McDonald v. Dunning

• Decision Date: 25 March 1991
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 90-691-A.
• Citation: 760 F. Supp. 1156
• Parties: Dexter M. McDONALD, Plaintiff, v. James H. DUNNING, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia

760 F. Supp. 1156

Dexter M. McDONALD, Plaintiff, v. James H. DUNNING, et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 90-691-A.

United States District Court, E.D. Virginia, Alexandria Division.

March 25, 1991.

Watson, Constance W. Rosenberg & Watson, Alexandria, Va., for Dexter M. McDonald.

John J. Brandt, Robert S. Corish, Slenker, Brandt, Jennings & Johnston, Fairfax, Va., for James H. Dunning, Sheriff.

Jack L. Gould, Thomas O. Lawson, Lawson, Kipp & Forbes, Fairfax, Va., for Edward Semonian, Clerk.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ELLIS, District Judge.

Introduction

In this unusual case, a series of errors by local and state officials led to the mistaken arrest and jailing of plaintiff for failure to appear to serve a sentence he had in fact already served. The question presented by defendants' summary judgment motions is whether the errors are intentional acts of constitutional magnitude so as to support plaintiff's § 1983 claims. Specifically, plaintiff asserts § 1983 claims against the clerk of the court which issued a stale warrant and the sheriff of the jail in which plaintiff was incarcerated. Against the clerk, plaintiff alleges responsibility for issuing an arrest warrant three years late, failure to schedule plaintiff for a court appearance after plaintiff's arrest, and failure to respond to a letter requesting a hearing sent by the plaintiff from jail to the clerk, all violating plaintiff's right not to be deprived of liberty without due process of law.¹ Against the sheriff, plaintiff alleges that he was wrongfully seized and that he was arrested and incarcerated without being brought before a magistrate, that he was not informed of the charges against him, and that he was denied his right to counsel, all in violation of his rights secured by the Fourth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments.² Because the Court finds that the claims against the clerk amount, at best, to negligence, the claims against him are dismissed. By contrast, the allegations and current record are sufficient to avoid summary judgment on the § 1983 claim against the sheriff.

Facts

On June 1, 1983, plaintiff pled guilty to petty larceny in the Circuit Court for the City of Alexandria. He received a one-year sentence, which was suspended except for ninety days to be served in the Alexandria Detention Center (the "ADC"). Plaintiff was ordered to return to court on June 14th to begin serving the sentence. On the appointed day plaintiff failed to appear. Instead, unbeknownst to the court, plaintiff voluntarily reported the next day to the ADC where he served his sentence.³

When plaintiff failed to appear in court on June 14, 1983, the state judge ordered the issuance of a bench warrant for plaintiff's arrest. Defendant Semonian, the clerk of the court, received the order and transferred it, as was the practice, to the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office for preparation of a warrant. For reasons not disclosed in the record, that office failed to prepare a warrant until January 1987, more than three years after the judge ordered preparation of the warrant. At that time, the warrant was returned to the court, which issued it on January 30, 1987. In short, the warrant for plaintiff's arrest issued more than three years after plaintiff had failed to appear in court and, in any event, after plaintiff had served the sentence imposed upon him.

Shortly after his release from the ADC in 1983, plaintiff moved to Georgia. He returned to Virginia in 1987. Of course, plaintiff was unaware of the outstanding warrant for his arrest. Some two years later, on September 5, 1989, plaintiff was stopped by the Fairfax County Police who were conducting a routine spot-check for valid County vehicle stickers. A police officer conducted a computer check of plaintiff's license, which revealed the outstanding Alexandria warrant for plaintiff's arrest. Plaintiff was arrested and transferred from the Fairfax County police to the Alexandria police, who took him to the ADC. There, police first searched plaintiff, then brought him to a magistrate at the ADC. The magistrate signed a form at approximately 9:00 p.m. committing plaintiff to the ADC.

The warrant under which plaintiff was arrested specified that plaintiff was to be brought to court to answer the charge alleged in the warrant. It further authorized plaintiff's bail in the form of release on recognizance with surety, or cash in lieu thereof, of $1,000. Furthermore, the commitment form completed by the magistrate at the jail the night plaintiff was booked commanded that plaintiff be taken to court the next morning.

The next morning, an Alexandria deputy sheriff called the Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney for the City of Alexandria regarding whether plaintiff should be taken to court. The deputy sheriff was advised that since plaintiff had been arrested for failure to appear to serve a sentence, he should be held to serve that sentence without a hearing. This was done. Plaintiff was not taken to court or before any further magistrates.

A total of twenty-one days passed during which plaintiff was incarcerated. Plaintiff alleges that during this time he repeatedly asked officers why he had been arrested and incarcerated, and why he had not been taken before a judge or released on bail. He contends that the officers responded by saying they did not know. During the twenty-one days, plaintiff was never brought before a magistrate or judge to be advised of the reasons for his arrest or for consideration of bail, although bail was authorized on the arrest warrant. After twenty-one days, a police officer discovered that plaintiff had already served his sentence in 1983, and plaintiff was then released.

Plaintiff alleges that as a result of his arrest and incarceration, he lost his job and has been unable to find employment offering the equivalent salary and benefits. Moreover, lack of income stemming from plaintiff's incarceration allegedly forced plaintiff's wife, who was unable to support their family on her own, to leave her part-time job and move with their children to her parents' home in Georgia. Plaintiff further alleges that he continues to suffer financial harm stemming from his twenty-one-day incarceration.

Analysis

Summary judgment standards are well settled. "A motion for summary judgment must be granted if `there is no genuine issue as to any material fact' and `the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.'" Davis v. Thoman Motel Corp., 900 F.2d 28, 31 (4th Cir.1990), quoting Rule 56(c), Fed.R.Civ.P.; accord Pachaly v. City of Lynchburg, 897 F.2d 723, 725 (4th Cir.1990); De Leon v. St. Joseph Hosp., Inc., 871 F.2d 1229, 1233 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 110 S.Ct. 87, 107 L.Ed.2d 52 (1989). "Such a burden may be met by use of `affidavits, exhibits, depositions, and other discovery materials.'" Pachaly, 897 F.2d at 725, quoting Barwick v. Celotex Corp., 736 F.2d 946, 958 (4th Cir.1984). The party opposing summary judgment is entitled to have the evidence of record and all reasonable inferences read in its favor. Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 158-59, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 1608-09, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970); Pachaly, 897 F.2d at 725 n. 3. But, "a party opposing a properly supported motion for summary judgment may not rest upon mere allegation or denials of his pleading, but must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 256, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2514, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Below, the Court first reviews the standards for holding an official liable in either their individual or official capacity for a § 1983 violation. It then applies these standards to the allegations and existing record against the clerk and the sheriff.

I.

Section 1983 imposes civil liability on one who, under color of State law, deprives any citizen of the United States or other person under the jurisdiction thereof of any right secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States.⁴ An initial inquiry, then, in any § 1983 action is whether a defendant acted under color of state law. A second preliminary inquiry 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). If the answer to either inquiry is "no," the § 1983 action fails. See id.

Even if both questions can be answered affirmatively, further analysis is required to determine whether damages may be recovered for a § 1983 claim. Whether an official is liable for damages in a § 1983 action depends on whether the official is being sued in his or her official or individual capacity:

Personal-capacity suits seek to impose personal liability upon a government official for actions he takes under color of state law.... Official-capacity suits, in contrast, "generally represent only another way of pleading an action against an entity of which an officer is an agent." ... As long as the government entity receives notice and an opportunity to respond, an official-capacity suit is, in all respects other than name, to be treated as a suit against the entity.... It is not a suit against the official personally, for the real party in interest is the entity. Thus, while an award of damages against an official in his personal capacity can be executed only against the official's personal assets, a plaintiff seeking to recover on a damages judgment in an official-capacity suit must look to the government entity itself.

Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. 159, 165-66, 105 S.Ct. 3099, 3104-05, 87 L.Ed.2d 114 (1985) (quoting Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 690 n. 55, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 2035 n. 55, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978)) (citations and footnote omitted). Whether an official is sued in her or his individual or official capacity determines what showing must be made. "On the merits, to establish personal liability in a § 1983 action, it is enough to show that the...