Hammond v. County of Madera

• Decision Date: 19 October 1988
• Docket Number: No. 87-1921,87-1921
• Parties: Harold HAMMOND, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. COUNTY OF MADERA, et al., Defendants-Appellees, and James G. Watts, Secretary of the Interior, et al., Real-parties-in-interest-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 797

859 F.2d 797

Harold HAMMOND, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. COUNTY OF MADERA, et al., Defendants-Appellees, and James G. Watts, Secretary of the Interior, et al.,

Real-parties-in-interest-Appellees.

No. 87-1921.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted March 16, 1988.

Decided Oct. 19, 1988.

Lawrence R. Stidham, Michael S. Pfeffer, Stephen V. Quesenberry, California Indian Legal Services, Bishop, Cal., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Michael D. Ott, County Counsel for Madera County, Madera, Cal., for defendants-appellees.

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

Before SCHROEDER and FLETCHER, Circuit Judges, and WATERS, ^* District Judge.

LAUGHLIN E. WATERS, District Judge:

Beneficial owners of an Indian land allotment appeal (1) the trial court's Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law denying their claim under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983, and (2) the inadequacy of the court's damage award in their trespass action.

FACTS

On April 16, 1920, the United States issued a trust patent pursuant to federal law to Frank Hammond for a land allotment referred to as SAC-107. Plaintiffs/appellants, nine Chickchansi Indians, received their interests in SAC-107 through intestate succession from the heirs of Frank Hammond's estate. The United States holds the legal title to the allotment in trust for the appellants, who are the beneficial owners of the land. Defendant County of Madera ("County") is a political subdivision Appellants filed the complaint on April 29, 1983 and their amended complaint on November 7, 1985. They alleged that the County trespassed upon their allotment by constructing, maintaining and utilizing County Roads 422, 423, and 426. They further alleged that County officials, in attempting to secure a right-of-way across the allotment and incorporating the roads into the County system, deprived them of their property rights protected by the Constitution and statutes of the United States. The appellants requested damages for the trespass and pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983.

of the State of California with a governing body organized under the Constitution and laws of the state.

On May 29, 1986 the appellants filed a motion for partial summary judgment on the trespass issue. The District Court for the Eastern District of California granted their motion, ruling that Madera County was liable for a common law trespass. A court trial was held on November 4 and 5, 1986 regarding the civil rights claims and to determine damages owing for the trespass.

The testimony at trial described the following standard operating procedure for incorporating a road into the Madera County road system. The County Road Commissioner, head of the Road Department, and the County Board of Supervisors, the governing body in Madera County, make the initial decision that a road is needed. The Road Commissioner instructs a right-of-way agent to acquire a right-of-way over the area to be served by the road. The agent ascertains the procedures necessary for obtaining the right-of-way in a given case and obtains any required transfer documents. The agent reports to the Road Commissioner on a periodic basis and consults with the Commissioner when problems arise. The Road Commissioner reviews any transfer documents and, if acceptable, provides any payment necessary. The Board of Supervisors has final approval over any transfer agreements, which the Board records if it deems the documents proper. The Board is then responsible for formally accepting a road into the County-maintained road system. If the right-of-way agent cannot reach agreement with the individual owners, the agent requests the Board to file a condemnation proceeding.

The pathway Madera County officials traveled in the acquisition of Road 422/23 was far more tortuous than the straight-forward route just described. On May 20, 1960, Clarence Miles, the County Right-of-Way Agent, contacted the Bureau of Indian Affairs ("BIA") in Sacramento to learn the procedures for acquiring a right-of-way for the road. BIA, in a June, 1960 reply, directed him to Title 25 of the United States Code and Part 161 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Those statutes provide that the Secretary of Interior's approval of any right-of-way transfers is necessary where, as in this case, the land is held in a trust patent.

In March, 1961, Miles contacted the Bureau of Land Management ("BLM") concerning the same subject. BLM, in response, wrongly advised Miles that he negotiate directly with the prevailing landowners to obtain the required rights-of-way. Neither Miles nor any other County of Madera employee attempted to reconcile the conflicting directions from the BIA and the BLM. Instead Miles responded in a letter to BLM thanking them for their guidance.

In February, 1962, Miles acquired a quitclaim deed from Albert Hammond, one of the beneficial owners of SAC-107. Apparently encountering obstacles in the course of acquiring other right-of-way transfer documents, he sought further guidance. On August 14, 1962, the BLM Operations Manager, John E. Clute, properly informed Miles that the allotment land was held in a trust patent and not a fee patent. The district judge in this case found that as of the date of Clute's letter, the Board of Supervisors had constructive notice of the proper procedure to acquire a right-of-way across appellants' property. Miles presented the Hammond quitclaim deed to the Board of Supervisors, which recorded the improper deed in February, 1965.

The matter lay dormant until April, 1969, when BIA informed Miles that the roads impinged upon the allotment land and that the County never procured a legal right-of-way despite BIA's earlier instructions. Miles in a reply essentially blamed the landowners for breaching agreements to deed the necessary rights-of-way and conceded that no valid right-of-way existed. The Board of Supervisors formally incorporated Road 422/23 into the County road system on April 17, 1972. About four years later, the Board recorded a quitclaim deed Miles improperly acquired from another beneficial owner of the allotment, without any questioning as to the propriety of Miles' actions.

The district court concluded that plaintiffs' remedy was damages for trespass, and that the County was not liable under section 1983. It awarded damages in the amount of $4.64 per month from August 14, 1962 until such time as the County acquires a right-of-way across the property to maintain the road. Plaintiffs appealed the denial of their civil rights claim and the district court's damage award.

DISCUSSION

I. Madera County's liability under Sec. 1983

The first issue raised is whether Madera County may be held liable under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 as a result of County officials' actions giving rise to the trespass on plaintiffs' land. In Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Serv., 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978), the Supreme Court ruled that local governmental bodies are "persons" under section 1983 and are directly suable for damages only when execution of a government's "policy or custom" inflicts the injury for which the government as an entity is responsible under section 1983. In order to hold Madera County liable under section 1983, the appellants must show: (1) that the actions of the Madera County officials involved here were taken under color of law; (2) that the conduct caused a deprivation of plaintiffs' rights, privileges or immunities secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States; and (3) that the conduct was the consequence of a Madera County "policy or custom." See, e.g., Parratt v. Taylor, 451 U.S. 527, 535, 101 S.Ct. 1908, 1912, 68 L.Ed.2d 420 (1981), overruled in part on other grounds, Daniels v. Williams, 474 U.S. 327, 330-331, 106 S.Ct. 662, 664-65, 88 L.Ed.2d 662 (1986).

Defendant does not dispute that appellants have established the first two elements. First, it is clear that any action taken by the Madera County Right-of-Way Agent, Road Commissioner and County Board of Supervisors with respect to acquisition of rights-of-way and incorporation of the road were under color of law. Second, the district court granted summary judgment holding that the County had trespassed on the owners' allotment by using and maintaining Madera County Roads 422, 423, and 426, and that this trespass started on August 14, 1962. The County's conduct implicates appellants' rights against deprivation of their property without due process guaranteed by the fourteenth amendment. See Evers v. County of Custer, 745 F.2d 1196, 1200 (9th Cir.1984)) (county's action of recording "Declaration of Public Road" with respect to a road situated on plaintiff's private property gave rise to a claim of deprivation of a constitutionally-protected property interest and section 1983 action.).

The pivotal issue, then, is whether appellants' injury resulted from acts which can be said to be official county policy. Local governing bodies can be sued under section 1983 only where the alleged unconstitutional action "implements or executes a policy statement, ordinance, regulation, or decision officially adopted and promulgated by that body's officers." Monell, 436 U.S. at 690, 98 S.Ct. at 2037. An unconstitutional governmental policy can be inferred from a single decision taken by officials whose acts represent official policy, even though the decision is not intended to govern future situations. Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati, 475 U.S. 469, 106 S.Ct. 1292, 89 L.Ed.2d 452 (1986).

The Supreme Court has stated that a municipal entity cannot be held liable under Identifying the official policymakers has been an intellectual fork along the path of development of section 1983 jurisprudence. The Supreme Court has held that an official's acts represent municipal policy so long as the official has been given "final authority to establish municipal policy with respect to the [challenged] action."...