Meyer v. Nava

• Decision Date: 30 August 2007
• Docket Number: No. 04-4099-RDR.,04-4099-RDR.
• Parties: Erika MEYER, Plaintiff, v. Christopher NAVA, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Kansas

518 F.Supp.2d 1279

Erika MEYER, Plaintiff, v. Christopher NAVA, et al., Defendants.

No. 04-4099-RDR.

United States District Court, D. Kansas.

August 30, 2007.

Keith E. Renner, Renner Law Office, PA, Topeka, KS, Lee R. Barnett, Barnett & Renner, PA, Auburn, KS, for Plaintiff.

Christopher Nava, Winfield, KS, pro se.

Wyatt Wright, Wendell F. Cowan, Jr., Foulston Siefkin LLP, Overland Park, KS, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

RICHARD D. ROGERS, District Judge.

This is a civil rights action brought by the plaintiff pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Christopher Nava, a former employee at the Lyon County Jail; the Board of County Commissioners of Lyon County, Kansas (Lyon County); and Gary Eichorn, Sheriff of Lyon County, Kansas (Sheriff Eichorn). Plaintiff seeks damages for injuries she suffered while she was incarcerated at the Lyon County Jail. This matter is presently before the court upon the motion of defendants Lyon County and Sheriff Eichorn for summary judgment.

I.

Summary judgment is appropriate if the "pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). The requirement of a genuine issue of fact means that the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Essentially, the inquiry is whether the evidence presents a sufficient disagreement to require submission to a jury or whether it is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law. Id. at 251-52, 106 S.Ct. 2505.

The moving party bears the initial burden of demonstrating the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. This burden may be met by showing that there is a lack of evidence to support the nonmoving party's case. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). Once the moving party has properly supported its motion for summary judgment, the burden shifts to the nonmoving party to show that there is a genuine issue of material fact left for trial. See Anderson, 477 U.S. at 256, 106 S.Ct. 2505. A party opposing a properly supported motion for summary judgment may not rest on mere allegations or denials of [its] pleading, but must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial. Id. Therefore, the mere existence of some alleged factual dispute between the parties will not defeat an otherwise properly supported motion for summary judgment See id. The court must consider the record in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. See Bee v. Greaves, 744 F.2d 1387, 1396 (10th Cir. 1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1214, 105 S.Ct. 1187, 84 L.Ed.2d 334 (1985). The court notes that summary judgment is not a "disfavored procedural shortcut;" rather, it is an important procedure "designed to secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action." Celotex, 477 U.S. at 327, 106 S.Ct. 2548 (quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 1).

II.

The following facts are either uncontroverted or shall be considered true for the purposes of deciding this summary judgment motion. On or about May 11, 2003, plaintiff was arrested for driving under the influence by an officer with the Emporia Police Department. Plaintiff was taken to the Lyon County jail in Emporia, Kansas. Plaintiff was very intoxicated. Nava was the acting shift supervisor at the jail. Plaintiff was initially taken to the visitation room. She was then escorted to the bathroom by Nava. After she finished using the bathroom, they stopped in the medication room for some period. In the medication room, plaintiff and Nava were alone. Plaintiff asked Nava for a cigarette and he denied the request. Nothing happened at that time. Subsequently, Nava returned plaintiff to the visitation room, which was used as a holding cell. Nava later returned with cigarettes and then took her into an adjoining video room. In that room, he raped, sodomized and sexually battered plaintiff.

Gary Eichorn is the sheriff of Lyon County, Kansas and was serving in that capacity on May 11, 2003. He was not present at the Lyon County jail when the events involving plaintiff occurred on May 11, 2003. Lyon County jail policies in effect on that date prohibited male jailers from being alone with female inmates absent special circumstances. This policy had been in effect since January 2002. After her release, plaintiff reported the sexual abuse by Nava to her father, Terry Meyer. Mr. Meyer reported the incident to Sheriff Eichorn, on the morning of May 11, 2003. Sheriff Eichorn immediately requested an investigation by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and suspended Nava from duty. Nava was eventually convicted of rape, aggravated criminal sodomy, attempted aggravated criminal sodomy and traffic in contraband in a correctional institution. He is currently serving his sentence with the Kansas Department of Corrections.

Sheriff Eichorn took office as sheriff of Lyon County in January 2001. Nava was already an employee of the sheriffs office at that time. He had been hired by former Sheriff Cliff Hacker. Brian Anstey was in charge of the jail on a day-to-day basis as the jail administrator. He had the rank of captain. He became jail administrator in 1993. The chain of command at the jail was as follows: Sheriff Eichorn, the Undersheriff, Captain Anstey, and then the shift supervisors, who held the rank of lieutenant. It was the responsibility of a lieutenant to bring any policy violation to the attention of Captain Anstey or the acting shift supervisor. Lieutenants also had an obligation to correct any violation if they saw an acting supervisor in violation of a jail procedure.

Nava was hired as a jailer in June 2000. Nava had a criminal record of juvenile offenses from 1993 to 1995, including misdemeanor theft, misdemeanor battery, and criminal damage to property. He had also been charged with drug possession as a juvenile, but it was dismissed in late 1996.

Within the last year of his employment, Nava became acting supervisor of the first shift, which was the midnight to 8:00 a.m. shift. When Nava served as the acting shift supervisor, he had authority to assign duties during the shift itself to other jailers on that shift. There were usually three jailers, including Nava, on duty during a weekend night shift. He had the authority to place arrestees in a particular room or cell once they came into the jail. There was a shortage of cells in May 2003 in the Lyon County jail because of ongoing construction. Other rooms were being used for holding inmates, such as the medication room or the visitation room.

Nava was aware of the policy prohibiting male jailers from being alone with female inmates. He, however, indicated that male jailers would often be alone with female inmates prior to May 11, 2003. The policy prohibiting male jailers from being alone with female inmates had arisen in January 2002 because a male jailer had been spending too much time in the female jail pod visiting with the female inmates.

Sheriff Eichorn was responsible for adopting policies at the jail. No one else, including Captain Anstey, had the authority to establish or change policy. Captain Anstey was not aware of any sexual molestation or harassment by jailers toward female inmates prior to May 11, 2003. Prior to May 11, 2003, neither Sheriff Eichorn nor Captain Anstey were aware of any male jailer being alone with any female inmate. Sheriff Eichorn had been made aware of the jailer in the past who had been spending too much time in the female pod area with female inmates. After the May 11th incident involving plaintiff and Nava, Sheriff Eichorn received a report that another jailer had been in a. relationship with a female inmate. This allegation was immediately investigated. This jailer was ultimately allowed to resign.

In March 2003, Sheriff Eichorn and Captain Anstey were informed of an incident that month where Nava called a former female inmate on two occasions after she was released from jail and asked her on a date. At the time, there was no policy that prohibited such conduct.

During the investigation of the May 11th incident, Captain Anstey learned that joking had been going on between jailers, which included sexual, comments about inmates. This sexual banter included references to an inmate's breasts or buttocks. These conversations were strictly between the jailers and were not with the inmates. Nava did not believe that Sheriff Eichorn or Captain Anstey were aware of this practice.

Rhonda Schwindt, one of the three jailers on duty on May 11th, saw Nava and plaintiff in the medication room alone together in the early morning hours. Schwindt called Nava between 2:30 and 3:30 a.m. and asked in a joking manner if he was screwing her. On the night that plaintiff was booked into jail, Nava told Schwindt that he thought that plaintiff had a "nice rack." Schwindt, however, had no indication that Nava had any sexual relationship with plaintiff or any other female inmate. Schwindt never reported Nava's "rack" comment or other similar comments by a jailer to any supervisor.

Penny Morgan, one of the lieutenants at the Lyon County jail, came in early for her shift some time before 4:00 a.m. on May 11, 2003. She also observed Nava alone with plaintiff in the medication room, which she thought was unusual. Morgan did not report the matter or confront Nava, but she did ask the other jailers why Nava was alone with a female inmate.

After the incident between Nava and plaintiff on May 11th, a woman came forward who indicated that, while she was an inmate at the Lyon County jail in April 2003, she and Nava kissed and he sexually groped her. This woman indicated that this activity was entirely consensual and that she called Nava...