Salts v. Moore

• Decision Date: 27 June 2000
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 1:99cv263-D-A.
• Citation: 107 F.Supp.2d 732
• Parties: Mike SALTS and Marie Salts, individually and as officers of Salts Funeral Home, Plaintiffs v. Michael MOORE, Roger Cribb, J.D. Gardner, Tony Lee Shelbourne, Rick Ward, Lee Harrell, Eloise McCraine, George Dale, John Young, Arch Bullard, Travis Childers, Jimmy Moore, Joe Wayne Garner, Roy Green, William L. McKinney, Jerry Barnes, Keith Lovell, Tim Henderson, and Phillip Duncan, professionally, individually, jointly and severally, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Mississippi

Page 732

107 F.Supp.2d 732

Mike SALTS and Marie Salts, individually and as officers of Salts Funeral Home, Plaintiffs v. Michael MOORE, Roger Cribb, J.D. Gardner, Tony Lee Shelbourne, Rick Ward, Lee Harrell, Eloise McCraine, George Dale, John Young, Arch Bullard, Travis Childers, Jimmy Moore, Joe Wayne Garner, Roy Green, William L. McKinney, Jerry Barnes, Keith Lovell, Tim Henderson, and Phillip Duncan, professionally, individually, jointly and severally, Defendants.

Civil Action No. 1:99cv263-D-A.

United States District Court, N.D. Mississippi, Eastern Division.

June 27, 2000.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Scott W. Weatherly, Jr., Gulfport, MS, K. David Sawyer, K. David Sawyer, LLC, Birmingham, AL, for Mike Salts, Marie Salts.

David Brooks Miller, Mississippi Attorney General's Office, Jackson, MS, for Michael Moore, Roger Cribb, J.D. Gardner, Tony Lee Shelbourne, Rick Ward, Eloise McCraine, Lee Harrell, George Dale.

Geoffrey C. Morgan, Mississippi Attorney General's Office, Jackson, MS, for John Young, Arch Bullard.

Christi Rena McCoy, Langston, Langston, Michael & Bowen, Booneville, MS, Tacey Clark Clayton, Mitchell, McNutt, Threadgill, Smith & Sams, Tupelo, MS, for Travis Childers, Jimmy Moore, Joe Wayne Garner, Roy Green, William McKinney.

Tacey Clark Clayton, Mitchell, McNutt, Threadgill, Smith & Sams, Tupelo, MS, for Jerry Barnes, Keith Lovell, Tim Henderson.

Marc A. Biggers, Upshaw, Williams, Biggers, Beckham & Riddick, Greenwood, MS, for Phillip R. Duncan.

OPINION

DAVIDSON, District Judge.

Before the court is the motion of Defendants Travis Childers, Jimmy Moore, Joe Wayne Garner, Roy Green, William L. McKinney, Jerry Barnes, Keith Lovell and Tim Henderson, for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Rule 12(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Upon due consideration, the court finds that the motion should be granted.

Factual Background

The facts of this case have been previously outlined by the court. See Salts v. Moore, et al, No.1:99cv263-D-A, (N.D. Miss. April 25, 2000). In the interest of convenience, the court will summarize the following facts: Plaintiffs filed the instant action on August 19, 1999, alleging, inter alia, constitutional violations under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, violations of the Sherman and Clayton Acts, as well as various other claims arising under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985. Plaintiffs' claims principally arise out of an investigation conducted by the State of Mississippi Attorney General's Office which resulted in the arrest and prosecution of Plaintiff, Mike Salts, for five counts of making and using false writings and documents with the intent to defraud in order to obtain county funds for "paupers funerals," in violation of Mississippi Code Annotated § 97-7-10. Salts pleaded guilty to all five counts.

At all times relevant to the case at bar, the Defendants presently before the court held the following positions: Travis Childers, Chancery Clerk for Prentiss County, Mississippi; Jimmy Moore, Board Supervisor for Prentiss County, Mississippi; Joe Wayne Garner, Board Supervisor for Prentiss County, Mississippi; Roy Green, Board Supervisor for Prentiss County, Mississippi; William L. McKinney, Board Supervisor for Prentiss County, Mississippi; Jerry Barnes, Police Chief for the City of Booneville, Mississippi; Keith Lovell, Assistant Police Chief for the City of Booneville, Mississippi; and Tim Henderson, Assistant Police Chief for the City of Booneville, Mississippi.

Discussion

A. Judgment on the Pleadings Standard

A motion for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Rule 12(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is subject to the same standard as a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss. Resolution Trust Corp. v. Scott, 887 F.Supp. 937, 940 (S.D.Miss. 1995) (quoting Thomason v. Nachtrieb, 888 F.2d 1202, 1204 (7th Cir.1989)). Therefore, viewing all of the facts in a light most favorable to the non-moving party, the district court may only grant the motion if it is beyond doubt that the non-movant can plead no facts that would support his claim for relief. Id. If, however, a required element, a prerequisite to obtaining the requested relief, is lacking in the complaint, dismissal is proper. Clark v. Amoco Prod. Co., 794 F.2d 967, 970 (5th Cir.1986). The district court may not look beyond the pleadings, and all uncontested allegations to which the parties had an opportunity to respond are taken as true. Resolution Trust Corp., 887 F.Supp. at 940 (quoting Flora v. Home Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n, 685 F.2d 209, 211 (7th Cir.1982)). The court may, however, take into consideration documents incorporated by reference to the pleadings and may take judicial notice of matters of public record. Resolution Trust Corp., 887 F.Supp. at 940 (citing Goldman v. Belden, 754 F.2d 1059, 1065-66 (2d Cir.1985); State of Louisiana v. United States, 656 F.Supp. 1310, 1314 n. 6 (W.D.La.1986)).

B. Defamation Claims

Plaintiffs contend that from May 1996 through October 15, 1997, Defendants Roger Cribb, J.D. Gardner, Tony Lee Shelbourne, and Rick Ward traveled door to door throughout Prentiss County, Mississippi, informing Plaintiffs' policy holders that benefits through Salts Funeral Home, Northeast Mississippi Burial Association and/or Booneville Burial Association were of no value. These Defendants allegedly held meetings with policy holders at the office of Defendant Travis Childers, where telephone calls were placed to Defendant Eloise McCraine and Katherine O'Keefe. Plaintiffs contend that the nature of these meetings was to deceive policy holders by informing them that Salts Funeral Home was on the verge of going out of business and that the policy holders either did not have coverage or that their policies were no longer in effect with Salts Funeral Home.

Defendants argue that the Plaintiffs' apparent defamation claims are time barred by Mississippi Code Annotated § 15-1-35, which provides a one year statute of limitations for such claims. Plaintiffs respond that they have asserted no state law claims for defamation; rather they purport to allege violations of their federally protected rights pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

Mississippi Code Annotated § 15-1-35 provides:

All actions for assault, assault and battery, maiming, false imprisonment, malicious arrest, or menace, and all actions for slanderous words concerning the person or title, for failure to employ, and for libels, shall be commenced within one (1) year next after the cause of such action accrued, and not after.

To the extent Plaintiffs are asserting state law claims of defamation for statements made by Defendants on or before October 15, 1997, the date of the Prentiss County grand jury hearing, those claims are time barred and shall be dismissed. See Wildmon v. Hustler Magazine, Inc., 508 F.Supp. 87 (N.D.Miss.1980) (one year period of limitations runs from date defamatory material is published rather than from time statements were discovered).

To the extent Plaintiffs are attempting to assert a defamation claim under § 1983, it appears clear that harm or injury to a plaintiff's interest in reputation, even where inflicted by a state or local official, does not result in a deprivation of any "liberty" or "property" recognized by the Fourteenth Amendment or any federal law and, therefore, cannot form the basis of a § 1983 claim. See Paul v. Davis, 424 U.S. 693, 712, 96 S.Ct. 1155, 1165-66, 47 L.Ed.2d 405 (1976) (States may protect against injury to reputation under tort law.). Accordingly, any defamation claim asserted by Plaintiffs' pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 is improper and shall be dismissed.

C. Claims Arising from Search of Salts Funeral Home

It is undisputed that Mike Salts pleaded guilty to five counts of making and using false writings and documents with the intent to defraud in order to obtain county funds for "paupers funerals," in violation of Mississippi Code Annotated § 97-7-10. Given Mr. Salts' plea, his Fourth Amendment claims, which arise from the search and seizure of certain personal and business effects belonging to Mike and Marie Salts, Salts Funeral Home, Northeast Mississippi Burial Association and/or Booneville Burial Association, must be examined in light of the Supreme Court's holding in Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477, 114 S.Ct. 2364, 129 L.Ed.2d 383 (1994).¹

In Heck, the Supreme Court addressed actions to recover damages brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The Court stated:

[T]o recover damages for allegedly unconstitutional conviction or imprisonment, or for other harm caused by actions whose unlawfulness would render a conviction or sentence invalid, a § 1983 plaintiff must prove that the conviction or sentence has been reversed on direct appeal, expunged by executive order, declared invalid by a state tribunal authorized to make such a determination, or called into question by a federal court's issuance of a writ of habeas corpus, 28 U.S.C. § 2254. A claim for damages bearing that relationship to a conviction or sentence that has not been so invalidated is not cognizable under § 1983.

Id. at 486-87, 114 S.Ct. at 2372 (footnotes omitted).

Based on the principles provided in Heck, the Fifth Circuit has similarly held that a § 1983 claim attacking the constitutionality of a conviction or imprisonment does not accrue until that conviction or sentence has been reversed or otherwise terminated in the plaintiff's favor. Hudson v. Hughes, 98 F.3d 868, 872 (5th Cir. 1996); see also Boyd v. Biggers, 31 F.3d 279, 283 (5th Cir.1994). Only if the court finds that a plaintiff's § 1983 claim, even if successful, "will not demonstrate the invalidity of any outstanding criminal judgment against the plaintiff," should the § 1983 claim be allowed to proceed. Mackey v. Dickson, 47 F.3d 744, 746 (5th Cir.1995).

Whether a plaintiff's § 1983 claim alleging illegal search and seizure will demonstrate the invalidity of an outstanding judgment against him is the subject of substantial debate....