Myers v. City of West Monroe

• Decision Date: 11 May 2000
• Docket Number: No. 98-30729,98-30729
• Citation: 211 F.3d 289
• Parties: (5th Cir. 2000) MARGARET ANN MYERS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF WEST MONROE, ET AL., Defendants, CITY OF WEST MONROE; SHERMAN CALHOUN, Individually and in his Official Capacity as a Police Officer for West Monroe; JIM WAINWRIGHT; ERNEST MCHENRY, Defendants-Appellees
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 289

211 F.3d 289 (5th Cir. 2000)

MARGARET ANN MYERS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF WEST MONROE, ET AL., Defendants CITY OF WEST MONROE; SHERMAN CALHOUN, Individually and in his Official Capacity as a Police Officer for West Monroe; JIM WAINWRIGHT; ERNEST MCHENRY, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 98-30729

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT

May 11, 2000

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana

Before REYNALDO G. GARZA, HIGGINBOTHAM, and BENAVIDES, Circuit Judges.

REYNALDO G. GARZA, Circuit Judge:

BACKGROUND

On May 18, 1995, and December 1, 1995, police officers stopped Margaret Ann Myers while she was driving her car. With respect to the May stop, Myers alleged that she was illegally stopped, verbally abused, and that her car was illegally searched. As for the December stop, Myers claimed that she was illegally stopped, her car was illegally searched, and that her drivers license was confiscated and discarded, constituting conversion. Myers sued the City of West Monroe, and three police officers: Sherman Calhoun, Jim Wainwright, and Ernest McHenry, and claimed damages of physical injury, mental anguish, emotional trauma, and other special damages.

The case proceeded to trial. Myers testified on cross-examination that during the May stop, she consented to a search of her vehicle by Officer Calhoun and was issued a ticket for improper lane usage, which she paid. She put on no evidence that the stop was illegal or that the City of West Monroe was aware of (or failed to correct) any "vicious propensities" or "abuse of authority" by its officers. Thus, the district court granted judgement as a matter of law in favor of Officer Calhoun and the City of West Monroe.

The case against Officers McHenry and Wainwright that related to the December stop went to the jury, which returned a verdict in favor of the officers. According to Officer Wainwright, Myers's car came around a turn towards him into his lane of traffic, requiring him to "slam on [his] brakes" to avoid a collision. He then pulled her over and administered a field sobriety test. Before the test, Myers placed her jacket on the trunk of her car. While the test was underway, Officer McHenry arrived to assist Officer Wainwright. Myers's sister and friend were following in another car and also stopped at the scene. The sister and friend testified that Officer McHenry searched the pockets of Myers's jacket.

At one point, Myers testified that Officer McHenry physically entered her car and searched it, but later stated that she was uncertain if Officer McHenry had actually entered the car. Myers's sister and friend testified that Officer McHenry merely looked inside the car with a flashlight. Officer McHenry testified that he did not recall conducting a search of the car or jacket, but admitted that he recalled little about the incident at all.

Myers also testified that Officer Wainwright took her drivers license and did not return it. Officer Wainwright denied this claim. Myers admitted that she did not see him discard the license, but an unnamed third party found it and returned it to her a few days after the incident.

With regard to her claims for injuries, Myers testified that she suffered emotional distress, nervousness, anxiety, mental trauma, and nausea and gastrointestinal irritation. However, prior to these traffic stops, she had been seen by a psychotherapist for a number of years and had seen a psychiatrist at age fifteen.

According to Myers's testimony, she had seen a physician and complained of nausea three months prior to the first traffic stop. The physician was unable to determine the cause of Myers' nausea. Meyers also visited a gastroenterologist who was unable to diagnose the cause of her stomach problems. She did not discuss the traffic stops with her physicians.

Myers did testify that she saw her psychotherapist following the December stop because she was upset and because it was interfering with her school work. Her friends testified that she became ill following the December stop. However, Myers also told her psychotherapist that her nausea had been ongoing for about a year prior to November, 1995.

After entry of judgment in favor of all four defendants, the defendants sought sanctions pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 11 and 37, as well as attorney fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988. The district court denied the motion for sanctions but granted the motion for attorney fees.

The district court noted that attorney fees may be awarded to a prevailing defendant in a § 1983 case only if the suit was "frivolous, unreasonable, or without foundation, or that the plaintiff continued to litigate after it clearly became so." The court stated that according to the testimony of Myers's psychotherapist and the deposition testimony of Myers's physicians, Myers's claim for special damages was "without foundation from the onset of litigation."

The court further found that, as demonstrated by a complete lack of evidence, Myers's claims against the City of West Monroe were without foundation, but Myers continued litigation after the lack of foundation became evident. Finally, the court stated that after considering the testimony, Myers's counsel should have known that the constitutional claims against Officers Wainwright and McHenry were without foundation. The district court referred the matter to a magistrate for a determination of the fees.

The magistrate assessed fees just over $32,000, and the district court entered judgment in that amount. Myers does not contest the amount of fees, but asserts that the district court abused its discretion and failed to employ the proper analysis with respect to whether fees should have been assessed.

ANALYSIS

The question before this Court is whether the district court abused its discretion in awarding attorney fees to the four prevailing defendants regarding § 1983 claims of unreasonable search and seizure. Under 42 U.S.C. § 1988, a district court may award attorney fees to a prevailing party in a § 1983 suit, which this court reviews for an abuse of discretion. See United States v. Mississippi, 921 F.2d 604, 609 (5th Cir. 1991); see also Walker v. City of Bogalusa, 168 F.3d 237, 239 (5th Cir. 1999). A prevailing defendant is entitled to fees "only when a plaintiff's underlying claim is frivolous, unreasonable, or groundless." Walker, 168 F.3d at 239.¹ When considering whether a suit is frivolous, a district court should look to factors such as whether the plaintiff established a prima facie case, whether the defendant offered to settle, and whether the court held a full trial. See Mississippi, 921 F.2d at 609.

In Vaughner v. Pulito, 804 F.2d 873, 878 (5th Cir. 1986), this Court held that a magistrate did not abuse her discretion in denying fees to a defendant when the case proceeded to a full trial on the merits despite attempt by the defendant to have it dismissed after presentation of the plaintiffs' case-in-chief. Id. at 878. Vaughner, however, does not support the proposition that a defendant's failure to move for dismissal prior to trial indicates that a claim is non-frivolous, as argued by Myers. In fact, the failure to move for summary judgment pretrial may be an economically wise move when, as here, the defendants expect that the plaintiff's own testimony will superficially create a genuine question of material fact,² even if the defendants expect that a jury will not find her credible. In such a situation, a summary judgment motion is a waste of time and money. Thus, the lack of any pretrial motions by the defendants should not be seen as conclusively establishing that Myers' claims were not frivolous.

On the other hand, whether a defendant offers to settle a case is of questionable value in determining whether the plaintiff's claims are frivolous. In this case, it appears that the City of West Monroe defended both itself and the police officers. The City may have a policy of rarely settling...