White v. Taylor

• Decision Date: 29 April 1992
• Docket Number: No. 90-7100,90-7100
• Citation: 959 F.2d 539
• Parties: James E. WHITE, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Leon TAYLOR, etc., et al., Defendants, Clell Harrell, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 539

959 F.2d 539

James E. WHITE, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Leon TAYLOR, etc., et al., Defendants Clell Harrell, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 90-7100.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

April 29, 1992.

Gary E. Friedman, W. Thomas Siler, Jr., Phelps Dunbar, Jackson, Miss., for defendant-appellant.

Brad Sessums, Richard D. Underwood, Young, Scanlon & Sessums, Jackson, Miss., for plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.

Before POLITZ, Chief Judge, SMITH, Circuit Judge, and FITZWATER, ^* District Judge.

FITZWATER, District Judge:

In this appeal from a judgment holding a chief of police individually liable, we decide whether the contours of the Fourth Amendment right of a warrantless misdemeanor arrestee to a prompt probable cause determination were clearly established prior to County of Riverside v. McLaughlin, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 1661, 114 L.Ed.2d 49 (1991). Concluding they were not in the sense relevant to the instant facts, and that there is no other basis to find that the police chief violated clearly established law, we reverse the judgment on the ground that the police chief is entitled to qualified immunity.

I

Plaintiff-appellee James E. White ("White") sued defendant Leon Taylor ("Taylor"), a City of Morton, Mississippi police officer, defendant-appellant Clell Harrell ("Harrell"), the Morton Chief of Police, and the City of Morton in connection with his arrest and detention on May 29, 1987. He contended his Fourth Amendment rights were violated when he was arrested without probable cause and was detained in the City of Morton jail for an unreasonable period of time without a probable cause determination by a neutral magistrate. He sought relief for the alleged federal constitutional violations pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and also sued on the basis of Mississippi common law. White sued Officer Taylor and Chief Harrell in both their individual and official capacities.

Defendants moved to dismiss plaintiff's amended complaint. In pertinent part, Chief Harrell contended he was entitled to qualified immunity from individual liability. The district court denied the motion, see White v. Taylor, 677 F.Supp. 882, 888 (S.D.Miss.1988), and a panel of this court affirmed the order in an unpublished opinion. See White v. Taylor, 877 F.2d 971 (5th Cir.1989) (per curiam) (table). ¹ Following discovery, Chief Harrell moved for summary judgment, contending in pertinent part that he was entitled to qualified immunity from individual liability on White's unreasonable detention claim. The district court denied this ground of the motion, holding it was a jury question "whether the eight-hour, overnight detention of the Plaintiff was reasonable." White v. Taylor, 775 F.Supp. 962, 965 (S.D.Miss.1990).

Thereafter, the parties tried the case to a jury. The verdict was favorable to the defendants on all the plaintiff's claims except the Fourth Amendment unreasonable detention claim against Chief Harrell individually. As to that cause of action the jury found Chief Harrell's decision to detain White in the Morton jail was "an intentional act which caused or contributed to cause a violation" of White's constitutional rights. The jury awarded White $1.00 in nominal damages, no actual damages, and $25,000 against Chief Harrell in punitive damages. The district court entered judgment on the verdict. See id. at 969 (reprinting judgment). The balance of White's claims, including all claims against codefendants Taylor and the City of Morton, were dismissed with prejudice. Chief Harrell now appeals the judgment holding him individually liable.

We recount the evidence favorably to the verdict because we are asked, in pertinent part, to reverse the district court's failure to direct a verdict in favor of defendant-appellant. The jury found that Officer Taylor had probable cause to arrest White but that White was unreasonably detained. We therefore summarize the evidence surrounding the arrest in a manner favorable to the arresting officer and recount favorably to White the facts of his detention and of Officer Taylor's lack of authority to make an arrest.

White was driving home from work in his pickup truck on Friday night, May 29, 1987, when he was stopped by two City of Morton police officers at approximately 10:45 p.m. White had been a Morton resident for several years. He retired from the Jackson, Mississippi police department after 23 years, and then began working full time in a security job with a beverage company in Jackson. White reported to work on May 29 at 2:00 p.m. and left the company premises at around 9:45 p.m. After making the night bank deposit, he drove toward Morton.

Officers Taylor and Keith Hollingshead ("Hollingshead") were patroling Morton and its environs at the time. Officer Taylor was driving the squad car westbound on Highway 80 when he observed White's truck traveling eastbound. White's vehicle swerved partially into the westbound lane, passing the officers and forcing them off the road. ² Officer Taylor spun his vehicle around and pursued White's truck. He assumed the driver had been drinking. When the officers pulled up behind White they illuminated their blue lights. White veered across the center line, straddled it, and returned to his lane. Officer Taylor thought White would hit someone. Believing White had not seen the blue lights, Officer Taylor bumped his yelper. White then pulled over.

Officer Taylor called in a license registration to the dispatcher before exiting his vehicle. Both officers then approached White's truck. Officer Taylor asked White if there was a problem, to which White replied that any problem was with Officer Taylor. The officer asked White if he had been drinking and informed him he had seen White weaving on the road and that he did not stop in response to the blue lights. White replied that he did not drink and offered to take a breathalyzer test. Officer Taylor asked White for his driver's license, to which White responded, "The only thing you're going to get out of me is a lot of trouble." Officer Taylor then asked White to step out of his truck.

White popped or shoved the driver's side door hard enough to knock Officer Taylor back several feet. The officer caught the door before it hit him, but he was still pushed several feet backwards. When White exited the truck he began pointing his finger at Officer Taylor, telling him he did not have enough sense to know what he was doing and that he expected this from the Morton police. He asked the officers if they could not find better things to do than to harass people on the streets and motorists. As White spoke, he raved and waved his arms around. He appeared angry and offended, speaking two or three minutes without interruption.

Officer Taylor then told White "I've heard enough of that" and ordered him into the squad car. When White continued on, the officer repeated the instruction. Officer Hollingshead intervened, telling White to get inside the car. White then complied.

Officer Taylor looked inside the truck, locked it, and started to the police station with the intent to find out what was wrong with White and to book or charge him. He changed his mind on the way there, however, because White kept beating on the cage that separated the front and back seats in the police vehicle, and making threats and insulting remarks. White accused the officer of not knowing what he was doing and threatened to sue Officer Taylor and the City of Morton. By that point Officer Taylor had become mad. He decided that if he took White to the police station, with both of them mad, there would be a fight, someone would get hurt, and White would still end up in jail. He therefore chose to take White straight to jail.

When White arrived at the jail he requested permission to make a telephone call so that he could contact his wife and lawyer. The officers did not respond to the request. White was neither booked nor informed of the charges against him.

After Officer Taylor placed White in the jail, he returned to the police station. He ran a full registration on White's truck. When the information came back, he called Chief Harrell. ³ The time was approximately 11:00 p.m. Chief Harrell was at home asleep. Officer Taylor explained to the Chief what had happened during the stop and arrest and why he had transported White directly to the jail. He informed Chief Harrell that he thought White would get hurt. The Chief instructed Officer Taylor to lock the arrestee up and he would talk to him in the morning. Officer Taylor complied with this directive.

Chief Harrell based his decision on Officer Taylor's statement that White was very disorderly and the fact that he had telephoned the Chief at home. He felt if the arrestee's conduct was such that Officers Taylor and Hollingshead were required to lock up the arrestee and to call him at home, "it would have to be very disorderly."

Chief Harrell did not instruct Officer Taylor to take White before a magistrate. Morton was a city of approximately 3,000 people at the time of trial. It had one municipal judge, who did not hold court at night.

White remained in the Morton jail until 6:00 a.m. the next morning. At that time his first cousin, Captain Leslie Huff ("Huff"), a Morton police officer, came on duty. The dispatcher informed Captain Huff when he arrived at work that White was being detained. Captain Huff determined that White had been charged with the misdemeanor offense of disorderly conduct, and took White to the police department for release on his written promise to appear in court. By White's calculation, he had been detained a little over six hours.

White was charged sometime during the night with disorderly conduct. On June 18, 1987--the day of his trial--Officers Taylor and Hollingshead alleged in an affidavit that White was guilty of reckless driving. White was acquitted of the charges by the ...