Reynolds v. Spears
| Citation | 93 F.3d 428 |
| Decision Date | 21 August 1996 |
| Docket Number | No. 95-2071,95-2071 |
| Parties | David S. REYNOLDS, Plaintiff--Appellant, Annette Reynolds; Dale Anderson; Luke Anderson; James Fisher; Janice Beadle; Tammy May; Harold Quarles; Carl Hodge; Edna Davis; Lynn Brown, Plaintiffs--Appellants, Pamela Whelan, Individually and as next friend of Quentin Lucas and Carlton Lucas, Minors; Quentin Lucas, a minor; Carlton Lucas, a minor; next friend Pamela Whelan; Melissa Ann Smith, Intervenor-Plaintiffs, George Edward Callison; John Clayton Cooper, next friend Dianne Cooper, Intervenor-Plaintiffs-Appellants, Dianne Cooper, Intervenor-Plaintiff, Deana Taylor, next friend J.H. Taylor, Intervenor-Plaintiff-Appellant, J.H. Taylor, Intervenor-Plaintiff, Rachel Fisher; Rose Anderson, Intervenor-Plaintiffs-Appellants, Michael Reeves; Helena Reeves; Thomas Barkhimer; Froney Grace; Bessie Phillips, Plaintiffs--Appellants, v. Juanita SPEARS, doing business as White Oak Package Store, Executrix of Estate of Newell Spears; White Oak Package Store, Defendants--Appellees. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit) |
Donny Gene Gillaspie, El Dorado, AR, argued, for appellant.
Allen P. Roberts, Camden, AR, argued, for appellees.
Before BOWMAN, HEANEY, and MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, Circuit Judges.
The plaintiffs in this action appeal from the orders of the District Court 1 granting judgment against some of the plaintiffs, and declining to award damages, attorney fees, and costs to another group of plaintiffs in whose favor summary judgment was granted, all the denouement of a civil action based on Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510-2521 (1988 & Supp. II 1990) (the Act), seeking damages for the illegal interception of telephone conversations. We affirm.
This is the second lawsuit arising from the facts set forth in Deal v. Spears, 780 F.Supp. 618 (W.D.Ark.1991), aff'd, 980 F.2d 1153 (8th Cir.1992), facts that we recount briefly here. In 1990, Newell and Juanita Spears owned and operated a package liquor store near Camden, Arkansas, the White Oak Package Store, and lived in a mobile home adjacent to the store. 2 Newell Spears, in an attempt to get information about an April 1990 burglary at the store, which he believed to be an inside job, purchased and installed a recording device on the telephone in his residence, which shared a telephone line with the store telephone. The device recorded conversations made from or received on either the residential or the business telephone when either handset was picked up, with no indication to either party that the conversation was being recorded. Calls were taped, if the machine was on and a blank tape was in the machine, from June 27 through August 13, 1990. The tapes of the telephone conversations were seized by a United States deputy marshal on September 3, 1990.
In Deal v. Spears, Sibbie Deal, a White Oak employee, and Calvin Lucas, Deal's extramarital lover, recovered $10,000 each from Juanita and Newell Spears individually, a total of $40,000, as well as their attorney fees, in a civil suit for the illegal interception (by Newell) and disclosure (by Juanita) of telephone conversations between Deal and Lucas, recorded while Deal was at work in the store. 3 In January 1992, after Deal and Lucas won their judgment in the district court, the plaintiffs here brought this action, contending that their conversations also were intercepted during the relevant period, and they sought $10,000 each from both Juanita and Newell Spears. 4 Under federal law, "any person whose wire, oral, or electronic communication is intercepted, disclosed, or intentionally used in violation of this chapter may in a civil action recover from the person or entity which engaged in that violation such relief as may be appropriate." 18 U.S.C. § 2520(a) (1988). For interception by telephone, apart from equitable or declaratory relief, "the court may assess as damages whichever is the greater of" actual damages and profits or "statutory damages of whichever is the greater of $100 a day for each day of violation or $10,000," id. § 2520(c)(2) (1988); "punitive damages in appropriate cases," id. at § 2520(b)(2) (1988); and attorney fees, id. § 2520(b)(3) (1988).
The plaintiffs sought summary judgment. As we explain the District Court's judgment on that motion, we will sort out how the court ruled on the claim of each of the plaintiffs who is an appellant here. (As noted in the case caption, a handful of the original plaintiffs and those who sought to intervene did not appeal.)
The District Court's rulings are set forth in a published opinion, Reynolds v. Spears, 857 F.Supp. 1341 (W.D.Ark.1994), and in an unpublished supplemental opinion issued on March 29, 1995.
The court noted that there were no recordings of telephone conversations of the following plaintiffs: Janice Beadle, Carl Hodge, Edna Davis, George Edward Callison, John Clayton Cooper, and Bessie Phillips. The court concluded that these plaintiffs were unable to prove their claims, so summary judgment was denied them, and judgment was entered for Juanita Spears both individually and as executrix of Newell's estate.
Luke Anderson also was unrecorded, but there was uncontroverted evidence that Juanita Spears disclosed the contents of a conversation between Anderson and Sibbie Deal. Thus, it was apparent to the court that at least one of Anderson's conversations had been intercepted, so he is one of the plaintiffs for whom the court granted summary judgment.
Of the remaining plaintiffs, all of whom apparently had conversations recorded, 5 the claims of Rose Anderson, Sibbie Deal's sister-in-law, and Rachel Fisher, Deal's niece, both of whom moved to intervene on November 8, 1993, were held barred by the statute of limitations, as Anderson and Fisher had "a reasonable opportunity to discover the violation" more than two years before they sought to intervene. 18 U.S.C. § 2520(e) (1988). 6 Summary judgment was denied to Anderson and Fisher, and judgment was entered against them in favor of Juanita Spears, individually and in her capacity as executrix.
"[D]efendants hav[ing] exhausted all viable defenses against liability," the District Court granted summary judgment against Juanita Spears, as executrix of Newell's estate, in favor of all the intercepted plaintiffs who were not time-barred. Reynolds, 857 F.Supp. at 1347. The court concluded, however, that it had discretion to decline to award statutory damages (no actual damages were sought) and denied such relief. The court also denied a plaintiffs' motion for attorney fees and costs. Further, the court denied the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment against Juanita Spears individually and entered judgment for her in her individual capacity.
Plaintiffs now contend that the court erred in holding that the non-recorded of their number failed to prove their claims and that the claims of Rose Anderson and Rachel Fisher were time-barred. They further argue that the court erred in concluding that Juanita Spears individually was not liable for the interceptions. Plaintiffs also contend that the court had no discretion to decline an award of statutory damages and in any event erred when it refused to award such damages under the facts here. Finally, they challenge the court's failure to award attorney fees and costs.
The District Court concluded that some of the plaintiffs made an insufficient showing that their calls were intercepted. By stipulation, the parties agreed that these plaintiffs were not among those whose voices were recorded on the tapes seized from the Spearses. These plaintiffs nevertheless speculate that their conversations were erased or recorded over, and argue that this theory, together with their undisputed claims of having spoken to Sibbie Deal while she was at work and during the relevant period, are sufficient to prove interception. We disagree.
It is uncontroverted that there were times between June 27 and August 13, 1990, when telephone conversations to or from the store were not recorded, although those days and times, and the number and length of those conversations, are unknown. Plaintiffs nevertheless would have us presume that all conversations were recorded, absent evidence to the contrary. We decline to do so, as such a presumption would improperly shift the burden of proof to the defendants. We conclude that as a matter of law the sparse evidence offered by those plaintiffs falls far short of creating a submissible case on their claims of interception.
The District Court properly denied summary judgment to this group.
Rose Anderson and Rachel Fisher argue that the District Court erred in holding their claims barred by the statute of limitations.
Under 18 U.S.C. § 2520(e), "[a] civil action ... may not be commenced later than two years after the date upon which the claimant first has a reasonable opportunity to discover the violation." Anderson is Sibbie Deal's sister-in-law and Fisher is Deal's niece. Dale Anderson, Rose Anderson's husband, filed a timely claim, as did James Fisher, Rachel's father. Deal brought suit in August 1990, two weeks after the taping stopped, and the tapes were seized September 3, 1990. Anderson and Fisher did not move to intervene in the Reynolds suit until November 8, 1993, more than three years later.
We hold that the close relationships of Anderson and Fisher to Deal gave them more than "a reasonable opportunity to discover" any violation of their rights within two years of August 29, 1990, when Deal and Lucas filed suit, and certainly no later than two years after September 3, 1990, when the tapes were seized and the intercepted voices could have been identified. Anderson and Fisher moved to intervene more than a year after their claims were time-barred. We hold that judgment for Juanita Spears on the claims of Anderson and Fisher was...
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