Sitzes v. City Of West Memphis Ark.

• Decision Date: 04 June 2010
• Docket Number: No. 09-2090.,09-2090.
• Citation: 606 F.3d 461
• Parties: Brant SITZES, Individually & as Joint Administrator of Estate of Brittney Rae Sitzes, Deceased; & as Parent & Next Friend of Shelby L. Sitzes, a Minor; Nancy Sitzes, Individually, as Joint Administrator of Estate of Brittney Rae Sitzes, Deceased, & as Parent & Next Friend of Shelby L. Sitzes, a Minor., Plaintiffs-Appellants,v.CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS ARKANSAS; William H. Johnson, Individually & in Official Capacity as Mayor of West Memphis, AR; Robert Paudert, Individually & in Official Capacity as Chief of Police, West Memphis, AR; James Wright, Individually & in Official Capacity as Police Officer in West Memphis, AR; Arkansas Municipal League; West Memphis City Council, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

606 F.3d 461

Brant SITZES, Individually & as Joint Administrator of Estate of Brittney Rae Sitzes, Deceased; & as Parent & Next Friend of Shelby L. Sitzes, a Minor; Nancy Sitzes, Individually, as Joint Administrator of Estate of Brittney Rae Sitzes, Deceased, & as Parent & Next Friend of Shelby L. Sitzes, a Minor., Plaintiffs-Appellants,v.CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS ARKANSAS; William H. Johnson, Individually & in Official Capacity as Mayor of West Memphis, AR; Robert Paudert, Individually & in Official Capacity as Chief of Police, West Memphis, AR; James Wright, Individually & in Official Capacity as Police Officer in West Memphis, AR; Arkansas Municipal League; West Memphis City Council, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 09-2090.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: Jan. 15, 2010.

Filed: June 4, 2010.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Marc I. Baretz, argued, West Memphis, AR, for appellants.

Paul Charton, argued, Little Rock, AR, for appellees Johnson, Wright, Paudert, City of West Memphis, AR, Arkansas Municipal League and West Memphis City Council.

Whitney Blair James, argued, Little Rock, AR, for appellee Wright.

Before GRUENDER and SHEPHERD, Circuit Judges, and LANGE,¹ District Judge.

SHEPHERD, Circuit Judge.

Appellants Brant and Nancy Sitzes (collectively “plaintiffs”), parents of Brittney and Shelby Sitzes, brought this action against Officer James Wright of the West Memphis, Arkansas, Police Department (WMPD), the City of West Memphis, and various city officials (collectively “defendants”). They alleged constitutional and state tort claims arising out of a traffic accident in which a patrol car driven by Officer Wright struck the car driven by Brittney Sitzes, killing Brittney and severely injuring Shelby, her passenger. The district court ² granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants on the plaintiffs' federal claims and dismissed without prejudice their state tort claims. For the reasons stated below, we affirm.

I.

We recite the facts of this tragic case in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, the nonmoving parties.³ Dovenmuehler v. St. Cloud Hosp., 509 F.3d 435, 437 (8th Cir.2007). On February 21, 2007, Officer Wright was on duty as a patrolman assigned to the northwest ward of West Memphis. At approximately 4:00 p.m., a man called 911 to report that two people claiming to be Wal-Mart security officers had stolen $55 from him and his friend in the Wal-Mart parking lot. A WMPD dispatcher broadcast over the radio that there were men posing as security at Wal-Mart, and WMPD Officer Charles Mark McDougal indicated that he would respond. Officer Wright also heard this radio dispatch and stated that he would respond as well.⁴ Shortly thereafter, the man called 911 again and told the dispatcher that one of the alleged robbers had assaulted him. This information was also relayed over the police radio, at which time a third officer indicated that she was also en route to the scene.

In traveling to Wal-Mart, Officer Wright drove north on Rich Road, a residential street with a posted speed limit of 30 m.p.h. Witnesses estimated that Officer Wright was traveling at 80-90 m.p.h., well above the posted speed limit. Witnesses also stated that Officer Wright had neither his emergency lights nor his siren activated at the time, a fact that Officer Wright disputes. As he approached the intersection of Rich Road and Arlington Road, Officer Wright was traveling in the southbound (opposing) lane of traffic, attempting to pass cars traveling northbound. At the intersection of Rich and Arlington Roads there are no stop or yield signs for drivers on Rich Road, but there are stop signs for drivers on Arlington Road. Officer Wright stated in an affidavit that he believed the situation at the Wal-Mart was an emergency which required driving in this manner.⁵

Unfortunately, at the same time, Brittney Sitzes was also driving north on Rich Road ahead of Officer Wright, with her younger sister Shelby in the passenger seat. As Brittney approached the intersection with Arlington Road, she slowed and began to make a left-hand turn onto Arlington Road. As Officer Wright entered the intersection, he struck the driver's side of Brittney's car as she executed her turn. Brittney was killed in the accident, and Shelby sustained severe injuries.

In February 2008, plaintiffs filed this action on behalf of Shelby and Brittney's estate against Officer Wright, the City of West Memphis, and several city officials. They alleged various state law and constitutional violations, including conspiracy, failure to train, failure to supervise, and a substantive due process claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. In its April 10, 2009, opinion, the district court granted summary judgment to the defendants on plaintiffs' federal claims and dismissed without prejudice their state law claims. ⁶ First, the district court granted summary judgment on plaintiffs' conspiracy claim under the intracorporate conspiracy doctrine. See Meyers v. Starke, 420 F.3d 738, 742 (8th Cir.2005) (noting that “the intracorporate conspiracy doctrine ... allows corporate agents acting within the scope of their employment to be shielded from constituting a conspiracy under [ 42 U.S.C.] § 1985” and that the doctrine has been “extended ... to governmental entities”). Second, the court held that Officer Wright did not have the intent to harm Brittney or Shelby when he struck their car, therefore his actions did not rise to the conscience-shocking level needed to sustain a substantive due process claim. Finally, because there was no underlying constitutional violation, the court granted summary judgment on the failure to train and failure to supervise claims against the city.

Plaintiffs appeal the district court's grant of summary judgment. They argue that the district court used an improper standard of culpability in determining whether Officer Wright's actions rise to the conscience-shocking level needed to establish a substantive due process claim and that there are genuine issues of material fact as to whether Officer Wright was responding to an emergency situation. Plaintiffs also argue that the district court erred in refusing to consider their failure to train and failure to supervise claims.

II.

We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo, viewing the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. See Irving v. Dormire, 586 F.3d 645, 647 (8th Cir.2009). We will affirm the grant of summary judgment if “there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). Disputes that are not “genuine,” or that are about facts that are not “material,” will not preclude summary judgment. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247-48, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

Our starting point for analyzing this type of substantive due process case is the Supreme Court's decision in County of Sacramento v. Lewis, 523 U.S. 833, 118 S.Ct. 1708, 140 L.Ed.2d 1043 (1998). In Lewis, the parents of Philip Lewis, a 16-year-old motorcycle passenger who was killed during a high-speed pursuit by police, brought a § 1983 action alleging a deprivation of Lewis's Fourteenth Amendment substantive due process right to life. Id. at 836-37, 118 S.Ct. 1708. The district court granted summary judgment to the police officer on the basis of qualified immunity id. at 837-38, 118 S.Ct. 1708, but the Ninth Circuit reversed, “holding that the appropriate degree of fault to be applied to high-speed police pursuits is deliberate indifference to, or reckless disregard for, a person's right to life and personal security [.]” Id. at 838, 118 S.Ct. 1708 (quotation omitted).

The Supreme Court reversed, holding that “in a high-speed automobile chase aimed at apprehending a suspected offender ... only a purpose to cause harm unrelated to the legitimate object of arrest will satisfy the element of arbitrary conduct shocking to the conscience, necessary for a [substantive] due process violation.” Id. at 836, 118 S.Ct. 1708. In doing so, the Court identified a continuum of culpability in the substantive due process context. See id. at 848-50, 118 S.Ct. 1708. At one end of the continuum is negligent conduct, which “is categorically beneath the threshold of constitutional due process.” Id. at 849, 118 S.Ct. 1708. At the other end is “conduct intended to injure in some way unjustifiable by any government interest,” which is the type “of official action most likely to rise to the conscience-shocking level.” Id. Between those poles lies culpability for “something more than negligence but less than intentional conduct, such as recklessness or gross negligence,” id. (quotations omitted), which, in at least some circumstances, states a substantive due process claim id. ( citing City of Revere v. Mass. Gen. Hosp., 463 U.S. 239, 103 S.Ct. 2979, 77 L.Ed.2d 605 (1983)).

The Court rejected this “midlevel” culpability standard in the context of highspeed police pursuits. Id. at 853-54, 118 S.Ct. 1708. Analogizing such pursuits to prison riots, the Court refused to impose liability for deliberate indifference to human life “when unforeseen circumstances demand an officer's instant judgment,” such as when deciding whether to pursue a fleeing suspect. Id. at 853, 118 S.Ct. 1708. Instead, imposing substantive due process liability based on deliberate indifference is only appropriate “when actual deliberation is practical.” Id. at 851, 118 S.Ct. 1708. Thus, the Court held that “highspeed chases with no intent to harm suspects physically or to worsen their legal plight do not give rise to liability under the Fourteenth Amendment[.]” Id. at 854, 118 S.Ct. 1708.

We applied this ruling in Helseth v. Burch, 258 F.3d 867 (8th Cir.2001) (en banc). There, a driver was seriously injured when a suspect who was being pursued by police slammed into the driver's pickup truck. Id. at 869. The driver brought a § 1983 claim...