TreMe. Nelms v. Wellington Way Apartments LLC.
| Decision Date | 28 March 2011 |
| Docket Number | Case No.: 2:08-cv-1038 |
| Parties | Tremaine Nelms, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Wellington Way Apartments, LLC, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Plaintiffs Tremaine Nelms and Kaylen Alli1 bring this action against Defendants Wellington Way Apartments, LLC ("Wellington Way Apartments"), Thomas Lagos, Tina Lagos, and Shirley Moreland (the "Wellington Way Defendants"); and Defendants the City of Columbus, Columbus Police Officer Michael Fleming, and Columbus Police Officer Lowell Whitt ("the Columbus Defendants"), claiming housing discrimination and an unlawful search. This matter is before the Court on Defendants' Motions for Summary Judgment (Docs. 30 and 32). For the reasons that follow, the Court GRANTS both sets of Defendants' Motions for Summary Judgment.
This case arises from the entry and search of Plaintiff Nelms' apartment on April 9, 2007, and Wellington Way Apartments' termination of his apartment lease. Defendants Fleming and Whitt allegedly entered and searched Plaintiff Nelms' apartment in violation of his constitutional rights, and an employee of Wellington Way Apartments allegedly entered the apartment without reasonable notice or consent in violation of Ohio law. Furthermore, the Wellington Way Defendants allegedly discriminated against Plaintiff Nelms and Plaintiff Alli on account of their race and Plaintiff Nelms' disability. The facts of this case are detailed below.
Plaintiff Nelms is "borderline intellectual functioning," and, in October 2006, he was diagnosed with "schizo-affective disorder," a condition that causes paranoia. (Stewart Dep., p. 20-23). Before July 2006, Plaintiff Nelms resided with his mother, Ms. Stewart, and younger brother, Plaintiff Alli, at his mother's apartment, which was located a short walk from the Wellington Way Apartments. On July 1, 2006, Plaintiff Nelms moved to 4400 Shoupmill Drive, Columbus, Ohio (4400 Shoupmill), an apartment in the Wellington Way Apartments complex. The Wellington Way Apartments complex was at all relevant times owned by Defendant Thomas Lagos. Mr. Lagos is married to Defendant Tina Lagos, and owns the apartment complex independent of her. Defendant Shirley Moreland is the property manager at the apartment complex. Plaintiff Nelms' brother, Plaintiff Alli, would visit his brother at Plaintiff Nelms' apartment everyday during his residency at 4400 Shoupmill, often with a group of friends. When visiting, they would make and listen to music.
In March 2007, Defendant Moreland began to receive complaints regarding Plaintiff Nelms and the people visiting his apartment. There were complaints concerning how these persons walked through the Wellington Way Apartments property and complaints concerning noise coming from Plaintiff Nelms' apartment. In particular, other residents complained that these visitors were walking too close to the apartments and that they were disturbing them with noisy conduct, including playing music too loud. Jeff Cohen, who resided at the Wellington Way Apartment complex and in close proximity to 4400 Shoupmill, has testified that, "[p]rior to and during March, 2007" he observed "a lot of people going in and out of 4400 Shoupmill," that "[t]here were loud noises on numerous occasions coming from the apartment," and that the activity would continue "at all hours of the night." (Cohen Aff., ¶ 2). Mr. Cohen claimed he could hear the music from 4400 Shoupmill while inside his apartment with the windows closed. Mr. Cohen further testified that groups of people would gather outside the apartment and would be "disrespectful" and "would make derogatory comments to" him. Id. On one occasion, Mr. Cohen Id.
Defendant Moreland informed Defendant Thomas Lagos about the complaints she received about the tenant at 4400 Shoupmill, including that individuals visiting the apartment were walking too close to the doors and windows of other tenants' apartments and that loud music was emanating from 4400 Shoupmill at all hours, disturbing other tenants. Upon receiving these reports, he instructed her to send a thirty-day notice of termination of tenancy to the tenant causing the disturbance. At the time, Thomas Lagos had never met either Plaintiff, and he did not know their race or that Plaintiff Nelms has a disability. In response to the lease termination letter Plaintiffs' mother, Ms. Stewart, contacted the Columbus Urban League, an organization dedicated to eliminating racism. Ms. Stewart contacted the organization for assistance because she believed that the lease termination was racially discriminatory.
Shortly before 6 p.m., on April 9, 2007, Ann Bullock, a cleaning woman employed by Wellington Way Apartments, called Ms. Moreland and reported a disturbance at 4400 Shoupmill. Ms. Bullock reported that four people exited the apartment and one person got pushed into a fence, knocking down the fence. When Ms. Moreland received the call from Ms. Bullock, Tina Lagos was present in the apartment complex's management office. At Ms. Lagos' urging, Ms. Moreland called the police. After calling the police, Ms. Lagos and Ms. Moreland proceeded to 4400 Shoupmill. Ms. Lagos informed Steve Shump, the apartment complex's maintenance man, of the problem, and he also went to the apartment.
Defendants Fleming and Whitt, who were working patrol duty for the Columbus Division of Police, were dispatched to the Wellington Way Apartment complex on a call of property destruction in progress.2 Upon their arrival at the scene, Defendants Fleming and Whitt observed the presence of three or four teenagers and three adults near 4400 Shoupmill. They also observed damage to the fence located to the left of the apartment door. The adults, Ms. Lagos, Ms. Bullock, and Mr. Shump, first spoke with the police. The adults informed the officers that there had been a fight in front of the apartment, which resulted in the damage to the fence. The officers did not witness any struggle, and they asked who was involved in the altercation. The adults were not sure who had been involved in the fight, but expressed concern that one of the participants was inside the apartment.
The officers attempted to interview the teenagers but they were not forthcoming with information other than possibly indicating to the officers that they had been play fighting. Neither officer observed any bruises or other marks on the teenagers indicating they had been in a fight. The teenagers were placed in the police cruisers during the investigation of the situation. According to Plaintiff Alli, one of the teenagers, "Anthony," was "wrestled down to the ground" before being placed in a cruiser. (Alli Dep., p. 30). Plaintiff Nelms testified that, from inside the apartment, he witnessed an officer "thr[ow] [Anthony] to the ground," and that this scared him, causing him to remain in his apartment and hide. (Nelms Dep., p. 51-52).
Tina Lagos expressed concern to the officers about the well-being of the tenant in the apartment and the possibility of further property damage inside the apartment. Also, Officer Fleming and Ms. Lagos told Columbus Police Sergeant Dennis Weyandt, during the police's subsequent internal investigation, that Ms. Lagos commented to the officer that the apartment was a "drug house," and that she was concerned that someone could have been in the apartment "hiding stuff." (Weyandt Dep., pp. 63, 140). In response to Ms. Lagos' statements, Officer Fleming asked Ms. Lagos about the landlord's ability, pursuant to the lease, to enter the apartment due to possible property damage.
Based on his assessment of the situation, Officer Fleming decided to knock on the door of the apartment. Even though Plaintiff Nelms was inside the apartment when the police arrived at the scene, he did not respond to the knocking. He locked the door to the apartment when he saw the police in the area, and at first hid in a closet. When he exited the closet, he observed an officer at the door to the apartment, and then hid in the bathroom. The fully clothed Plaintiff Nelms climbed into the bath tub and shut the shower curtain. (Nelms Dep., pp. 59-62).
After receiving no response to the knocking on the apartment door, Officer Fleming decided to enter the apartment to search for a possibly injured person. Ms. Lagos obtained a key from Mr. Shump, and opened the apartment door.3 Officer Fleming announced his presence and then entered the apartment. He found no one in the front living area, in the open closet, or in the bedroom. When he entered the bathroom and opened the shower curtain he found Plaintiff Nelms, fully clothed. According to Officer Fleming, he determined that Plaintiff Nelms was not injured or the victim of any crime. After he made this determination, he exited the apartment without conducting any other search. (Fleming Aff., ¶ 27). Officer Whitt testified that he never entered Plaintiff Nelms' apartment. (Whitt Aff., ¶ 13). The police told Ms. Lagos that no arrests would be made, and she gave each of the non-resident teenagers a trespass warning.
Contrary to the officers' testimony, Plaintiffs Alli testified that both officers entered the apartment, and both Plaintiffs testified that the officers' search in the apartment went beyond looking for an injured person.4 Plaintiff Nelms testified that, after Officer Fleming found him in the shower, this officer asked him if he had "anything illegal" in the apartment, and told him, "if I find anything in here, you['re] going to jail." (Nelms Dep., pp. 69-70). Plaintiff Nelms testified that he witnessed Officer Fleming subsequently "[g]oing in [...
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