Mesa v. Prejean

• Citation: 543 F.3d 264
• Decision Date: 23 September 2008
• Docket Number: No. 07-30953.,07-30953.
• Parties: Rubens MESA; Julieta Tarazona, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Dwayne PREJEAN, Individually and in his official capacity as a Lafayette City Police Officer, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)

543 F.3d 264

Rubens MESA; Julieta Tarazona, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Dwayne PREJEAN, Individually and in his official capacity as a Lafayette City Police Officer, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 07-30953.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

September 23, 2008.

James E. Diaz, Sr. (argued), Lafayette, LA, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.

John Goulding Swift (argued), Swift & Rhoades, Lafayette, LA, for Prejean.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.

Before HIGGINBOTHAM, STEWART and SOUTHWICK, Circuit Judges.

SOUTHWICK, Circuit Judge:

This is a civil suit seeking damages against police officers for illegally and with excessive force arresting Plaintiffs Rubens Mesa and Julieta Tarazona. This appeal concerns the summary judgment granted in favor of one of the officers on the basis of qualified immunity. We affirm as to the claims brought by Mesa but reverse and remand in part the claims brought by Tarazona.

I. Facts and Procedural Background

The Plaintiffs Rubens Mesa and Julieta Tarazona are married and own Guama's Restaurant and Bar in Lafayette, Louisiana. In the late-night hours of April 8, 2005, one of the Defendants, Lafayette Police Officer Dwayne Prejean, was on duty patrolling an area near downtown where Guama's and many other bars were located. Patrons were in the businesses and on the sidewalks. Officer Prejean visited a few establishments to have owners move tables and chairs that were obstructing sidewalks in a manner that he believed to be violating state statute and local ordinance.

After stopping at Guama's, Officer Prejean walked across the street to another business. There, he arrested Tyler Guilbeau for disturbing the peace due to intoxication. Officer Prejean placed Guilbeau inside his police car and then stood next to the car while preparing paperwork on the arrest. Mesa approached Prejean while he was writing in order to discuss the tables and chairs on the sidewalk and to inquire about or object to Guilbeau's arrest.

Officer Prejean instructed Mesa to wait on the sidewalk. Mesa walked across the street to the opposite sidewalk. Tarazona arrived and heard Mesa's version of events. Tarazona and Guilbeau's girlfriend, an employee of Guama's, both walked over to Officer Prejean; Mesa remained on the sidewalk. Officer Prejean testified that when Tarazona first approached, he had already arrested Guilbeau and was in the process of writing up a misdemeanor summons to give to Guilbeau before releasing him. Tarazona asked Officer Prejean why Guilbeau was being arrested and about Prejean's earlier demand that Guama's chairs and tables be moved off the sidewalk.

At this point, the facts diverge as to Officer Prejean's initial response to Tarazona. Officer Prejean testified that he gave at least three clear orders for Tarazona to remove herself from the street. Tarazona asserts that Officer Prejean gave directions only twice. Moreover, the first was not an "imperative command" but an invitation to discuss the matter of the tables and chairs when he finished processing Guilbeau. Despite these assertions about the lack of urgency of Officer Prejean's initial directive, Tarazona's deposition testimony confirms that (1) Officer Prejean "told" her twice to get out of the street and move on, and (2) she did not immediately comply with his initial directive. There is evidence, though disputed, that Tarazona crossed the street to the opposite sidewalk after the second request.

Upon reaching the sidewalk, Tarazona turned back toward Officer Prejean and made some comments in his direction. Officer Prejean testified that Tarazona began "yelling again about the media and she's going to call the Governor and have my job." Tarazona testified that she made a comment to the following effect: "If you didn't have that badge you wouldn't be treating me like that." After Tarazona made her comments, Officer Prejean immediately informed her that she was under arrest and started toward her.

When Officer Prejean approached Tarazona to place her under arrest, Mesa moved toward him in what Officer Prejean described as an "aggressive manner." At least two officers became involved physically with Mesa while detaining him. As a result, Mesa was bleeding and was taken to the hospital for examination. While Mesa was being restrained, Officer Prejean placed his hand on Tarazona's shoulder near her upper back and neck because he had already used his handcuffs on Guilbeau. Tarazona perceived the presence of Officer Prejean's hand as a requirement for her to kneel, and Tarazona knelt down. Tarazona testified that, while she thought this manner of arrest was unusual, Officer Prejean did not force her to the ground or otherwise inflict physical harm upon her. Still, she complains that she was injured by Officer Prejean's forcing her to watch the other officers beat her husband, Mesa. Tarazona was approximately eight feet away from the incident between Mesa and the other officers. Less than one minute passed between Tarazona's comments to Officer Prejean and the point at which both she and Mesa were detained.

Tarazona was charged with disturbing the peace by intoxication and with remaining after forbidden. Mesa was charged with resisting an officer, battery of an officer, obstruction of a public passage, and disturbing the peace by intoxication. After a trial, a municipal court judge held that Mesa and Tarazona were not guilty of the charges.

Following the acquittals, Mesa and Tarazona brought this suit for violation of constitutional rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and under Louisiana law for false arrest, false imprisonment, use of excessive force, defamation, and malicious prosecution.

Officer Prejean filed a motion for summary judgment, seeking dismissal of all of the claims brought against him. The district court granted the motion on the basis of qualified immunity. The court denied summary judgment motions by the other Defendant officers. The City of Lafayette received a partial summary judgment for matters related to prosecutorial immunity.

The court entered a Rule 54(b) judgment certifying the finality of the order favoring Officer Prejean. Mesa and Tarazona appeal from that judgment.

II. Discussion

This court reviews a district court's grant of summary judgment de novo and evaluates the evidence as the district court would. XL Specialty Ins. Co. v. Kiewit Offshore Servs., Ltd., 513 F.3d 146, 149 (5th Cir.2008). Summary judgment is appropriate when "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact, [and] the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). The issue of qualified immunity is a question of law, but in certain circumstances where "there remain disputed issues of material fact relative to immunity, the jury, properly instructed, may decide the question." Presley v. City of Benbrook, 4 F.3d 405, 410 (5th Cir.1993).

When an officer argues that he is entitled to qualified immunity from suit, we first view the evidence "in the light most favorable to the party asserting the injury" and decide if "the facts alleged show the officer's conduct violated a constitutional right." Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001). If that view reveals no constitutional violation, there is no claim. However, "if a violation could be made out on a favorable view of the parties' submissions, the next, sequential step is to ask whether the right was clearly established." Id. This second inquiry "must be undertaken in light of the specific context of the case, not as a broad general proposition." Id. For immunity to apply, the "actions of the officer must be objectively reasonable under the circumstances, such that a reasonably competent officer would not have known his actions violated then-existing clearly established law." Evett v. Deep E. Tex. Reg'l Narcotics Trafficking Task Force, 330 F.3d 681, 688 (5th Cir.2003).

We apply these standards first to Tarazona's claims and then to Mesa's.

A. Tarazona's Fourth Amendment Claims

The validity of summary judgment on Tarazona's claims turns on whether Officer Prejean had "probable cause to believe that a criminal offense has been or is being committed." Devenpeck v. Alford, 543 U.S. 146, 152, 125 S.Ct. 588, 160 L.Ed.2d 537 (2004). "Probable cause exists when the totality of the facts and circumstances within a police officer's knowledge at the moment of arrest are sufficient for a reasonable person to conclude that the suspect had committed or was committing an offense." United States v. McCowan, 469 F.3d 386, 390 (5th Cir.2006). A mistake reasonably made as to probable cause justifies qualified immunity. Tarver v. City of Edna, 410 F.3d 745, 750 (5th Cir.2005).

Two offenses were the alleged basis for the arrest: Tarazona's remaining after forbidden and her disturbing the peace by intoxication. We examine each offense in turn.

1. Remaining After Forbidden

Officer Prejean first argues that he had probable cause to arrest Tarazona under Louisiana's criminal trespass statute, which provides as follows:

No person shall without authority go into or upon or attempt to go into or upon or remain in or upon any structure, watercraft, or any other movable or immovable property, which belongs to another, including public buildings or structures, ferries and bridges, or any part, portion, or area thereof, after having been forbidden to do so, either orally or in writing ... by any owner, lessee, or custodian of the property or by any other authorized person.

La.Rev.Stat. § 14:63.3(A). The Louisiana Court of Appeal has held that this statute "does not prohibit standing on a public sidewalk." Melancon v. Trahan, 645 So.2d 722, 726-27 (La.Ct.App.), writ denied, 650 So.2d 1183 (La.1995); see also State v. Brooks, 755 So.2d 311, 313-14 (La.Ct.App.1999). Though quite likely an officer has the right in Louisiana to require someone to move even from a sidewalk to avoid...