Covey v. Assessor of Ohio Cnty.
| Decision Date | 26 January 2015 |
| Docket Number | No. 13–1227.,13–1227. |
| Citation | 777 F.3d 186 |
| Parties | Christopher J. COVEY; Lela G. Covey, Plaintiffs–Appellants, v. ASSESSOR OF OHIO COUNTY; Kathie Hoffman, Head Assessor; Roy Crews, Field Deputy; Unknown Assessor; Ohio County Sheriff ; Patrick Butler, Sheriff; Alex Espejo, Corporal; Ron White, Deputy; Nelson Croft, Lieutenant; Nichole Seifert, Officer; HNK, Unknown Officer; DLG, Unknown Officer; Department Of Justice–DEA ; Ohio Valley Drug Task Force; Ohio County Animal Shelter; Doug McCrosky, Supervisor; Unknown Dog Wardens (2); United States of America; Robert L. Manchas, S.A, Defendants–Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
ARGUED:Sean Eric Andrussier, Duke University School of Law, Durham, North Carolina, for Appellants. Thomas E. Buck, Bailey & Wyant, PLLC, Wheeling, West Virginia; Edward Himmelfarb, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.; Lee Murray Hall, Jenkins Fenstermaker, PLLC, Huntington, West Virginia, for Appellees. ON BRIEF:Shifali Baliga, Nicholas S. Brod, Erika M. Hyde, Students, Duke University School of Law, Durham, North Carolina, for Appellants. Stuart F. Delery, Assistant Attorney General, William J. Ihlenfeld, II, United States Attorney, Mark B. Stern, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Appellees United States of America, United States Department of Justice, and Robert L. Manchas, S.A. Sarah A. Walling, Jenkins Fenstermaker, PLLC, Huntington, West Virginia, for Appellee Ohio Valley Drug Task Force. Bruce M. Clark, Bailey & Wyant, PLLC, Wheeling, West Virginia, for Appellees Assessor of Ohio County, Kathie Hoffman, Head Assessor, Roy Crews, Field Deputy, Unknown Assessor, Ohio County Sheriff, Patrick Butler, Sheriff, Alex Espejo, Corporal, Ron White, Deputy, Nelson Croft, Lieutenant, Nichole Seifert, Officer, HNK, Unknown Officer, DLG, Unknown Officer, Ohio County Animal Shelter, Doug McCrosky, Supervisor, and Unknown Dog Wardens (2).
Before GREGORY, FLOYD, and THACKER, Circuit Judges.
Reversed and remanded by published opinion. Judge FLOYD wrote the opinion, in which Judge GREGORY and Judge THACKER joined.
As the Supreme Court recently reaffirmed, the Fourth Amendment protects both homes and the “land immediately surrounding and associated” with homes, known as curtilage, from unreasonable government intrusions. Florida v. Jardines, ––– U.S. ––––, 133 S.Ct. 1409, 1414, 185 L.Ed.2d 495 (2013). In this civil suit, Cristopher and Lela Covey allege that several government officials violated their Fourth Amendment rights by entering curtilage—here, a walk-out basement patio area attached to their home—in search of marijuana. In response, the defendants claim (among other things) that their searches were reasonable because they entered the curtilage only after viewing Mr. Covey from a proper vantage beyond the home's curtilage. The district court ultimately accepted the defendants' characterization of the searches, and so dismissed the case. In doing so, the district court failed to construe the complaint in the light most favorable to the Coveys, as it must when ruling on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss. Accordingly, we reverse and remand.
The Coveys appeal the dismissal of their complaint for failure to state a claim. Accordingly, we recount the facts as alleged by the Coveys in their complaint, accepting as true all well-pleaded facts. Owens v. Balt. City State's Attorneys Office, 767 F.3d 379, 388 (4th Cir.2014).
The Coveys live in a privately set home in the rural village of Valley Grove, West Virginia. Trees surround their home and obstruct it from view from any public place. For good measure, the couple has conspicuously posted two “No Trespassing” signs along the private driveway leading to their home.
A parking area for visitors is located outside the home's garage. The parking area is connected to the home's front door by a paved walkway running from the parking area's left side. A yard abuts the parking area's and home's right side. A covered “walk-out basement patio” attached to the home is also located on the right side, several feet from the driveway.1 J.A. 13.
Around noon on October 21, 2009, Roy Crews, a field deputy for the tax assessor of Ohio County, West Virginia, entered the Coveys' property to collect data to assess the value of the property for tax purposes. Despite seeing the “No Trespassing” signs, Crews continued up the driveway to the Coveys' house. He did so despite West Virginia's “standard visitation procedures,” which provide that a tax data collector such as Crews “is not to enter” a property if it “is posted with ‘No Trespassing’ signs.” W. Va.Code. R. § 189–2–3.5.
After finding no one at the home, Crews opened the front door and left a pamphlet inside. He then searched the house's curtilage, including the walk-out basement patio. There, Crews found marijuana. After leaving the residence, Crews contacted the county sheriff, Patrick Butler, to report that he found marijuana at the Coveys' house.
After receiving Crews's report, two law enforcement officers went to the Coveys' house to investigate: Corporal Alex Espejo of the Ohio County Sheriff's Office and DEA Special Agent Robert Manchas. By the time they arrived at the house, Mr. Covey had returned. According to the complaint, the officers “proceeded to park on the private driveway of [the Coveys'] residence in an area not normally used for visitor parking.” J.A. 13. They then “proceed[ed] to enter curtilage, specifically the walk-out basement patio area.” Id. “It was at that time that they came upon [Mr. Covey], who was working at his workbench.” Id. Although the complaint does not expressly state when the officers first saw Mr. Covey, construing the above allegations in his favor, it is reasonable to infer that they did not see him until after entering the curtilage.
The officers then seized Mr. Covey and escorted him to their car “parked off the driveway.” J.A. 13–14. After detaining Mr. Covey, Corporal Espejo “re-enter[ed] the walk-out basement patio area and conducted a search of the area.” J.A. 14. Likewise, Special Agent Manchas “re-entered [the] walk-out basement patio area, opened the basement doors, leaned inside and took photographs[,] and proceeded to seize evidence.” Id.
After seizing Mr. Covey, Corporal Espejo, Special Agent Manchas, and other officers (who arrived later) waited for several hours to obtain a warrant to search the house. During that time, Mrs. Covey returned home, and an officer warned her that she would be arrested if she entered the house. She was, however, allowed to leave the premises. An hour after leaving, Mrs. Covey allegedly returned and “was promptly unreasonably seized” and interrogated. J.A. 15. After Corporal Espejo returned with a search warrant, the Coveys were arrested and jailed overnight.
On March 30, 2010, Mr. Covey pleaded guilty in state court to manufacturing marijuana. Pursuant to a plea agreement, the government agreed not to “initiate any prosecution it does or could have against [Mrs. Covey] for the events connected to or arising” from the couple's arrest. J.A. 44. On May 21, 2010, Mr. Covey was sentenced to home confinement for a period of not less than one year and not more than five years.
On October 20, 2011, the Coveys brought suit pro se in the district court against several defendants, including Crews, Sheriff Butler, Corporal Espejo, Special Agent Manchas, the Assessor of Ohio County, the Ohio County Sheriff's Office, and the Department of Justice (DOJ). The claims against these defendants, brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and Bivens, 2 alleged that they violated the Coveys' Fourth Amendment rights by conducting an unreasonable search.3
Between March and June 2012, each of the defendants moved to dismiss the case. The parties filed a number of documents in support of and in opposition to the defendants' motions. For example, the DOJ attached Mr. Covey's plea agreement in the criminal case, among other documents. The Coveys did not object to the inclusion of material outside the complaint. Rather, they themselves also attached several documents to their opposition to the motions to dismiss, including 11 annotated pictures of their house and surrounding property, as well as the criminal complaint filed against Mr. Covey.4
In November 2012, a magistrate judge issued a report and recommendation (R & R) suggesting that the district court dismiss all federal claims and decline to exercise jurisdiction over the state-law claims. Two months later, the district judge “affirm[ed] and adopt[ed]” the R & R, while supplementing the R & R's statement of facts and reasoning. J.A. 66–84. The district court concluded that neither the field deputy nor any officer violated the Fourth Amendment. Thus, it did not address the other arguments made by the defendants in their motions to dismiss, including: (A) whether any defendant would be entitled to qualified immunity from suit, see infra Part III.B, and (B) whether the Heck5 doctrine would bar the Coveys from bringing their claims, see infra Part III.C. This appeal followed.
We review a district court's grant of a motion to dismiss de novo.
Owens, 767 F.3d at 388. In deciding such a motion, we “ ‘accept as true all of the factual allegations contained in the complaint,’ and ‘draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff.’ ” Id. (quoting E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. v. Kolon Indus., Inc., 637 F.3d 435, 440 (4th Cir.2011) ). To prevail, a plaintiff must “state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Id. (quoting Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) ). A claim is plausible if “the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id. (quoting Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937 ).
We begin by addressing the Coveys' contention that the...
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