Eagle v. Morgan

• Decision Date: 08 July 1996
• Docket Number: No. 95-3418,95-3418
• Citation: 88 F.3d 620
• Parties: David EAGLE, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. John D. MORGAN, Individually and in his official capacity as officer of the Jonesboro Police Department; Donna Bogard, Individually and in her official capacity as officer of the Jonesboro Police Department; David Allen, Individually and in his official capacity as officer of the Jonesboro Police Department; Terry Grooms, Individually and in his official capacity as officer of the Jonesboro Police Department; Jack McCann, Individually and in his official capacity as officer of the Jonesboro Police Department; Rohnny McDaniel, Individually and in his official capacity as officer of the Jonesboro Police Department, Defendants-Appellants, John Doe, an unknown person, Defendant, City of Jonesboro, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 620

88 F.3d 620

David EAGLE, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. John D. MORGAN, Individually and in his official capacity as officer of the Jonesboro Police Department; Donna Bogard Individually and in her official capacity as officer of the Jonesboro Police Department; David Allen, Individually and in his official capacity as officer of the Jonesboro Police Department; Terry Grooms, Individually and in his official capacity as officer of the Jonesboro Police Department Jack McCann, Individually and in his official capacity as officer of the Jonesboro Police Department; Rohnny McDaniel, Individually and in his official capacity as officer of the Jonesboro Police Department, Defendants-Appellants John Doe, an unknown person, Defendant City of Jonesboro, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 95-3418.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted March 14, 1996.

Decided July 8, 1996.

Ralph Charles Ohm, argued, Hot Springs, Arkansas (David H. White, on the brief), for appellant.

R. James Lyons, argued, Jonesboro, Arkansas, for appellee.

Before MAGILL, FLOYD R. GIBSON, and MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, Circuit Judges.

FLOYD R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge.

David Eagle filed this suit against the City of Jonesboro (the "City") and various police officers employed by that municipality, seeking relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1994) and Arkansas tort law. The City and the officers presently appeal the district court's refusal to grant their motion for summary judgment. We reverse in part, dismiss in part, and remand for further proceedings.

I. BACKGROUND

In 1987, Wayne Ridout, a businessman from Searcy, Arkansas, informed local authorities that David Eagle had stolen enough lumber from Ridout's store to partially construct a new two-story home. Following a police investigation into the complaint, Eagle pleaded guilty in an Arkansas trial court to felony theft of property. Eagle had no prior criminal record and entered his plea pursuant to an enactment that allows Arkansas judges to indefinitely defer further proceedings and place first time felons on a tentative term of probation. See Ark.Code Ann. § 16-93-303(a)(1) (Michie Supp.1996). If the defendant violates the requirements of his probation, the judge may declare him guilty and impose the punishment otherwise provided by law. Id. § 16-93-303(a)(2). On the other hand, the statute directs the court to dismiss the case and expunge the defendant's record if he "fulfill[s] ... the terms and conditions of probation or [is] release[d] by the court prior to the termination period thereof." Id. § 16-93-303(b). Moreover, these measures occur "without court adjudication of guilt." Id.

The trial court accepted Eagle's plea and required him to spend forty-five days in the county jail, serve six years probation, and pay $25,000 in restitution to Ridout. Approximately three years later, a state judge terminated Eagle's probation and entered an order expunging his criminal record. The expungement decree expressly provided that it "restored [Eagle] to [his] civil and constitutional rights as if [the felony theft of property] had never been committed," and as a matter of law it "completely exonerate[d] [Eagle] of any criminal purpose." ¹ Ark.Code Ann. § 16-93-303(b)(2) (Michie 1987), amended by Ark.Code Ann. § 16-93-303(b) (Michie Supp.1996). Additionally, the state legislature has decreed that an expunged record should be treated as confidential and released only to the individual whose record was expunged and, in certain circumstances, to judicial or law enforcement personnel. Ark.Code Ann. § 16-90-903 (Michie Supp.1996).

After the state court struck the felony theft of property from Eagle's record, he began working as an auditor for the City. In the course of his employment, Eagle performed an audit of certain Jonesboro Police Department ("JPD") records and conducted a police salary survey to determine whether local officers were receiving competitive wages. The fruits of Eagle's labor, however, apparently displeased some law enforcement workers; several curious officers accessed the National Crime Information Center ("NCIC") and the Arkansas Crime Information Center ("ACIC") computer systems in an effort to confirm rumors that Eagle had a felony record. State guidelines governing the use of the ACIC system dictate that the computer network should, as relevant here, only be available to "criminal justice agencies in their official capacity," Ark.Code Ann. § 12-12-211(a) (Michie 1995), and the pertinent federal provision restricts NCIC access to "criminal justice agencies for criminal justice purposes," 28 C.F.R. § 20.33(a)(1) (1995). Despite these restrictions, JPD was not carrying on an official investigation of Eagle's criminal activity at the time the officers in this case made their inquiries. Further, because the responsible authorities had failed to file notification of the expungement of Eagle's record, the report obtained by the officers did not indicate that the listed felony offense had been stricken.

This information regarding Eagle's criminal history was for some time also available from at least one other source. Before receiving belated notice that the felony had been removed from Eagle's record, the Arkansas State Police, in response to requests made pursuant to the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, released to certain members of the public, including at least four reporters, unaltered copies of Eagle's criminal case file.

On August 16, 1993, in an admitted effort to "throw doubt on [Eagle's police salary] survey results," appellant Rohnny McDaniel at a Jonesboro City Council meeting revealed the auditor's criminal history by publicly reading the following excerpt from Eagle's case file:

At approximately 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 15, 1987, an investigator met with the Deputy Prosecuting Attorney and was advised that he had received information of a possible theft of materials from Ridout Lumber Company. According to the Deputy Prosecutor, it was believed that David Eagle had stolen building materials. On March 5, 1987, David Eagle pled guilty to one count of 41-2203, theft of property.

Interestingly, McDaniel is the only individual appellant who did not personally access the NCIC/ACIC computer systems to verify the rumors about Eagle, but Eagle maintains that McDaniel gained his knowledge through the efforts of his police colleagues.

Eagle subsequently initiated this action against sundry JPD officers, individually and in their official capacities, and the City. Eagle asserts that the individual state actors violated his constitutional right to privacy when they conducted unjustified searches on the ACIC/NCIC computer databases and by causing the public disclosure of information about his expunged criminal record. Also, he contends that the City is liable because these constitutional violations were a result of the municipality's failure to properly train its employees in the use of the computer networks and because the alleged invasion of privacy occurred pursuant to an official custom or policy. Finally, Eagle declares that the officers' conduct constitutes the Arkansas tort of outrage. ²

Claiming that Eagle's federal privacy claim does not describe a constitutional violation and, alternatively, that qualified immunity should protect the individual employees from liability, the officers and the City moved for summary judgment on this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 cause of action. In addition, they argued that the officials' behavior was not tortious under Arkansas' law of outrage. The district judge, relying on this Court's decision in Alexander v. Peffer, 993 F.2d 1348 (1993), determined that the facts, when construed in a manner most charitable to Eagle, stated an unconstitutional intrusion into Eagle's privacy; the judge also decided that the officers are not entitled to qualified immunity, and he thus refused to summarily dispose of this § 1983 claim. Moreover, while the district judge was "strongly inclined to believe" that Eagle could not prevail under the tort of outrage, he concluded it would be inappropriate to dismiss this cause of action before giving the auditor an opportunity to present his evidence.

The officers and the City have now filed an interlocutory appeal from the district court's denial of their summary judgment motion. For reversal, they claim that the facts, even when viewed in the light most favorable to Eagle, could not possibly support a finding that they violated his constitutional right to privacy. Also, the individual appellants continue to argue that qualified immunity shields their conduct. Furthermore, the officers insist that the district court improperly refused to grant summary judgment on the pendent state law claim. We consider these allegations seriatim.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Invasion of Privacy

1. Jurisdiction

As a preliminary matter, we must address our jurisdiction to consider the officers' assertion that their actions did not amount to a constitutional violation. It is by now axiomatic that the federal appellate tribunals may normally review appeals only from "final decisions" issued by the district courts. See 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (1994); Johnson v. Jones, --- U.S. ----, ----, 115 S.Ct. 2151, 2154, 132 L.Ed.2d 238 (1995). Due to this statutory limitation upon our jurisdiction, a party is in most cases precluded from interrupting litigation by filing an interlocutory appeal from a district court's ruling. See Johnson, --- U.S. at ---- - ----, 115 S.Ct. at 2154-55. Of course, an order denying a litigant's motion for summary judgment is not typically considered a "final decision" worthy of immediate appellate attention.

The Supreme Court has held, however, that a district court's refusal to grant a public official's motion for summary judgment based on qualified immunity will, under certain circumstances, qualify as a "collateral order" from which the official may file a prompt appeal. Id. at ----, 115 S.Ct. at 2155 (citing...