Marchman v. Crawford, CIVIL ACTION NO. 16–0515

• Decision Date: 17 February 2017
• Docket Number: CIVIL ACTION NO. 16–0515
• Parties: Judge Sharon Ingram MARCHMAN v. Brian E. CRAWFORD, et. al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Louisiana

237 F.Supp.3d 408

Judge Sharon Ingram MARCHMAN

v.Brian E. CRAWFORD, et. al.

CIVIL ACTION NO. 16–0515

United States District Court, W.D. Louisiana, Monroe Division.

Signed February 17, 2017

Joseph R. Ward, Jr., Ward & Condrey, Covington, LA, Sedric Earl Banks, Monroe, LA, for Judge Sharon Ingram Marchman.

James H. Gibson, Allen & Gooch, Lafayette, LA, Joseph S. Woodley, Edwin H. Byrd, III, Pettiette Armand et al., Bernard S. Johnson, Cook Yancey et al., Brian D. Landry, Weems Schimpf et al., Brian D. Smith, Casten & Pearce, Shreveport, LA, Mary Ann McIntyre White, Caroline Tomeny Bond, E Wade Shows, Kathryn Amelia Dufrene, Shows Cali & Walsh, Baton Rouge, LA, Brian E. Crawford, Crawford & Ogg, Monroe, LA, for Brian E. Crawford, et al.

MEMORANDUM RULING

S. MAURICE HICKS, JR., UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Before the Court are Rule 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) Motions to Dismiss by Defendants James D. "Buddy" Caldwell, Allyson Campbell, Jon K. Guice, Brian E. Crawford, Lawrence W. Pettiette, Jr., and Judges Frederic C. Amman, Benjamin Jones, J. Wilson Rambo, and Carl V. Sharp. See Record Documents 26, 35, 37, 40, 47, and 90. Defendants seek dismissal of Plaintiff Judge Sharon Ingram Marchman's federal civil rights lawsuit. For the reasons which follow, Defendants' 12(b)(6) Motions to Dismiss¹ are GRANTED. Defendants' Rule 12(b)(1) Motions are DENIED for the reasons contained in the Court's ruling on Pettiette's Rule 12(b)(1) Motion (Record Document 86), holding that the Court has subject matter jurisdiction over Marchman's official capacity claims.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND²

This litigation, as well as several other related cases, involves allegations by Judge Sharon Ingram Marchman and others that Allyson Campbell engaged in a number of unethical and/or illegal activities during Campbell's tenure as a law clerk for the Fourth JDC. See id. at ¶¶ 7–18. The parties to the instant action are as follows:

1) Plaintiff, Judge Sharon Ingram Marchman ("Marchman"), an elected Louisiana district judge of the Fourth Judicial District Court ("Fourth JDC"). See Record Document 22 at ¶¶ 5 A, 19.

2) Defendant Judge Frederic C. Amman ("Amman"), an elected Louisiana district judge of the Fourth JDC. See id. at ¶ 5 G.

3) Defendant Judge J. Wilson Rambo ("Rambo"), an elected Louisiana district judge of the Fourth JDC. See id. at ¶ 5 H.

4) Defendant Judge Carl V. Sharp ("Sharp"), an elected Louisiana district judge of the Fourth JDC. See id. at ¶¶ 5 F.

5) Defendant Judge Benjamin Jones ("Jones"), a former elected Louisiana district judge of the Fourth JDC and the current Court Administrator of the Fourth JDC. See id. at ¶ 5 I.

6) Defendant Allyson Campbell ("Campbell"), a non-attorney law clerk for the Fourth JDC. See id. at ¶ 5 J.

7) Defendant James D. "Buddy" Caldwell ("Caldwell"), the former Attorney General of the State of Louisiana. See id. at ¶ 5 D.

8) Defendant Lawrence W. Pettiette, Jr. ("Pettiette"), a Shreveport attorney who acted as a Special Assistant Attorney General when Caldwell appointed Pettiette to defend Campbell in the related lawsuit Palowsky v. Campbell , Docket No. 15–2179, Fourth JDC, Parish of Ouachita, Louisiana. See id. at ¶ 5 C.

9) Defendant Brian E. Crawford ("Crawford"), a Monroe attorney who served as co-counsel with Pettiette in defending Campbell in Palowsky v. Campbell . See id. at ¶ 5 B.

10) Defendant Jon K. Guice ("Guice"), a Monroe attorney who served as the attorney for Amman, Rambo, Sharp, Jones, and Chief Judge Stephens Winters in Winters v. Hanna Media , Docket No. 15–0770, Fourth JDC, Parish of Ouachita, Louisiana, and as the attorney for Sharp, Jones, and Winters in opposing subpoenas duces tecum issued to them in the Palowsky v. Cork matter, Docket No. 13–2059, Fourth JDC, Parish of Ouachita, Louisiana. See id. at ¶ 5 E.

Other people who are involved in the case but are not parties are as follows:

1) Cody Rials ("Rials"), a Monroe attorney who complained to Sharp and others at the Fourth JDC that Campbell had shredded a proposed judgment Rials had submitted in a case before Sharp. See id. at ¶ 20.

2) Stanley R. Palowsky, III, ("Palowsky"), a businessman and the son of one of Marchman's former clients who filed two suits related to the instant action, Palowsky v. Cork and Palowsky v. Campbell . See id. at ¶ 24 and 40; see Record Document 40–10.

3) W. Brandon Cork ("Cork"), Palowsky's former business partner who Palowsky sued in Palowsky v. Cork . See Record Document 22 at ¶ 24.

4) Joseph R. Ward, Jr. ("Ward"), one of Marchman's attorneys in the instant action and one of Palowsky's attorneys in both Palowsky v. Cork and Palowsky v. Campbell . See Record Documents 40–3 at 8 and 40–9 at 25–26.

5) Sedric Earl Banks ("Banks"), one of Marchman's attorneys in the instant action and one of Palowsky's attorneys in both Palowsky v. Cork and Palowsky v. Campbell . See id.

6) Laura Hartt ("Hartt"), the former Court Administrator of the Fourth JDC. See Record Document 22 at ¶ 25.

7) Judge Waddell Manning ("Manning"), a former elected Louisiana district judge and Chief Judge of the Fourth JDC. See id. at ¶¶ 25–26.

8) Johnny Gunter ("Gunter"), a reporter with The Ouachita Citizen who sent a series of public records requests to the Fourth JDC requesting certain records related to Campbell, including personnel records and timesheets, on behalf of the newspaper. See id. at ¶ 49.

9) Judge Stephens Winters ("Winters"), an elected Louisiana district judge and current Chief Judge of the Fourth JDC See id. at ¶ 82.

According to Marchman, Campbell's misdeeds began as early as 2010, when Campbell began missing work. See id. at ¶ 19. When another law clerk reported Campbell's absences to Marchman, who was the chair of the personnel committee for the Fourth JDC, she discussed the matter with the judges for whom Campbell worked at the time, Rambo and Amman. See id. Rambo and Amman responded that they had no complaints with Campbell's work. See id. According to Marchman, she reminded Rambo and Amman that Court policy required employees to work at the courthouse and not from home. See id.

In 2012, Monroe attorney Rials allegedly complained to Sharp (for whom Campbell was now working) that Campbell had shredded a proposed judgment Rials had submitted in a case before Sharp. See id. at ¶ 20. Evidently, Sharp investigated the complaint and determined that Campbell had bragged to a witness about destroying the document. See id. at ¶ 21. Despite this discovery, Sharp allegedly did nothing other than remove Campbell from any matters in which Rials was involved and inform Rials by letter that his complaints were reasonable. See id. at ¶ 22. Sharp did not make Marchman aware of this situation at the time despite her position as the head of the personnel committee. See id. at ¶ 23.

On July 3, 2013, Palowsky and his corporation Alternative Environmental Solutions, Inc. ("AESI") filed suit in the Fourth JDC against Palowsky's former business partner, Cork. See id. at ¶ 24. This lawsuit was assigned to Rambo. See id. According to Defendants, prior to becoming a judge, Marchman served as an attorney for Palowsky's father. See Record Document 40–1 at 2; see also In re Curry , 16 So.3d 1139 (La. 07/01/09).³ Marchman's attorneys in the instant action, Ward and Banks, also represented Palowsky and AESI in Palowsky v. Cork . See Record Document 22 at ¶ 40.

On April 1, 2014, Hartt, then the Court Administrator of the Fourth JDC, became aware that it was possible to run "key fob" reports on the electronic keys that Fourth JDC employees use to enter the courthouse. See id. at ¶ 25. Hartt reported this fact to Marchman, who sought authorization from the chief judge of the Fourth JDC, then Manning, to investigate the key fob reports and corroborating video footage for Campbell for the first quarter of 2014. See id. at ¶¶ 25–26. Once Manning granted this authorization, a deputy judicial administrator undertook this investigation and found some discrepancies between the key fob and video evidence and the timesheets reporting Campbell's work hours on seven work days during the first quarter of 2014. See id. at ¶ 26; see Record Document 22–1. Allegedly, both Rambo and Amman had been approving Campbell's false timesheets during this time. See Record Document 22 at ¶ 27. Hartt also researched the crime of payroll fraud and concluded that it was a crime for a public employee to be paid for time that she did not actually work. See id. at ¶ 28.

On April 15, 2014, Defendant Guice⁴ allegedly asked Hartt whether the court was an "auditee" for the purposes of La. R.S. 24:523, which requires the agency head of an organization that is an "auditee" to immediately notify the legislative auditor and the district attorney once he or she becomes aware of any misappropriation of public funds. See id. at ¶ 30. According to Marchman, no such notification was ever made despite the findings of the investigation into Campbell's timesheets. See id. at ¶ 30.

After this investigation, the Fourth JDC judges held several meetings in which this matter was discussed, and they implemented new measures to prevent payroll fraud. See id. at ¶¶ 29, 31. Beginning on April 22, 2014, all law clerks were required to sign in and out each time they entered or left the building. See id. at ¶ 32. Campbell allegedly refused to comply with this requirement and falsified her sign-in sheet. See id. On April 24, 2014, at another judges' meeting, the judges agreed to remove Campbell from the position of "senior law clerk," terminate her stipend, suspend her for one month without pay, and reprimand her for her attendance issues and her behavior towards the staff of the human resources department. See id. at ¶ 33.

While Campbell was serving her suspension in May 2014, 52 pending post-conviction relief applications were found underneath a couch in Campbell's office. See id. at ¶ 34. The oldest of these applications was dated November 2, 2011, and it was Campbell's job to address these petitions. Se...