Wagner v. GENESEE COUNTY BD. OF COM'RS

• Decision Date: 23 April 1985
• Docket Number: No. 83-CV-8220-FL.,83-CV-8220-FL.
• Citation: 607 F. Supp. 1158
• Parties: Jack Colin WAGNER, Plaintiff, v. GENESEE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, Genesee County Friend of the Court Robert W. Standal, Sr., Barry Joseph, Gary Vincent-Casner, John Doe and Richard Roe, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan

607 F. Supp. 1158

Jack Colin WAGNER, Plaintiff, v. GENESEE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, Genesee County Friend of the Court Robert W. Standal, Sr., Barry Joseph, Gary Vincent-Casner, John Doe and Richard Roe, Defendants.

No. 83-CV-8220-FL.

United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, S.D.

April 23, 1985.

Roger J. McClow, Southfield, Mich., for plaintiff.

Patrick Kirby, Flint, Mich., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

NEWBLATT, District Judge.

Having reviewed Magistrate Marc L. Goldman's Report and Recommendation concerning the motion to dismiss in this matter, the Court accepts and adopts the Report, with the exception of Section III, as its Memorandum Opinion herein.

The Report and Recommendation suggests that defendants' motion to dismiss be granted as to Counts I, II, and III, but denied as to Count IV. Plaintiff objects to Sections II and III of the Report, and defendant Robert Standal, Friend of the Court disagrees with Section IV.

The Court concurs with the Magistrate's characterization of the behavior of the individual defendants in procuring the writ of attachment. Although their investigatory skills may have been poor, the individual defendants were performing a judicial, and not an investigatory¹, function when they sought plaintiff's arrest. Therefore, their actions were properly cloaked by absolute quasi-judicial immunity. As the Magistrate thoughtfully explained, the facts of McSurely v. McClellan, 697 F.2d 309 (D.C.Cir.1982), are inapposite to those in this case.

The Court adopts the Magistrate's analysis in Section II.

Without addressing the merits of the Magistrate's analysis of the issue of state tort immunity in Section III of his Report, the Court finds that the Magistrate unnecessarily decided a pendent issue over which he had no independent basis for jurisdiction, the constitutional claims having been dismissed as against the individual defendants. Mid-State Food Dealers v. City of Durand, 525 F.Supp. 387 (E.D.Mich.1981). Counts I and II shall be remanded to the state court. Reconsideration of the question of governmental immunity on remand is particularly appropriate in light of the Michigan Supreme Court's recent decisions on governmental tort immunity.

The Court also agrees with the Magistrate's conclusion that plaintiff is not suing the Friend of the Court, but Robert Standal in his official capacity as Genesee County Friend of the Court. The United States Supreme Court reached a similar result after the Magistrate issued his report. Brandon v. Holt, ___ U.S. ___, 105 S.Ct. 873, 83 L.Ed.2d 878 (1985). The Magistrate's assessment of the immunity issue is persuasive. A state judge's determination that the Friend of the Court is not a county agency for purposes of disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act² has little bearing on the issue whether the policies of the Friend of the Court are those of the county for purposes of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 liability. To the extent that Standal may also have been sued in his individual capacity, those claims must be dismissed pursuant to Section II of the Magistrate's Report.

For the reasons just stated, the Court accepts the Magistrate's Report and Recommendation, except for Section III, and adopts the Magistrate's findings and conclusions. The entire Report, attached hereto, is incorporated by reference.³ Therefore, defendants' motion to dismiss is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. Counts I and II are REMANDED to the Genesee County Circuit Court; Count III is DISMISSED; and Count IV shall be read as a claim against Robert Standal in his official capacity as Genesee County Friend of the Court.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

MAGISTRATE'S REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

December 5, 1984

On April 19, 1983, plaintiff, Jack Colin Wagner, instituted this action in Genesee County Circuit Court seeking money damages from the Genesee County Board of Commissioners and certain employees of the Office of the Genesee County Friend of the Court in connection with his arrest and incarceration on a writ of attachment issued based upon his alleged failure to pay child support. Included in the complaint was the claim that the defendants' actions violated the Civil Right Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, as well as state claims alleging false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. Defendants removed the matter to this Court on May 18, 1983. 28 U.S.C. § 1441. Presently before the Court is the motion of the individual defendants and the Genesee County Friend of the Court, in his official capacity, for dismissal.

The essential facts of this case are not in dispute. On December 17, 1975, the Honorable Thomas L. Yeotis, Circuit Judge for the County of Genesee, State of Michigan, signed a filiation order finding that plaintiff was the father of one Amie Jo Mitchell, and ordering that he pay child support in the amount of twenty dollars ($20.00) per week. The child support payments were required to be made to the Genesee County Friend of the Court for distribution to the proper recipients. The complaint alleges that in early 1976, plaintiff became engaged to Brenda Mitchell, the mother of Amie Jo Mitchell, and as a result of the engagement, ceased making support payments in April of 1976. Plaintiff and Brenda Mitchell were married in July, 1976 and have lived together as husband and wife since that time.

Plaintiff claims that prior and subsequent to his marriage to Brenda Mitchell, he was in constant contact with unknown employees of the Friend of the Court. He states that he informed these employees that he was engaged to and later married to the mother of the child. He further claims that he was informed by one unknown employee of the Friend of the Court, defendant John Doe, that the marriage would resolve any problems concerning child support.

In 1981, plaintiff was informed, in a letter from the Friend of the Court, that he was several thousand dollars in arrears in child support payments. Plaintiff claims he contacted a second unknown representative of the Friend of the Court (defendant Richard Roe) and informed him that he had been married to the mother of the child since 1976. Defendant Roe allegedly took the information and stated that he would "straighten everything out."

In 1982, plaintiff again received a letter from the Friend of the Court stating that he owed $6,000.00 in child support payments. Plaintiff contacted defendant Gary Vincent-Casner, an employee of the Genesee County Friend of the Court, and again provided the information concerning his marriage. Plaintiff alleges that defendant Vincent-Casner informed him that the matter would be investigated and at a later time, assured plaintiff that he would not be arrested. Nonetheless, on August 12, 1982, defendant Robert Standal, the Genesee County Friend of the Court prepared a "Petition and Order for Attachment" seeking the arrest of plaintiff for failure to pay child support, alleging accumulated arrearages of over $6,000.00. The Order of Attachment was signed by Judge Yeotis. Pursuant to the Order of Attachment, plaintiff was arrested on September 1, 1982 and incarcerated overnight in the Tuscola County Jail. The next morning he was transported to the Genesee County Jail where an unknown individual appeared with an order, signed by Judge Harry McAra, ordering plaintiff's release and foregoing all arrearages except for $271.50.

Plaintiff alleges that the Office of the Friend of the Court and the individual defendants were aware of these facts and nonetheless maliciously, recklessly and or negligently withheld them, thereby causing the Circuit Judge to issue the writ of attachment. He further alleges that the defendants, acting under color of state law, acted in a manner which denied him his liberty without due process. Moreover, plaintiff claims that the Office of the Friend of the Court in Genesee County and the Genesee County Board of Commissioners implemented and engaged in an unconstitutional policy which resulted in the arrest of individuals allegedly in arrears in support payments without notice and hearing, in violation of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. The individual defendants have filed a motion to dismiss both the state and federal claims, contending that they are entitled to absolute quasi-judicial immunity. Robert Standal, in his official capacity as Genesee County Friend of the Court, has also filed a motion to dismiss on the basis of quasi-judicial immunity.

II.

No immunities are expressly recognized in the Civil Rights Act of 1871. 42 U.S.C. § 1983. However, the Supreme Court has concluded that an immunity that was "well established at common law at the time § 1983 was enacted and ... is compatible with the purposes of the Civil Rights Act," will be recognized under the Act. Owen v. City of Independence, 445 U.S. 622, 638, 100 S.Ct. 1398, 1409, 63 L.Ed.2d 673 (1980). Utilizing this analysis, the Court has held that judges are absolutely immune from suit under § 1983 under the longstanding rule of judicial immunity. Pierson v. Ray, 386 U.S. 547, 87 S.Ct. 1213, 18 L.Ed.2d 288 (1967); Stump v. Sparkman, 435 U.S. 349, 98 S.Ct. 1099, 55 L.Ed.2d 331 (1978); Bradley v. Fisher, 13 Wall. 335, 80 U.S. 335, 20 L.Ed. 646 (1872).

The Supreme Court has also recognized a quasi-judicial absolute immunity for other non-judicial officers whose official duties constitute "integral parts of the judicial process." Briscoe v. LaHue, 460 U.S. 325, 103 S.Ct. 1108, 75 L.Ed.2d 96 (1983). Thus, prosecutors have been accorded a quasi-judicial immunity for initiating and conducting a criminal prosecution. Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. 409, 96 S.Ct. 984, 47 L.Ed.2d 128 (1976). Similarly, certain federal agency officials were accorded absolute quasi-judicial immunity in Butz v. Economou, 438 U.S. 478, 98 S.Ct. 2894, 57 L.Ed.2d 895 (1978) because "the decision to initiate administrative proceedings against an individual or corporation is very much like the...