King v. East St. Louis School Dist. 189

• Decision Date: 07 August 2007
• Docket Number: No. 06-3440.,06-3440.
• Citation: 496 F.3d 812
• Parties: Bernice KING, as Mother and Next Friend of Jerica KING, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. EAST ST. LOUIS SCHOOL DISTRICT 189, Chester Bluette, Nathaniel Anderson, et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

496 F.3d 812

Bernice KING, as Mother and Next Friend of Jerica KING, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. EAST ST. LOUIS SCHOOL DISTRICT 189, Chester Bluette, Nathaniel Anderson, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 06-3440.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued May 30, 2007.

Decided August 7, 2007.

Dawn K. O'Leary (argued), Eric W. Evans, Roth & Evans, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Garrett P. Hoerner (argued), Becker, Paulson, Hoerner & Thompson, Belleville, IL, Terese A. Drew, Hinshaw & Culbertson, St. Louis, MO, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before EASTERBROOK, Chief Judge, and RIPPLE and EVANS, Circuit Judges.

RIPPLE, Circuit Judge.

Bernice King brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 on behalf of her daughter, Jerica King, against East St. Louis School District 189 ("District"), Dr. Chester Bluette, the principal of East St. Louis Senior High School, and Dr. Nathaniel Anderson, the former Superintendent of the District (collectively, "District defendants"). Ms. King alleged that the District defendants had violated Jerica's rights under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by failing to protect her from a state-created danger. Invoking the district court's supplemental jurisdiction, Ms. King also brought state negligence claims against Bi-State Development Agency ("Bi-State"). The District defendants moved for summary judgment. Ms. King then sought leave to amend her complaint to add Frank Nave, a school counselor at East St. Louis Senior High School, as a defendant in his individual capacity.

The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the District defendants and denied Ms. King's request for leave to amend her complaint to add Mr. Nave. The court then declined to exercise its supplemental jurisdiction over Ms. King's claims against Bi-State and dismissed those claims as well.

Ms. King now appeals the district court's ruling granting summary judgment in favor of the District defendants and denying her request for leave to amend her complaint. For the reasons set forth in this opinion, we affirm the judgment of the district court in all respects.

I BACKGROUND

A.

Jerica King was a student at East St. Louis Senior High School. At the end of the school day on May 4, 2004, Jerica went to see Mr. Nave, a guidance counselor. She had no appointment, but wanted to discuss her grades and credits toward graduation. In the course of the meeting, Mr. Nave noticed that Jerica appeared upset and asked what was troubling her. Jerica explained that she was having trouble with another student and proceeded to discuss the problem with Mr. Nave. The meeting lasted less than an hour. However, as a result of the meeting, Jerica missed the school bus. Before leaving Mr. Nave's office, Jerica stated that she had missed her bus and would need to call her mother. However, Jerica did not request to use the phone at that time, and Mr. Nave did not offer Jerica the use of his phone.

Although Jerica had missed the school bus, there was a public bus stop in front of the high school and a MetroLink station a couple of blocks from the school. After her meeting with Mr. Nave, Jerica exited the school building and checked to see if a public bus was waiting. When she did not see a bus, Jerica attempted to reenter the building to call her mother, but the school's doors were locked. An unidentified woman, to whom we shall refer, for the sake of simplicity, as the hall monitor, met Jerica at the door. Jerica informed the hall monitor that she wanted to reenter the school to call her mother. The hall monitor denied Jerica reentry, allegedly stating that reentry was against school policy.

Jerica then headed toward the MetroLink station. As she approached the MetroLink station, Jerica was abducted at gun-point by two men. The men took her to a house where she was raped. Jerica was released the following morning.

B.

Ms. King originally brought suit in June 2004 on behalf of Jerica. The action named as defendants the District, Dr. Bluette and Dr. Anderson. Ms. King contended that the District defendants had created a danger to Jerica when she was left stranded outside of the school as a result of an official policy prohibiting students from reentering the school after school hours without supervision by a school employee. Ms. King asserted that Jerica's substantive due process rights were violated when she was injured as a result of the school's failure to protect her from this danger. Ms. King also contended that the District should have trained its employees to ensure that a student leaving the school after missing her school bus had transportation home. Ms. King asserted that, given the high crime rate in the area surrounding the school, the District's failure to train its employees in this manner evinced a deliberate indifference to the safety of its students.

In November 2005, after the close of discovery, Ms. King moved for voluntary dismissal of the action; the court granted the motion. Ms. King then filed this action in April 2006.

The complaint asserted the same claims against the District defendants and, invoking the district court's supplemental jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1367(a), added state negligence claims against Bi-State. The District defendants immediately moved for summary judgment. Following oral arguments on the District defendants' motion for summary judgment, Ms. King moved to amend her complaint to add Mr. Nave as a defendant in his individual capacity. Ms. King alleged that Mr. Nave had created a danger to Jerica by keeping her in their meeting until after the school buses had left for the day and that he had violated Jerica's substantive due process rights when he failed to ensure that she had transportation home.

The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the District defendants. It concluded that Ms. King had failed to raise a genuine issue of fact with respect to the existence of a school policy or custom that could provide the basis for holding the District liable under Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978). The court further concluded that, because there were no allegations that Drs. Bluette and Anderson had been involved personally in the alleged constitutional violation, there was no basis upon which to establish their individual liability. The court also held that Ms. King had not established that the District had acted with deliberate indifference to Jerica's constitutional rights by its failure to train its employees. Thus, the court concluded, Ms. King could not establish liability on the part of the District under City of Canton v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378, 109 S.Ct. 1197, 103 L.Ed.2d 412 (1989). The court then declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Ms. King's claims against Bi-State. The district court also denied Ms. King's motion for leave to amend her complaint; the court concluded that, because there was no evidence that Mr. Nave had exercised his authority to cause Jerica to remain at school, Mr. Nave had not created a danger to Jerica which would be actionable under § 1983.

II DISCUSSION

Ms. King contends that the district court erred when it granted summary judgment in favor of the District defendants. She asserts that there is a genuine issue of material fact with respect to the existence of an official policy that would give rise to liability on the part of the District defendants under Monell. Ms. King also contends that the district court erred when it concluded that the District defendants could not be held liable for failing to train its employees to ensure the safety of students who had missed their buses. Ms. King further asserts that the district court erred in denying her motion to amend her complaint because Mr. Nave had exercised his authority by meeting with Jerica after school.¹

A.

We review a district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Alexander v. City of South Bend, 433 F.3d 550, 554 (7th Cir.2006). Summary judgment is appropriate where there is no genuine issue of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(c); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). We view all facts and all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Alexander, 433 F.3d at 554. When the nonmoving party bears the ultimate burden of proof at trial, the nonmoving party must come forward with specific facts demonstrating an issue for trial. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

Ms. King contends that she has met her burden by coming forward with evidence that, when taken in the light most favorable to her, raises a genuine issue as to the existence of an official policy prohibiting students from reentering the school after school hours without official supervision. The record reflects that, on the day following Jerica's abduction, Ms. King met with Mr. Nave. When he was told that Jerica had been denied reentry into the school, Mr. Nave allegedly stated that it was not policy to allow students to reenter the school after school hours. Further, in his deposition testimony, Dr. Bluette stated that, although he was unaware of any written policy regarding the presence of students in the school building after hours the practice at East St. Louis Senior High School was that students present at such times were required to be under a staff person's supervision.

Taken in the light most favorable to Ms. King, this evidence raises a genuine issue of fact with respect to whether the hall monitor acted pursuant to an official policy regarding students in the school building after hours. Although nothing in the record reveals that there was a written policy in place regarding the presence of students in the school building after hours, municipal liability under § 1983 is not conditioned on the existence of a...