Strength v. Hubert

• Decision Date: 22 May 1987
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 86-D-825-N,86-D-826-N.
• Citation: 660 F. Supp. 878
• Parties: Martha S. STRENGTH, Plaintiff, v. W.L. HUBERT, et al., Defendants. William L. STRENGTH, Jr., Plaintiff, v. W.L. HUBERT, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Alabama

660 F. Supp. 878

Martha S. STRENGTH, Plaintiff, v. W.L. HUBERT, et al., Defendants.

William L. STRENGTH, Jr., Plaintiff, v. W.L. HUBERT, et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. Nos. 86-D-825-N, 86-D-826-N.

United States District Court, M.D. Alabama, N.D.

May 22, 1987.

Griffin Sikes, Jr., Montgomery, Ala. and J. Myron Smith, Prattville, Ala. for plaintiff Martha S. Strength.

Griffin Sikes, Jr., Montgomery, Ala., for plaintiff William L. Strength, Jr.

Ronald G. Davenport, Montgomery, Ala. for defendant Hubert.

Algert S. Agricola, Jr., and Richard N. Meadows, State Asst. Attys. Gen., Montgomery, Ala., for defendant Carroll.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

DUBINA, District Judge.

These consolidated actions are now before the Court on separate motions for summary judgment filed herein by the defendants on March 16, 1987. Pursuant to these motions, each defendant contends that he is entitled to a summary judgment against the plaintiffs inasmuch as there exists no genuine issue as to any material fact, and the defendants are entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. See Rule 56(c), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The record herein demonstrates that each of said motions is supported by the pleadings on record, discovery requests and responses thereto, various affidavits and depositions, exhibits and memorandum briefs.

On April 15, 1987, the plaintiffs filed herein their response in opposition to the defendants' motions for summary judgment. The plaintiffs' response is likewise supported by the pleadings on record, discovery requests and responses thereto, various affidavits and depositions, exhibits and a memorandum brief. Pursuant to their response, the plaintiffs contend that the defendants' motions for summary judgment are due to be denied since there exist herein one or more genuine issues of material fact and neither defendant is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.

Having fully and carefully considered all of the above, this Court is of the opinion that for reasons expressed below, the defendants' motions for summary judgment are due to be GRANTED on grounds that (1) defendant Carroll is entitled to absolute immunity from suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for allegedly giving false or perjurious testimony before a state grand jury which resulted in the indictment of the plaintiffs for the crime of forgery; (2) the plaintiffs' § 1983 claims against defendant Hubert fail to state a claim upon which relief may be granted; and (3) this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the plaintiffs' pendent state law claims.

This Court has subject matter jurisdiction over plaintiffs' § 1983 claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1343.

I. FACTS

These are cases in which the plaintiffs allege various violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983.¹ Additionally, the plaintiffs allege various state law claims against the defendants for the torts of malicious prosecution, abuse of process and outrage.² In essence, the plaintiffs contend that the defendants, acting under color of state law, unlawfully conspired to cause the state court criminal indictment and prosecution of the plaintiffs for the crime of forgery, a felony under the laws of the State of Alabama. The plaintiffs contend that by so acting the defendants deprived or caused the plaintiffs to be deprived of certain rights, privileges and immunities secured to them by the Fourth, Sixth³ and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States; namely, the Fourth Amendment's guarantee (as incorporated through the Fourteenth Amendment) that warrants shall not be issued except upon probable cause and the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of substantive due process.⁴

Having fully considered all of the evidence offered in support of and in opposition to the defendants' motions for summary judgment, the Court finds the following facts:⁵ In or around July of 1982, plaintiff William Strength and defendant Hubert incorporated a trucking business known as Autauga Transport, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as ATI). The plaintiffs were both full-time employees of the corporation, with plaintiff Martha Strength being responsible for the day-to-day bookkeeping of the corporation. Though the corporation was initially successful, operating losses caused the dissolution of the corporation in or around January of 1983.

In August of 1984 defendant Hubert contacted defendant Carroll, an investigator with the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Alabama, and asked defendant Carroll to come to Prattville, Alabama, and meet with him and one Samuel Moore, a former truck driver for ATI. At this meeting, defendant Hubert presented defendant Carroll with numerous cancelled checks drawn on the account of ATI at the Bank of Prattville. These checks, which had been made payable to former ATI truck drivers, including Mr. Moore, bore endorsements of the respective payees as well as William or Martha Strength. The evidence is undisputed that on each cancelled check the endorsement in the name of the payee was not made by the payee but instead made by either William or Martha Strength without the express permission and/or consent of the payee. At this same meeting defendant Hubert also provided defendant Carroll with various corporate receipt books which allegedly reflected numerous discrepancies among the amounts of the checks, the amounts of the receipts, and the dates of each.

After this meeting defendant Carroll undertook an investigation of the matter. Though it is unclear whether the investigation was carried out under the authority of the Office of the Attorney General, the Office of the Autauga County District Attorney, or both, it is undisputed that to some extent an official investigation took place regarding the alleged forgeries by the plaintiffs.

Finally, in January 1985, defendant Carroll presented the results of his investigation to the Honorable Glen Curlee, the District Attorney for Autauga County, Alabama. Later that month, defendant Carroll gave testimony concerning the matter before the Autauga County Grand Jury. Defendant Carroll was the sole witness testifying before said grand jury. During the 1985 Spring Term of the Autauga County Grand Jury, multi-count indictments were rendered against the plaintiffs charging them with the crime of forgery. In March of 1986, however, District Attorney Janice Williams, Mr. Curlee's successor, moved that the indictments against the plaintiffs be dismissed. In a sworn affidavit submitted by Ms. Williams and attached to the plaintiffs' response in opposition to the defendants' motions for summary judgment, she stated as follows:

When I reviewed these records ..., I was "floored." After reviewing these records it was apparent that the endorsements were not criminally made. To the extent the records were produced, they completely exonerated the plaintiffs.

None of the records produced indicated any criminal activity, but completely accounted for the money to which they related. I felt at the time and still feel that our office had been used and that we had been duped into indicting the plaintiffs.⁶

The criminal cases against the plaintiffs were subsequently nol prossed on motion of the Autauga County District Attorney.

II. DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS

The defendants raise numerous and separate grounds in support of their motions for summary judgment. Among these grounds, defendant Carroll contends that the plaintiffs' § 1983 claims against him are due to be dismissed on the ground that he is entitled to absolute immunity from § 1983 liability. To support this contention, defendant Carroll cites to this Court the case of Briscoe v. Lahue, 460 U.S. 325, 103 S.Ct. 1108, 75 L.Ed.2d 96 (1983), in which the United States Supreme Court held that a police officer who presented perjured testimony at the plaintiffs' trial was entitled to absolute immunity from damage liability under § 1983. Defendant Carroll argues here that though the Briscoe Court specifically reserved the question of whether the defendant/police officer was entitled to absolute immunity for allegedly false testimony given at two probable cause hearings, Id., 460 U.S. at 328, n. 5, 103 S.Ct. at 1112 n. 5, the legal analysis and reasoning behind the Briscoe holding are equally applicable to cases in which a § 1983 defendant has allegedly damaged the plaintiff by giving false or malicious testimony at a grand jury proceeding. To further support this contention, defendant Carroll relies upon certain appellate decisions from the Second, Seventh and D.C. circuits which have seemingly extended the Briscoe rule to cases in which a governmental witness has given false testimony to a grand jury. See Kincaid v. Eberle, 712 F.2d 1023 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 1018, 104 S.Ct. 551, 78 L.Ed.2d 725 (1983); Briggs v. Goodwin, 712 F.2d 1444 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 1040, 104 S.Ct. 704, 79 L.Ed.2d 169 (1983); and San Filippo v. U.S. Trust Co. of New York, 737 F.2d 246 (2d Cir.1984), cert. denied, 470 U.S. 1035, 105 S.Ct. 1408, 84 L.Ed.2d 797 (1985). See also Collins v. Walden, 613 F.Supp. 1306 (N.D.Ga.1985), aff'd, 784 F.2d 402 (11th Cir.1986), in which the Court extended the Briscoe rule to testimony or statements given by affidavit or depositions. Accordingly, defendant Carroll submits that, upon the basis of these authorities, the plaintiffs' § 1983 claims against him are due to be dismissed as a matter of law.⁷

Concerning those grounds raised by defendant Hubert in support of his motion for summary judgment, defendant Hubert contends, inter alia, that in the event defendant Carroll is afforded absolute immunity from any § 1983 liability herein, then plaintiffs' § 1983 claims against defendant Hubert are due to be dismissed on grounds that the same fail to state claims upon which relief may be granted. See Rule 12(b)(6), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. More specifically, defendant Hubert contends that if defendant Carroll is dismissed as a party defendant to this cause, then ...