Wilson v. Morgan

• Decision Date: 01 February 2007
• Docket Number: No. 05-5616.,No. 05-5615.,05-5615.,05-5616.
• Citation: 477 F.3d 326
• Parties: Donna D. WILSON; Judy Hurt; Brian Davis, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Roger MORGAN; Adrian Barnes; Robert Howard; Tim Laycock; Robert Manges; Jim Wright; John Wilson; Tim Hutchison, in his official capacity; Knox County, Tennessee, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

477 F.3d 326

Donna D. WILSON; Judy Hurt; Brian Davis, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Roger MORGAN; Adrian Barnes; Robert Howard; Tim Laycock; Robert Manges; Jim Wright; John Wilson; Tim Hutchison, in his official capacity; Knox County, Tennessee, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 05-5615.

No. 05-5616.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: November 29, 2006.

Decided and Filed: February 1, 2007.

ARGUED: Herbert S. Moncier, Law Offices of Herbert S. Moncier, Knoxville, Tennessee, for Appellants. Mary A.R. Stackhouse, Knoxville, Tennessee, Robert H. Watson, Jr., Watson, Roach, Batson, Rowell & Lauderback, Knoxville, Tennessee, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Herbert S. Moncier, Law Offices of Herbert S. Moncier, Knoxville, Tennessee, for Appellants. Mary A.R. Stackhouse, Knoxville, Tennessee, Robert H. Watson, Jr., Hanson R. Tipton, Watson, Roach, Batson, Rowell & Lauderback, Knoxville, Tennessee, John E. Owings, Knox County Law Director's Office, Knoxville, Tennessee, for Appellees.

Before: MARTIN and GUY, Circuit Judges; CARR, Chief District Judge.^*

OPINION

RALPH B. GUY, JR., Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs appeal from a number of orders and rulings made before and after a second trial on the plaintiffs' claims for false arrest and imprisonment in violation of state law and for deprivation of their federal constitutional rights in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiffs Donna Wilson, Judy Hurt, and Brian Davis brought various claims against individual officers and Knox County, Tennessee, after the plaintiffs were arrested, detained for about three hours, and then released without any charges being filed against them. We conclude that none of the arguments made by plaintiffs warrant reversal, and we affirm.

I.

This court summarized the events giving rise to this action in our prior opinion resolving the defendants' appeal from the denial of qualified immunity:

On August 8, 1998, [Officer] Andy Walker was dispatched to investigate a disturbance at Richard Emert's residence in Knoxville[,] Tennessee. When Walker arrived he found Emert's son, Mike Blizzard. Blizzard reported that a "Judy Wilson" had fired a gun in the house, and that she had left the scene with two people (one male, one female) in a red Jeep, leaving behind a bag of weapons and ammunition taken from inside the house. Blizzard told Walker that a 9 mm handgun was missing from the residence and was not in the bag, but that Blizzard was not sure whether his father had the handgun with him. Walker reported that three rounds had been fired in the house and that there were no signs of forced entry.

The license plate number provided by Blizzard came back to a Jeep registered to D. Wilson at 1301 Fair Drive. After locating a red Jeep at the Fair Drive residence, numerous officers were dispatched to that residence, looking for two white females and a male.

Back at the Emert residence, Walker spoke with Emert three times on the phone. During the first conversation, Emert stated that "Donna Wilson" had his permission to be at the house. During the second conversation, Emert stated that on the basis of what he knew he would not want to press charges, but that he needed more information and his decision depended upon what he learned about what happened. After receiving a call from Plaintiff Judy Hurt, Emert called Walker and requested that the police "slow things down."

Meanwhile, at the Fair Drive residence, the officers observed a woman leave in the red Jeep. After seeing the officers, the woman backed the Jeep into the driveway and returned inside the house. The officers twice observed a male walk outside the house and then back inside.

When the male, Plaintiff Brian Davis, walked outside the residence a third time, officers arrested him. Shortly thereafter, Plaintiffs Hurt and Donna Wilson walked outside the residence and were also arrested. Officers then went inside the house to conduct a protective sweep.

Plaintiffs were held at the Fair Drive location for about an hour, transferred to jail holding cells, and ultimately released about midnight after giving statements to police detectives. Upon returning home, Plaintiffs found evidence that the house had been searched: items had been pulled from drawers and cabinets, furniture had been moved, and someone had poked through the fireplace with a golf club. No charges were filed against Plaintiffs.¹

^1. As it turns out, none of the Plaintiffs had caused the disturbance in the Emert residence. Instead, Angel Olsen (Hurt's daughter) had fired the three shots after becoming intoxicated and strewing Emert's guns and ammunition about the house. Emert first learned about the incident from his girlfriend, Hurt. Wilson and Davis had driven to the Emert residence, collected all the guns and ammunition in a bag, took Olsen to her home, and then returned to the Fair Drive residence.

Wilson v. Morgan, 54 Fed.Appx. 195, 196-97 (6th Cir.2002).

This occurred on August 8, 1998, and suit was filed one year later. Amended complaints were filed, discovery was conducted, and defendants moved for summary judgment. The magistrate judge granted in part and denied in part the defendants' motion for summary judgment in October 2001, dismissing a number of claims but denying qualified immunity on others.¹ Defendants appealed, and this court affirmed the denial of qualified immunity except as to Officer Walker.

The case proceeded to trial in March 2004, but the jury was unable to reach a verdict and a mistrial was declared. A few days before the mistrial, plaintiffs filed a motion seeking injunctive relief against the county. That motion was denied, which plaintiffs argue was error. After the mistrial, defendants renewed their earlier motions for judgment as a matter of law, which the magistrate judge granted in part and denied in part on November 23, 2004. That decision narrowed the claims to be tried, and is challenged on appeal. Plaintiffs also moved to bifurcate the second trial so that their claims against the county would be tried first. The magistrate judge agreed to bifurcation, but concluded that the claims against the individual officers should be tried first instead.

The bifurcated second trial commenced on January 25, 2005, and the jury returned its verdicts on February 3, 2005. Due to the earlier rulings, the only federal constitutional claims submitted to the jury were: (1) Hurt's claim that she was arrested without probable cause by Officers Manges and Laycock; and (2) Wilson's and Hurt's claims that Manges, Laycock, and three other officers exceeded the lawful scope of a protective sweep of their residence on the night of the arrests. The jury returned verdicts in favor of the defendants on each of these § 1983 claims. Also presented to the jury were the claims of Wilson, Hurt, and Davis for false arrest and imprisonment under Tennessee law. On those claims, the jury found that Manges and Laycock were liable to each of the plaintiffs and awarded compensatory damages to Hurt, Wilson, and Davis for $15,000, $10,000, and $5,000, respectively.

After the verdicts were entered, the magistrate judge directed verdicts against the county pursuant to Tenn.Code Ann. § 8-8-302, in the amount of the damages the jury had awarded to the plaintiffs on their state law claims. The magistrate judge also ruled that the second phase of the trial would not be needed since (1) the county could not be liable under § 1983 where no constitutional violation had been found; and (2) no trial was necessary on the state law claim that the county was liable for negligent supervision of Laycock and Manges under the Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act because plaintiffs could not recover twice for the same damages.

On February 8, 2005, judgment was entered in favor of plaintiffs Wilson, Hurt, and Davis, and against defendants Manges, Laycock, and Knox County, Tennessee. After the magistrate judge resolved a number of post-trial motions, including plaintiffs' motions to revise the judgment and for attorney fees, this appeal followed.

II.

A. § 1983 Claims for Arrest without Probable Cause

As noted above, the magistrate judge granted judgment as a matter of law to the individual defendants on the claims of Wilson and Davis (but not Hurt) that they were arrested without probable cause in violation of their Fourth Amendment rights. With respect to Hurt's claim, the magistrate judge found that only Manges and Laycock were involved in her arrest. In the second trial of Hurt's claim, the jury found in favor of Manges and Laycock. On appeal, plaintiffs challenge the standards applied to such a claim, the conclusion that there was probable cause to arrest Wilson and Davis as a matter of law, and the dismissal of officers not involved in Hurt's arrest.

1. 42 U.S.C. § 1988(a)

We begin, as plaintiffs do, with the argument that 42 U.S.C. § 1988(a) required that Tennessee law be applied to their federal claim of arrest without probable cause under § 1983. The magistrate judge found (without challenge on appeal) that Tennessee imposes a greater obligation to investigate a claim of innocence in connection with state law claims for false arrest and imprisonment than is required for probable cause to arrest under the Fourth Amendment. Specifically, relying on Woods v. Harrell, 596 S.W.2d 92, 96 (Tenn.Ct.App.1979), the magistrate judge noted that "there is a distinction between Tennessee law and federal constitutional law concerning the duty to independently investigate a plaintiff's claim of innocence." As explained in Woods, although the Supreme Court held in Baker v. McCollan, 443 U.S. 137, 99 S.Ct. 2689, 61 L.Ed.2d 433 (1979), that an arrest without an independent investigation of the accused's guilt does not amount to a constitutional violation for purposes of § 1983, the Court in Baker also noted that the arrest would probably be actionable in tort under state law. In fact, it was under just such a tort standard that the jury found in favor...