Grendell v. Gillway

• Decision Date: 11 July 1997
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 96-257-B.
• Citation: 974 F.Supp. 46
• Parties: Crystal GRENDELL, Plaintiff, v. James GILLWAY, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maine

974 F.Supp. 46

Crystal GRENDELL, Plaintiff, v. James GILLWAY, et al., Defendants.

Civ. No. 96-257-B.

United States District Court, D. Maine.

July 11, 1997.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Jed Davis, Jim Mitchell & Jed Davis, P.A., Augusta, ME, for Plaintiff.

Michael E. Saucier, Thompson & Bowie, Portland, ME, for Defendants Stanko & MSAD 56.

Edward R. Benjamin Jr., Preti Flaherty Beliveau & Pachios, Portland, ME, for Defendants Gillway & Town of Searsport.

ORDER AND MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

BRODY, District Judge.

Plaintiff, Crystal Grendell, sued Sergeant James Gillway, the Town of Searsport, Maine ("the Town"), the Maine School Administrative District 56 ("SAD 56"), and Charisse Stanko, a guidance counselor at the Searsport Elementary School in SAD 56, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging violations of her civil rights under the United States Constitution. Grendell also alleged supplemental state claims under the Maine Constitution. Specifically, Grendell contends that Defendants violated her substantive due process rights as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article 1, Section 6-A of the Maine Constitution. Grendell further alleges that Defendants Gillway and the Town are liable for an unreasonable seizure of her person executed by Gillway in violation of her rights under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 5 of the Maine Constitution.

Defendants Gillway and the Town and Defendants SAD 56 and Stanko moved separately for summary judgment as to the respective claims asserted against them. For the reasons set forth in detail below, the Court denies Gillway's Motion for Summary Judgment as to the substantive due process claims asserted against him, and grants summary judgment as to the substantive due process claims asserted against Stanko, SAD 56, and the Town. Finally, the Court finds that genuine issues of material fact exist as to Grendell's claims that Gillway performed an unreasonable seize of her person and therefore denies Gillway's Motion for Summary Judgment as to this claim. The Court, however, finds that no genuine issues exist as to the Town and grants summary judgment in its favor as to Grendell's seizure claim.

I. Summary Judgment

Summary judgment is appropriate in the absence of a genuine issue as to any material fact and when the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). An issue is genuine for these purposes if "the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). A material fact is one that has "the potential to affect the outcome of the suit under applicable law." Nereida-Gonzalez v. Tirado-Delgado, 990 F.2d 701, 703 (1st Cir.1993). The Court views the record in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. See McCarthy v. Northwest Airlines, Inc., 56 F.3d 313, 315 (1st Cir.1995).

II. Background

In April 1991, Crystal Grendell was a sixth grade student at the Searsport Elementary School in SAD 56. She was eleven years old at the time. In mid-April Charisse Stanko, the guidance counselor at the school, called Grendell out of class and for reasons unknown to Grendell asked her whether her parents abused drugs. Grendell alleges that although she was hesitant to answer, Stanko assured her that "nothing would happen." Aff. of Crystal Grendell, May 13, 1997, at ¶ 3. Grendell thereafter explained that her parents smoked marijuana "[o]nce in a while."

During the days subsequent to this initial meeting, Stanko removed Grendell from class several times to inquire further into her relationship with her parents and to determine how Grendell was feeling. Stanko finally suggested that Grendell go to the police station so that she could talk with Sergeant James Gillway about her parents' use of marijuana. Grendell was familiar with Gillway because Gillway was the DARE officer at Grendell's school and had been to Grendell's class. On April 29, 1991, Grendell went to the police station to talk to Gillway; however, Gillway was too busy to talk so Grendell left before she could discuss her parents' use of marijuana. Id. at ¶ 5.

The next day, April 30, 1991, Stanko again called Grendell out of class and brought Grendell to her office. There Gillway and two other DARE police officers, in the presence of Stanko, questioned Grendell about her parents' drug use. Gillway told Grendell that "if [she] `cooperated' and told him about [her] parents' use of marijuana, nothing would happen to [her] parents, but that, if [she] did not `cooperate,' [her] parents would be arrested." Id. at ¶ 7. Gillway also told Grendell that "if [she] did not tell him about [her] parents' use of marijuana, [her] parents and [she] would be `in a lot of trouble.'" Id. Further, Gillway warned Grendell not to tell her parents about her talking to the police officers because "often parents beat their children after the children talk to police." Id. Grendell proceeded to answer Gillway's questions about her parents' schedules, where they worked, and the architectural plan of her house. Additionally, she told him and the other officers that her parents were growing marijuana plants under grow lights in a closet, that her parents smoked the marijuana in the house, that there was a bag of marijuana behind the couch in the living room, and that her parents kept guns in their bedroom. Id. at ¶ 9. Gillway told Grendell that the police would go to her house that afternoon to look for drugs and that the police would be there when she got off the school bus. Id. at ¶ 8. He told her that she would not be permitted to stay at her home at that time because "in most cases like this, children are beaten by their parents." Id.

When Grendell and her younger sister emerged from the school bus at their home that afternoon, police cars were positioned around their house. Gillway put Grendell in a police car and she was taken immediately to the police station. Gillway contends that Grendell was taken, to the police station in order to create a "cooling off period" because he was advised by DHS personnel that it would be best for Grendell if she were separated from her parents at this potentially volatile time. Aff. of James Gillway, April 24, 1997, at ¶ 10. Once she arrived at the station, Grendell was placed in a locked room, where she was joined soon thereafter by Gillway. Aff. of Crystal Grendell, at ¶ 13. When Grendell's mother arrived at the police station crying, she asked the officers where they had taken Grendell. Grendell heard her mother crying and asked Gillway if she could tell her mother where she was. Gillway said that she could not "and told [her] to sit down and shut up." Id. At Grendell's request, Gillway then called Lori Conlon, Grendell's aunt, and asked her to take Grendell to the house of Carol Nelson, who was once married to Grendell's grandfather. When Conlon arrived, Gillway put Grendell in Conlon's car. Another officer told Grendell to crouch on the floor so that she would not be seen as Conlon drove her out of town. A police car followed Conlon's car as she drove away with Grendell hiding on the floor. Id., at ¶ 15.

After Grendell was taken to Nelson's home, Kent Wyman, Grendell's uncle, discovered where Grendell was and came to retrieve her. Grendell told Gillway that she wanted to leave with Wyman. Gillway, believing that the "cooling off" period had passed, told Wyman that Grendell was not in police custody and therefore did not oppose this suggestion. Aff. of James Gillway, at ¶ 15. Grendell left with Wyman. She contends that although her parents came by Wyman's house to see her that night, she did not return home until the next morning.

III. Substantive Due Process

The Court begins by noting that Defendants assert the affirmative defense of qualified immunity. Such immunity relieves public officials performing discretionary functions from liability for civil damages "insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 2738, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982). It is axiomatic, however, that "before even reaching qualified immunity, a court ... must ascertain whether the [plaintiff] has asserted a violation of a constitutional right at all." Watterson v. Page, 987 F.2d 1, 7 (1st Cir.1993). Accordingly, the Court will proceed with an analysis of whether Defendants have, in fact, violated Grendell's substantive due process rights and address Defendants' qualified immunity defense thereafter if necessary.

The Fourteenth Amendment provides that "[n]o state shall ... deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law...." U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1. Unlike its procedural counterpart, substantive due process protects citizens from "certain government actions regardless of the fairness of the procedures used to implement them...." Daniels v. Williams, 474 U.S. 327, 331, 106 S.Ct. 662, 665, 88 L.Ed.2d 662 (1986). There are currently two tests by which courts examine substantive due process claims. Under the first test, a plaintiff does not need to allege a violation of a specific liberty or property interest; rather, he must demonstrate that the state's conduct "shocks the conscience." Rochin v. California, 342 U.S. 165, 172, 72 S.Ct. 205, 209, 96 L.Ed. 183 (1952). Under the second test, a plaintiff must demonstrate a violation of a specific liberty or property interest protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. See Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 399, 43 S.Ct. 625, 626-27, 67 L.Ed. 1042(1923).

Grendell argues that Defendants violated her substantive due process rights by using her, or by allowing her to be used, to elicit incriminating information about her parents. The Court is persuaded that only Defendant...