Snider Int'l Corp. v. Town of Forest Heights

• Decision Date: 07 January 2014
• Docket Number: No. 12–2490.,12–2490.
• Citation: 739 F.3d 140
• Parties: SNIDER INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION, trading as Eastover Auto Supply; Mark Cranford; Stan Derwin Brown; Al Goyburu, Plaintiffs–Appellants, v. TOWN OF FOREST HEIGHTS, MARYLAND; Town of Riverdale Park, Maryland, Defendants–Appellees, and Mayor and Council of the Town of Riverdale Park, Maryland, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

739 F.3d 140

SNIDER INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION, trading as Eastover Auto Supply; Mark Cranford; Stan Derwin Brown; Al Goyburu, Plaintiffs–Appellants,

v.TOWN OF FOREST HEIGHTS, MARYLAND; Town of Riverdale Park, Maryland, Defendants–Appellees,andMayor and Council of the Town of Riverdale Park, Maryland, Defendant.

No. 12–2490.

United States Court of Appeals,Fourth Circuit.

Argued: Oct. 29, 2013.

Decided: Jan. 7, 2014.

ARGUED:James S. Liskow, DeCaro, Doran, Siciliano, Gallagher & DeBlasis, LLP, Bowie, Maryland, for Appellants. Kevin Bock Karpinski, Karpinski, Colaresi & Karp, PA, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellees. ON BRIEF:Stephen H. Ring, Gaithersburg, Maryland; Christopher R. Dunn, DeCaro, Doran, Siciliano, Gallagher & DeBlasis, LLP, Bowie, Maryland, for Appellants. Sandra D. Lee, Karpinski, Colaresi & Karp, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellees.

Before KING, GREGORY, and AGEE, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge GREGORY wrote the opinion, in which Judge KING and Judge AGEE joined.

GREGORY, Circuit Judge:

Maryland permits localities to employ “speed monitoring systems,” better known as speed cameras, for enforcing traffic laws. Maryland's speed camera program imposes civil penalties for exceeding the speed limit by twelve miles per hour. During several years, two Maryland towns issued a number of electronically-signed speeding citations by first-class mail. The issues on appeal are whether the use of first-class mail or the use of the citations as evidence at trial violate due process. Finding that they do not, we affirm.

I.

Snider International Corporation, Mark Cranford, Stan Brown, and Al Goyburu (“Appellants”) filed a putative class action challenging the constitutionality of the issuance and form of automated speeding citations.¹ Appellants received citations from the Town of Forest Heights, Maryland and the Town of Riverdale Park, Maryland (“Appellees”). The citations were issued under Maryland's speed camera program.

A.

Since 2006, the Maryland General Assembly has permitted the use of “speed monitoring systems” throughout designated areas within the state. SeeMd.Code Ann., Transp. § 21–809. After a pilot run in Montgomery County, the speed camera program expanded statewide in October 2009. Under Maryland Transportation Article § 21–809, speed cameras may be placed in school zones, in certain residential areas in Montgomery County, and near certain colleges in Prince George's County.²§ 21–809(b)(1). Speed cameras produce electronically-recorded images of vehicles traveling in excess of the speed limit by at least twelve miles per hour. § 21–809(a)(5). The automated citations carry a civil penalty no greater than forty dollars. § 21–809(c)(2). Nonpayment of the penalty and failure to contest the citation amounts to an admission of civil liability and may result in suspension or nonrenewal of the recorded vehicle's registration. § 21–809(g).

The General Assembly further prescribed the form and contents of these automated citations. The appropriate agency mails the citation to the registered owner of the recorded vehicle. § 21–809(d)(1). An “agency” is either the local police force or, where a locality lacks its own police force, the entity charged with administering the automated citations. § 21–809(a)(2). The citation must contain the registered owner's information; the time, date, and location of the violation; the recorded image; the penalty amount; and “a signed statement by a duly authorized law enforcement officer employed by or under contract with an agency” that the vehicle was driven in an unlawful manner. § 21–809(d)(1).

A citation recipient may elect a trial in the District Court of Maryland in lieu of paying the penalty. § 21–809(d)(5). The recipient may present for consideration any defenses to liability that the district court deems pertinent. § 21–809(f)(1). The court determines liability using a preponderance of the evidence standard. § 21–809(e)(3). At trial, the agency may introduce the citation as evidence without any corroborating evidence or authentication by the systems operator. § 21–809(e)(1). To do so, the agency must submit a certificate affirming both a violation and satisfaction of certain requirements under § 21–809(b). § 21–809(e)(1). Under Subsection (b), the following documents must be kept on file and admitted into evidence at trial: the systems operator's certificate of training, a daily log showing that the systems operator successfully completed a self-test prior to the recording of the image, and a signed certificate of calibration issued by an independent calibration laboratory. § 21–809(b)(2)–(4). The citation recipient may request the presence and testimony of the systems operator at trial. § 21–809(e)(2).

The speed camera statute references mail in two contexts. First, the statute requires all citations be mailed no later than two weeks after the alleged violation where the recipient is a Maryland resident.³§§ 21–809(d)(4), (f)(4). In this context, the statute does not specify the use of any particular mail service or delivery method. The second reference to mail arises when describing procedures for a defense that the registered owner was not driving the vehicle at the time of the alleged violation. The citation recipient must send a sworn statement of such facts by certified mail. § 21–809(f)(3).

B.

Between May 2010 and January 2012, Appellees issued fifty-five citations via first-class mail to Appellants.⁴ Appellants paid some of these citations immediately. Other times, Appellants defaulted by neither paying the citations nor electing trial. In yet other instances, Appellants elected trial in the District Court of Maryland, received an adverse verdict, and still refused to pay. As to all fifty-five citations, the record lacks any indication that Appellants never received any of the mailed citations.

Appellants filed a putative class action in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. Appellants identified four classes of individuals: (1) anyone who received and immediately paid citations issued by the Town of Forest Heights, (2) anyone who received and immediately paid citations issued by the Town of Riverdale Park, (3) anyone issued citations by the Town of Forest Heights and suffered a default due to nonpayment, and (4) anyone suffering default due to nonpayment of the Riverdale Park citations. Appellants sought relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging violations of the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause and Article 24 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights.

Without ruling on the class certification motion, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the towns.⁵ After rejecting Appellees' jurisdictional and waiver arguments,⁶ the district court held that it could not enforce state constitutional laws through § 1983 actions, and that res judicata precluded claims by recipients who suffered default due to nonpayment.⁷ Turning to the merits as to those who paid the citations, the district court held that the citations' issuance and contents did not violate substantive or procedural due process. Appellants timely appealed, challenging only the district court's ruling on the merits as to the “paid” classes. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

II.

We review a district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Glynn v. EDO Corp., 710 F.3d 209, 213 (4th Cir.2013).

III.

Appellants maintain that the automated citations violated both procedural and substantive due process in three ways. First, Appellants argue that first-class mail fails to satisfy due process, and that Appellees must use, at a minimum, certified mail. Second, Appellants contend that citations signed electronically cannot serve as sworn testimony admissible at trial. Third, Appellants claim that the citations' noncompliance with § 21–809(b) violated the process required under Maryland law.

A basic requirement of a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 violation is “the depriv[ation] of a right secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States.” Mentavlos v. Anderson, 249 F.3d 301, 310 (4th Cir.2001) (quoting Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 150, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970)). Conduct violating state law without violating federal law will not give rise to a § 1983 claim. United States v. Van Metre, 150 F.3d 339, 347 (4th Cir.1998).

We find Appellants' third challenge, which concerns whether the citations comply with the Maryland statute, misplaced in a § 1983 claim. Even if the citations violated Maryland law, the noncompliance would not violate federal law and thus cannot give rise to § 1983 relief. Clark v. Link, 855 F.2d 156, 163 (4th Cir.1988); see also Street v. Surdyka, 492 F.2d 368, 371 (4th Cir.1974) (officer cannot be liable under § 1983 for violating a Maryland arrest law “unless he also violated the federal constitutional law governing ... arrests”). The alleged noncompliance with the state law is not, as Appellants argue, “so extreme as to result in denial of a constitutionally fair proceeding.” See, e.g., Burket v. Angelone, 208 F.3d 172, 186 (4th Cir.2000). The district court properly found that Appellants cannot pursue § 1983 relief for acts that allegedly violate only Maryland law. We similarly limit our consideration to Appellants' first two arguments, which allege violations of the United States Constitution.

IV.

The Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the States from “depriv[ing] any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.” U.S. Const. amend. XIV. Due process contains both substantive and procedural components. Procedural due process prevents mistaken or unjust deprivation, while substantive due process prohibits certain actions regardless of procedural fairness. Zinermon v. Burch, 494 U.S. 113, 125–26, 110 S.Ct. 975, 108 L.Ed.2d 100 (1990); Carey v. Piphus, 435 U.S. 247, 259, 98 S.Ct. 1042, 55 L.Ed.2d 252 (1978). We consider each challenge as they relate to procedural due...