Cooper v. Lister, Civil Action 1:21-cv-00324-C
| Docket Number | Civil Action 1:21-cv-00324-C |
| Decision Date | 13 January 2023 |
| Parties | RANDOLPH CLAY COOPER, an Individual, Plaintiff, v. SHAWN LUCAS LISTER, an Individual; AARON GLASS, an Individual; ZACH KUIKEN, an Individual; and the TOWN OF LOXLEY, ALABAMA, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Alabama |
This matter is before the Court on the Motion for Summary Judgment filed by the Defendants Shawn Lucas Lister, Aaron Glass, Zach Kuiken (the “Defendant officers”), and the Town of Loxley, Alabama (Doc. 51). The parties have filed briefs and evidentiary materials in support of their respective positions (Doc. 52, 53, 54, 58, 59, 60, 61, and 64) including bodycam videos which the court has reviewed (Doc 54, 61). The Court heard oral argument from the parties on November 29, 2022. The motion is ripe for review. After careful consideration of the parties' briefs and arguments, the Court grants the Defendants' motion for summary judgment.
The Plaintiff Randolph Clay Cooper (“Clay”) filed this lawsuit on July 22, 2021, seeking damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for alleged violation of his constitutional rights arising out of his arrest by Defendants, Lister, Glass and Kuiken on May 27, 2020 and against the Town of Loxley for an alleged deliberate policy or custom of indifference in failing to train and/or supervise its officers (Doc. 2). The last amended complaint, filed on March 22, 2022, contains a first cause of action against the Defendant officers for violation of his Fourth Amended rights arising out of his arrest on May 27, 2020 and a second cause of action against Defendant Kuiken for violation of his Fourth Amendment rights for malicious prosecution leading to a grand jury indictment and his subsequent arrest on May 24, 2021, for theft of hay (Doc. 36). In the second cause of action the Plaintiff has merged this malicious prosecution claim with a claim against the Town of Loxley, alleging that the actions of the Defendant officers resulted from deficiencies in the training and supervision of those officers and from a deliberate policy of indifference by the Town to the need for such training and supervision with the knowledge of on-going civil litigation between Clay and his siblings. (Doc. 36, ¶ 37, PageID.117).
On April 5, 2022, the Defendants answered the Plaintiff's last amended complaint asserting qualified immunity, among other defenses (Doc. 39, PageID.126). Defendants filed a motion for summary judgment on September 16, 2022 (Docs. 51, 52 & 53).
1. David Bonner (“David”) and Rebecca Anne Bonner ("Becky") are the record title owners of a 10.1-acre parcel, located at 19540 County Road 64 in Baldwin County, Alabama. Becky and David acquired this parcel from Becky's mother, Carol Evans Cooper (“Carol”), who conveyed it to them in her capacity as trustee of the Carol Evans Cooper Revocable Living Trust (the "Carol RLT") by quitclaim deed recorded on March 10, 2011, reserving to herself a life estate (Doc. 52-8, PageID.220). The legal description was subsequently corrected by a Scrivener's Affidavit recorded on November 29, 2011. (Doc. 52-9, PageID.222). This 10.1-acre parcel had been carved out of a larger 110-acre parcel (the “Farm Property”), which had been earlier conveyed to the Carol RLT by Carol, as personal representative of the estate of her husband, Nolan P. Cooper, Jr. (“Nolan, Jr.”) (Doc. 52-5, PageID.176-77).
2. As shown in the record, and as confirmed by counsel at the hearing on the motion for summary judgment, it is undisputed that this 10.1-acre parcel was the property on which Clay was operating a tractor and on which he was arrested for trespass by the Defendant officers on May 27, 2020. (Deposition of Clay Cooper at 23:2-17) (Doc. 60-9, PageID.1031). It is also undisputed that this was the property from which Clay took certain hay bales, leading to his indictment and subsequent arrest on May 24, 2021, for theft of hay.
3. The 10.1-acre parcel deeded to Becky and David included a residence where Carol and her husband, Nolan, Jr., had lived and raised their three children, Becky, Clay, and Garland Terrance Cooper (“Terry”) (Deposition of Rebecca Bonner at 52:16-22) (Doc. 52-10, PageID.235). At the time of the conveyance in 2011, Carol was still living on the 10.1-acre parcel. Because she was sick, David and Becky had moved in to take care of her. (Rebecca Bonner at 49:19-21) (Doc. 52-10, PageID.232).
4. Following his mother's death in April of 2012, Clay began filing lawsuits in state court against his siblings, Becky and Terry, claiming that certain assets of Nolan, Jr.'s estate, including the 10.1-acre parcel, should have been placed in a unified credit trust created in his father's will (hereinafter the “Nolan UCT"). Carol was the trustee and sole beneficiary of the Nolan UCT during her lifetime and upon her death any remaining trust assets were distributable in equal shares to Nolan Jr.'s children, Becky, Clay and Terry (Doc. 52-4, PageID.167-68). Clay complained that these assets, instead of being placed in the Nolan UCT, were conveyed by his mother Carol, as personal representative of Nolan, Jr.'s estate, to herself or to the Carol RLT, under which the trust assets were distributable to Becky and Terry, but not to him. See Carol RLT, Art. I (Doc. 52-6, PageID.196).
5. Clay's 2012 and 2015 lawsuits are described in the November 16, 2018, decision of the Alabama Supreme Court in Cooper v. Cooper, 279 So.3d 561 (Ala. 2018), reh'g denied (Ala. Jan. 4, 2019). (Doc. 52-11, PageID.247-252). In 2012, following his mother's death in April of 2012, Clay sued Becky, Terry, David, and Diane Porter, an attorney and accountant, alleging that, at Becky's direction, his mother Carol reopened Nolan, Jr.'s estate in 2008 and wrongfully transferred property, including property that should have been in the Nolan UCT, to herself or to the Carol RLT. Id. at 563, PageID.248. Clay sought a full accounting of all assets "held by [Mr. Cooper's] trust or rightfully belonging to [that trust], including those which already have been dissipated, transferred or sold." Id., PageID.248-249 (brackets in original). He also sought a judgment "requiring that one-third of the assets which should have funded [Mr. Cooper's trust], but which were instead diverted to the Carol Cooper Revocable Trust(s), and thereafter to Becky and [Becky's husband], be distributed to [Clay] (and likewise to Terry)." Id., PageID.249 (). Finally, he sought a judgment "ordering the partition and sale, or alternatively the equitable distribution of [Mr. Cooper's trust] assets, in accordance with the Nolan Cooper will and [Mr. Cooper's trust]." Id. (brackets in original). The circuit court entered a summary judgment without opinion in favor of the defendants, and on appeal, the judgment was unanimously affirmed by the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals without opinion on September 12, 2014. Id. (citing Cooper v. Bonner, 190 So.3d 60 (Ala. Civ. App. 2014) (table)).
6. The opinion in Cooper v. Cooper further describes the 2015 litigation, commenced by Clay in March of 2015, after losing the 2012 lawsuit, in which he sought a termination of the Nolan UCT and distribution of the corpus of that trust, "including the appreciated value of any assets which this court determines should have been included as assets of the testamentary trust," to Clay, Terry and Becky, the beneficiaries of that trust, and also sought a complete accounting of that trust since the day it was funded. Id. The trial court granted summary judgment to Becky and Terry. Id. at 565, PageID.250. On Clay's appeal, the Supreme Court affirmed based on res judicata. It held that the 2015 lawsuit sought the same relief that had been sought in the 2012 lawsuit and involved the same parties, and that both arose out of the same nucleus of operative facts. Id. at 567, PageID.251-52.
7. On May 10, 2015, while the 2015 litigation was pending, a fire broke out in the residence where Becky and David Bonner were living on the 10.1-acre parcel. (Rebecca Bonner at 42:12-19) (Doc. 52-10, PageID.226). Five days later, tires were slashed on a truck and trailer in their barn (Id. at 42:21-22). In August, numerous tires were slashed on vehicles in their carport and yard and on Terry's mother-in-law's car, and screens were slashed on Terry's back porch (Id. at 43:1-2, 44:3-14) (Doc. 52-10, PageID.227-228). Because neither Becky nor Terry had any enemies who would do such a thing, Becky was suspicious and believed Clay was responsible for the vandalism (Id. at 45:9-12; 46:10-13) (Doc. 52-10, PageID. 228-229). Because of the fear these acts of vandalism generated, Becky and David moved off the 10.1 acres (Id. at 48:11-14) (Doc. 52-10, PageID.231). They put deer cameras up on the property because they were frightened someone was after them. The only person they could imagine who might have a vendetta against them was Clay. He had threatened and harassed their mother to the point she had to get a restraining order (Id. at 54:9-15) (Doc. 52-10, PageID.236).
8. Clay was thereafter caught on the camera driving through the 10.1-acre parcel on February 15, 2017. Eight days later, Becky swore out a warrant for his arrest for criminal trespass with the Baldwin County Sheriff's Department. Clay was arrested on the warrant on September 15, 2019 (Rebecca Bonner at 50:7-52:15; Pltf's Ex. 1) (Doc. 52-10, PageID.233, 241-243). Becky was never notified of the trial date....
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