Chilcoat v. San Juan Cnty.

• Decision Date: 22 July 2022
• Docket Number: 21-4039
• Citation: 41 F.4th 1196
• Parties: Rosalie CHILCOAT, an individual, Plaintiff Counter Defendant - Appellant, v. SAN JUAN COUNTY, a political subdivision of the state of Utah; Kendall G. Laws, Defendants - Appellees, and Zane Odell, Defendant Counterclaimant, v. Mark Franklin, Counter Defendant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

41 F.4th 1196

Rosalie CHILCOAT, an individual, Plaintiff Counter Defendant - Appellant,

v.SAN JUAN COUNTY, a political subdivision of the state of Utah; Kendall G. Laws, Defendants - Appellees,andZane Odell, Defendant Counterclaimant,

v.Mark Franklin, Counter Defendant.

No. 21-4039

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

FILED July 22, 2022

Karra J. Porter (Anna P. Christiansen and Amber D. Stargell with her on the briefs), Christensen & Jensen, P.C., Salt Lake City, Utah, for Plaintiff – Appellant.

R. Blake Hamilton (Ashley M. Gregson and Ryan M. Stephens with him on the brief), Dentons Durham Jones Pinegar, P.C., Salt Lake City, Utah, for Defendants – Appellees.

Before CARSON, BRISCOE, and ROSSMAN, Circuit Judges.

ROSSMAN, Circuit Judge.

Rosalie Chilcoat appeals the district court's orders granting Defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c) and denying leave to amend her complaint under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a)(2). Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm the grant of judgment on the pleadings, reverse the denial of leave to amend, and remand for further proceedings.

BACKGROUND

I. Underlying Facts¹

This appeal begins with the closing of a corral gate in San Juan County, Utah. Zane Odell is a cattle rancher. He has a permit to graze his cattle in parts of San Juan County on land held by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management ("BLM") and the Utah School and Institutional Trust Land Administration. On the morning of April 1, 2017, Mr. Odell left his corral gate open so his cattle could graze on state and federal public land and then return home to get water on his property. That same evening, Mr. Odell noticed that his corral gate had been shut and latched. Mr. Odell called the San Juan County Sheriff's Department and reported the situation, explaining that but for a 10-foot gap in his fence, the closure of the corral gate risked depriving his cattle of water. Sergeant Wilcox came out to investigate. Mr. Odell and Sergeant Wilcox reviewed video footage from Mr. Odell's trail camera. The video showed an SUV towing a trailer come and go near the corral gate. Part of the SUV's license plate number was visible. The SUV belonged to Rosalie Chilcoat and her husband.

Ms. Chilcoat had long been interested in environmental advocacy for public lands in San Juan County. As of April 1, 2017, Ms. Chilcoat belonged to two environmental organizations: The Great Old Broads for Wilderness and Friends of Cedar Mesa. Each group took positions on public land use allegedly opposed by Mr. Odell. Ms. Chilcoat had "documented and reported information to the BLM [about public grazing] and attempted to affect BLM management through proper channels." Aplt. App. vol. 1 at 24. She previously complained to BLM about Mr. Odell's use of public land. Ms. Chilcoat also had publicly supported criminal charges against former San Juan County Commissioner Philip Lyman after he "led a protest ride of off-road vehicles through Recapture Canyon." Id. at 27. And when Commissioner Lyman was convicted of federal criminal conspiracy, "Ms. Chilcoat had publicly applauded the conviction in local news media, and [Commissioner] Lyman had publicly blamed Ms. Chilcoat for his criminal conviction." Id.

On April 3, 2017, a few days after Mr. Odell reported the gate closure, Ms. Chilcoat and her husband were driving on the county road near Mr. Odell's property. Mr. Odell was out working in his corral and recognized Ms. Chilcoat's SUV from the trail-camera footage. Mr. Odell and two other ranchers caught up to Ms. Chilcoat and her husband and detained them by blocking the public roadway. Mr. Odell called the San Juan County Sheriff's Department and was told Ms. Chilcoat and her husband should not be allowed to leave until the deputy arrived. While waiting for the deputy, Mr. Odell accused Ms. Chilcoat and her husband of criminal activity and threatened them with jail time.

When Deputy Begay arrived, he asked Ms. Chilcoat's husband if he shut Mr. Odell's gate two days earlier. Ms. Chilcoat's husband responded that he had shut the gate but knew Mr. Odell's fence had an opening for the cows to enter the corral. Deputy Begay asked Ms. Chilcoat for her name. She responded with her first name, "Rosalie." Deputy Begay then asked whether her last name was "Franklin," like her husband's. Ms. Chilcoat responded, "Yes."² Deputy Begay then told Ms. Chilcoat and her husband they could go.

Two days later, Ms. Chilcoat emailed the local BLM office. The email described the April 3 incident near Mr. Odell's corral and lodged a complaint about Mr. Odell:

[My husband and I were] accosted by three cowboys (one of whom I believe was Zane O'Dell [sic] and one who I believe was Zeb Dalton and one unknown to me) who physically blocked our vehicle, accused us of criminal activity, threatened us with jail, and prevented our return to the highway. This was a distressing and fearful experience for both of us. My husband was falsely accused of preventing livestock from reaching water. The San Juan County Sheriff was called, responded, spoke with us and cleared us to leave.

As visitors to our public lands who have long been interested in public lands grazing and have documented and reported information to the BLM and attempted to affect BLM management through proper channels, this assault and behavior by BLM permittees is unacceptable. I would like to lodge a complaint and ask that this complaint be included in these permittee[s’] files ....

Aplt. App. vol. 1 at 24. Ms. Chilcoat attached a zip file of photographs to her email. The record suggests these photographs depicted ponds on BLM land where Mr. Odell was permitted to graze his cattle. Id. at 61-63, 72-73. According to Mr. Odell, Ms. Chilcoat submitted these photographs to BLM to indicate he was violating the scope of his BLM permit. Id. at 72-73.

Over the next few days, Ms. Chilcoat's husband made several unsuccessful attempts to reach Sergeant Wilcox about the April 3 incident. On April 7, 2017, Sergeant Wilcox presented information about the April 3 incident to the San Juan County Prosecutor, Kendall Laws. Sergeant Wilcox provided Prosecutor Laws with statements from Mr. Odell and one of the ranchers at the scene on April 3. Sergeant Wilcox also informed Prosecutor Laws about Ms. Chilcoat's affiliation with the Great Old Broads for Wilderness organization.

On April 11, 2017, Prosecutor Laws charged Ms. Chilcoat with two misdemeanors: Trespassing on Trust Land (Animal Enterprise)³ and False Personal Information to a Peace Officer.⁴ On April 18, Prosecutor Laws escalated the criminal prosecution against Ms. Chilcoat, adding two felony charges: Attempted Wanton Destruction of Livestock (Animal Enterprise)⁵ and Retaliation Against a Witness, Victim, or Informant.⁶

Seven months later, the Utah state court held a preliminary hearing to determine whether there was probable cause to support the charges against Ms. Chilcoat. As relevant to this appeal, Prosecutor Laws argued there was probable cause to support the witness retaliation charge because, in her April 5 email to BLM, Ms. Chilcoat had described the April 3 incident as an "assault." The state judge rejected this argument and asked the prosecution if any other evidence supported probable cause. Prosecutor Laws answered affirmatively:

Yes, Your Honor. So the side that—the other false allegation that is made in the [email] complaint is with regards to the scope of these repairs to ponds and things like that. And there would be sufficient evidence to show that some of the exhibits that were presented to the BLM with that letter were embellished or changed, altered to make those repairs look worse than they are. So, yeah, if you want to take the assault out, I think there's more than enough to move forward.

Aplt. App. vol. 1 at 135-36. The judge ruled Ms. Chilcoat would be bound over for trial on the witness retaliation charge but warned Prosecutor Laws that his theory of prosecution would be limited to proving her BLM complaint was not made in good faith.⁷ "You said you want to do it and so I'll let you have a crack at [proving the witness retaliation charge]," the court told Prosecutor Laws, but "the only way you can proceed on that one is [based on] non-good faith ... information outside of the assault, the use of the word assault." Id. at 139. According to Ms. Chilcoat, the state judge found probable cause supported the witness retaliation charge "based solely" on Prosecutor Laws's representation, which Ms. Chilcoat alleges was false, that she altered the photographs attached to her April 5 email to BLM. Id. at 18.⁸

Ms. Chilcoat's criminal trial was set for May 21, 2018. On April 9, Ms. Chilcoat filed a motion to "quash the bindover," challenging the state court's probable cause determination.⁹ On April 24, the state court denied her motion.¹⁰ Ms. Chilcoat then sought review in the Utah Court of Appeals. A week later, on May 1, 2018, Prosecutor Laws dropped the witness retaliation charge but continued to pursue the two remaining charges.

Meanwhile, the Utah Court of Appeals stayed Ms. Chilcoat's trial just a few days before it was set to begin and heard oral argument in her appeal. The appellate court directed the parties to file briefs explaining why the state court's probable cause determination should not be summarily reversed.¹¹ The State of Utah elected not to defend the state court's ruling. On July 19, 2018, the Utah Court of Appeals reversed the state court's probable cause determination, ultimately resulting in the dismissal with prejudice of all remaining criminal charges pending against Ms. Chilcoat.¹² About a year later, Ms. Chilcoat filed the lawsuit that is the subject of this appeal.

II. Procedural History

A. Ms. Chilcoat's original complaint

On April 10, 2019, Ms. Chilcoat sued Mr. Odell, Prosecutor Laws, and San Juan County in federal district court in Utah, alleging claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against...