Campbell v. City of San Antonio

• Decision Date: 19 January 1995
• Docket Number: No. 93-8117,93-8117
• Citation: 43 F.3d 973
• Parties: Gloria CAMPBELL, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF SAN ANTONIO, et al., Defendants-Appellees. City of San Antonio & George R. Vidal, Individually and in His Official Capacity as Detective with the San Antonio Police Department, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 973

43 F.3d 973

Gloria CAMPBELL, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF SAN ANTONIO, et al., Defendants-Appellees City of San Antonio & George R. Vidal, Individually and in His Official Capacity as Detective with the San Antonio Police Department, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 93-8117.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

Jan. 19, 1995.

Gregory W. Canfield, San Antonio, TX, for appellant.

Charles Straith Frigerio, Trial Sect., Hector Xavier Saenz, Legal Dept., San Antonio, TX, for San Antonio Police Officer and City of San Antonio.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.

Before GARWOOD and EMILIO M. GARZA, Circuit Judges, and HEAD, ^* District Judge.

GARWOOD, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiff-appellant Gloria Campbell (Campbell) appeals the dismissal of her federal civil rights and pendent state law claims, in which she sought damages for injuries allegedly caused by her arrest for delivery of crack cocaine. We affirm.

Facts and Proceedings Below

On April 13, 1990, defendant George R. Vidal (Vidal), a detective with the San Antonio Police Department (SAPD), bought a small amount of crack cocaine from a woman named Gloria Smothers. In August 1990, Vidal, using SAPD identification equipment and procedures, concluded that Gloria Smothers was actually plaintiff Gloria Jean Campbell, whose maiden name was Smotherman. On September 4, 1990, Vidal identified Campbell as Gloria Smothers in a photographic lineup, using Campbell's Texas driver's license photograph. Although not specifically alleged in the complaint, Campbell asserted at oral argument that Vidal set forth his conclusions in a report furnished to the local district attorney's office, as a result of which Campbell was indicted by the grand jury for the April 13, 1990, incident.

Following the return of the grand jury indictment, officers of the SAPD arrested Campbell in February 1991 on the charge of delivery of less than twenty-eight ounces of crack cocaine. It is not alleged that Vidal was one of the arresting officers. Campbell alleges that she was released from the Bexar County Jail later that day on $15,000 bond, that she was arraigned in state district court on March 25, 1991, and that in July 1991, after several court appearances and a voluntary lie detector test, the charges against her were dismissed due to insufficient evidence.

On April 29, 1992, Campbell filed this suit in Texas state court seeking damages for alleged constitutional violations and negligence on the part of the defendants leading to and arising out of her arrest for delivery of crack cocaine. Named as defendants were the City of San Antonio, Texas (the City); Bexar County, Texas; and Harlon Copeland in his official capacity as Sheriff of Bexar County. The defendants removed the lawsuit to the district court below on the strength of Campbell's federal civil rights claims brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983. Thereafter, in October 1992, Campbell amended her complaint to include claims against Vidal, individually and in his official capacity as a detective with the SAPD. Defendants Bexar County and Sheriff Copeland moved for dismissal pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) or, in the alternative, for summary judgment. Vidal and the City subsequently filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6). Campbell responded to both motions. The district court granted the 12(b)(6) motions and dismissed the action.

Campbell timely appealed this ruling. ¹

Discussion

In dismissing the claims against Vidal and the City, the district court ruled that (1) Vidal, individually, was entitled to qualified immunity on the civil rights claims for the mistaken arrest of Campbell; (2) Campbell failed to allege specific facts demonstrating an official policy or custom as a basis for liability of the City and Vidal, in his official capacity, on the civil rights claims; and (3) Campbell's state law negligence claims against Vidal and the City were not cognizable under the Texas Tort Claims Act. TEX.CIV.PRAC. & REM.CODE ANN. Secs. 101.001, et seq. (Vernon 1986).

We review the district court's order of dismissal pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) de novo, accepting all well-pleaded facts as true and viewing those facts in the light most favorable to Campbell. Walker v. S. Cent. Bell Tel. Co., 904 F.2d 275, 276 (5th Cir.1990); Heaney v. United States Veterans Admin., 756 F.2d 1215, 1217 (5th Cir.1985). Our review is narrow: we will not uphold the dismissal " 'unless it appears beyond doubt that [Campbell] can prove no set of facts in support of [her] claim which would entitle [her] to relief.' " Heaney, 756 F.2d at 1217 (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45, 78 S.Ct. 99, 101-02, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957)). However, "the complaint must contain either direct allegations on every material point necessary to sustain a recovery ... or contain allegations from which an inference fairly may be drawn that evidence on these material points will be introduced at trial." 3 Wright & Miller, FEDERAL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE: CIVIL 2d Sec. 1216 at 156-159 (footnote omitted). "[A] statement of facts that merely creates a suspicion that the pleader might have a right of action" is insufficient. Id. at 163 (footnote omitted). "Dismissal is proper if the complaint lacks an allegation regarding a required element necessary to obtain relief ..." 2A MOORE'S FEDERAL PRACTICE p 12.07 [2.-5] at 12-91 (footnote omitted). The court is not required to "conjure up unpled allegations or construe elaborately arcane scripts to" save a complaint. Gooley v. Mobil Oil Corp., 851 F.2d 513, 514 (1st Cir.1988). Further, "conclusory allegations or legal conclusions masquerading as factual conclusions will not suffice to prevent a motion to dismiss." Fernandez-Montes v. Allied Pilots Ass'n, 987 F.2d 278, 284 (5th Cir.1993).

I. Federal Constitutional Violations

A. Claims Against Vidal Individually

In considering Campbell's section 1983 claims against Vidal, our first inquiry is whether Campbell was deprived of a right secured by the Constitution. Baker v. McCollan, 443 U.S. 137, 138-40, 99 S.Ct. 2689, 2692, 61 L.Ed.2d 433 (1979). All injuries complained of in Campbell's complaint stem from her arrest for delivery of crack cocaine. Campbell does not, however, challenge her arrest on appeal. ² Indeed, even before the district court, Campbell agreed that she had been arrested pursuant to a valid warrant. ³ See Baker at 142-46, 99 S.Ct. at 2694-95; Simons v. Clemons, 752 F.2d 1053, 1055 (5th Cir.1985) (plaintiff asserted no deprivation of constitutional right where she was arrested on a facially valid warrant because of an honest mistake).

Campbell has conceded that she was named in the arrest warrant and that it was valid. ⁴ She has also conceded that the warrant was based on a grand jury indictment, which itself establishes probable cause. "A warrant of arrest can be based upon an indictment because the grand jury's determination that probable cause existed for the indictment also establishes that element for the purpose of issuing a warrant for the apprehension of the person so charged." Giordenello v. United States, 357 U.S. 480, 487, 78 S.Ct. 1245, 1250, 2 L.Ed.2d 1503 (1958). See also Gerstein v. Pugh, 420 U.S. 103, 117 n. 19, 95 S.Ct. 854, 865 n. 19, 43 L.Ed.2d 54 (1975) (indictment "conclusively determines the existence of probable cause and requires issuance of an arrest warrant without further inquiry"); Ex parte United States, 287 U.S. 241, 248-50, 53 S.Ct. 129, 131, 77 L.Ed. 283 (1932); Beavers v. Henkel, 194 U.S. 73, 86-88, 24 S.Ct. 605, 608, 48 L.Ed. 882 (1904).

Because Campbell does not pursue a Fourth Amendment claim on appeal, the only facts before us which may form the basis of the alleged constitutional violation, therefore, are Vidal's actions in identifying Campbell as the woman known as Gloria Smothers five months after he purchased the crack cocaine. ⁵ We must determine whether her claims based upon Vidal's mistaken identification amount to a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause. The Supreme Court has observed that, "[u]nlike a warrantless search, a suggestive preindictment identification procedure does not in itself intrude upon a constitutionally protected interest." Manson v. Brathwaite, 432 U.S. 98, 113 n. 13, 97 S.Ct. 2243, 2252 n. 13, 53 L.Ed.2d 140 (1977). Campbell has not asserted that the procedures used by Vidal to identify her were suggestive, nor that Vidal acted intentionally in misidentifying her as the woman who had sold him the crack cocaine. Her sole allegation is that her injuries were caused by Vidal's negligence in arriving at, and acting in some unspecified way upon, the mistaken identification. The Supreme Court has held that the negligent act of a state official which results in unintended harm to life, liberty, or property, does not implicate the Due Process Clause. Daniels v. Williams, 474 U.S. 327, 328-29, 106 S.Ct. 662, 663, 88 L.Ed.2d 662 (1986). See also Herrera v. Millsap, 862 F.2d 1157, 1160 (5th Cir.1989) (arresting officers not liable for mistaken arrest where, as a result of negligence, civil rights plaintiff's name was submitted to grand jury instead of that of suspect); Simmons v. McElveen, 846 F.2d 337 (5th Cir.1988) (negligent detention following valid arrest not actionable under section 1983, citing Daniels ).

Campbell had no constitutional right to be protected from Vidal's merely negligent conclusion that she was the suspect who had sold him the crack cocaine. ⁶ The district court correctly ruled that she did not assert a section 1983 claim against Vidal, individually, upon which relief could be granted.

B. Claims Against the City

A municipality may be held liable under section 1983 for a deprivation of rights protected by the Constitution or federal law only if that deprivation is inflicted pursuant to an official, municipal policy. Such a policy may include "a persistent, widespread practice of...