Daniels v. Woodside

• Citation: 396 F.3d 730
• Decision Date: 24 January 2005
• Docket Number: No. 03-2053.,No. 03-2369.,No. 03-2117.,03-2053.,03-2117.,03-2369.
• Parties: Matthew J. DANIELS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Leonard WOODSIDE, Defendant-Appellant, Anchor Bay School District, Ronald Tuscany, Defendants. Matthew J. Daniels, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Leonard Woodside, Defendant-Appellee, Anchor Bay School District, Ronald Tuscany, Defendants.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit)

396 F.3d 730

Matthew J. DANIELS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Leonard WOODSIDE, Defendant-Appellant, Anchor Bay School District, Ronald Tuscany, Defendants.

Matthew J. Daniels, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Leonard Woodside, Defendant-Appellee, Anchor Bay School District, Ronald Tuscany, Defendants.

No. 03-2053.

No. 03-2117.

No. 03-2369.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: August 12, 2004.

Decided and Filed: January 24, 2005.

ARGUED: David S. Steingold, David S. Steingold Associates, Detroit, Michigan, for Plaintiff. Timothy J. Mullins, Cox, Hodgman & Giarmarco, Troy, Michigan, Marcelyn A. Stepanski, Johnson, Rosati, LaBarge, Aseltyne & Field, Farmington Hills, Michigan, for Defendants. ON BRIEF: David S. Steingold, Tracie D. Palmer, David S. Steingold Associates, Detroit, Michigan, for Plaintiff. Timothy J. Mullins, Cox, Hodgman & Giarmarco, Troy, Michigan, Marcelyn A. Stepanski, Johnson, Rosati, LaBarge, Aseltyne & Field, Farmington Hills, Michigan, for Defendants.

Before: NELSON, SILER, and BATCHELDER, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

BATCHELDER, Circuit Judge.

These consolidated appeals are taken from judgments entered by the district court in Matthew Daniels's 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action arising out of Daniels's pre-trial detention as a 16-year-old on charges of murder. Daniels appeals the district court's grant of summary judgment to Ronald Tuscany, Macomb County Sheriff, on Daniels's claims that Tuscany violated his Fifth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights by permitting him to be housed in the Macomb County Jail as an adult in violation of the Michigan law governing pre-trial detention of juveniles, and by housing him under inhumane conditions. Daniels also appeals the district court's grant of summary judgment to the Anchor Bay School District ("Anchor Bay") on his claim that Anchor Bay denied him due process by expelling him from an alternative education program upon his arrest and pre-trial detention, and refusing to permit him to re-enroll in that program after his release from pre-trial detention. Leonard Woodside, Anchor Bay's superintendent, appeals the district court's denial of his motion for summary judgment on Daniels's due process claim.

Daniels does not challenge the constitutionality of the Michigan law governing pre-trial detention of juveniles but rather complains of Tuscany's alleged violation of that law. Because we conclude that Daniels was confined in accordance with Michigan law and that the restrictions and conditions of his confinement were an incident of the state's legitimate goal of preventing him from committing suicide, we will affirm the grant of summary judgment in favor of Sheriff Tuscany. Further, because we conclude that Michigan law does not create in a Michigan resident a property right in alternative education provided by a public school district, and therefore Anchor Bay and Woodside did not violate Daniels's constitutional rights in terminating his participation in that program or in denying him readmission to it, we will affirm the grant of summary judgment to Anchor Bay and reverse the denial of summary judgment to Woodside.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Daniels and two others were charged on October 27, 2000, with the murder of Justin Mello. Daniels was remanded by the Macomb County District Court to the custody of the Macomb County Jail, an adult correctional facility, pending his preliminary examination. The court notified the jail administrators, including Sheriff Tuscany, that because Daniels was 16 years old, he was to be segregated from the adult prisoners in accordance with Michigan statutory law. When Daniels arrived at the jail, he was initially housed in the medical ward, one of only three places in the Macomb County Jail where he could be segregated from adults. Shortly thereafter, he was transferred to the mental health floor, another area where he could be segregated from adult prisoners, until mental health professionals could evaluate him and rule out any risk of suicide. Records of Daniels's mental health evaluations at the jail reflect that he expressed suicidal thoughts during the evaluations, and he was therefore placed on suicide watch. Daniels claims that while he was on suicide watch, he was kept under twenty-four hour lock-down; he was not permitted to leave his cell for four days, except for limited visits with a clergyman and an attorney; he was denied the ability to attend to any basic hygiene needs; he was required to wear a "suicide robe," which is a sleeveless, legless gown that did not adequately fasten in the back; and for the first several days of his confinement he had neither socks for his feet nor sheets or pillows for his bed.

Daniels was released from jail after his preliminary hearing resulted in a finding of no probable cause due to a lack of admissible evidence. After his release, Daniels asked Woodside to re-admit him to Anchor Bay's voluntary alternative education program in which he had been enrolled for about one month prior to his arrest. This program, called "Skill Quest," is described in the literature of the school district as "a special alternative high school program which is offered during the day for youth under 19 without diplomas, who have returned to school after being out for at least one semester." Admission to the Skill Quest program is discretionary with the superintendent, and students in the program are required to adhere to the program's attendance policy and the school district's written code of conduct. The attendance policy provides that if a student misses more than six hours of class, he automatically loses credit for that course.

Daniels had enrolled in Skill Quest some eight months after he dropped out of high school upon attaining the age of 16, the age at which Michigan law permits students to withdraw from school. During the month in which Daniels was enrolled in the program, he had not missed any classes or been subject to any disciplinary actions. Because of his arrest and pre-trial detention, however, Daniels missed substantially more than six hours of class. He therefore automatically lost credit in the courses in which he was enrolled, and in order to participate any further in the program, he was required to seek re-enrollment for the following semester. Superintendent Woodside denied Daniels's request for readmission to Skill Quest, citing the advice of the school district's counsel to the effect that, despite the court's finding of no probable cause, Daniels was still implicated in the Mello murder and presented a danger to students and staff. In April 2001, after another individual confessed to the murder, Woodside notified Daniels that he would be permitted to enroll in Skill Quest at the commencement of the next semester, that is, in September 2001. Daniels enrolled at that time, but after attending classes for only about one month, he began to accrue excessive absences, lost class credit, and dropped out of the program.

On October 15, 2001, Daniels filed this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan against numerous state, county and school district defendants, complaining that these defendants had violated various of his constitutional rights in connection with his arrest and pre-trial detention. Only defendants Tuscany, Woodside and Anchor Bay remain in the action, all other defendants having been dismissed by stipulation of the parties during the course of this litigation.

Daniels's Complaint alleges that Woodside and Anchor Bay violated his right to due process either by refusing, without a hearing, to allow him to re-enroll in the Skill Quest program, or by expelling him, without a hearing, from his initial participation in the Skill Quest program. Daniels claims that Tuscany, as the Macomb County Sheriff, deprived Daniels of his rights under the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution by improperly housing him as an adult and by mistreating him during his detention.

Tuscany moved for dismissal or, in the alternative, for summary judgment and the district court granted the motion. Anchor Bay and Woodside filed a joint motion for summary judgment. Anchor Bay argued that its policies are constitutional and have not been shown to be the cause of any injury to Daniels, and that the school district cannot be held vicariously liable for the acts of its employees. Woodside argued that he is entitled to qualified immunity for his actions. The district court granted Anchor Bay's motion, but denied Woodside's. Woodside then filed a Motion to Amend Judgment, arguing that Daniels did not have a property right in the alternative education program Skill Quest, and therefore Daniels's due process rights were not violated when he was dropped from the program initially or when Woodside refused to re-enroll him in that program. The district court denied the motion. Woodside brings an interlocutory appeal of the district court's denial of his motion for summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds and the denial of his motion to amend the judgment.

Daniels filed a motion to permit an interlocutory appeal of the district court's order granting summary judgment to Tuscany and Anchor Bay. The district court entered final judgment as to Tuscany and Anchor Bay and certified Daniels's dismissed claims for immediate appeal under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b), fully satisfying the requirements of that rule.

ANALYSIS

We review de novo a district court's grant of summary judgment, using the same standard under Rule 56(c) used by the district court. Williams v. Mehra, 186 F.3d 685, 689 (6th Cir.1999) (en banc). We must view the evidence, all facts, and any inferences that may be drawn from the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). Summary judgment is...