Heitschmidt v. City of Houston
| Decision Date | 23 November 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. 97-20316,97-20316 |
| Citation | 161 F.3d 834,1998 WL 809036 |
| Parties | Edwin O. HEITSCHMIDT, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. The CITY OF HOUSTON; Sam Nuchia, Chief; George Sweetin; C.P. Gillespie; J.K. Shaffer; Kevin D. Templeton; George Fencl; John C. Whitefield, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Ronald H. Tonkin, Houston, TX, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
Andrea Chan, Houston, TX, for Defendants-Appellees.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Before DeMOSS, PARKER and DENNIS, Circuit Judges.
Edwin O. Heitschmidt appeals the district court's rule 12(b)(6) dismissal of his § 1983 action against six named Houston Police Officers, former Houston Police Chief Sam Nuchia, and the City of Houston. We reverse and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Dismissal pursuant to rule 12(b)(6) is appropriate only when " 'it appears that no relief could be granted under any set of facts that could be proven consistent with the allegations.' " Meadowbriar Home for Children, Inc. v. Gunn, 81 F.3d 521, 529 (5th Cir.1996) (quoting Bulger v. United States Bureau of Prisons, 65 F.3d 48, 49 (5th Cir.1995)); see also Rochon v. City of Angola, 122 F.3d 319, 320 (5th Cir.1997), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 118 S.Ct. 1311, 140 L.Ed.2d 475 (1998). We review the district court's action de novo, accepting as true all well-pleaded facts in Heitschmidt's complaint. Meadowbriar Home for Children, 81 F.3d at 529.
In June 1994, Edwin Heitschmidt was living in Houston, Texas with Anne Menke Fucaluro, the leader of a sizable ring of innovative prostitutes known as the "salad sisters." After Fucaluro was arrested as part of a sting operation, a warrant was issued to search the house that Heitschmidt shared with Fucaluro. Officers had information prior to the search that Fucaluro shared the house with Heitschmidt and that he was a U.S. Customs Officer. Heitschmidt was not a target of the investigation, and police had no reason to suspect Heitschmidt of any wrongdoing prior to searching the home.
Officers arrived to serve the warrant around 9:00 p.m. on the evening of June 9, 1994. Two policemen lured Heitschmidt from the residence by claiming they needed his help identifying people who had allegedly been picked up in the neighborhood. Heitschmidt agreed to help, then put on a shirt and voluntarily exited his home, walking toward a police car parked on the street. As Heitschmidt approached the parked car, police shined a flashlight into the back seat, where Heitschmidt observed two individuals smiling at him. The two policemen escorting Heitschmidt then pushed him onto the trunk of the police car and handcuffed him tightly enough to cause severe pain.
As Heitschmidt was being handcuffed, several unmarked cars pulled into the driveway and in front of the house, and about ten or twelve additional police officers exited the vehicles. Some of the police arriving at this time had guns drawn, and some of the guns were pointed at Heitschmidt.
Heitschmidt was then taken back inside the house and positioned on a bar stool in the living room. Defendant Officer Sweetin told Heitschmidt the house was being searched pursuant to a warrant and held a copy of the warrant in front of Heitschmidt. Heitschmidt explained that he could not read the document without his reading glasses. Officer Sweetin moved the paper back slightly, but Heitschmidt was still unable to read the document and no effort was made to secure Heitschmidt remained handcuffed and seated on the bar stool from approximately 9:15 p.m. until about 1:45 a.m. the next morning, as many police officers from various jurisdictions searched the house. During that period, Heitschmidt complained that the handcuffs were painfully tight and requested that they be loosened. Heitschmidt's requests were denied. Heitschmidt also requested permission to use the bathroom. That request was also denied.
Heitschmidt's reading glasses. Officer Sweetin then read Heitschmidt his rights. Heitschmidt asked whether he was under arrest. Sweetin replied that Heitschmidt was not under arrest, and that he was merely being detained.
Police seized a number of items from the home, all thought to be related to Fucaluro's operation of the prostitution ring. When the four and one-half hour search was complete, the handcuffs were removed and Heitschmidt was released.
Heitschmidt claims that he suffered permanent serious injury to his wrists as a result of the incident, for which he has sought medical treatment. He also claims psychological harm, for which he has sought medical treatment.
Heitschmidt filed this civil rights suit pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in May 1996. Heitschmidt's original complaint named Houston Police Officers George Sweetin, C.P. "Chris" Gillespie, J.K. Shaffer, Kevin D. Thompson, George Fencl, and John C. Whitefield, in their individual capacities; Houston Police Chief Sam Nuchia, in his individual capacity; and the City of Houston, as defendants. Heitschmidt's original complaint raised federal claims under the Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments, and several pendant state law claims.
In June 1996, the defendants moved for dismissal on the basis of qualified immunity. In November 1996, the district court entered an order deferring its ruling on the defendants' motion, and permitting Heitschmidt an opportunity to amend his pleadings to set forth facts sufficient to overcome the defendants' claimed entitlement to qualified immunity. See Schultea v. Wood, 47 F.3d 1427, 1433-34 (5th Cir.1995) (en banc) (). On December 9, 1996, Heitschmidt filed an amended complaint. Defendants responded with an amended answer, and shortly thereafter, with another motion to dismiss. On April 1, 1997, the district court entered an order (1) dismissing Heitschmidt's Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment claims for failure to state a claim, and (2) dismissing Heitschmidt's Fourth Amendment claims against the six named officers and Chief Nuchia on the basis that those defendants were entitled to qualified immunity. On June 16, 1997, the district court entered a second order (1) dismissing Heitschmidt's claims against the City of Houston for failure to state a claim, and (2) dismissing Heitschmidt's remaining state law claims for want of jurisdiction. On June 26, 1997, the district court entered final judgment dismissing all claims. Heitschmidt appealed.
Heitschmidt's principal brief on appeal challenges only the district court's decision to grant the six named Houston Police Officers qualified immunity from his Fourth Amendment claims. Heitschmidt's briefing does not contain any cogent argument concerning the district court's dismissal of his Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments claims for failure to state a claim, the district court's dismissal of all claims against Chief Nuchia and the City of Houston, or the district court's dismissal of Heitschmidt's pendant state law claims. We therefore limit our review to the district court's April 1, 1997 decision that the six named Houston Police Officers were entitled to qualified immunity from Heitschmidt's Fourth Amendment claims.
To determine whether the district court's grant of qualified immunity to the individual officers was proper, we must decide whether Heitschmidt's pleadings, if accepted as true, (1) conceivably state violations of clearly established Fourth Defendants rely upon Michigan v. Summers, 452 U.S. 692, 101 S.Ct. 2587, 69 L.Ed.2d 340 (1981), for the proposition that a valid search warrant implicitly authorizes the detention of any occupant of the premises to be searched during the pendency of the search. The district court likewise focused upon Summers, holding that police may detain a person not named in the search warrant while a validly executed search warrant is executed. Therefore, the district court reasoned, Heitschmidt could not allege violation of a clearly established right.
Amendment rights, and (2) allege conduct that is objectively unreasonable. See, e.g., Fontenot v. Cormier, 56 F.3d 669, 673 (5th Cir.1995). Heitschmidt's Fourth Amendment claims alleged (1) that he was unlawfully and unreasonably detained, and (2) that he was subjected to excessive force. With regard to his unlawful detention claim, Heitschmidt asserts his clearly established right to be free from unreasonable seizure of his person, a right which he maintains includes the clearly established right to be free from an unreasonably prolonged or intrusive detention without probable cause. Heitschmidt further claims that the conduct of the officers was objectively unreasonable because he was held for more than four hours in painful restraints without being allowed access to a bathroom, even though he was not a target of the investigation and police had no articulable reason for suspecting him of misconduct.
Defendants' unqualified reliance upon Summers for the proposition that Heitschmidt could not, under any circumstances, state a claim for unlawful detention during the execution of a valid search warrant is unjustified. The holding in Summers was far more narrow.
In Summers, police obtained a valid warrant to search a house. The defendant, who in that case was trying to suppress evidence offered at his criminal trial, was observed leaving the house as officers arrived. Officers requested his assistance entering the house and detained him during the search. Summers, 101 S.Ct. at 2589.
Summers recognized that:
some seizures admittedly covered by the Fourth Amendment constitute such limited intrusions on the personal security of those detained and are justified by such substantial law enforcement interests that they may be made on less than probable cause, so long as police have an...
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