Powell v. Barrett
| Decision Date | 05 July 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 1:04-CV-1100-RWS.,1:04-CV-1100-RWS. |
| Citation | 376 F.Supp.2d 1340 |
| Parties | C. Alan POWELL, Individually, and on behalf of all others similarly situated; Tory Dunlap, Individually, and on behalf of all others similarly situated; Lee Antonio Smith, Individually, and on behalf of all others similarly situated; David Evans, Individually, and on behalf of all others similarly situated; Plaintiff, v. Sheriff Jacqueline BARRETT, Fulton County, State of Georgia; Sheriff Myron Freeman, Fulton County, State of Georgia; Chairperson Karen Hanel, Fulton County Board of Commissioners; Member Robb Pitts, Fulton County Board of Commissioner; Member Tom Lowe, Fulton County Board of Commissioners; Member Emma I. Darnell, Fulton County Board of Commissioners; Member Nancy A. Boxill, Fulton County Board of Commissioners; Member William Edwards, Fulton County Board of Commissioners, a/k/a Bill Edwards; City of Atlanta, State of Georgia, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Georgia |
Barrett S. Litt, Paul J. Estuar, Litt, Estuar, Harrison, Miller & Kitson, LLP, Los Angeles, CA, Charles B. Pekor, Jr., Daniel Eliot DeWoskin, Pekor & DeWoskin, Atlanta, GA, James Patrick Claiborne, Augusta, GA, Lynn E. Cunningham, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., William Charles Claiborne, III, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff.
Theodore Howard Lackland, Lackland & Associates, Atlanta, GA, for Defendants — Sheriff Jacqueline Barrett and Sheriff Myron Freeman.
Julianne N. Belaga, Kimberly Williams D'Haene, Richard Lance Robbins, Sidney Leighton Moore, Teresa Wynn Roseborough, Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan, Atlanta, GA, for Defendants — Fulton County, State of Georgia and Fulton Co. Board of Commissioners.
Dennis McRay Young, Office of Atlanta City Attorney, Law Department, Atlanta, GA, for Defendant — City of Atlanta, State of Georgia.
This case comes before the Court for consideration of County Defendants' Motion for Certification of Order for Interlocutory Appeal [77-1],1 Defendants Barrett and Freeman's Motion to Dismiss Counts in the Fourth Amended Complaint [85-1], Defendant City of Atlanta's Motion to Dismiss the Fourth Amended Complaint [87-1], County Defendants' Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' Fourth Amended Complaint [88-1], Plaintiffs' Consent Motion for an Extension of Time to Respond to Defendants Barrett and Freeman's Motion to Dismiss [89-1], County Defendants' Motion to Stay Discovery [92-1], Defendants Barrett and Freeman's Motion to Stay Discovery [93-1], Plaintiffs' Motion for Extension of Time to Respond to City of Atlanta's Motion to Dismiss [95-1]; Plaintiffs' Second Consent Motion for Extension of Time to Respond to County Defendants' Motion to Dismiss [101-1], and Plaintiffs' Motion for Judicial Notice [113-1].
As a preliminary matter, Plaintiffs' Consent Motion for an Extension of Time to Respond to Defendants Barrett and Freeman's Motion to Dismiss [89-1], Plaintiffs' Consent Motion for Extension of Time to Respond to City of Atlanta's Motion to Dismiss [95-1], and Plaintiffs' Second Consent Motion for Extension of Time to Respond to County Defendants' Motion to Dismiss [101-1] are GRANTED nunc pro tunc.2 Likewise, Plaintiffs' Motion for Judicial Notice [113-1], being unopposed, is GRANTED. See LR 7.1B, NDGa ("Failure to file a response shall indicate that there is no opposition to the motion."). In accordance with its March 25, 2005 Order, moreover, the Court continues to RESERVE RULING on County Defendants' Motion for Certification of Order for Interlocutory Appeal [77-1]. The Court addresses the remaining motions before it through the following Order.
Plaintiffs, certain former detainees at the Fulton County Jail (the "Jail"), initiated this putative class action on April 21, 2004. In their Complaint, as presently amended, Plaintiffs assert claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 respecting the conditions of their confinement at the Jail. They complain about being subject to "blanket strip searches" upon entering and/or returning to the Jail, as well as their continued detention past scheduled release dates (a condition they refer to as "over-detention").
Specifically, Plaintiffs allege that they and others similarly situated were held at the Fulton County Jail for a number of days after they had served misdemeanor sentences, posted bond, or had been ordered released by a Fulton County Court. In some instances, the periods of over-detention allegedly suffered by members of the putative class lasted almost two weeks.
In addition, Plaintiffs assert that the Jail maintained a policy of "strip searching" all inmates without an individualized determination that such searches would reveal weapons, drugs, or other contraband. According to Plaintiffs, such searches were part of the process in which arrestees were "booked" into the Jail's general population. It involved an arrested individual being placed in a room with up to thirty or forty other arrestees, asked to remove his clothing, and instructed to place the clothing in a box. As a group, the arrestees were required to shower, and then, standing in a line with others, were visually inspected front and back by deputies. Further, due to the Jail's practice of incorporating booking procedures into the release process, at least some of these searches were allegedly conducted on persons who were returning from court proceedings and who were entitled to be released from the facility.
Plaintiffs allege that these practices at the Fulton County Jail were pervasive and had persisted for many years. Moreover, they assert that through media coverage and published judicial decisions, the unconstitutional treatment of inmates at the Jail had grown notorious, such that the government actors who placed arrestees into the Jail's custody were aware of these alleged practices.
Plaintiffs assert that the foregoing practices violate rights guaranteed them under the Fourth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, and predict that the persons falling within the proposed classes denominated in their pleadings will number 10,000 or more. As a result of exposure to such conditions, Plaintiffs seek monetary and injunctive relief against former Fulton County Sheriff Jacqueline Barrett, Fulton County Sheriff Myron Freeman, Fulton County, the members of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, and the City of Atlanta.
On January 13, 2005, this Court entered an Order that, inter alia, denied two motions to dismiss that had been filed by the County Defendants and the City of Atlanta. In doing so, the Court recognized that in order to be held liable under § 1983, a municipal body must have had control over the policy that is alleged to have violated the plaintiff's rights. Moreover, it rejected Plaintiffs' assertion that either the City of Atlanta or the County Defendants exercised sufficient control over the over-detention and strip search practices in question to be held liable under applicable precedent. Nevertheless, the Court concluded that Plaintiffs had stated a claim against these Defendants insofar as they alleged that Fulton County and the City of Atlanta, through their respective police forces, maintained a policy of entrusting arrestees to the Fulton County Jail with knowledge of the unconstitutional treatment these persons would face at the facility — a theory that will be referred to herein as that of "entrustment liability."
Thereafter, the Court permitted Plaintiffs to file a Fourth Amended Complaint. Defendants, including former Sheriff Jacqueline Barrett and Sheriff Myron Freeman, have now filed a second round of motions to dismiss. In addition, they request a stay of discovery. For their part, Plaintiffs, in their opposition papers, appear to request reconsideration of the Court's Order insofar as it declined to read a so-called "Jail Local Constitutional Amendment" as making the Fulton County Sheriff an officer of Fulton County in his capacity as administrator of the Jail.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) empowers the Court to grant a defendant's motion to dismiss when a complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. In considering whether to grant or deny such a motion, the Court looks only to the pleadings, accepting all facts pleaded therein as true, and drawing all inferences in a light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Cooper v. Pate, 378 U.S. 546, 546, 84 S.Ct. 1733, 12 L.Ed.2d 1030 (1964); Conner v. Tate, 130 F.Supp.2d 1370, 1373 (N.D.Ga.2001). The motion may be granted only where "it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief." Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); see Linder v. Portocarrero, 963 F.2d 332 (11th Cir.1992). Motions to dismiss are disfavored and are rarely granted. Gasper v. La. Stadium & Exposition Dist., 577 F.2d 897, 900 (5th Cir.1978); Woodham v. Fed. Transit Admin., 125 F.Supp.2d 1106, 1108 (N.D.Ga.2000).
Here, Defendants' motions to dismiss present four broad issues. First, the Sheriffs' motion requires resolution of whether the claims against them are viable under the Eleventh Amendment and the doctrine of qualified immunity. Next, both the City of Atlanta and the County Defendants request that the Court reconsider and/or clarify the entrustment liability theory it articulated in its January 13, 2005 Order. Third, the County Defendants ask the Court to dismiss Plaintiffs' revised "funding-based" theory of liability. Finally, the County Defendants insist that Plaintiffs lack Article III standing to bring claims for prospective injunctive relief.
Sheriff Myron Freeman argues that the Eleventh Amendment bars suit against him in his official capacity because, in the administration of the Fulton...
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