Evans v. Ball

• Decision Date: 12 March 1999
• Docket Number: No. 97-41389,97-41389
• Citation: 168 F.3d 856
• Parties: Milton EVANS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. William S. BALL and Diane Steadman, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 856

168 F.3d 856

Milton EVANS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. William S. BALL and Diane Steadman, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 97-41389.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

March 12, 1999.

John Wesley Tunnell, Welch & Tunnel, Lufkin, TX, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Steven M. Mason, Tyler, TX, for Defendants-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Before DAVIS, SMITH and WIENER, Circuit Judges.

JERRY E. SMITH, Circuit Judge:

Milton Evans sued William Ball and Diane Steadman, alleging common law malicious prosecution and constitutional violations pursuant to Bivens v. Six Unknown Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388, 91 S.Ct. 1999, 29 L.Ed.2d 619 (1971). The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Ball and Steadman. Finding no error, we affirm.

I.

Ball and Steadman, Special Agents with the United States Forest Service, undertook an investigation of Evans, a Forest Service employee, focusing on whether Evans was falsifying public comments about Forest Service projects and activities. ¹ Based on information Ball and Steadman gathered, Evans was indicted on eight counts of knowingly making and using a false document, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001. ²

Subject to a summons, Evans appeared in court to answer these charges. He was released on his own recognizance with instructions to report once a month to pretrial services. The indictment was subsequently dismissed without prejudice on the government's motion. The government claims it dismissed the indictment in exchange for Evans's agreement to retire from the Forest Service; Evans contends there was no such agreement.

Evans then sued Ball and Steadman, asserting a Bivens claim on two grounds. ³ First, he alleged the agents violated his Fourth Amendment right "to be free from a prosecution that is not based on probable cause." Ball and Steadman, Evans averred, deliberately provided false information to, and withheld exculpatory evidence from, federal prosecutors, violating this Fourth Amendment right. Second, Evans argued that being summoned to appear in court to answer these false charges, and having pre-trial restrictions placed on him, violated his Fourth Amendment right "to be free from unreasonable restraint and seizure that is not based on probable cause." Evans also asserted a supplemental state law claim for malicious prosecution.

On the state law malicious prosecution claim, Ball and Steadman argued that the summary judgment evidence could not establish that the prosecution had terminated in Evans's favor--a prerequisite to liability for malicious prosecution. Ball and Steadman contended that the government had dropped the claims against Evans in exchange for a promise to retire from the Forest Service. This "deal," defendants argued, did not constitute termination in Evans's favor.

The district court agreed that Evans had entered an "informal agreement" with prosecutors under which he would retire in exchange for dropping the charges. Because this resolution did not indicate that Evans was not guilty of the charges, the court determined that his prosecution had not terminated in his favor and that he thus could not establish malicious prosecution.

The court also granted summary judgment on Evans's Bivens claim. Determining that Evans had not alleged a violation of a clearly established constitutional right, the court concluded that Evans had failed to overcome the defendants' assertion of qualified immunity.

II.

We review a summary judgment de novo, applying the same standard as did the district court. Melton v. Teachers Ins. & Annuity Ass'n of Am., 114 F.3d 557, 559 (5th Cir.1997). Summary judgment is proper when the pleadings and summary judgment evidence present no genuine issue of material fact and indicate that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. FED.R.CIV.P. 56(c); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). Disputed facts preclude summary judgment if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmovant. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). In determining whether summary judgment was appropriate, courts must view the inferences to be reasonably drawn from the underlying facts in the record in the light most favorable to the nonmovant. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). We may neither weigh the evidence nor make credibility determinations. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505.

III.

Summary judgment was proper on the state law malicious prosecution claim. Termination of the prosecution in the accused's favor is an essential element, ⁴ and the summary judgment evidence, which unequivocally indicates that Evans agreed to do something in exchange for the government's dropping the charges, does not support a finding of favorable termination.

Evans asserts that the court erred in deciding that there was insufficient record support for a finding that the prosecution terminated in his favor, because there is evidence that his retirement from the Forest Service was not part of the bargain he struck. Evans insists that he did not agree to retire in exchange for dropping the charges, but that he merely agreed not to advance a defense under the Speedy Trial Act should the government seek to reindict him.

The summary judgment evidence Evans points to is his own affidavit and that of his attorney, Claude Welch. Evans's affidavit states, "I was not about to resign as a part of an agreement to drop criminal charges.... I agreed only to waive any Speedy Trial rights I had if the government reindicted me." Welch's affidavit reflects that there was "an understanding" that Evans would retire, but "there was no agreement," and that "[t]he only agreement that Mr. Evans made was that he would not raise the Speedy Trial Act if the cases were dismissed." Evans contends that because the agreement did not involve even a tacit admission of guilt, the prosecution did, in fact, terminate in his favor.

We disagree. This court has set a high standard for what constitutes termination in the accused's favor. In Taylor v. Gregg, 36 F.3d 453, 455-56 (5th Cir.1994), we held that a "pretrial diversion"--an alternative to criminal prosecution that diverts certain defendants from traditional criminal justice processing into a program of supervision--is not termination in the defendant's favor, even if all criminal charges are dismissed. In so holding, we noted that "[t]he Second Circuit stated that proceedings are terminated in favor of the accused only when their final disposition indicates that the accused is not guilty." Id. at 456 (citing Singleton v. City of New York, 632 F.2d 185, 193 (2d Cir.1980)). We then declared that "[w]e agree with the Second Circuit and adopt its holding and reasoning." Id.

The rule in this circuit, then, is that proceedings terminate in favor of the accused only when they affirmatively indicate that he is not guilty. While Evans advocates the position that favorable termination results when the disposition fails to indicate that the accused is guilty, the reasoning of Taylor forecloses that position; the disposition must affirmatively indicate a lack of guilt.

Under such a standard, Evans cannot demonstrate that the criminal prosecution terminated in his favor. While he insists that the agreement was not for him to retire, but simply for him to waive his Speedy Trial Act arguments should the government reindict him, he has admitted that he entered an agreement with prosecutors under which they would dismiss the charges in exchange for something. Regardless of which version of the agreement is correct, the disposition of the case does not affirmatively indicate that Evans was not guilty.

Moreover, the evidence compels the conclusion that the agreement was for Evans to retire in exchange for dropping the charges. Evans's attorney wrote the Acting Forest Supervisor that the agreement was

[t]hat if the United States dismissed the indictment against Milton Evans, that Milton Evans would retire from the U.S. Forest Service no later than 90 days from the date of his reinstatement to active duty with the Forest Service AND if Milton Evans did not so retire that the United States would have the option of reindicting Milton Evans. In the event Milton Evans was reindicted by the United States that he would not plead, as a defense to the indictment, any defenses normally afforded a defendant pursuant to the "Speed [sic] Trial Act."

(Emphasis in original.) Welch then wrote, "Yes, basically it was understood that Milton Evans would retire." These statements are "smoking guns" that indicate that Evans agreed to retire in exchange for having charges dropped. A reasonable jury could not find otherwise.

IV.

The district court correctly concluded that Evans's allegations in support of his Bivens claim fail to overcome the defense of qualified immunity. Summary judgment was therefore proper.

A.

Qualified immunity protects government officials performing discretionary functions from civil liability if their conduct violates no clearly established statutory or constitutional right of which a reasonable person would have known. Sorenson v. Ferrie, 134 F.3d 325, 327 (5th Cir.1998). The Supreme Court has clarified how courts should address a qualified immunity assertion, requiring a two-pronged test. See Siegert v. Gilley, 500 U.S. 226, 231-32, 111 S.Ct. 1789, 114 L.Ed.2d 277 (1991).

Once a defendant pleads qualified immunity, the district court first must determine whether, under current law, he has alleged a constitutional violation at all. Id. The second prong requires courts to make two separate inquiries: whether the allegedly violated right was "clearly established" at the time of the incident; and, if so, whether the defendant's conduct...