Lawrence v. City of St. Paul

• Citation: 740 F.Supp.2d 1026
• Decision Date: 15 September 2010
• Docket Number: Case No. 09-CV-2198 (PJS/JJK)
• Parties: Kimberly LAWRENCE, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF ST. PAUL, a municipal corporation in Minnesota; Officer Laura Bolduan (individually and in her official capacity); Sergeant Sheila Hoff (individually and in her official capacity); Officer Robert Jerue (individually and in his official capacity); Sergeant Matthew Toupal (individually and in his official capacity); Does 1 Through 5, inclusive (individually and in their official capacity); St. Paul City Attorney's Office; and Officer William Willner (individually), Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Minnesota

740 F.Supp.2d 1026

Kimberly LAWRENCE, Plaintiff,

v.CITY OF ST. PAUL, a municipal corporation in Minnesota; Officer Laura Bolduan (individually and in her official capacity); Sergeant Sheila Hoff (individually and in her official capacity); Officer Robert Jerue (individually and in his official capacity); Sergeant Matthew Toupal (individually and in his official capacity); Does 1 Through 5, inclusive (individually and in their official capacity); St. Paul City Attorney's Office; and Officer William Willner (individually), Defendants.

Case No. 09-CV-2198 (PJS/JJK).

United States District Court,

D. Minnesota.

Sept. 15, 2010.

Jill M. Waite, Attorney at Law, for plaintiff.¹

Judith A. Hanson, St. Paul City Attorney, for defendants City of St. Paul, Officer Laura Bolduan, Sergeant Sheila Hoff, Officer Robert Jerue, Sergeant Matthew Toupal, and St. Paul City Attorney's Office.

Thomas S. McEachron, Votel Anderson & McEachron, for defendant Officer William Willner.

ORDER

PATRICK J. SCHILTZ, District Judge.

Plaintiff Kimberly Lawrence filed this action against multiple defendants—including her former boyfriend, William Willner, and several law-enforcement officers employed by the City of St. Paul—in connection with an incident that occurred during the early morning hours of August 24, 2003. After leaving threatening messages on Willner's answering machine during the day, Lawrence showed up at his home shortly after midnight, uninvited and drunk, and confronted Willner and his new girlfriend, who were watching a movie in Willner's living room. A physical altercation ensued, and the police were called. The police interviewed Willner, Lawrence, the new girlfriend, and others, and then submitted their reports to prosecutors. Lawrence was charged, and Willner was not. Lawrence pleaded guilty to one of the charges, and the other charges were dropped. Six years later—just a couple of days before the statute of limitations would have run on her claims—Lawrence filed this action, seeking damages against Willner and the other defendants for violating her constitutional rights.

This matter is before the Court on defendants' motions to dismiss or, in the alternative, for summary judgment. For the reasons described below, the Court grants those motions as to all of Lawrence's claims save one.

I. BACKGROUND

In ruling on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, the Court must accept as true all factual allegations in the complaint and draw all reasonable inferences in Lawrence's favor. Aten v. Scottsdale Ins. Co., 511 F.3d 818, 820 (8th Cir.2008). And thus, although defendants strongly dispute many of Lawrence's allegations, the Court must treat them as true. The facts, as pleaded by Lawrence, are as follows:

Willner is a police officer employed by the City of Minneapolis. Lawrence and Willner had a relationship that was intimate but not exclusive. Compl. ¶ 13. That relationship was also abusive. Willner alternately professed his love for Lawrence and threatened to kill her, and at times Willner physically assaulted Lawrence. Compl. ¶¶ 14, 18. In July 2003, Willner began dating another woman, but Willner and Lawrence continued to see each other and have sex. Compl. ¶¶ 15, 19.

On August 23, 2003, Willner and Lawrence agreed that Lawrence would meet Willner at his off-duty job, and then she would go to the Minnesota State Fair with her parents, perhaps accompanied by Willner.² Compl. ¶ 20. Lawrence was late, and Willner called Lawrence to inform her that he was going to the fair with someone else. Compl. ¶ 21. Lawrence responded to this unwelcome news by leaving a series of angry voicemail messages for Willner. In those messages, Lawrence informed Willner that she would tell others that he was a drunk; that she would publicly disclose his past threats against her; that she would have sex with his friends; that he was cruel; that she hated him; that she wished he would get shot, suffer, and die; and that she was going to change her phone number and forget that she had ever met him. Compl. ¶ 21. Lawrence proceeded to go to the fair with her parents and her seven-year-old son. At the fair, she got drunk. Compl. ¶ 22.

Evidently Lawrence did not see Willner among the tens of thousands of people attending the fair, and this apparently caused her to suspect that he had lied when he told her that he would be attending the fair with someone else. Compl. ¶ 23. Sometime after midnight,³ Lawrence drove to Willner's neighborhood to try to find out whether her suspicion was correct. Compl. ¶ 23. Lawrence parked about a block from Willner's house so that she could surprise him. Compl. ¶ 24. As she approached Willner's house, Lawrence saw an unfamiliar car in Willner's driveway, and she began to believe that Willner might have been telling her the truth about going to the fair with someone else. Compl. ¶ 24. In fact, the car belonged to Willner's new girlfriend, Michelle Kloncz, who was watching a movie with Willner in his house.

Lawrence rang Willner's doorbell. Compl. ¶ 25. According to Willner, when he opened the door, Lawrence forced herself into his home, charged at Willner andKloncz, knocked over a table, and had to be physically restrained by Willner. Compl. ¶ 61. According to Lawrence, though—and, again, the Court must credit her version of the events—she never set foot in Willner's home. Instead, when Willner opened the door, Lawrence asked him to come outside to talk, and it appeared to Lawrence that he was going to do so. Compl. ¶ 25. Lawrence then tried to peek around Willner to determine whether he was alone, but, as she did, Willner grabbed her shoulders, and she stumbled backward into some bushes. Compl. ¶ 25.

Willner emerged from the house and grabbed Lawrence. Compl. ¶ 26. Lawrence struggled to get away, but Willner managed to tackle her on his driveway, where he pinned her face-down. Compl. ¶¶ 26-27. Lawrence begged Willner to release her, but he told her he would not release her until police arrived. Compl. ¶ 28.

Willner's neighbor, Byron Phillips, heard a woman yelling for help. Compl. ¶ 29. Phillips could see Willner crouched on the driveway, but he could not see Lawrence initially because his view was blocked by bushes. Compl. ¶ 29. Willner noticed Phillips and told him to call the police. Compl. ¶ 31. Phillips, who by this time could see that Willner was restraining Lawrence, noticed a small amount of blood on Lawrence's face and on the pavement. Compl. ¶ 32. Phillips returned to his house to call the police. Compl. ¶ 33.

Lawrence caught sight of Lynn Mader, another of Willner's neighbors, as Mader (who uses a wheelchair) wheeled herself from Phillips's house back to her own to use the bathroom. Compl. ¶¶ 31, 33. Lawrence mistakenly assumed that Mader was the woman who had been inside Willner's house and yelled at her: "I fucked Bill one week before he left for his vacation." Compl. ¶ 33. Lawrence went on to describe her sexual liaison with Willner, concluding, "I don't know who you are, but I've been around for a long time." Compl. ¶ 33. Lawrence's behavior enraged Willner, who slammed Lawrence's body and face into the pavement three or four times. Compl. ¶ 34. Lawrence sustained a head injury and lost "a lot" of blood. Compl. ¶ 35. Lawrence was having difficulty breathing, and she may have lost consciousness. Compl. ¶ 35.

Phillips returned and reported to Willner that he had called the police. Compl. ¶ 36. Willner asked Phillips to stay there until the police arrived. Compl. ¶ 36. As the group waited for the police, Mader emerged from her house and wheeled herself back to Phillips's. Compl. ¶ 37. Seeing Mader, Lawrence launched into another profane tirade about her recent sexual liaisons with Willner. Compl. ¶ 37.

As the police approached the house, Willner's neighbors flagged down the squad car. Compl. ¶ 39. Before the squad car arrived, Willner got off of Lawrence and went into the house. Lawrence suggests that, at this point, Willner "planted" traces of her blood on his doorframe and couch, so as to create the false impression that she had entered his home. Compl. ¶ 39.

One of the arriving officers—defendant Officer Robert Jerue—interviewed Willner and Kloncz inside Willner's house. Compl. ¶ 43. Lawrence's complaint is at times quite confusing, but she seems to suggest that, during these interviews, Officer Jerue learned that Willner was a Minneapolis police officer, and that Officer Jerue and Willner agreed that the police would conduct a sham investigation that would discredit Lawrence and protect Willner. Compl. ¶¶ 43, 68-69; Lawrence Br. Opp. Willner Mot. Dismiss 14.

Meanwhile, another of the arriving officers—defendant Officer Laura Bolduan—approached Lawrence, who asked Officer Bolduan to take a photograph of the blood on the driveway. Compl. ¶ 40. Officer Bolduan did not do so, nor did she ask any other officers to do so. Compl. ¶ 40. Police found Lawrence's shoulder bag, which contained a cell phone and a camera. Compl. ¶ 40. Police searched the bag but refused to give it or any of its contents to Lawrence, effectively preventing Lawrence from taking photographs of the blood on the driveway or calling friends or family and asking them to take photographs for her. Compl. ¶ 40. This, apparently, was part of the newly hatched conspiracy to cover up Willner's crime.

Lawrence was still bleeding profusely when police began questioning her. Compl. ¶ 41. Lawrence initially lied to the police by telling them that her parents had dropped her off at Willner's home. Later, though, she admitted that she had driven to Willner's home and parked her car some distance away. Compl. ¶ 41. Lawrence believes that police solicited this information—that is, the information that she had been driving under the influence of alcohol—as a means of warning her that they could retaliate against her if she made trouble for Willner. Compl. ¶ 41.

According to the Original Offense/Incident Report ("incident report"), a responding medic concluded that the cut on...