Carbalan v. Vaughn
| Decision Date | 20 May 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 84-1558,84-1558 |
| Citation | 760 F.2d 662 |
| Parties | Irvin M. CARBALAN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Bill VAUGHN, Individually and as Marshal of the City of Buffalo, Texas, et al., Defendants-Appellees. Summary Calendar. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Charles W. Nichols, Palestine, Tex., for plaintiff-appellant.
Haley & Davis, Herbert S. Bristow, W.C. Haley, Waco, Tex., for defendants-appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.
Before REAVLEY, POLITZ and HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judges.
Irvin M. Carbalan filed this civil rights suit against the city of Buffalo, Texas, and its Municipal Judge, Ben Bagley, complaining that Judge Bagley denied his constitutional right to reasonable bail when he refused to accept two motor club cards in lieu of cash bail. 1 Carbalan convinced a jury that Judge Bagley denied him his right to reasonable bail, but won no relief: before trial the district court, finding that Judge Bagley was immune, dismissed all claims against him and the jury found that Buffalo had no policy approving Judge Bagley's bail rulings. Carbalan asserts on appeal (1) that the court abused its discretion in refusing him leave, after trial had begun, to amend his pleadings to seek declaratory and injunctive relief against Judge Bagley, (2) that the court erroneously instructed the jury on Buffalo's potential municipal liability, and (3) that because the jury found a constitutional violation he is a "prevailing" party, entitled to attorneys' fees under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1988. We affirm because we are persuaded that the court was within its discretion in denying leave to amend the complaint, that the city could not have been liable for Judge Bagley's rulings regardless of the correctness of the jury instructions, and that Carbalan did not prevail.
On March 31, 1980, Carbalan was arrested for driving with an expired motor vehicle registration and for failure to appear previously on that charge. The arrests were authorized by warrants issued by Judge Bagley who set bail at a total of $407 for the two offenses, the maximum amount permitted by Texas law. Carbalan tendered two motor club cards with arrest bond endorsements. The parties agree and we assume, that Texas law requires courts to accept such cards as equal to cash bail of up to $200 per card. According to Carbalan's uncontroverted testimony, when Judge Bagley said that he would not accept such cards under any circumstances, Carbalan telephoned his wife, who drove to the courthouse and wrote a personal check for $407, obtaining his release.
Carbalan's original and amended complaints sought only money damages against Judge Bagley and the city. The amended complaint and amended proposed pretrial order were filed the day before the trial began. Neither the pretrial order nor the amended complaint requested any declaratory or injunctive relief. After the jury had been selected, Carbalan sought leave to amend his complaint to seek declaratory and injunctive relief against Judge Bagley, which the court denied. Carbalan did so presumably because judges are not absolutely immune from suits seeking such relief. Pulliam v. Allen, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 1970, 80 L.Ed.2d 565 (1984).
Both sides agree that the evidence developed at trial showed that Buffalo exercised no control over Judge Bagley's conduct as a municipal judge, and that Judge Bagley had full responsibility for operating the municipal court. There was no evidence that any city official approved or was aware of Judge Bagley's "practice" of not accepting motor club cards. Indeed, the evidence of "practice" was the judge's statement that he would not take them under any circumstances. There was no other evidence that the issue was a recurring one.
The court submitted the issue of the city's liability to the jury, with instructions that Carbalan asserted that city officials allowed Judge Bagley's acts "to occur as a de facto policy of the city," and that the defendants "denied that any such de facto policy existed." The court did not define "de facto policy" or otherwise explain the elements of municipal liability under Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978). Carbalan requested that the court charge the jury that the city's "de facto policy" includes "the acts of those whose acts and edicts fairly represent the policy of the City of Buffalo." The court refused.
In response to special interrogatories, the jury found that Judge Bagley had "denied Plaintiff Carbalan his right to reasonable bail by refusing to accept the tendered motor club cards," but that the city did not have "a policy approving such action...." The jury, asked what sum of money would compensate Carbalan for damages sustained for the "policies of the City of Buffalo," answered "None." The court then entered a judgment that Carbalan take nothing. Finding that Carbalan had not "prevailed," it refused to award attorneys' fees under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1988.
Carbalan, citing the statement in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a) that leave to amend a complaint "shall be freely given when justice so requires," asks us to reverse the district court's denial of leave to amend his complaint to add claims for declaratory and injunctive relief against Judge Bagley. We can do so only if the court below abused its discretion. Bamm, Inc. v. GAF Corp., 651 F.2d 389, 391 (5th Cir.1981); Zenith Radio Corp. v. Hazeltine Research, Inc., 401 U.S. 321, 330, 91 S.Ct. 795, 802, 28 L.Ed.2d 77 (1971). A court's exercise of discretion to deny leave to amend is informed by "undue delay" and "undue prejudice to the opposing party." Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 182, 83 S.Ct. 227, 230, 9 L.Ed.2d 222 (1962).
Given the broad reach of judicial immunity the rejected amendment attempting, as it did, to slip past immunity and expose the judge to the threat of attorneys' fees presented a significant shift. As the case had long been framed, Judge Bagley's immunity defense was virtually certain and his expectation of dismissal at the outset of trial was justifiable; it is reasonable to infer that this expectation affected his trial preparation, a reality that while not lifted up on the record, was doubtlessly apparent to the trial judge. We cannot conclude that the district court abused its discretion in taking into account the lulling of Judge Bagley even though there is no suggestion that it was other than the product of oversight or inadvertence. Similarly, the court was within its discretion in denying leave to amend requested during the trial. See Daves v. Payless Cashways, Inc., 661 F.2d 1022, 1024-25 (...
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Pillsbury Co. v. Midland Enterprises, Inc., Civ. A. No. 87-5041.
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