James v. Harris County

• Decision Date: 20 August 2007
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. H-04-3576.
• Citation: 508 F.Supp.2d 535
• Parties: Julian JAMES, et al., Plaintiffs, v. HARRIS COUNTY, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Texas

508 F.Supp.2d 535

Julian JAMES, et al., Plaintiffs, v. HARRIS COUNTY, Defendant.

Civil Action No. H-04-3576.

United States District Court, S.D. Texas, Houston Division.

August 20, 2007.

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Benjamin L. Hall, III, Elizabeth B. Hawkins, The Hall Law Firm LLP, Brian Weil Zimmerman, David Michael Scott, Zimmerman Azelrad et al., Houston, TX, for Plaintiffs.

George Andrew Nachtigall, Mary E. Baker, Houston, TX, Michael Paul Fleming, Attorney at Law, Conroe, TX, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

ATLAS, District Judge.

Pending before the Court in this civil rights action are cross-Motions for Judgment as a Matter of Law filed by Defendant Harris County (the "County's Motion") [Doc. # 485]¹ and Plaintiffs ("Plaintiffs' Motion") [Doc. # 508],² as well as a separate Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law filed by Plaintiff Julian James (the "James Motion") [Doc. # 524].³ The, County seeks judgment as a matter of law on all Plaintiffs' claims. Upon a careful review of the evidence admitted at trial, all applicable law, and the parties' briefing on each motion, the Court concludes that Defendant Harris County's Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law should be granted. Plaintiffs' Motion and the James Motion are denied.

I. FACTUAL AND LEGAL BACKGROUND

The Court briefly summarizes the facts of this case, which are set out in full detail' in the trial record. On May 16, 2004, at approximately 1:20 a.m., Harris County Deputy Sheriff William Wilkinson ("Wilkinson") stopped a vehicle driven by Hiji Harrison ("Harrison"). The sequence of events that followed is hotly contested, but the parties agree that it ended with Wilkinson shooting and killing Harrison. The Internal Affairs Department ("IAD") of the Harris County Sheriff's Office ("HCSO")⁴ determined that Wilkinson did not breach any departmental policy, practice, or procedure.

Plaintiffs are Harrison's mother, wife, and minor child. They have sued Defendant Harris County⁵ pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983, 1988, alleging violations of Harrison's rights under the Fourth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. After a 10-day trial, the jury deliberated for six days before informing the Court that it had reached "an unresolvable impasse" and was unable to reach a verdict.⁶

II. JUDGMENT AS A MATTER OF LAW — LEGAL STANDARDS

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provide for judgment as a matter of law where a party, having been fully heard on an issue by a jury, has not established a "legally sufficient evidentiary basis" for its claim or defense, such that no "reasonable jury" could find for that party on that issue. FED. R. CIV. P. 50(a) (1). A motion for judgment as a matter of law under Rule 50(a) "must specify the judgment sought and the law and facts that entitle the movant to the judgment," and must be made before the case is actually submitted to the jury. FED. R. CIV. P. 50(a)(2).

If the court does not grant a party's Rule 50(a) motion during trial, the matter is deemed submitted to the jury "subject to the court's later deciding the legal questions raised by the motion." FED. R. Civ. P. 50(b). When no verdict is reached by the jury, a movant who properly made the motion during trial may renew its motion post-trial under Rule 50(b), but must do so no later than ten days after the jury is discharged.⁷ Id. A proper Rule 50(a) motion, made before the case is submitted to the jury, is a prerequisite to a post-trial Rule 50(b) motion. See United States for use of Wallace v. Flintco Inc., 143 F.3d 955, 963 (5th Cir.1998) (motion under Rule 50(a) is required "to alert [nonmovant] to the specific grounds for an anticipated challenge to the sufficiency of its proof and to allow [nonmovant] the opportunity to move to cure any such deficiency"). The Rule 50(a) motion controls the breadth of a subsequent Rule 50(b) motion, as well. A matter not broached by the Rule 50(a) motion may not be subsequently raised under Rule 50(b). See Arsement v. Spinnaker Exploration Co., LLC, 400 F.3d 238, 247 (5th Cir.2005); Deffenbaugh-Williams v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 188 F.3d 278, 284 n. 5 (5th Cir.1999). If there was no verdict at trial, as is the case here, a court granting a Rule 50(b) motion may grant a new trial, or "direct entry of judgment as a matter of law" if no reasonable jury could have found in favor of the nonmovant on the basis of the evidence at trial. FED. R. Civ. P. 50(b)(2)(B).

III. SECTION 1983 CLAIMS AND ELEMENTS IN ISSUE

As a local government unit, Harris County is subject to liability under § 1983 if it committed a constitutional tort through a "policy statement, ordinance, regulation, or decision officially adopted and promulgated by that body's officers." City of St. Louis v. Praprotnik, 485 U.S. 112, 121, 108 S.Ct. 915, 99 L.Ed.2d 107 (1988) (quoting Monell v. Dept. of Social Svcs. of City of New York, 436 U.S. 658, 690, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978)). Liability may be imposed on a county "only for acts for which the [county] itself is actually responsible, `that is, acts which the [county] has officially sanctioned or ordered.'" Praprotnik, 485 U.S. at 123, 108 S.Ct. 915 (quoting Pembaur v. Cincinnati, 475 U.S. 469, 480, 106 S.Ct. 1292, 89 L.Ed.2d 452 (1986)). Because the case proceeded to trial against the County, and not Wilkinson in an individual capacity, the Court must be careful `not to collapse municipal liability into respondeat superior liability by failing to adhere to the rigorous requirements of municipal "culpability and causation." See Snyder v. Trepagnier, 142 F.3d 791, 796 (5th Cir.1998); Bd. of Comm'rs of Bryan County v. Brown, 520 U.S. 397, 415, 117 S.Ct. 1382, 137 L.Ed.2d 626 (1997).

To meet the requirements for a § 1983 claim at trial, Plaintiffs were required to prove (1) an official policy or custom, of which (2) a final policymaker can be charged with actual or constructive knowledge, and (3) a constitutional violation⁸ whose "moving force" is that policy or custom. Pineda v. City of Houston, 291 F.3d 325, 328 (5th Cir.2002); Piotrowski v. City of Houston, 237 F.3d 567, 578 (5th Cir.2001); James v. Harris County, No. 04-3576, 2006 WL 2827050, *7 (S.D.Tex. Sept. 28, 2006).

There must be a formal or informal policy of the municipality. See Snyder, 142 F.3d at 798 (citing Rodriguez v. Avita, 871 F.2d 552, 554-55 (5th Cir.1989)). An official policy may be proven with "[a] policy statement, ordinance, regulation, or decision that is officially adopted and promulgated by the municipality's lawmaking officers or by an official to whom the lawmakers have delegated policy-making authority." Webster v. City of Houston, 735 F.2d 838, 841. Where there is no official adoption or authorization, a municipal policy may be shown by a custom that is "a persistent, widespread practice of City officials or employees ... so common and well-settled as to constitute a custom that fairly represents municipal policy." Webster, 735 F.2d at 841; Piotrowski, 237 F.3d at 579. Accordingly, an apparently unofficial policy may be evidence of an unwritten or unarticulated official policy. Plaintiffs may not show a policy through mere proof of isolated or random incidents. See Piotrowski, 237 F.3d at 578 (citing Bennett v. City of Slidell, 728 F.2d 762, 768 n. 3 (5th Cir.1984)).

Proof of the existence of a policy or custom is insufficient to sustain § 1983 liability without actual or constructive knowledge of that policy on the part of a policymaker. Showing constructive knowledge of a municipal custom requires "evidence that the incidents were the `subject of prolonged public discussion or of a high degree of publicity.'" Pineda, 291 F.3d at 328 (citing McConney v. City of Houston, 863 F.2d 1180, 1184 (5th Cir.1989)).

In addition to proof of an Official custom or policy that is known to the policymaker, Plaintiffs also needed to prove that the HCSO's alleged custom or policy was the "moving force" behind the constitutional injury. To show moving force, Plaintiffs were required to "demonstrate a direct causal link between the municipal action and the deprivation of federal rights." Brown, 520 U.S. at 404, 117 S.Ct. 1382; see also Fraire v. City of Arlington, 957 F.2d 1268, 1281 (5th Cir. 1992) ("a direct causal connection must exist between the policy and the alleged constitutional deprivation"). "To adopt lesser standards of fault and causation would open municipalities to unprecedented liability under § 1983." City of Canton v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378, 391, 109 S.Ct. 1197, 103 L.Ed.2d 412 (1989). Moving force is not "a mere but for coupling between cause and effect." Fraire, 957 F.2d at 1281 (citing City of Canton, 489 U.S. at 388-89, 109 S.Ct. 1197). Merely showing that correcting the allegedly deficient policy would have prevented the claimed constitutional injury is therefore not sufficient to meet Plaintiffs' burden. See Estate of Davis ex rel. McCully v. City of North Richland Hills, 406 F.3d 375, 386 (5th Cir.2005). The "municipal policy must be affirmatively linked to the constitutional violation." Fraire, 957 F.2d at 1281 (emphasis added) (citing Polk County v. Dodson, 454 U.S. 312, 326, 102 S.Ct. 445, 70 L.Ed.2d 509 (1981)).

Even if a municipal policy is the moving force behind a constitutional injury resulting from excessive force, Plaintiffs cannot recover from the County under § 1983 without proof "either (1) that the policy itself violated federal law or authorized or directed the deprivation of federal rights or (2) that the policy was adopted or maintained by the municipality's policymakers 'with "deliberate indifference" as to its known or obvious consequences.'" Johnson v. Deep East Texas Regional Narcotics Trafficking Task Force, 379 F.3d 293, 309 (5th Cir.2004) (citing Brown, 520 U.S. at 397, 117 S.Ct. 1382); see Piotrowski, 237 F.3d at 579 ("even a facially innocuous policy will support liability if it was promulgated with deliberate indifference to the ...