Dickerson v. Mertz, 94-2041

• Decision Date: 17 April 1996
• Docket Number: No. 94-2041,94-2041
• Citation: 547 N.W.2d 208
• Parties: Christopher W. DICKERSON, Appellant, v. John MERTZ and Darrell Batterson, Appellees.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 208

547 N.W.2d 208

Christopher W. DICKERSON, Appellant, v. John MERTZ and Darrell Batterson, Appellees.

No. 94-2041.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

April 17, 1996.

Richard E.H. Phelps, II, Des Moines, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Michael H. Smith, Assistant Attorney General, for appellees.

Considered by McGIVERIN, C.J., and HARRIS, LARSON, CARTER, and TERNUS, JJ.

McGIVERIN, Chief Justice.

The issue in the present case is whether a genuine issue of material fact exists that would justify allowing plaintiff's state tort claims and federal civil rights claim against defendants to proceed to trial. As we believe there is not, we affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment for defendants.

I. Background facts and proceedings. At all times material to this controversy, defendants John Mertz and Darrell Batterson were employed as full-time conservation peace officers in the law enforcement bureau of the Iowa department of natural resources. They had served in that capacity for well over a decade. A conservation peace officer is charged with the duty to enforce all laws of the state and rules and regulations of the natural resource commission. See Iowa Code § 456A.13 (1995). ¹

In November 1991, officer Mertz stopped plaintiff Christopher Dickerson to check his hunting license while plaintiff was hunting along a public highway. Mertz observed that plaintiff's license failed to display a hunter safety certificate number as required by Iowa law. When Mertz asked plaintiff about the absence of the hunter safety certificate number, plaintiff told Mertz that he had taken a safety course and his license was valid. Taking plaintiff at his word, Mertz did not issue a citation at that time but told plaintiff he would check the department's records to confirm plaintiff had completed an approved hunter safety course.

Further inquiry disclosed plaintiff had not, in fact, completed an approved hunter safety course prior to purchasing his license. Therefore, officer Mertz issued plaintiff a citation charging him with hunting without a valid hunting license, a simple misdemeanor. See Iowa Code §§ 110.1, 110.27, 110.42 (1991). ² Mertz also confiscated plaintiff's invalid hunting license at the same time he issued plaintiff the citation.

Dickerson pled not guilty and was ultimately acquitted of the "hunting without a valid license" charge levied against him by officer Mertz. After his acquittal, plaintiff asked Mertz to return to him his invalid hunting license but Mertz refused. Plaintiff proceeded to purchase a new hunting license after completing an approved hunter safety course.

At various times during 1992, plaintiff was stopped by conservation officer Batterson to check his hunting and fishing licenses. According to plaintiff, officer Batterson's demeanor during the stops was "nasty, demanding, sarcastic, and impolite."

In January 1993, plaintiff struck and killed a deer while driving his automobile. As a result of this incident, officer Batterson issued plaintiff a citation charging him with "taking deer by auto." See Iowa Code §§ 109.38, 805.8(5)(f)(1), 109.130(7) (1991). ³ He issued the citation to plaintiff based on an eye witness report from a homeowner who witnessed the deer being struck and killed. According to the witness, plaintiff intentionally struck and killed the deer; plaintiff contended he accidentally ran into the deer. After issuing plaintiff the citation, officer Batterson seized the deer from plaintiff. See Iowa Code §§ 109.11, 109.12 (1991) (authorizing seizure of accidentally or intentionally killed wildlife with or without warrant) (now codified as Iowa Code sections 481A.11, 481A.12 (1995)).

Dickerson pled not guilty and was ultimately acquitted of the "taking deer by auto" charge levied against him by Batterson, as he was of the charge brought against him by officer Mertz two years earlier.

In November 1993, after his acquittal of the two criminal charges levied against him by Mertz and Batterson, plaintiff filed the present civil lawsuit against the department of natural resources, officer Mertz and officer Batterson for their alleged wrongful treatment of him since 1991. ⁴ Because the parties raise no issue concerning the matter, we assume without deciding, that plaintiff exhausted all administrative remedies before the state appeal board prior to filing this action in district court. See Iowa Code § 669.5.

Plaintiff's state law claims included the intentional torts of abuse of process, malicious prosecution, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Plaintiff also asserted a federal law claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1988), against defendants Mertz and Batterson alleging that Mertz and Batterson deprived him of due process under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. ⁵ For relief, plaintiff sought actual damages, punitive damages, costs, and attorney fees.

In their answers, defendants Mertz and Batterson denied having engaged in any intentional torts against plaintiff and denied having violated plaintiff's federal civil rights. In addition, defendants asserted two affirmative defenses to plaintiff's petition: (1) failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted in regard to the state law claims, and (2) qualified immunity in regard to the federal law claim.

Defendants filed a motion for summary judgment requesting that the district court dismiss plaintiff's petition as a matter of law. See Iowa R.Civ.P. 237(b). In their motion and supporting memorandum, defendants argued they were entitled to judgment as a matter of law because the doctrines of sovereign immunity and qualified immunity barred plaintiff's claims set forth against them. Defendants also asserted that no genuine issue of material fact remained for trial.

The district court granted summary judgment to defendants on all of plaintiff's claims. In regard to the state law claims, the court rejected defendants' sovereign immunity argument but ruled in favor of defendants on plaintiff's abuse of process, malicious prosecution and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims on the basis that the factual record did not support those claims. On plaintiff's federal claim, the court held the record failed to show that defendants had infringed upon plaintiff's constitutional rights and, moreover, qualified immunity shielded the defendants from § 1983 liability in this particular case.

From the district court's grant of defendants' motion for summary judgment, plaintiff Dickerson appeals.

II. Review of summary judgment record. We will uphold a grant of summary judgment when no genuine issue of material fact exists and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. De Koning v. Mellema, 534 N.W.2d 391, 394 (Iowa 1995). An issue of fact is "material" only when the dispute is over facts that might affect the outcome of the litigation, given the applicable governing law. Fees v. Mutual Fire & Auto. Ins. Co., 490 N.W.2d 55, 57 (Iowa 1992).

When we review the propriety of a grant of summary judgment, the moving party is required to show that no genuine issue of material fact exists and that he or she is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. De Koning, 534 N.W.2d at 394. In determining whether the movant has met this burden, we review the record in a light most favorable to the party opposing summary judgment, in this case the plaintiff. Id.

In this sense, we review the record as we would on a motion for directed verdict, with the nonmoving party entitled to every legitimate inference that reasonably can be deduced from the evidence and summary judgment is inappropriate if reasonable minds can differ on how the issue should be resolved. Schermer v. Muller, 380 N.W.2d 684, 687 (Iowa 1986).

The summary judgment record consists of the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and affidavits. Iowa R.Civ.P. 237(c).

III. Plaintiff's state law intentional tort claims and the sovereign immunity defense. Plaintiff Dickerson's petition stated three state law claims against defendant conservation officers Mertz and Batterson: abuse of process, malicious prosecution, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Each alleged claim is an intentional tort.

A. As an initial matter, we must decide whether plaintiff's claims against defendant state employees are "claims" under the Iowa Tort Claims Act, now codified in Iowa Code chapter 669 (1995). That chapter, which partially abrogates the State's sovereign immunity from tort claims, provides in part:

"Claim" means:

Any claim against an employee of the state for money only, on account of damage to or loss of property or on account of personal injury or death, caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the state while acting within the scope of the employee's office or employment.

Iowa Code § 669.2(3)(b); see Swanger v. State, 445 N.W.2d 344, 346-47 (Iowa 1989) (discussing sovereign immunity and passage of the state tort claims act).

Defendants Mertz and Batterson were employees of the state department of natural resources at the time of the incidents alleged to support plaintiff's claims. In plaintiff's petition, he stated "[a]t all material times hereto, the defendants ... were purporting to act in their official capacity and under the code of their office and authority." Plaintiff has not alleged defendants' actions were beyond the scope of their office or employment with the department of natural resources. Nor did plaintiff allege any action by the defendants that was taken outside their capacity as conservation peace officers.

Therefore, we conclude plaintiff's abuse of process, malicious prosecution, and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims fall within the ambit of Iowa Code section 669.2(3)(b) and are governed by the provisions of chapter 669. See Brumage v. Woodsmall, 444 N.W.2d 68, 70 (Iowa 1989); Lindaman v. Bode, 478 N.W.2d 312,...