Bunyon v. Burke County

• Decision Date: 30 September 2003
• Docket Number: No. CV-102-007.,CV-102-007.
• Citation: 285 F.Supp.2d 1310
• Parties: Leroy BUNYON, Plaintiff, v. BURKE COUNTY; Burke County Sheriff's Department; Gregory T. Coursey, Sheriff, Individually and in his Official Capacity as Sheriff of the Burke County Sheriff's Department; Johnny Patterson, Sergeant, Individually and in His Capacity for the Burke County Sheriff's Department; Robert L. Saulsberry, Sergeant, Individually and in his Official Capacity for the Burke County Sheriff's Department; Wayne Scott, Lt., Individually and in his Official Capacity for Burke County; John H. Bush, Jr., Capt., Individually and in his Official Capacity for the Burke County Sheriff's Department; City Of Midville; Midville Police Department, Bruce Anderson, Chief of Police, Individually and in his Official Capacity as the Chief of Police for the City of Midville; Leroy Morgan, Investigator, Individually and in His Official Capacity for the City of Midville Police Department; Wesley Lewis, Sergeant, Individually and in His Official Capacity for the City of Midville Police Department, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Georgia

285 F.Supp.2d 1310

Leroy BUNYON, Plaintiff, v. BURKE COUNTY; Burke County Sheriff's Department; Gregory T. Coursey, Sheriff, Individually and in his Official Capacity as Sheriff of the Burke County Sheriff's Department; Johnny Patterson, Sergeant, Individually and in His Capacity for the Burke County Sheriff's Department; Robert L. Saulsberry, Sergeant, Individually and in his Official Capacity for the Burke County Sheriff's Department; Wayne Scott, Lt., Individually and in his Official Capacity for Burke County; John H. Bush, Jr., Capt., Individually and in his Official Capacity for the Burke County Sheriff's Department; City Of Midville; Midville Police Department, Bruce Anderson, Chief of Police, Individually and in his Official Capacity as the Chief of Police for the City of Midville; Leroy Morgan, Investigator, Individually and in His Official Capacity for the City of Midville Police Department; Wesley Lewis, Sergeant, Individually and in His Official Capacity for the City of Midville Police Department, Defendants.

No. CV-102-007.

United States District Court, S.D. Georgia, Augusta Division.

September 30, 2003.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Wade K. Copeland, Richard M. Pierro, Jr., Carlock, Copeland, Semler & Stair, LLP, Atlanta, GA, for Plaintiff.

Maren R. Frost, M. Diane Owens, Christopher D. Balch, Swift, Currie, McGhee & Hiers, LLP, Atlanta, GA, for Defendants, Burke County, Burke County Sheriff's Department, Gregory T. Coursey, Johnny Patterson, Robert L. Saulsberry, Wayne Scott, and John H. Bush, Jr. Phillip E. Friduss, Cynthia A. Daley, Hall, Booth, Smith & Slover, PC, Atlanta, GA, Michael G. Frick, Hall, Booth, Smith & Slover, PC, Brunswick, GA, for Defendants, City of Midville, Midville Police Department, Bruce Anderson, Leroy Morgan and Wesley Lewis.

ORDER

BOWEN, Chief District Judge.

Plaintiff Leroy Bunyon ("Bunyon") filed suit in the above-captioned case pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against twelve defendants: (1) Burke County, Burke County Sheriff's Department, Gregory T. Coursey, Johnny Patterson, Robert Saulsberry, Wayne Scott and John H. Bush, Jr. (collectively "the Burke County defendants"); and (2) City of Midville, Midville Police Department, Bruce Anderson, Leroy Morgan, and Wesley Lewis (collectively "the Midville defendants"). Presently before the Court are three motions: (1) a motion for summary judgment by the Burke County defendants (Doc. No. 45); (2) a motion for summary judgment by the Midville defendants (Doc. No. 51); and (3) a motion for partial summary judgment by Bunyon (Doc. No. 57). For reasons stated more fully below, the Midville defendants' motion is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. Furthermore, Bunyon's motion for partial summary judgment is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. By Order of even date herewith the Court's consideration of the Burke County defendants' motion and Bunyon's motion regarding the Burke County defendants will be held in abeyance until further briefing is complete. A recently issued opinion from the Eleventh Circuit has potentially changed the analysis of liability for Sheriffs, Sheriffs' deputies, and jail personnel and may hold great import for the Burke County defendants. See Manders v. Lee, 338 F.3d 1304 (11th Cir.2003). The parties have been invited to submit briefs on the effect of the Manders case on the liability of the Burke County defendants.

I. BACKGROUND

A. The Arrest and Detention of Leroy Bunyon

On July 12, 2000 and August 14, 2000, two citations were issued to Plaintiff Leroy Bunyon ("Bunyon") for under-age possession of alcohol and under-age consumption of alcohol, respectively. (Doc. No. 76 ¶ 1.) The Court hearings for these two citations were scheduled for August 29, 2000 and September 26, 2000 (id. ¶ 2), but Bunyon did not appear for either hearing (Doc. No. 54 ¶ 3). Following Bunyon's failure to appear, Defendants assert that the Midville Recorders Court Clerk mailed a DPS-912 notice to Plaintiff's last known address (id. ¶ 4), the purpose of which was to inform Bunyon of his failure to appear and to instruct him that he had twenty (20) days to clear his fines and court costs before any further action against him was taken. (Id. ¶ 5.) Bunyon, however, denies ever seeing the Notice (Doc. No. 84 ¶ 4), and he never paid his fines nor appeared in court. (Id. ¶ 6.)

In November 2000, Judge Charles Hillis ("Judge Hillis") apparently began the process of issuing a bench warrant due to Bunyon's failure to appear in court, but the warrant was never completed nor served and the incomplete document lay in Bunyon's court file for several months. (Doc. No. 54 ¶¶ 7 & 8.)

On March 5, 2001, Defendant Leroy Morgan ("Morgan"), who is a part-time investigator for the City of Midville (located in Burke County) and a full-time Deputy Marshall with neighboring Jefferson County, reviewed the court records and noted that Bunyon had failed to appear for his scheduled hearings. (Id. ¶¶ 9 & 10.) Defendants contend that Morgan was unaware that a previous bench warrant had been started but never served (id. ¶ 11) and claim that Morgan brought to Judge Hillis' attention the fact that Bunyon had failed to appear for prior hearings (id. ¶ 12). Bunyon denies this assertion. (Doc. No. 84 ¶ 12). Defendants maintain that both Morgan and Judge Hillis believed the bench warrant issued for Bunyon was for failure to appear. (Doc. No. 54 ¶ 13.) On March 5, 2001, Defendants assert that Judge Hillis issued a second bench warrant for Bunyon (id. ¶ 15).

The warrant issued on March 5, 2001 that eventually led to Bunyon's arrest is in sharp dispute. Bunyon, for example, disputes that a "bench warrant" was ever issued, stating that "[a]t no time was a bench warrant issued for the arrest of the Plaintiff." (Doc. No. 84 ¶ 15.) Bunyon further asserts that he was eventually arrested pursuant to a "warrant for arrest." (Doc. No. 59 ¶ 26.) Defendants contend that, in fact, Bunyon was arrested pursuant to a "bench warrant." (Doc. No. 87 ¶ 26.) Defendants explain, "the warrant signed by Judge Hillis is captioned `Warrant for Arrest' but [they] deny the warrant was anything other than a bench warrant for failure to appear." (Id. ¶ 27.) Despite the assertion by Defendants that the warrant was issued for Bunyon's failure to appear in court, they admit that "[t]he warrant references only the charge of under-age drinking and does not include the charge of failing to appear." (Doc. No. 59 ¶ 28; Doc. No. 87 ¶ 28.) Further, the parties do not agree on who issued the warrant: Bunyon insists that the warrant was actually issued by Harry Whitehead, Mayor of Midville, at the insistence of Morgan (Doc. No. 59 ¶ 31), while Defendants counter that the warrant was issued by Judge Hillis, who "had previously ordered the issuance of [it]" (Doc. No. 87 ¶ 29). Prior to the arrest of Bunyon, Morgan had never arrested anyone pursuant to a bench warrant for the City of Midville. (Doc. No. 59 ¶ 34.)

Following the issuance of the warrant on March 5, 2001, Morgan stopped a vehicle driven by Cynthia Kirkland ("Kirkland"), Bunyon's sister, in Jefferson County on March 13, 2001 for the purpose of arresting Leroy Bunyon ("Bunyon"), a passenger. (Id. ¶¶ 1 & 2.) Defendants assert that Morgan effected the arrest pursuant to the warrant that had been issued on March 5, 2001. (Id. ¶ 3.) Defendants further claim that Morgan stated to Bunyon that he was under arrest for failure to appear at his hearings (Doc. No. 54 ¶ 18); Bunyon counters that Morgan actually told him that "he was being arrested for the two tickets issued for under age drinking" (Doc. No. 84 ¶ 18). Defendants maintain that Morgan informed Kirkland that she could contact the City Clerk to find out the amount of Bunyon's fines in order to have him released from jail (Doc. No. 54 ¶ 19); again, Bunyon claims that "Morgan did not inform the Plaintiff's sister ... that she could contact the City Clerk to find out the amount of the Plaintiff's fine" (Doc. No. 84 ¶ 19). Indeed, Defendants claim that Kirkland visited the Clerk's Office on or about two days after Bunyon's arrest in an effort to pay his fines, but was unable to do so because she did not have enough money. (Doc. No. 54 ¶ 20.) Bunyon states that rather than not having enough money to pay his fine, Kirkland was told by Morgan that Bunyon could not be released until he appeared before a judge, and thus Kirkland did not attempt to return to pay Bunyon's fines. (Doc. No. 84 ¶ 20.)

Following the arrest, Morgan took Bunyon to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department for holding until he had finished his responsibilities for Jefferson County, his other employer. (Id. ¶ 6.) Bunyon contends that he was "arrested sometime between four and six o'clock on the early evening of March 13, 2001, [but] the booking report at the Burke County Jail indicates that [he] was not processed in until eleven o'clock that evening." (Doc. No. 83 ¶ 3.) Approximately a half hour after arriving at the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, Morgan took Bunyon to the Midville Police Department. (Id. ¶ 7.) Once at the Police Department, Bunyon was questioned regarding some unsolved burglaries that had taken place in the Midville area. (Id. ¶ 8; Doc. No. 76 ¶ 3.) Bunyon asserts that "Morgan conceded that no one had ever claimed they saw Leroy involved in the burglaries" (Doc. No. 59 ¶ 8.), but Morgan insists that he "had received information that `Mr. Bunyon was seen in those areas, known areas during the time frame of the burglaries'" (Doc. No. 87 ¶ 8). Morgan acknowledges that he did not have probable cause to arrest Bunyon in connection with the burglaries. (Doc. No. 59 ¶ 9.) After Bunyon was interrogated, Morgan and Wesley Lewis ("Lewis"), an officer of the Midville Police Department, transferred Bunyon to the Burke County Jail in Waynesboro, Georgia, where he was incarcerated (id. ¶ 10); the arrest warrant was also transferred to Burke County (id.). The transfer to the Burke County Jail was necessary...