Heckenlaible v. Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail

• Decision Date: 13 June 2007
• Docket Number: Action No. 4:06cv25.
• Citation: 491 F.Supp.2d 544
• Parties: Christine HECKENLAIBLE, Plaintiff, v. VIRGINIA PENINSULA REGIONAL JAIL AUTHORITY, and Michael D. Steele, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia

Page 544

491 F.Supp.2d 544

Christine HECKENLAIBLE, Plaintiff, v. VIRGINIA PENINSULA REGIONAL JAIL AUTHORITY, and Michael D. Steele, Defendants.

Action No. 4:06cv25.

United States District Court, E.D. Virginia, Newport News Division.

June 13, 2007.

David Mitchell Lee, David M. Lee & Associates PLC, Williamsburg, VA, Jeremy Scott Tishler, Bode & Grenier LLP, Peter Christopher Grenier, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff.

John Adrian Gibney, Jr., William Woodul Tunner, Thompson McMullan PC, Richmond, VA, Tyrone Carey Johnson, Law Offices of Tyrone C. Johnson, Hampton, VA, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

REBECCA BEACH SMITH, District Judge.

Plaintiff Christine Heckenlaible brings this civil action against Defendant Michael D. Steele ("Steele") and his former employer, Defendant Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail Authority ("the Jail Authority"), seeking to recover monetary relief for injuries suffered as a result of an allegedly nonconsensual sexual encounter between her and Steele that occurred at a jail facility operated by the Jail Authority. This matter comes before the court on the Jail Authority's motion for summary judgment. For the reasons set forth herein, the Jail Authority's motion for summary judgment is DENIED-IN-PART and GRANTED-IN-PART.

I. Factual and Procedural History¹

On April 23, 2001, the Jail Authority hired Steele to work as a correctional officer at the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail ("the Jail"). Before doing so, the Jail Authority reviewed Steele's employment application, completed a criminal background check, conducted a personal interview, and checked Steele's personal references. Steele had no criminal record at that time, and none of the information gathered by the Jail Authority indicated that Steele might pose a threat to inmates while working as a correctional officer.

Steele completed a three-week orientation program after being hired. Once he was assigned to a shift, he received additional training in the field for several weeks. He was subsequently sent to the Hampton Roads Criminal Justice Academy for an additional ten weeks of instruction. In addition, while Steele worked on shifts at the Jail, supervisors employed by the Jail Authority patrolled the Jail at random, unannounced intervals and checked that Steele and the other correctional officers were following the Jail Authority's policies. Two of these "spot checks" were conducted over the course of a correctional officer's twelve-hour shift.

On or about January 15, 2004, Heckenlaible was admitted to the Jail as a pretrial detainee. Upon her admission, she indicated that she was under the influence of alcohol and drugs, suffered from epilepsy, had respiratory problems, and had previously tried to harm herself. The Jail Authority's staff subsequently determined that she had louse eggs in her hair. She was placed in the medical unit of the jail, primarily because of the louse eggs.

Between 7:00 p.m. on January 20, 2004, and 7:00 a.m. on January 21, 2004, Steele worked as the sole correctional officer in the medical unit. His supervisor conducted two "spot checks" during the first few hours of his shift, leaving him unsupervised for the remainder of it. During the evening of January 20, 2004, Heckenlaible asked Steele on at least two occasions if she could take a shower. At some point that evening, at least one or two hours after her initial request, Steele escorted her to the shower.

The Jail Authority encourages inmates in the medical unit to take showers. It requires correctional officers to check on the inmates while they are showering, but prohibits the correctional officers from "ogling" the inmates. In this case, Heckenlaible observed Steele staring at her while she was in the shower. After she finished her shower and dried off, Steele took her back to her cell and then departed.

Later that same evening, Steele returned to Heckenlaible's cell and announced that he would be conducting a cell search. After entering her cell, he sexually assaulted her, forcing her to perform oral sex on him. After he left her cell, she cleaned herself off with a towel, which she then placed under her bed. She cried herself to sleep.

The next morning, on January 21, 2004, Heckenlaible reported the sexual assault to a member of the Jail Authority's supervisory staff, and Steele was placed on administrative leave this same day. The towel was subsequently recovered, and a forensic analysis of it verified the presence of semen. On March 30, 2004, Steele was terminated for the following two reasons: (1) Steele engaged in sexual contact with ad inmate; and (2) Steele refused to cooperate in the Jail Authority's investigation of the incident. Steele was eventually convicted for this offense of carnal knowledge of an inmate, a Class 6 felony under Virginia law, of which consent, or lack thereof, is not a relevant consideration for conviction. He remains incarcerated as of the date of this Memorandum Opinion and Order.

As a result of the sexual assault, Heckenlaible is depressed. Also, her sleep is disturbed, she is scared to leave her home alone, and she avoids engaging in sexual activity, which has strained one of her personal relationships. Her children see her crying all of the time.

Prior to January 21, 2004, the Jail Authority had never received any complaints about Steele from any of the Tail's inmates. In addition, it had never before received a complaint alleging that one of its correctional officers had sexually assaulted an inmate. The Jail Authority has policies that govern interactions between correctional officers and inmates, and these policies were in effect on January 20, 2004. The Jail Authority, for example, prohibits correctional officers from physically abusing any inmate or engaging in consensual or nonconsensual sexual acts with any inmate. Also, the Jail Authority has a policy that in the absence of an emergency situation, a male correctional officer may not search the cell of a female inmate unless the officer is accompanied by a female correctional officer.

On or about January 18, 2006, Heckenlaible filed this action in the Williamsburg/James City County Circuit Court against Steele and the Jail Authority. In her complaint, Heckenlaible alleges the following state law claims against Steele and, on the theory of respondeat superior, the Jail Authority: (1) assault and battery; and (2) intentional infliction of emotional distress. She also brings state law negligent hiring and negligent retention claims against the Jail Authority. In addition, she sets forth a state law negligence claim against both Steele and the Jail Authority based on the fact that Steele and the Jail Authority caused Steele to be the only correctional officer in a ward that housed female inmates. Finally, she asserts a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Steele, alleging that his actions deprived her of her Fourteenth Amendment substantive due process right to bodily security. See Hall v. Tawney, 621 F.2d 607, 612-13 (4th Cir.1980) (discussing the constitutionally protected substantive due process right to bodily security and noting that "[t]he existence of this right to ultimate bodily security the most fundamental aspect of personal privacy is unmistakably established in our constitutional decisions as an attribute of the ordered liberty that is the concern of substantive due process"). Heckenlaible further seeks punitive damages against Steele, claiming that his conduct was willful and wanton.

On February I, 2006, the Jail Authority removed this action to this court. On February 16, 2006, it filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. On August 3, 2006, this court issued a Memorandum Opinion and Order denying the motion to dismiss. See Heckenlaible v. Virginia Reg'l Peninsula Jail Auth., No. 4:06cv25, 2006 WL 2252026, at *2 (E.D.Va. Aug. 3, 2006). On August 29, 2006, the Jail Authority filed a motion for reconsideration, asking this court to reconsider certain issues raised in its motion to dismiss. On November 1, 2006, the court issued an Order denying the motion for reconsideration. See Heckenlaible v. Virginia Reg'l Peninsula Jail Auth., No. 4:06cv25, 2006 WL 3196750, at *1 (E.D.Va. Nov. 1, 2006).

On May 8, 2007, the Jail Authority filed a motion for summary judgment, and the court received the Jail Authority's brief in support of the motion on this same day. In its brief, the Jail Authority argues that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law on every claim pending against it in this action. The court received Heckenlaible's memorandum in opposition to the motion for summary judgment ("memorandum in opposition") on May 24, 2007. On this same date, the Jail Authority filed a motion to strike the memorandum in opposition, with a supporting brief, and also a reply brief in support of its motion for summary judgment. On May 25, 2007, the Jail Authority withdrew a portion of its motion to strike, namely, the portion in which it argued that Heckenlaible's memorandum exceeded the page limits of the local rules. On June 7, 2007, the court received Heckenlaible's late opposition to the motion to strike. The matter is now ripe for review.

II. Standard of Review

"Summary judgment is warranted when the admissible evidence forecasted by the parties demonstrates that no genuine issue of material fact exists and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Toll Bros., Inc. v. Dryvit Sys., Inc., 432 F.3d 564, 568 (4th Cir.2005) (internal quotation omitted); see FED.R.Civ.P. 56(c). To avert summary judgment, "the non-moving party must present sufficient evidence such that `reasonable jurors could find by a preponderance of the evidence' for the non-movant." Sylvia Dev. Corp. v. Calvert County, Md., 48 F.3d 810, 818 (4th Cir.1995) (quoting Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986)).

III. Analysis

A. Motion to...