Lopez v. Ruhl

• Decision Date: 06 April 1984
• Docket Number: No. K 83-156.,K 83-156.
• Citation: 584 F. Supp. 639
• Parties: Pedro Savala LOPEZ and Mary Lou Lopez, Plaintiffs, v. Detective Sargent Gary RUHL, Forrest (Nick) Jewell, and the Berrien County Sheriff's Department, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan

584 F. Supp. 639

Pedro Savala LOPEZ and Mary Lou Lopez, Plaintiffs, v. Detective Sargent Gary RUHL, Forrest (Nick) Jewell, and the Berrien County Sheriff's Department, Defendants.

No. K 83-156.

United States District Court, W.D. Michigan, S.D.

April 6, 1984.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Sally Zack Wheeler, Wheeler & Wheeler, P.C., Alistair J.H. Smith, Barnard & Smith, P.C., Kalamazoo, Mich., for plaintiffs.

Thomas E. Nelson, Asst. Pros. Atty., St. Joseph, Mich., for defendants.

OPINION

ENSLEN, District Judge.

This is a civil rights action arising out of the arrest and detention of Plaintiff Pedro Lopez in 1982. Jurisdiction is premised on 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1343. Plaintiffs cite the Fourteenth Amendment, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983, 1985 and 1988 as the substantive basis of their due process claims. (Complaint, ¶ 4). In this opinion the Court takes up Defendants' motion for summary judgment, filed March 8, 1984.

Many of the material facts are not disputed. On July 24, 1982 Ronald Peach and Roy Lucas escaped from the Berrien County jail, where Plaintiff Pedro Lopez ("Lopez") was also incarcerated. The bars on the escapees' cells had been cut; Peach and Lucas had then proceeded down a walkway (to which trusties had access but the general population did not), broke through a window, and ultimately escaped by climbing across a barbed wire fence. An investigation conducted by Defendant Ruhl, a deputy detective for the Berrien County Sheriff's Department, included interviews of all of the inmates in the area of the jail from which the break occurred. At first no one implicated Lopez. Two days after the breakout, however, inmate Matthew Osby changed his story, and told Ruhl that he had seen a Mexican trusty assist Peach and Lucas in their escape. By July 29, Ruhl had learned that Lopez was the only Mexican trusty on that floor of the jail, and in a third interview, Osby again described in some detail Lopez' role in the escape. Lopez denied any involvement, and agreed to take a polygraph examination. A polygraph was administered on July 27, and the examiner concluded that Lopez was deceptive in denying his participation in the jail break.

On July 29, Ruhl went to the assistant prosecutor for authorization, and then obtained from a magistrate a warrant for Lopez' arrest on charges of aiding in the escape. Lopez was arrested and segregated from the rest of the prison population and denied visitors for some three weeks, until a thorough search of the jail had been conducted, and the escapees had been apprehended. On August 10, 1982 a preliminary examination was held, at which Lopez was represented by counsel. After hearing testimony by both Ruhl and Osby, the State District Judge found that there was probable cause to believe that Lopez had aided the escape, and bound Lopez over to the Circuit Court. Bail was continued at $10,000, and because Lopez was unable to pay the required ten percent cash, he remained incarcerated at the Berrien County jail, until a nolle prosequi order was signed on November 24, 1982 at the request of the prosecuting attorney. Had Lopez not been arrested on the escape charge, he would have been released as early as mid-August.

Plaintiffs filed this action in April 1983, alleging that the actions of Defendants Ruhl, Sheriff Forrest Jewell, and the Berrien County Sheriffs Department deprived Lopez of his liberty without due process of law. Specifically, Plaintiffs allege,

that despite the multitude of statements and information which was known or should have been known to said Defendant RUHL, his supervisor and fellow investigator, FORREST JEWELL, who were in charge of said investigation and to the BERRIEN COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT, said Defendants requested that a Warrant be issued against PEDRO LOPEZ, charging him with a seven year felony, and against the aforesaid individuals, Peach and Lucas who had escaped from said jail, with misdemeanors. (Complaint, ¶ 13).

According to the Complaint, Lopez continually protested his innocence and cooperated with the police, and his attorney made repeated requests for further investigation. Plaintiffs allege that no further investigation was done, despite Plaintiff's requests and requests of the prosecuting attorney; notwithstanding an obligation on the part of the Defendants to promptly insure that the charges were proper; and despite the fact that they knew or should have known the information against Lopez was highly suspect. Plaintiffs allege,

that said Defendants knew, or should have known, that there was no substance to any of the charges brought by them against Plaintiff PEDRO SAVALA LOPEZ, but rather acted in a willful, wanton, reckless and/or malicious manner to deny PEDRO SAVALA LOPEZ his freedom. (Complaint, ¶ 22).

The Complaint also contains allegations that Defendants were negligent and/or grossly negligent in bringing the charges against Lopez, causing his continued incarceration, in opposing his release on bond, and in failing to timely investigate information available to them which would have demonstrated that their sole witness against Lopez — Osby — had lied.

Lopez alleges that as the result of Defendants' actions, he was deprived of his liberty, first by being put in solitary confinement for some 21 days, and then by his continued incarceration; was unable to make bond; was prevented from working; and that his good name was harmed, affecting his ability to obtain work upon his release. Plaintiff Mary Lou Lopez claims that she was denied the support and companionship of her husband while he was in jail and as the result of his inability to find work after his release. She also claims she was denied the right to see and visit with her husband while he was in solitary, and had to assume the full responsibility for their eight children. Together, the Plaintiffs seek an award against the Defendants jointly and severally, in the amount of $500,000, plus interest, costs and attorneys fees.

In their motion for summary judgment, Defendants argue that the Complaint fails to allege any Constitutional deprivation; that the Berrien County Sheriff's Department is not a legal entity capable of being sued under § 1983; that no cognizable claim is stated against Defendant Jewell; and that Plaintiff Mary Lou Lopez has failed to state any claims subject to federal jurisdiction. Defendants rely on affidavits submitted by Defendants Ruhl and Jewell, and by jail administrator Hass; Lopez' deposition; the Complaint and Arrest Warrant (Exhibit A); and the transcript of the preliminary examination (Exhibit B). Plaintiffs rely mainly on Defendant Ruhl's deposition, and Ruhl's investigation report, which they have attached to their memorandum in opposition to Defendants' motion.

At the outset, I note that nowhere in the Complaint do Plaintiffs allege conspiracy, discrimination and invidious class-based discriminatory animus. These are essential elements to a claim under § 1985(3), even assuming a deprivation of a right under the Constitution or federal law. See Griffin v. Breckenridge, 403 U.S. 88, 91 S.Ct. 1790, 29 L.Ed.2d 338 (1971). Therefore the Court views the rather ambiguous complaint in this case as asserting claims solely under § 1983, for violations of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Deprivation of a Constitutional Right

Section 1983 provides a cause of action against one who under color of State law "subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States ... to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws ...." As the Supreme Court has noted, "the first inquiry in any § 1983 suit is whether the plaintiff has been deprived of a right `secured by the Constitution and laws.'" Baker v. McCollan, 443 U.S. 137, 140, 99 S.Ct. 2689, 2692, 61 L.Ed.2d 433 (1979); see Parratt v. Taylor, 451 U.S. 527, 535, 101 S.Ct. 1908, 1912, 68 L.Ed.2d 420 (1981).

Defendants argue that because Lopez' arrest was pursuant to a valid warrant issued upon the probable cause determination of an independent magistrate, Lopez was not deprived of his liberty without due process. Similarly, Defendants urge that Lopez' continued incarceration was in accord with due process, since a second judge made a second probable cause finding at Lopez' preliminary examination. Defendants are correct in asserting that where no challenge is made to the validity of the arrest warrant, the incarceration of an individual, even though innocent, is generally not constitutionally infirm. Baker v. McCollan, supra; Lopez v. Modisitt, 488 F.Supp. 1169 (WD MI 1980).

In McCollan, the plaintiff's brother had been arrested and had used a duplicate of plaintiff's driver's license (with the brother's own picture replacing that of plaintiff on the license) for identification. The brother was released on bond, but a warrant was issued for his arrest when his surety recalled the bond. When the plaintiff was stopped for a traffic matter, he was arrested on the warrant. Despite his protests of mistaken identity, plaintiff was kept in jail for several days, until a photo comparison was made and the police learned of their error. The Supreme Court noted that there was no claim that plaintiff was arrested pursuant to an invalid warrant; rather, plaintiff's claim was for the intentional failure of the police to investigate. The Court held that although plaintiff might have a State tort claim, the circumstances did not give rise to a claim under § 1983 for a deprivation of liberty without due process of law. The Court noted that,

given the requirements that arrest be made only on probable cause and that one detained be accorded a speedy trial, we do not think a sheriff executing an arrest warrant is required by the Constitution to investigate independently every claim of innocence, whether the claim is based on mistaken identity or a defense such as lack of requisite intent. Nor is the official charged with maintaining custody of

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