Brandt v. Davis, 99-1128

• Decision Date: 18 June 1999
• Docket Number: No. 99-1128,99-1128
• Citation: 191 F.3d 887
• Parties: (8th Cir. 1999) Nicholas Brandt and Debbie Hux, Appellants, v. Boyce R. Davis, City of Prairie Grove, Arkansas, Andrew Bain, in his capacity as Prairie Grove Mayor and in his individual capacity, and Robin Casey, Appellees. Submitted:
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 887

191 F.3d 887 (8th Cir. 1999)

Nicholas Brandt and Debbie Hux, Appellants, v. Boyce R. Davis, City of Prairie Grove, Arkansas, Andrew Bain, in his capacity as Prairie Grove Mayor and in his individual capacity, and Robin Casey, Appellees.

No. 99-1128

United States Court of Appeals FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

Submitted: June 18, 1999

Filed: September 15, 1999

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas. [Copyrighted Material Omitted] Before BOWMAN and HEANEY, Circuit Judges, and LONGSTAFF, ¹ District Judge.

RONALD E. LONGSTAFF, District Judge.

Debbie Hux and her son Nicholas Brandt appeal the district court's ² grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants in their civil rights suit against the City of Prairie Grove (the "City"), its police chief Robin Casey, its mayor Andrew Bain, and its attorney, Boyce Davis. We affirm the judgment of the district court.

I.

At times relevant to the instant appeal, Hux and Brandt lived in Prairie Grove, Arkansas. Plaintiffs' neighbor, Loyd Thurman, kept construction equipment on his lot, a practice that Hux believed violated city zoning laws. In early 1995, Hux went before the Prairie Grove city council to request enforcement of the zoning laws against Thurman. The city council did not act on her request. Instead, some city council members laughed at her and suggested the problem was her own. Hux pursued enforcement of the alleged zoning ordinance through other means, including circulating a petition requesting that the City enforce the zoning laws with regard to Thurman. As she pursued enforcement of the zoning laws, she learned that the Prairie Grove police chief, Robin Casey, had received a misdemeanor conviction for child abuse several years ago. Hux tried to obtain further information about Casey's criminal record. During her activities to bring forth removal of construction equipment from Thurman's property, the city attorney, Boyce Davis, purportedly warned her to discontinue her pursuit of information surrounding the conviction. Hux further alleges that because the zoning laws were never enforced against her neighbor, it was impossible for her to sell her home within a reasonable time at a reasonable price.

On April 25, 1995, Police Chief Robin Casey was called to Prairie Grove High School regarding a student disturbance. When Casey arrived at the school, administrators informed him they had sent Nicholas Brandt home because he had assaulted a female student. Casey was called back to the school later in the day, after Brandt returned to the school and was again involved in an altercation. Casey arrested Brandt for disorderly conduct. With the help of state police trooper Chuck Webb, Casey handcuffed Brandt and placed him in the patrol car for transportation. Trooper Webb rode with Casey and Brandt in the patrol car. Juvenile authorities informed Chief Casey that because of prior problems with Brandt, they wanted him to take Brandt to the Washington County Juvenile Detention Center. Brandt became unruly in the patrol car, and kicked the car door. Brandt and Casey's accounts of the subsequent events differ appreciably.

Brandt alleges that when he became unruly, Casey stopped the patrol car, yanked him out of the car by his feet, and dragged him into a gravel parking lot face down. He claims Casey picked him up and slammed him into the gravel, face first, while saying to him, "Maybe your mother would like some of this." Subsequently, Casey slammed his knees into Brandt's neck and back, and proceeded to "hogtie" Brandt. After returning to the patrol car and driving, Casey stopped the car a second time and subjected Brandt to additional forceful measures. Brandt alleges that the abusive treatment Casey inflicted on him caused back pain, numbness or lessened feeling in his hand for approximately a month, and chest pain.

Chief Casey recounts a different version of the events, set forth in his affidavit which accompanied appellees' motion for summary judgment. According to Chief Casey, Brandt became extremely violent in the patrol car while traveling to the juvenile detention center. He claims that Brandt maneuvered his body through his cuffed arms, kicked the doors of the patrol car, and banged his head violently on the screen separating the front and back seats of the car. Casey alleges that he pulled over, retrieved restraints from the trunk, and opened the back passenger door. At that time, Brandt kicked Casey in the stomach. Casey claims that in response to Brandt's violent behavior in the patrol car, as well as Brandt's kicking, he "restrained [Brandt] on the ground by placing my knee between his shoulders and neck and tried to grab his legs." By this time, Trooper Webb and Captain Jim Acker (an employee of the Washington County Sheriff's Office) had stopped to assist Casey. Additionally, Prairie Grove police officer Darrel Hignite, who was off duty, saw the struggle and pulled over to offer assistance. With the above-described help, Casey alleges he was able to tie Brandt's feet together and place him in the back of the car. Brandt's feet were secured to the bottom of the cage divider, so he could not kick the doors again or sit up and hit his head on the divider.

Casey also explained that Brandt pulled free and again began banging his head on the screen and kicking. Casey pulled over the patrol car a second time. With Trooper Webb's assistance, Casey pulled Brandt from the patrol car while Brandt kicked at the officers. At this time, Casey hogtied Brandt and placed him in the car on his stomach, to prevent him from banging his head on the screen. Brandt once again freed himself and began banging his head on the screen. Rather than pull over a third time, Casey states he turned on the police siren and drove quickly to the juvenile detention center.

On June 20, 1995, Brandt appeared before an Arkansas juvenile court judge (Hon. Charles Williams) regarding the charges arising from the April 25, 1995 incident. Prior to the final disposition of the criminal proceedings against Brandt, Casey wrote a letter to Judge Williams accusing Brandt of what Brandt considers "numerous inflammatory and unproven charges." Similarly, Bain and Davis each sent a letter to Judge Williams which portrayed Brandt in a negative manner. All of these letters were sent only to the judge, and neither Brandt nor his criminal counsel were informed of the letters' existence or contents. Based on the letters sent to Judge Williams, Brandt alleges appellees Bain, Casey, and Davis deprived him of due process because appellees did not notify Brandt that they sent the letters to the judge, and Brandt was not afforded an opportunity to respond to the letters' complaints.

Appellants filed a civil rights lawsuit against appellees making several allegations pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1983, including: Chief Casey used excessive force to effectuate Brandt's arrest; Bain, Casey, and Davis deprived and conspired to deprive Brandt of due process by sending letters to the juvenile court judge presiding over Brandt's case without sending a copy to Brandt's criminal defense attorney; the City violated Hux's equal protection rights by refusing to enforce its zoning ordinances against her neighbor. Appellees filed for summary judgment on all claims. Appellants' response to the motion consisted of a three-page brief. Appellants did not submit affidavits, exhibits, or other evidence with their response. The district court granted the motion for summary judgment in its entirety, and judgment was entered in favor of appellees on all claims. The district court's decision rested in part on appellants' response to the motion for summary judgment, which the district court discussed as follows:

Plaintiffs' brief in response to the motion for summary judgment is woefully inadequate. It barely touches on the issue of whether any constitutional violations exist and ignores the issue of qualified immunity. In fact, plaintiffs' entire brief in response to the motion is only three pages in length which includes both the caption and the signature. It contains little substance and is not helpful.

Appendix at 76-77 (December 7, 1998 District Court Order, at 17-18). The district court also noted the lack of citations in appellants' response brief.

II.

"We review a district court's grant of summary judgment de novo, considering all evidence in a light most favorable to the nonmoving party." Johnson v. Outboard Marine Corp., 172 F.3d 531, 535 (8 th Cir. 1999). Summary judgment is properly granted when the record, viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party shows that there is no genuine issue of material fact, and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c); see also Johnson, 172 F.3d at 535. "We may uphold a grant of summary judgment for any reason supported by the record, even if different from the reasons given by the district court." Johnson, 172 F.3d at 535.

III.

Appellants argue the district court erred in granting appellees' motion for summary judgment regarding the excessive force claim and denying their concurrently filed motion to amend the complaint. Appellants had requested leave to amend the complaint to add the charges against Chief Casey in his individual capacity.³

In moving for summary judgment, appellees maintained that the force Casey used to restrain Brandt was necessary to prevent Brandt from injuring himself or the officers transporting him. Chief Casey's affidavit, submitted as a supporting exhibit with appellees' motion for summary judgment, sets forth his recollection of the incident. Appellants did not submit any evidence-in the form of affidavits, depositions, or otherwise-in response to the motion. Rather, appellants rested on the pleadings, stating the evidence appellees had submitted was insufficient and did not require a response.

Because appellants did not submit even a shred of...