Trask v. Franco
| Decision Date | 25 April 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 04-2078.,04-2078. |
| Citation | 446 F.3d 1036 |
| Parties | Carly Bliss, and Dale TRASK, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Larry FRANCO, Jon Lund, and Archie Smith, in their individual capacities, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
Joe M. Romero, Jr., Albuquerque, NM, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.
Stephen G. French (Valerie A. Chang, with him on the brief), French & Associates, P.C., Albuquerque, NM, for Defendants-Appellees.
Before EBEL, HENRY, and McCONNELL, Circuit Judges.
In June 2001, three state probation officers visited the Blanco, New Mexico residence of Carly Bliss and Dale Trask for a routine probation field inspection of Ms. Bliss. Probation officers Larry Franco, Jon Lund, and Archie Smith thought Ms. Bliss was still on probation, but her probation had actually been discharged more than one month earlier. The inspection resulted in a lengthy search of the residence, along with the arrest of Mr. Trask for obstructing an officer. Ms. Bliss and Mr. Trask brought suit against the probation officers under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the New Mexico Tort Claims Act, N.M. Stat. §§ 41-4-1 to 41-4-29. They alleged constitutional violations under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments and numerous intentional torts. The district court granted summary judgment to the probation officers on all counts, and denied Ms. Bliss's and Mr. Trask's Rule 56(f) request for additional discovery.
Ms. Bliss and Mr. Trask now challenge the district court's grant of summary judgment and its denial of their Rule 56(f) motion, and we exercise jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We affirm the denial of the Rule 56(f) motion and the grant of summary judgment to the probation officers as to Ms. Bliss's and Mr. Trask's tort claims under the New Mexico Tort Claims Act. We reverse the grant of qualified immunity to the probation officers with respect to Ms. Bliss's and Mr. Trask's claim of an unreasonable residential search, and we reverse the grant of summary judgment to the probation officers on Mr. Trask's unlawful detention and arrest claims. We remand for further proceedings.
In February 2000, Ms. Bliss was convicted of a gun felony in a New Mexico state court. As a result of the conviction, she was placed on probation for eighteen months, from May 8, 2000 until October 31, 2001. Under the probation order, she agreed to "permit any Probation Officer to visit [her] at [her] home ... at any time" and "to permit a warrantless search" of her home if the officer "has reasonable cause to believe that such a search will produce evidence of a violation of [her] conditions of probation." Aplts' App. at 42 (Order of Probation, dated Aug. 15, 2000). Officer Franco, a Probation Parole Officer for the New Mexico Corrections Department, was assigned to supervise Ms. Bliss's probation.
Around April 24, 2001, Officer Franco prepared an order for Ms. Bliss's discharge, mistakenly believing that her probation would expire on April 30, 2001. He attributes the mistake to a clerical error on the paperwork in Ms. Bliss's probation file. Id. at 34 (Mot. for Summ. J., filed Dec. 15, 2003). Officer Franco obtained his supervisor's signature on the proposed discharge order and submitted it to a state judge. "Soon after" Officer Franco submitted the discharge order to the state judge, he realized that Ms. Bliss's probation was actually not set to end until October 31, 2001. Id. at 27. He then reviewed Ms. Bliss's probation file, which did not include a signed discharge order from the judge, and he "assumed that the Court had discovered the mistake and had refused to sign the Order of Discharge." Id. Officer Franco did not directly call or otherwise notify the state court that the proposed discharge order was erroneous.
Actually, the judge signed the discharge order and filed it in San Juan County district court on approximately May 11, 2001. For some reason, the district court did not forward a signed copy of the discharge to the Probation Division until July 5, 2001. Officer Franco continued to conduct field inspections at Ms. Bliss's residence — on or about May 25 and June 5, 2001 — because he thought she was still on probation. During these inspections, Ms. Bliss did not mention that her probation had been discharged early.
On June 19, 2001, Probation Officers Franco, Lund, and Smith conducted a field inspection at the residence of Ms. Bliss and her boyfriend, Mr. Trask. The probation officers knocked on their door for several minutes. No one answered, but officers saw someone moving inside the home. According to Officer Franco, Ms. Bliss had told him during a previous conversation that she was in an abusive relationship with Mr. Trask. Ms. Bliss, however, denies reporting such abuse or violence. Nonetheless, Officer Franco thought that Ms. Bliss was afraid to open the door because of Mr. Trask, and the probation officers requested assistance from the state police and county sheriff. See id. at 28-29 ¶ 12 ( ).
When New Mexico State Police ("NMSP") Officer Frank Smith and a deputy sheriff arrived, Mr. Trask eventually opened the front door. He was wearing at least two knives in sheaths on his belt. NMSP Officer Smith placed Mr. Trask in handcuffs and asked to speak to Ms. Bliss. Mr. Trask said that she was not at the residence. The probation officers and the deputy sheriff searched the residence for approximately one hour because of Officer Franco's concerns for Ms. Bliss's safety. Id. at 53. Officer Franco eventually found Ms. Bliss under a bed in the rear bedroom where, according to the officers, Ms. Bliss said Mr. Trask had instructed her to hide. NMSP Officer Smith then arrested Mr. Trask for obstructing an officer. The charge was dropped in July 2001, when officers received a signed copy of the early discharge order for Ms. Bliss.
On June 19, 2003, Ms. Bliss and Mr. Trask filed a complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the New Mexico Tort Claims Act against the probation officers. They brought several claims: (1) both alleged an unreasonable search of their residence and an unlawful detention, in violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments; (2) Mr. Trask alleged unlawful arrest, in violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments; and (3) both alleged intentional assault, battery, false imprisonment, and false arrest under state law. Ms. Bliss and Mr. Trask did not name NMSP Officer Frank Smith in the suit. The parties consented to have a magistrate judge preside over the case. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(c); FED.R.CIV.P. 73(b).
The probation officers filed a motion for summary judgment, and Ms. Bliss and Mr. Trask requested additional discovery pursuant to Rule 56(f) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In a March 2004 order, the court denied the Rule 56(f) motion and granted qualified immunity to the probation officers with respect to the unreasonable search claims. The court also granted summary judgment to the probation officers on Mr. Trask's unlawful detention and arrest claims, finding no affirmative link between the alleged constitutional deprivations by NMSP Officer Smith and the probation officers' duty to control or supervise him. Finally, the district court granted summary judgment to the probation officers on the state-law tort claims, concluding as a matter of law that the New Mexico Tort Claims Act entitles probation officers to immunity.
The parties and district court are somewhat unclear about which claims were raised and argued below. First, the district court did not believe that Mr. Trask alleged an unreasonable search, but stated that the complaint could be read that way. Aplts' App. at 102 (Op. and Order, filed Mar. 9, 2004). The parties below and on appeal, however, treat the unreasonable search claim as being raised by both Ms. Bliss and Mr. Trask, see Aples' Br. at 2, and we will do so as well. Second, the complaint alleges that the probation officers unlawfully detained Ms. Bliss, see Aplts' App. at 4-5, but she does not argue that claim below or here, and it is therefore waived and abandoned. Harrison v. Wahatoyas, L.L.C., 253 F.3d 552, 559 n. 5 (10th Cir.2001).
Accordingly, we consider the following four issues on appeal: (1) the district court's denial of Ms. Bliss's and Mr. Trask's Rule 56(f) motion for additional discovery; (2) the grant of qualified immunity to the probation officers on the claim of an unreasonable residential search; (3) the grant of summary judgment to the probation officers on Mr. Trask's claims of unlawful detention and arrest; and (4) the grant of summary judgment on the state-law tort claims.
In January 2004, Ms. Bliss and Mr. Trask filed a response to the probation officers' motion for summary judgment. Their counsel attached to the response an affidavit pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(f), arguing that more discovery needed to be done before the court ruled on the motion for summary judgment. The affidavit asserted that "disputed issues of material fact" existed, and "[t]he information sought by formal discovery would include depositions of the individual defendants, and their supervisor, as well as access to records and procedure manuals or protocols that are under the exclusive control of the Defendants and/or their employer." Aplts' App. at 69-70 (Aff. of Joe M. Romero, Jr.).
The district court denied the Rule 56(f) motion after finding "no specificity in that affidavit or in Plaintiffs' Response stating what discovery would be needed and on what aspect of the summary judgment motion." Id. at...
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