of his own. He also had energy and thrift. He worked part time after school and during holidays and saved his money. With $1,500 thus accumulated, he bought a second-hand pickup truck from his boss. The truck was beat up, rusty, and badly in need of paint, and its transmission rested precariously under the hood on two two-by-fours. Still, Bigford was able to drive the truck to work every day, and he planned to paint it and fix it up when he had the time and money.
While driving to work in his truck before dawn on July 13, 1982, Bigford ran out of gas on a country highway near Galveston, Texas. He walked to the nearest gas station, found it still closed, and returned to the truck to wait until the station opened. While waiting, he dozed off in the truck.
Kenneth Spoor, a Galveston County sheriff's deputy on patrol, saw Bigford's truck parked beside the road. He approached it to investigate and, seeing Bigford lying down in the cab, knocked on the window and motioned for him to step outside. When Bigford opened the door, Deputy Spoor glanced at the vehicle body facing the end of the door and noticed that the Federal Inspection Safety Sticker that was supposed to be affixed there was missing. Display of this sticker, which certifies that the vehicle meets federal safety standards, is required by federal law. 1
Deputy Spoor had been trained to notify a supervisor when he found a vehicle whose federal safety sticker was missing. He called a Sergeant Cook, who arrived and inspected the truck further. Sgt. Cook found other suspicious signs in addition to the missing sticker. He thought that someone had tampered with the rivets on the plate, also located in the door panel, that contained the truck's vehicle identification number (VIN). He also thought that the body of the truck did not appear to match its frame, and when he looked under the hood to find the VIN, which is often stamped there, he could find no number.
Using his radio to order a computer check from a nationwide data base, Deputy Spoor learned that no theft complaint had been lodged for a vehicle with the truck's VIN or license tags. Neither Sgt. Cook nor Deputy Spoor asked Bigford if the truck was stolen or if he had proof of ownership, although Bigford had produced a valid driver's license upon Deputy Spoor's request. Had the officers asked for proof of ownership, Bigford could have produced from the truck's glove compartment a notarized title certificate, showing the transfer of the truck to him from its previous owner, his employer. He had not, however, mailed these papers to the state agency responsible for recording the transfer of title.
At no time did the officers seriously suspect Bigford of stealing or tampering with the truck, and they never arrested him or charged him with possession of a stolen vehicle. They did not telephone Bigford's employer or attempt to verify the fact that he was a local resident. Instead, and in spite of the computer report, they decided to tow the truck to a privately owned storage yard for further investigation. From previous experience, they knew or should have known that the owner of this business would charge Bigford for storage of the vehicle, whether or not the investigation ultimately determined the truck was Bigford's. When Bigford's mother arrived at the police station to pick up her son, the officers told her that they had to investigate the missing sticker and that she should call them in two days if she had not heard from them.
During the next two weeks, Bigford and his parents made a series of unsuccessful attempts to find out why the police were continuing to hold his truck. The police told the Bigfords several times that they had no new information and that the investigation would take 30 days or more. The investigation, which the district court found in fact took about two months, may be described charitably as perfunctory. The police performed a title search, which revealed a clear chain of title down to Bigford. By the time the police had completed this task, the Bigfords had searched the title themselves and obtained the same result. Without judicial authority or permission from Bigford, the police cut a hole in the floorboard of the truck in an attempt to find the VIN. Eventually, that number was discovered on the engine frame, apparently overlooked by the officers when they seized the truck. Based on these results, the police concluded the truck was not stolen, but they said nothing to Bigford.
In the meantime, by virtue of Texas law, custody of the truck had passed almost immediately from the police to Judge James Buckner, a county justice of the peace. When Texas police seize a vehicle alleged to have been stolen, they file an inventory of its contents with a justice of the peace, who is required to hold a hearing to determine the rightful owner. 2 The district court found that Judge Buckner's office received the inventory on July 14, the day after the seizure, although it does not appear that the police ever filed a formal charge that the vehicle had been stolen. The Bigfords received no notice or citation advising them that the matter was in the hands of the justice of the peace.
Although he had received the inventory in July, Judge Buckner took no action of any kind until almost three months later. Sometime between October 13 and 21, he finally placed the matter on his docket. During the three months that the file sat on his desk, the truck sat in storage, accruing fees at something between $3 and $5 a day.
The Bigfords did not actually learn that the courts had custody of the truck until July 28, when, on a visit to the sheriff's office, they were told so by Deputy Tommy Hansen, the officer conducting the investigation. Hansen did not, however, specify which court had jurisdiction over the truck. He did advise the Bigfords to hire a lawyer. The Bigfords hired two over the next six weeks, but neither took any action. Finally the Bigfords decided to locate the right court on their own. After being directed to the wrong magistrate, the Bigfords were again set straight by Tommy Hansen, who directed them to Judge Buckner and also explained that it was up to them to petition the judge for return of the truck.
In mid-September, the Bigfords met with Judge Buckner and an assistant district attorney. The judge told the Bigfords he could not act until they petitioned for a hearing; like Hansen, he suggested they retain a lawyer. The Bigfords hired their third lawyer, Kent Schaffer, in October. Schaffer arranged a hearing with Judge Buckner for November 4; this was postponed to November 18.
At the "hearing," an informal meeting in Judge Buckner's office, the judge could not locate a file or any papers on Bigford's case. The assistant district attorney attending the conference, who was unfamiliar with the case, told the Bigfords they could get the truck back--if they paid towing and storage fees, which by then amounted to $700 or $800. When Schaffer replied that Bigford could not afford to pay the fees, Judge Buckner said he could do no more and that the Bigfords would have to work things out with Tommy Hansen, who, it turned out, was away on vacation until December 1. The judge declined to hold another hearing unless Hansen was present together with a representative from the district attorney's office who knew the case.
The Bigfords waited until Tommy Hansen returned, but he merely offered to return the truck if Bigford would pay the storage fees. At this point, it appears, Bigford gave up on Galveston County. He made no further requests for the truck, but instead filed this civil rights action for damages in February 1983, alleging that the county, Sheriff Taylor, and three deputies had deprived him of his truck in violation of the Fourth Amendment and without due process of law.
In March 1983, in the midst of discovery for their lawsuit, the Bigfords learned that some four months earlier, on ...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Hernandez v. United States
...facts tending to dissipate probable cause." United States v. Pabon , 871 F.3d 164, 175 (2d Cir. 2017) (quoting Bigford v. Taylor , 834 F.2d 1213, 1218 (5th Cir. 1988) ). For example, the Complaint alleges that the Government could have verified that Hernandez was a U.S. citizen if it had ch......
-
Rodriguez v. Bexar Cnty. Hosp. Dist.
...to jail without first appointing counsel for the plaintiff did not constitute actions establishing city policy); Bigford v. Taylor, 834 F.2d 1213, 1221-22 (5th Cir. 1988) (holding a county magistrate's ruling in a case pending before him did not constitute setting county policy), cert. deni......
-
Hicks v. Bexar County, Tex., SA-96-CA-951.
...the plaintiff complained, or (2) the chief had any personal involvement with the events respecting the plaintiff); Bigford v. Taylor, 834 F.2d 1213, 1220 (5th Cir.1988), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 851, 109 S.Ct. 135, 102 L.Ed.2d 108 (1988) (holding that, in a case in which the sheriff was not p......
-
US v. $80,760.00 IN US CURRENCY
..."officers are not free to ignore facts which tend to dispel their suspicions." Price, 680 F.Supp. at 843. See Bigford v. Taylor, 834 F.2d 1213, 1218 (5th Cir.1988), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 851, 109 S.Ct. 135, 102 L.Ed.2d 108 (1988). Third, in response to a request for consent to search, Moli......