Wells v. Bonner

• Decision Date: 17 February 1995
• Docket Number: No. 93-1598,93-1598
• Citation: 45 F.3d 90
• Parties: Michael WELLS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Sergeant Donald BONNER, et al., Defendants, Sergeant Donald Bonner and Officer Kevin L. Harris, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 90

45 F.3d 90

Michael WELLS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Sergeant Donald BONNER, et al., Defendants Sergeant Donald Bonner and Officer Kevin L. Harris Defendants-Appellants.

No. 93-1598.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

Feb. 17, 1995.

Edwin P. Voss, Jr., Asst. County Atty., Dallas, TX, for appellants.

Noemi A. Collie, Dallas, TX, for appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Before GARWOOD, JOLLY, and STEWART, Circuit Judges.

E. GRADY JOLLY, Circuit Judge:

This interlocutory appeal presents the question of whether the defendant police officers are entitled to qualified immunity in this 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 action alleging false arrest, excessive force and malicious prosecution, all stemming from the officers' arrest of the plaintiff outside a nightclub for disorderly conduct and resisting a search. The district court denied the defendant officers' claim for qualified immunity because of disputes of material fact. The officers filed this interlocutory appeal. We rule in the officers' favor and reverse the denial of immunity. Based on the intervening Supreme Court case of Heck v. Humphrey, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 2364, 129 L.Ed.2d 383 (1994), we hold that as a matter of law the plaintiff, Michael Wells, has failed to state a cognizable claim for false arrest and malicious prosecution against the defendant officers because Wells's conviction for resisting a search constitutes a final judgment on the matter, which bars this civil suit. With respect to his excessive force claim, we hold that the plaintiff has failed to show that the officers violated his clearly established constitutional rights because he suffered no significant injury as required under the law at the time of his arrest. Johnson v. Morel, 876 F.2d 477 (5th Cir.1989) (en banc).

I

A

The following picture emerges from the confusing record and the contentious oral argument.

In the early morning hours of May 27, 1990, the defendants, Dallas policemen Sergeant Donald Bonner and Officer Kevin Harris, were working during their off-hours in their official police uniforms as security guards for a nightclub. The nightclub owners had instructed Bonner and Harris to guard against automobile theft and to keep clear the sidewalk entrance to the establishment, except for patrons who were waiting for valet parking service. At approximately 2:30 a.m., the plaintiff, Michael Wells, who admits that he had been drinking and taking prescription drugs, exited the nightclub and stood on the sidewalk in front of the entrance to the club. From this point forward, the events leading to Wells's arrest are in dispute.

B

Wells contends that he was waiting for valet service when the defendant, Officer Harris, approached him and directed him, without explanation, to move across the street. Wells questioned the necessity of the move and told Officer Harris that he was waiting for valet service. Wells says that the officer requested him to move and that he refused to move for a period of four to five minutes while awaiting his vehicle. His car arrived in the meantime. He then approached Harris to get his name from his badge. While he was walking back to the car he told Harris that he planned to file a complaint against him. At this point, Harris approached him, placed a hand on him, which caused Wells to either turn or jerk back, whereupon the officer grabbed him in a choke hold and threw him to the ground.

Wells contends that it was at this point that he was arrested. Sergeant Bonner came to Officer Harris's aid, and the policemen escorted Wells to their patrol car. While he was being searched, Wells again threatened to file a complaint against the officers. He then was slammed against the patrol car, his arms were brought behind him, and he was handcuffed. The twisting of his right arm, Wells alleges, caused pain and aggravated an old injury in his shoulder. According to Wells, he was told he was being arrested for intoxication, yet he was never tested and he was not charged with public intoxication.

C

The defendants, Harris and Bonner, tell a different story. According to Officer Harris, Wells never said why he was standing on the sidewalk. Harris says that when he questioned Wells about standing in front of the entrance to the club, Wells became irate, raised his voice, and shouted obscenities. This conduct attracted a crowd and caused a traffic jam in the parking lot because passing cars slowed down to see what was happening. As he began walking to the parking lot, Wells continued to scream obscenities, and traffic came to a halt. Because Wells was causing a disturbance, Harris says that he approached Wells to arrest him for disorderly conduct. Either before Harris arrested him, or during the process of the arrest or while patting him down for weapons, however, Wells resisted violently and struck Harris. Harris then applied a neck restraint to Wells to prevent injury to himself and to bystanders, as well as to prevent Wells's escape.

When a patron of the club alerted Sergeant Bonner to the situation, Bonner came from the squad car to assist Harris who was on the ground struggling with Wells. Bonner says that when he arrived, Harris released his neck hold and that both officers raised Wells from the ground using Wells's arms and pants. They promptly escorted the struggling and cursing Wells to the patrol car. They say that he was never slammed against the car. Bonner asserts that after Wells's left arm was cuffed, Wells refused to give Bonner his right arm, so that Bonner forcibly had to bring Wells's right arm to Wells's rear to cuff it. Wells was then placed in the patrol car, but he continued to struggle while they waited for transporting officers.

II

As a result of this incident, Wells was charged with resisting a search and disorderly conduct. The disorderly conduct charge was dropped before trial. Wells was prosecuted and convicted on the charge of resisting a search. This conviction was upheld on appeal.

Wells subsequently filed this Sec. 1983 action against Sergeant Bonner, Officer Harris, and the City of Dallas. He amended his complaint to add the nightclub as a defendant. Wells claims that the officers unconstitutionally subjected him to a false arrest, to excessive force in effecting the arrest, and to a malicious prosecution. After some discovery, Bonner and Harris filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that Wells did not plead with sufficient specificity to overcome their defense of qualified immunity, that the force used in arresting Wells did not rise to the level of a constitutional violation, that probable cause existed to arrest him, that he was not maliciously prosecuted, and, consequently, that they were entitled to a dismissal of the complaint based on qualified immunity. The district court denied the motion for summary judgment without opinion, and the police officers now appeal.

III

In this interlocutory appeal, the defendant officers first argue that Wells has failed procedurally to plead his claim in sufficient detail to overcome the officers' defense of qualified immunity, and, second, they alternatively contend that they are entitled to claim qualified immunity because Wells has failed to show that they violated any clearly established constitutional right. The officers argue that there was probable cause to arrest Wells, that the force used by them was not unconstitutional in the light of clearly established law as it existed at the time of the arrest, and that the prosecution of Wells was not unconstitutional. Wells argues, to the contrary, that his pleadings are sufficient to survive Harris and Bonner's motion for summary judgment. He also argues that because material facts are at issue, the defendants' defense of qualified immunity was properly rejected by the district court and this appeal, raising only questions of immunity, should be dismissed.

IV

A denial of a claim of qualified immunity is a "final decision" within the context of 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1291, to the extent that the denial turns on an issue of law. Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 530, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 2817, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985). Qualified immunity is "an immunity from suit rather than a mere defense to liability; ... it is effectively lost if a case is erroneously permitted to go to trial." Id. at 526, 105 S.Ct. at 2815 (emphasis in original). In analyzing the officers' claim of qualified immunity, we are guided by the structural analysis set out by the Supreme Court in Siegert v. Gilley, 500 U.S. 226, 111 S.Ct. 1789, 114 L.Ed.2d 277 (1991). Before we determine whether "the constitutional right asserted by a plaintiff [was] 'clearly established' at the time the defendant acted[,]" we must determine whether the plaintiff has "asserted a violation of a constitutional right at all." Siegert, 500 U.S. at 231, 111 S.Ct. at 1793. Thus, if it becomes evident that the plaintiff has failed to state or otherwise to establish a claim, then the defendant is entitled to dismissal on that basis. See id., 500 U.S. at 231-33, 111 S.Ct. at 1793-94.

We now turn to examine Wells's claims.

V

In this Sec. 1983 action, Wells argues that his constitutional rights, under the Fourth Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment, respectively, were violated by his arrest and his subsequent prosecution. He challenges his arrest on the following grounds: (1) he was falsely arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting a search because there was no probable cause; and (2) the officers applied excessive force in his arrest and search that violated his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures, as well as his liberty interests under the Fourteenth Amendment. Finally, he contests his prosecution, contending that he was maliciously prosecuted in violation of his rights against unreasonable seizures under the Fourth Amendment and his liberty interests under the Fourteenth Amendment. ¹ For the reasons...