Mcdade v. West

• Decision Date: 06 December 1999
• Docket Number: No. 98-56500,98-56500
• Citation: 223 F.3d 1135
• Parties: (9th Cir. 2000) ROZLYN MCDADE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. BRIDGETT WEST, as an individual and as an employee of the Ventura County District Attorney; MICHAEL WEST; MICHAEL BRADBURY, as the District Attorney of Ventura County; COUNTY OF VENTURA, Defendants-Appellees. Office of the Circuit Executive
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 1135

223 F.3d 1135 (9th Cir. 2000)

ROZLYN MCDADE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. BRIDGETT WEST, as an individual and as an employee of the Ventura County District Attorney; MICHAEL WEST; MICHAEL BRADBURY, as the District Attorney of Ventura County; COUNTY OF VENTURA, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 98-56500

Office of the Circuit Executive

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Argued and Submitted December 6, 1999--Pasadena, California

Filed September 15, 2000

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

Richard Hamlish, Esq., for the plaintiff-appellant.

Joseph M. Lovretovich, Esq. for Bridgett and Michael West, and Jeffrey Held for Michael Bradbury and the County of Ventura, defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California, D.C. No.CV 97-07632-WJR; William J. Rea, District Judge, Presiding

Before: Dorothy W. Nelson, Robert R. Beezer, and Thomas G. Nelson, Circuit Judges.

D.W. NELSON, Circuit Judge:

OVERVIEW

Rozlyn McDade appeals the district court's judgment in her 42 U.S.C. S 1983 action against her ex-husband, Michael West; her ex-husband's current wife, Bridgett West; Michael Bradbury, the Ventura County District Attorney; and the County of Ventura. This action stems from an incident wherein Ms. West, as an employee of the District Attorney's office, illegally used its Medical Eligibility Data System ("MEDS") computer system to find McDade at a battered women's shelter in order to serve McDade papers relating to child custody issues. In her complaint, McDade alleged that the defendants violated her right to privacy, conspired to violate her civil rights, failed to train and supervise under Monell v. Dept. of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 694 (1978), and violated California Penal Code S 273.3, which criminalizes malicious disclosure of the location of a domestic violence shelter. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the County. On appeal, McDade asserts that: (1) Ms. West's actions were under color of state law; (2) she has shown that the County of Ventura was deliberately indifferent to her constitutional right to privacy; and (3) Michael Bradbury is not entitled to qualified immunity. We affirm the district court in part and reverse in part and remand.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

From May 1988 through July 1993, Appellant Rozlyn McDade was married to Michael West. West and McDade had three children during that marriage. Shortly after the marriage was dissolved, Michael West married Bridgett Pinckney (hereafter Ms. West) in June 1994; and the two stayed married until September 23, 1998. Ms. West was employed as a clerical employee at the Ventura County District Attorney Child Support Division. As part of her job, she had access to a statewide database known as MEDS, which contained the names and addresses of all persons eligible to receive certain public benefits. The MEDS system is made available to the District Attorney's Office for child support enforcement purposes, and to locate recipient spouses to testify against nonpayor spouses in criminal proceedings.

Apparently, Mr. West and Ms. McDade were having postmarital problems concerning the custody of their three children. Mr. West had previously filed and served McDade with at least six Orders to Show Cause ("OSC") regarding the custody conflict. Tensions between the parties came to a head on March 30, 1997, when Ms. West threw a rock through the windshield of McDade's car while she was inside the automobile. She was prosecuted by the Attorney General for the offense, and pleaded guilty to a vandalism charge. Her supervisor counseled her as a result of the criminal conviction, and she was fined and placed on probation. Just a few months later, however, in June of 1997, Ms. West attacked McDade in a bar in Santa Barbara. Although she was not prosecuted for the offense, her supervisors were informed of the altercation, and she was ordered to pay restitution and placed on probation.

During that same month, McDade also faced abuse from a third person who is unassociated with this lawsuit. As a result, on or about July 8, 1997, McDade moved to a secretly located women's shelter to escape this abusive individual. In order to continue receiving public assistance, McDade notified a social case worker, who entered her new address in the MEDS system. About the same time, Mr. West scheduled an OSC hearing to modify the child custody arrangement. However, because McDade was located in a confidential shelter, he was unable to serve her with notice of the hearing.

To find her location, Bridgett West inquired into the MEDS computer system while on duty on four occasions, July 7, July 16, July 28, and August 11, 1997. As a result of her queries, Ms. West obtained the address of the shelter where McDade was located, and disclosed the information to Mr. West. Mr. West then caused McDade to be served papers directly at the shelter on July 25, 1997. Almost immediately afterward, McDade was requested to leave the shelter because its location had been divulged to an ex-spouse, thereby potentially compromising everyone's safety. Although McDade was temporarily housed in a motel at the shelter's expense, her support eventually ceased and she was forced to seek alternative arrangements on her own.

It is undisputed that County officials did not have any idea that Bridgett West was planning to use her computer password to find McDade's confidential location. All employees of the Child Support Division are required to sign an oath of confidentiality for using the MEDS; her employee handbook and legal policy manual further underscored its confidentiality.

On August 11, 1997, McDade notified the Child Support Division Office that she suspected that Ms. West improperly accessed and released confidential information. The office responded by placing Ms. West on administrative leave until the allegations were investigated. The District Attorney's Office eventually determined that she had improperly utilized the MEDS to find confidential information regarding McDade's location. As a result, Ms. West was terminated from her employment with the District Attorney's Office, and the matter was referred for prosecution to the State Attorney's Office. On May 14, 1998, the Ventura County Superior Court found Ms. West guilty of violating Penal Code Section 502(c)(1), which implicates the disclosure of private data.

On January 8, 1998, McDade filed an amended complaint that contained claims for an alleged conspiracy to violate civil rights, a Monell cause of action alleging deliberate indifference to her constitutional right to privacy, and another cause of action alleging a violation of California Penal Code Section273.7.¹ On March 2, 1998, after a hearing on the matter, the district court granted a motion to dismiss Michael Bradbury in his official and individual capacity. On June 24, 1998, after a hearing on cross motions for summary judgment, the district court granted the defendants' motion, finding: (1) that Bridgett West was acting "in the ambit of her personal pursuits" and not under color of law, and (2) that McDade failed to demonstrate that the County was deliberately indifferent to her civil rights. On July 23, 1998, the district court entered final judgment. McDade filed a timely notice of appeal on August 19, 1998.

DISCUSSION

Grants of summary judgment are reviewed de novo. See Kruso v. Int'l Tel. & Tel. Corp., 872 F.2d 1416, 1421 (9th Cir. 1989). The appellate court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff and determine whether there are any disputed issues of material fact and whether the district court correctly applied the substantive law. See Tzung v. State Farm Fire and Cas. Co., 873 F.2d 1338, 1339-40 (9th Cir. 1989). We also review de novo a dismissal for failure to state a claim pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). See Steckman v. Hart Brewing, Inc., 143 F.3d 1293, 1295 (9th Cir. 1998).

A. Under "color of law"

This is a case of first impression. Here, we face the novel question of whether a state employee who accesses confidential information through a government-owned computer database acts "under color of state law." To establish a prima facie case under 42 U.S.C. S 1983, McDade must demonstrate proof that (1) the action occurred "under color of law" and (2) the action resulted in a deprivation of a econstitutional right or a federal statutory right. Parratt v. Taylor , 451 U.S. 527, 535 (1981), overruled on other grounds by Daniels v. Williams, 474 U.S. 327, 330-31 (1986). The district court found that Ms. West was acting in the ambit of her personal pursuits rather than under color of law when she accessed the database to find McDade's location. Therefore, it found the element of color of law to be missing from the undisputed facts of this case.

The purpose of S 1983 is to deter state actors from using the badge of their authority to deprive individuals of their federally guaranteed rights. See Wyatt v. Cole, 504 U.S. 158, 161 (1992). "It is . . . a truism by now that there is no rigid formula for measuring state action for purposes of section 1983 liability. Rather, it is a process of `sifting facts and weighing circumstances' which must lead us to a correct determination." Ouzts v. Maryland Nat'l Ins. Co., 505 F.2d 547, 550 (9th Cir. 1974) (citation omitted).

"The traditional definition of acting under color of state law requires that the defendant in a S 1983 action have exercised power `possessed by virtue of state law and made possible only because the wrongdoer is clothed with the authority of state law.' " West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42, 48 (1988) (quoting United States v. Classic, 313 U.S. 299, 326 (1941); see also Griffin v. Maryland, 378 U.S. 130, 135 (1964). "It is firmly established that a defendant in a S 1983 suit acts under color of state law when he abuses the position given to him by the State. Thus, generally, a...