Huff v. City of Burbank

• Decision Date: 11 January 2011
• Docket Number: No. 09–55239.,09–55239.
• Citation: 632 F.3d 539
• Parties: George Robert HUFF; Maria Huff; and Vincent Huff, Plaintiffs–Appellants,v.CITY OF BURBANK; Darin Ryburn; Edmundo Zepeda; Chris Roberts; and Fernando Munoz, Defendants–Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

632 F.3d 539

78 Fed.R.Serv.3d 552

11 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 418

2011 Daily Journal D.A.R. 524

George Robert HUFF; Maria Huff; and Vincent Huff, Plaintiffs–Appellants,

v.CITY OF BURBANK; Darin Ryburn; Edmundo Zepeda; Chris Roberts; and Fernando Munoz, Defendants–Appellees.

No. 09–55239.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted June 8, 2010.Filed Jan. 11, 2011.

Leo James Terrell (argued) and Erikson M. Davis, Law Offices of Leo James Terrell, Beverly Hills, CA, for the plaintiffs-appellants.Calvin House (argued), Gutierrez, Preciado & House, LLP, Pasadena, CA, for the defendants-appellees.Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Florence–Marie Cooper, United States District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. 2:07–cv–04114–FMC–AJW.Before: ALEX KOZINSKI, Chief Circuit Judge, JOHNNIE B. RAWLINSON, Circuit Judge, and ALGENON L. MARBLEY, United States District Judge. ^*Opinion by Judge MARBLEY; Partial Concurrence and Partial Dissent by Judge RAWLINSON.

OPINION

MARBLEY, District Judge:

Plaintiffs George, Maria, and Vincent Huff appeal the district court's judgment in favor of four officers who entered their home without a warrant. For the reasons below, we find that only two of the four officers were entitled to qualified immunity.

I. BACKGROUND

On June 1, 2007, the four officers responded to a call from Bellarmine–Jefferson High School. At Bellarmine, they learned of a rumor about a letter that said that Vincent, a student there, was going to “shoot up” the school. The principal, Sister Milner, told Sergeant Ryburn and Officer Zepeda that Vincent had not been at school in two days, that she was concerned about the threat and the safety of her students, that some parents had kept their students home, and that she wanted the police to investigate. After conducting interviews with Sister Milner and two students, the officers could not confirm the existence of any threatening letter.

The officers decided to go to the home of George; Maria, his wife; and Vincent, their son, to interview the family and continue their investigation. Before leaving Bellarmine, the officers asked Sister Milner to make sure that no one contacted the Huffs to inform them that the Burbank Police were on the way to their home. When the officers arrived in the vicinity of the Huff home, they parked their cars away from the residence so that the Huffs would not see them approaching.

Upon arrival at the Huff residence, Zepeda knocked on the door and announced that the officers were with the Burbank Police Department. When no one responded, Ryburn called the home telephone number, and though the officers could hear the telephone ringing inside the house, no one answered. Ryburn then called Maria on her cell phone, which she answered. Ryburn identified himself and indicated he wanted to talk to Maria about her son Vincent. Maria then hung up the phone.

Two minutes later Maria and Vincent came out of the house and stood on the front steps in front of Ryburn and Zepeda. Zepeda told Vincent that the Officer Defendants were there to talk about some threats at the school, to which Vincent replied “I can't believe you're here for that.” (ER 78:22–23.) The officers concede that when they encountered Vincent outside of the Huff residence, they did not have probable cause to enter the home.¹ (1 RT 44:3–9.) Ryburn approached Maria and asked if they could go inside the house to talk. She said, “No,” because the Officer Defendants did not have a warrant. (ER 78:24–25; 2 RT 44:1–8, 96:18–97:8.) Ryburn then asked Maria if there were any guns in the home. Maria testified that she responded that she would go get her husband. Maria then turned around and went into the house.

Ryburn followed Maria into the house. Ryburn acknowledges that, at this point, Maria was not detained or arrested, and that she was free to leave from where she had been standing and speaking with Ryburn and Zepeda. Vincent then entered the residence, followed by Zepeda. Zepeda entered the home because of “officer safety” concerns. (ER 79:3–4.) Since the officers were there to investigate threats to shoot, he did not want Ryburn to enter the house alone. The other two officers, Munoz and Roberts, had been standing near the sidewalk, unable to hear any of the conversation between Maria, Vincent, Ryburn, and Zepeda. After Ryburn and Zepeda entered the Huff residence, Munoz and Roberts assumed that Maria and Vincent had given consent and entered the home.

After entering the Huff residence, the officers remained in the living room. George entered the room and challenged the authority of the police to be in his home. The officers remained inside the Huff home for five to ten minutes, talking with the Huff family. The officers satisfied themselves that the rumors about the threats at Bellarmine were untrue. They then left the Huff residence and returned to the school to report their conclusions. At no time while the officers were in the Huff home did they conduct any search of George, Maria, Vincent, or any property.

After the officers returned to Bellarmine, Ryburn suggested to Sister Milner that she send out a notice to the parents of Bellarmine's students informing them that there was no such threat or letter. As a result of speaking with Ryburn about the morning's events, Sister Milner sent a letter to parents, which explained that there was no truth to the rumor about a student threatening to shoot anyone.

The Huffs initiated this action, which sought compensatory and punitive damages, alleging that their constitutional rights had been violated when the police entered their home. After holding a two-day bench trial, the district court held that exigent circumstances permitted the police's warrantless entry into the Huff residence and that the officers were entitled to qualified immunity. The Huffs appeal.

II. LAW AND ANALYSIS

A. Findings of Fact

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require that the district court make findings of fact and conclusions of law in all cases tried without a jury. Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a). The factual findings must be sufficient to indicate the factual basis of the district court's ultimate conclusions. Kelley v. Everglades Drainage Dist., 319 U.S. 415, 422, 63 S.Ct. 1141, 87 L.Ed. 1485 (1943); Vance v. Am. Haw. Cruises, Inc., 789 F.2d 790, 792 (9th Cir.1986). It is also not “necessary that the trial court make findings asserting the negative of each issue of fact raised.” Carr v. Yokohama Specie Bank, Ltd., of San Francisco, 200 F.2d 251, 255 (9th Cir.1952). The district court's findings should be “explicit enough to give the appellate court a clear understanding of the basis of the trial court's decision, and to enable it to determine the ground on which the trial court reached its decision.” Alpha Distrib. Co. of Cal. v. Jack Daniel Distillery, 454 F.2d 442, 453 (9th Cir.1972) (citing Irish v. United States, 225 F.2d 3, 8 (9th Cir.1955)).

The district court's findings of fact are reviewed under the clearly erroneous standard. Zivkovic v. S. Cal. Edison Co., 302 F.3d 1080, 1088 (9th Cir.2002). This review for clear error is “significantly deferential,” and the reviewing court “must accept the district court's factual findings absent a ‘definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.’ ” Silva v. Woodford, 279 F.3d 825, 835 (9th Cir.2002) (quoting United States v. Syrax, 235 F.3d 422, 427 (9th Cir.2000)). This Court may not reverse the district court even though we may be convinced we would have weighed the evidence differently had we been the trier of fact. Phoenix Eng'g and Supply Inc. v. Universal Elec. Co., Inc., 104 F.3d 1137, 1141 (9th Cir.1997) (citing Anderson v. Bessemer City, N.C., 470 U.S. 564, 574, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 84 L.Ed.2d 518 (1985)).

The Huffs argue that the district court erred in several findings of fact. First, the Huffs assert that the district court did not resolve conflicting testimony regarding: (1) whether Maria knew why the police were at her home before she went outside; (2) why Maria hung up her cell phone on Ryburn before proceeding outside to speak with the police; (3) whether Maria answered Ryburn's questions about whether there were any guns inside the Huff residence; (4) whether Maria told the officers she was going back into the house to get her husband; and (5) Maria's whereabouts upon returning inside the Huff residence. Second, the Huffs contend that the district court did not state that it was undisputed that Maria was free to return to her home. Third, the Huffs believe the district court erroneously failed to state why Ryburn went into the Huff residence.

The district court was not clearly erroneous in its findings such that reversal by this Court would be appropriate. That we may have weighed the testimony of the witnesses and other evidence in another manner, thus reaching different findings of fact, is not a proper basis for reversal. Phoenix Eng'g and Supply Inc., 104 F.3d at 1141. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require “the reviewing court [to] give due regard to the trial court's opportunity to judge the witnesses' credibility.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a)(6). Accordingly, we've held that “[w]here there are two permissible views of the evidence, the factfinder's choice between them cannot be clearly erroneous.” United States v. Working, 224 F.3d 1093, 1102 (9th Cir.2000) (en banc) (quoting Anderson v. City of Bessemer, 470 U.S. 564, 573–74, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 84 L.Ed.2d 518 (1985)). Here, the district court needed only to find the facts sufficient to indicate the basis for its ultimate legal conclusions. The district court was not required to find all possible facts, or to state explicitly why it had chosen to believe the testimony of the officers over Maria. Additionally, because the court found that exigent circumstances justified the warrantless entry into the Huff residence, the court was not required to state Ryburn's reason for...