Hattaway v. McMillian
| Decision Date | 25 June 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 89-3208,89-3208 |
| Citation | 903 F.2d 1440 |
| Parties | Betty L. HATTAWAY, as duly appointed guardian of the person and property of Noah Lee Laningham, Incompetent, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Quinn A. McMILLIAN, Individually and as Sheriff of Walton County, Florida, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit |
Julius F. Parker, Jr., Parker, Skelding, Labasky & Corry, Tallahassee, Fla., for defendant-appellant.
Lynn C. Higby, Bryant, Higby & Williams, Panama City, Fla., for plaintiff-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida.
Before TJOFLAT, Chief Judge, ANDERSON and CLARK, Circuit Judges.
I. FACTS AND PRIOR PROCEEDINGS
On September 16, 1987, Noah Laningham and his brother Joe Laningham left the Hardees in DeFuniak Springs, Florida. The Hardees employees suspected that the brothers were too intoxicated to operate an automobile and notified the DeFuniak Springs Police Department. By the time the officers reached the Hardees, the Laningham brothers had left the restaurant. They were next spotted by a state wildlife official who radioed for assistance. Two Walton County Deputies and two DeFuniak Springs officers responded to the call. The situation quickly escalated into a high speed chase.
Quinn A. McMillian, the Walton County Sheriff, was in an unmarked radio car at the time that the chase began. From the radio traffic, he realized that the intoxicated drivers were proceeding towards his present location. McMillian then parked his car in the middle of the road facing the direction the Laningham car would be coming. McMillian's police car was parked with its blue police lights flashing. McMillian then stood in the front of his car to await the Laningham automobile.
A few minutes later the Laningham car raced by the Sheriff. After almost hitting him, the car swerved and went around the Sheriff's car. As the car sped by, McMillian drew his gun and shot at the Laningham car's tires. The car then swerved out of control and pulled over approximately one-fourth of a mile from where McMillian was standing. Both of the brothers jumped out of the car. Joe Laningham was apprehended almost immediately. Noah, however, ran into the woods. The officers pursued him into the woods and finally apprehended him several hundred yards from the parked cars. At this time Laningham who appeared to be unconscious, was then handcuffed. Apparently because of the heat of the day, the Sheriff asked for some water or a hose. A garden hose with a pistol grip spray nozzle was brought to the Sheriff from a nearby farm house.
At this point in the incident, the eyewitnesses disagree on what happened next. Sheriff McMillian and several of the other witnesses testified that the Sheriff sprayed a fine mist over Noah Laningham and attempted to get him to drink some of the water. These witnesses testified that the entire incident took from one to six minutes. Several of these witnesses testified that the nozzle was never placed into Laningham's mouth, and that any water that Laningham received to drink was provided in the form of a fine mist from the hose.
The plaintiff presented quite a different story. Tracy Laird testified that the Sheriff took the hose and forced water into Laningham's mouth at a pressure so high that his cheeks fluttered. Laird also testified that the water shot out of Laningham's nose and caused his stomach to heave up and down so that he looked like he was having convulsions. In addition, the plaintiff also presented the testimony of Florida Department of Law Enforcement Special Agent Ken Bridges who recounted the following conversation he had with the Sheriff:
The Sheriff told me ... that he had gotten involved in an arrest where a vehicle was being chased ... and then when the car pulled down the road and had stopped [one of the] passengers had jumped out ... and led them on quite a lengthy foot chase through the woods. They finally caught him ... and brought him out near a house, and it was hot that day and he was sweaty. So he told one of the bystanders ... to bring him the hose.... He got the hose and wet the boy down. The boy wasn't responsive. He would ask him who he was and what he was doing, and he wasn't responding. He was also not moving, not getting up, not doing anything. So he told him to get up and he forced some water in his mouth and the boy didn't respond to that. So he said, in his words, I stuck the hose in his mouth again and gave him a good squirt and told him if he didn't get up, I was going to drown him.
Trial Transcript at 179-80 (emphasis added). Similarly, Officer Rayburn of the DeFuniak Springs Police gave the following testimony on cross-examination:
Q. Now as I understand, Mr. Rayburn, the Sheriff took the nozzle ... and stuck it down [Laningham's] britches in his genital area?
A. I would say he stuck it under his belt. I wouldn't say to the genital area.
Q. How far was it from his genital area did he spray?
A. I have no idea.
Q. But it was below the belt?
A. It was under the belt.
Q. And it was in the front?
A. Right.
Q. And that's the genital area; right?
....
A. I suppose.
Q. Now, give us a little flavor for the amount of pressure that was coming out of the Plaintiff's Exhibit 1 there when he would stick the nozzle up to his lips?
A. With my hand not being on the nozzle I don't know how much force was there. As I said before, there was enough force that you noticeably see the water going into his mouth by the movement of his cheeks.
Q. Cheeks were fluttering?
A. Cheeks were a little fluttering, yes, and there was water coming out of the corner of his mouth.
Trial Transcript at 666 (emphasis added).
After the hosing incident, Laningham was taken to the Walton County Jail. He received medical treatment at the jail and was later transferred to a hospital. Although there was some testimony that Laningham was talking and walking around the jail following the hosing incident, some time after the incident Laningham lapsed into a mute and catatonic state. One of Laningham's doctors diagnosed his condition as a post traumatic stress disorder. Another testified that he has a combination of depression and psychosis. The plaintiff's experts testified at trial that Laningham's condition was most likely caused by the hosing incident described by the plaintiff's witnesses. Both sides' experts agreed, however, that the defendant's version of the hosing incident would not have been likely to cause his injuries. Laningham's condition prevented him from attending the trial. The estimate for the costs of Laningham's future treatment is 3.3 million dollars at today's costs.
Betty L. Hattaway was appointed as Laningham's guardian. On October 26, 1987 she gave notice to McMillian that she intended to bring an action against him for Laningham's injuries. On October 27, 1987, she filed a multi-count complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida alleging several state and federal causes of action. 1
After hearing the testimony presented by both parties, the case was submitted to a jury. The jury was furnished separate special interrogatory verdict forms for each of the four counts of the complaint. The jury found in favor of Sheriff McMillian on all federal claims, on the state claim alleging assault and battery and on the state claim alleging intentional infliction of extreme emotional distress. Only on the pendent claim alleging negligence did the jury find in favor of the plaintiff. On that count, the jury found the plaintiff 75% negligent and defendant McMillian 25% negligent. The jury assessed total damages of $2,000,000 which, pursuant to the doctrine of comparative negligence, was reduced to a judgment of $500,000. In addition, the judgment was amended by the district court to clarify that the plaintiffs could recover only against the Sheriff in his official capacity. 2
The defense filed several post-trial motions seeking to overturn the redirect and reduce the damages. The plaintiff, on the other hand, filed a motion for an additur or, in the alternative, a new trial on the issue of damages. The court denied the defense motions but granted the plaintiff's motion for additur, giving the defendant the choice of either accepting an additional $343,603 added to the judgment or facing a new trial on the issue of damages. McMillian accepted the additur subject to all rights of appeal and the judgment was increased to $843,603 consistent with additur. This appeal followed.
On appeal the defendant asserts five challenges to the judgment. First, the defendant argues that the district court erred by not granting judgment in the defendant's favor because the plaintiff failed to comply with the Florida notice of claim provisions which are a prerequisite to the state's waiver of sovereign immunity. Second, the defendant argues that the jury's verdicts are inconsistent with each other. The defendant's third argument is that the plaintiff's evidence was insufficient to allow the jury to find that the defendant was the proximate cause of Laningham's injuries. Fourth, the defendant argues that the additur ordered was excessive and therefore was an abuse of discretion. Finally, the defendant argues that the district court erred in not granting the defendant's motion to limit damages to $100,000. We now consider each of these claims.
II. DISCUSSION
Appellant's first claim is that the district court erred in failing to grant the defendant's motion for a directed verdict. In that motion the defendant alleged the plaintiff had failed to prove compliance with the Florida notice of claim provisions. Section 768.28 of the Florida Code contains a limited waiver of sovereign immunity applicable to the appellee's suit against Sheriff McMillian. The section provides:
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