Platte v. Thomas Tp.
| Decision Date | 26 September 2007 |
| Docket Number | No. 05-10200.,05-10200. |
| Parties | Katie Anne PLATTE, Ashley Berden, Cullin Stewart, and Samuel Paul Maness, Plaintiffs, v. THOMAS TOWNSHIP, a Municipal Corporation; City of Mount Pleasant, a Municipal Corporation; Stanley A. Dinus, in his official capacity as Director 1 Chief of Police of the Central Michigan University Police Department; Isabella County, a Municipal Corporation; Jennifer M. Granholm, in her official capacity as Governor of the State of Michigan; Colonel Peter Munoz, in his official capacity as Director of the Michigan Department of State Police, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan |
David A. Moran, Wayne State University Law School, Marshall J. Widick, Sachs Waldman, Michael J. Steinberg, American Civil Liberties Union Fund of Michigan, Detroit, MI, William T. Street, Klimaszewski & Street, Saginaw, MI, for Plaintiffs.
G. Gus Morris, Kupelian, Ormond, Southfield, MI, Jason D. Kolkema, Patrick A. Aseltyne, Johnson, Rosati, Michael E. Cavanaugh, Fraser, Trebilcock, Margaret A. Nelson, Michigan Department of Attorney General, Lansing, MI, Christina M. Grossi, Gilbert, Smith, Saginaw, MI, for Defendants.
This matter is before the Court on three motions filed by the parties: (1) defendant Thomas Township's motion for summary judgment or dismissal; (2) defendants Colonel Tardarial Sturdivant's (who has been succeeded as a party by Colonel Peter Munoz) and Governor Granholm's (the state defendants) motion for summary judgment or dismissal; and (3) the plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment. The plaintiffs' complaint asserts a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 that raises issues previously addressed by the Court in Spencer v. City of Bay City, 292 F.Supp.2d 932 (E.D.Mich.2003), in which the Court held that a municipal ordinance substantially similar to the state statute challenged in this case, Michigan Compiled Laws § 436.1703(6), is unconstitutional insofar as it authorized police officers to compel minors to submit to breath tests for alcohol in the absence of a warrant or circumstances excusing the requirement of a search warrant. The plaintiffs argue in their motion that they are entitled to a judgment as a matter of law declaring that the statute is unconstitutional and their Fourth Amendment rights were violated when police officers forced them to submit to breath tests, although they concede that an award of damages must await a' trial. They also seek an injunction against future enforcement of the statute. The municipal defendant argues that it is entitled to dismissal or summary judgment because the undisputed facts show that exigent circumstances permitted the warrantless breath tests conducted pursuant to section 436.1703(6). The state defendants contend that they are not responsible for the actions of the local police departments in this case. They also argue that the statute is constitutional on its face because warrantless searches pursuant thereto can be justified on the basis of exigent circumstances and special needs.
The Court heard the parties' oral arguments at a hearing held on September 27, 2006. The parties submitted material outside the pleadings in support of their respective positions, so the motions will be treated under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 instead of Rule 12. The Court finds that Michigan Compiled Laws § 436.1703(6), under which the police officers were operating in this case, is unconstitutional on its face because it purports to authorize searches and seizures without a warrant and absent exigent circumstances; therefore it sanctions official conduct that violates the Fourth Amendment. However, it does not necessarily follow that the plaintiffs' constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment were violated as a matter of law when they were forced to submit to breath tests because fact questions remain whether exigent circumstances existed, in this case that excused the police officers' obligation to obtain a warrant. The Court also finds that there is sufficient evidence in this record to establish the involvement of the state defendants in the events about which the plaintiffs complain. Therefore, the Court will grant in part the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment, declare Michigan Compiled Laws § 436.1703(6) unconstitutional as repugnant to the Fourth Amendment, and enjoin further enforcement; deny the plaintiffs' motion in all other respects; deny the motion for summary judgment by defendant Thomas Township; and deny the motion for summary judgment by the state defendants.
In their amended complaint, the plaintiffs allege that they were all under the age of twenty-one years, they attended parties that were broken up by police, and the police acting on the authority of Michigan Complied Law § 436.1703(6) forced them to submit to warrantless breath tests to detect alcohol. According to the declarations and depositions filed with the motion papers, Katie Anne Platte was a nineteen-year-old college student who went to a small party at the house of a high school classmate on July 23, 2004. She did not consume any alcohol at the gathering. Thomas Township police officers arrived at the party and demanded to be let inside the house. However, Joe Latty, a resident of the home, told the officers they could not enter without a warrant. After waiting outside for an hour and a half, "an attorney ..., who is a friend of [Platte's] family and a friend of Joe Latty's family, came over to the house and negotiated with the police." Pls.' Mot. for Summ. J., Ex. A, Dec. of Platte at ¶ 12. When the plaintiff and her friends eventually came out of the home, "the police did not allow [them] to leave:" Id. at ¶ 13. Instead, Platte and her friends "were forced to wait 10 to 15 minutes until a police officer returned with breathalyzer machines," and "were told that if [they] refused to take the test [they] would be violating the law." Id. at ¶¶ 14, 16. Platte was then "forced to take a breath[alyzer] test," even though she "was not under arrest for any crime." Id. at ¶ 17. Platte "was not shown a warrant for a breath[alyzer] test," ibid., and according to the plaintiffs, "[t]here were no exigent circumstances that would have allowed the officers to suspend the requirements of procuring a search warrant." Amend. Compl. at ¶ 34. The test revealed that Platte had a .00% blood-alcohol level. The police therefore allowed her to leave. As a result of these events, Platte no longer attends parties of young adults in Thomas Township at night — for fear of being forced again to take a breathalyzer test even if she has abstained from drinking alcohol.
Plaintiff Ashley Berden alleges that she was under twenty years old when she attended the same party as Platte. Like Platte, Berden also went inside the house when the police officers arrived on the scene, and she was detained by the police when she exited. Plaintiff Berden asked one of the officers if she could retrieve her personal effects from inside the home, but upon discovering her identity, the officer "said that he didn't like [her] and placed [her] in the back of the police vehicle." Pls.' Mot. for Summ. J., Ex. B, Dec. of Berden at ¶ 10. After being confined there for fifteen to thirty minutes, another officer, Officer Ross, came into the cruiser and "told [her she] had to take a breathalyzer test." Id. at ¶¶ 11-12. "Officer Ross told [her] that if [she] refused to take the test, [she] would be violating the law." Id. at ¶ 13. He also told her that "if [she] refused to take a breath[alyzer] test [she] would go to jail." Id. at ¶ 15. The police did not have a warrant, Berden was not under arrest, and, according to the plaintiffs, "[t]here were no exigent circumstances that would have allowed the officers to suspend the requirements of procuring a search warrant." Amend. Compl. at ¶ 56. See also Dec. of Berden at ¶ 14. Berden's test indicated that she had a .00% blood-alcohol level, and she was permitted to leave.
Apparently this "was not the first time that [Berden has been] forced to give a breathalyzer test even though the police did not have a search warrant, even though [she] was not driving and even though [she] was not [drinking alcohol]." Id. at ¶ 21. Berden alleges that on June 7, 2003, she attended a high-school graduation party at a friend's house, but left her purse at the gathering when she departed. She contends that later, "Thomas Township and/or Saginaw County police officers broke up the party and found [her] purse." Id. at ¶ 24. These officers then came to Berden's residence "at 4:00 a.m., woke up [her] family and demanded that [she] take a breath[alyzer] test." Id. at ¶ 25. The officers did not have a warrant and they told her that she would be breaking the law if she refused to take the testa She took the test; it again indicated that she had a .00% blood-alcohol level. Based upon these and other incidents, plaintiff Berden fears additional forced breath tests, although she continues to attend parties with her friends in Thomas Township and Saginaw County on a regular basis.
Finally, plaintiffs Cullin Stewart and Samuel Maness allege that they were eighteen and seventeen years old, respectively, on May 3, 2003 when they attended a postprom party in Deerfield Township, Isabella County. The party was raided by an interagency police task force that refers to itself as the "Party Patrol," which is comprised of officers from the Mount Pleasant Police Department, the Central Michigan University Police Department, the Isabella County Sheriffs Department, and the Michigan State Police Department....
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