Bernardi v. Klein

682 F. Supp. 2d 894, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2431, 2010 WL 148376
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Wisconsin
DecidedJanuary 13, 2010
DocketNo. 08-cv-758-slc
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 682 F. Supp. 2d 894 (Bernardi v. Klein) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bernardi v. Klein, 682 F. Supp. 2d 894, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2431, 2010 WL 148376 (W.D. Wis. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION and ORDER

STEPHEN L. CROCKER, United States Magistrate Judge.

On December 31, 2006, defendants Brian Klein and Mandy Caygill, two police officers for the Village of Hazel Dean, Wisconsin, stopped plaintiff John Bernardi and later arrested him on suspicion of drunk driving. After results of a blood test showed that plaintiff had no ethanol in his blood, plaintiff brought this lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and state law. Two motions are before the court: (1) defendants’ motion for summary judgment, see dkt. 13; and (2) plaintiffs motion for leave to amend his complaint, see dkt. 24.

I will deny plaintiffs motion for leave to amend his complaint as unnecessary. Plaintiff does not seek to add any new allegations to the lawsuit; he simply wishes to clarify that some of his allegations apply to his federal law claim in addition to his state law claim. That is not required. Even after Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007), and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, - U.S. -, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009), Fed.R.Civ.P. 8, simply requires a plaintiff to provide notice of a claim that is plausible on its face. Brooks v. Ross, 578 F.3d 574, 580-81 (7th Cir.2009). Rule 8 does not require plaintiffs to match facts with a particular legal theory — it is not even necessary for plaintiffs to include legal theories in a complaint. Jogi v. Voges, 480 F.3d 822, 826 (7th Cir.2007); see also Bartholet v. Reishauer A.G. (Zurich), 953 F.2d 1073, 1078 (7th Cir.1992) (“[T]he complaint need not iden[897]*897tify a legal theory, and specifying an incorrect theory is not fatal.”). Plaintiff did all he needed to do by giving defendants notice of the facts that make up his claims.

Plaintiffs claim is divided into five parts: (1) defendants lacked reasonable suspicion to stop his car; (2) defendants lacked reasonable suspicion to require him to perform field sobriety tests; (3) defendants lacked probable cause to arrest him; (4) defendants committed the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress through their actions during the stop and arrest; and (5) defendants intentionally omitted important facts from their police report. I conclude that I must grant summary judgment to defendants on all but the first claim.

With respect to the defendants’ decision to stop plaintiff, I must deny summary judgment because the parties dispute the facts that defendants rely on to support a finding of reasonable suspicion. However, I am granting summary judgment for defendants on plaintiffs remaining Fourth Amendment claims because plaintiff has failed to show that defendants’ decisions to conduct field sobriety tests and arrest him violated clearly established law. Plaintiffs claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress must be dismissed, both because he failed to comply with the notice of claim statute, Wis. Stat. § 893.80, and because the evidence shows that he cannot meet the elements of the claim. Finally, plaintiff has failed to show that any misinformation in the arrest reports violated his constitutional rights.

From the parties’ proposed findings of fact and the record, I find that the following facts are undisputed:

UNDISPUTED FACTS

On December 31, 2006, around 8:00 p.m., plaintiff John Bernardi, a 61-year-old man, was driving home from dinner on Highway 80 outside the Village of Hazel Green in southwestern Wisconsin. Plaintiff was with his wife and three other guests around the same age. Defendant Brian Klein, a police officer for the village, also was traveling on Highway 80, which is a two-way, single lane highway with a speed limit of 55 miles per hour. Klein was off duty at the time.

Defendant Klein observed plaintiff’s car and began to follow it. The weather was very windy, causing plaintiff to slow down when the wind hit his car. (The parties dispute how fast plaintiff was going. Defendants say that plaintiff was going as slow as 45 miles per hour; plaintiff says he was going 50-55 miles per hour. The parties also dispute whether plaintiffs car crossed the center line.)

Suspecting that the vehicle’s driver might be impaired, defendant Klein called the Grant County Sheriffs Department. Klein gave the department plaintiffs license plate number and car color.1 The dispatch officer told Klein that defendant Mandy Caygill was on duty in Hazel Green; Klein told the dispatch officer that he would be following plaintiffs car into the village.

The dispatch officer contacted defendant Caygill, telling her that defendant Klein had observed “a possible drunk driver.” The officer gave Caygill the description, license plate number and location of plaintiffs car. Once Caygill spotted plaintiffs car, she began to follow it, positioning her squad car behind plaintiffs car and ahead [898]*898of Klein’s. Klein flashed his headlights at Caygill to signal that she was following the right ear.

Defendant Caygill followed plaintiffs car for 7/10 of a mile. (The parties dispute whether plaintiffs car crossed the center line during this time.) At approximately 8:30 p.m., Caygill activated her emergency lights and stopped plaintiffs car. This was her first traffic stop for suspected drunk driving.

Caygill approached plaintiffs car.2 When plaintiff asked Caygill why she had stopped his car, she told him that he had crossed the center line. Plaintiff produced his driver’s license upon request and Cay-gill took the license back to her squad car. Defendant Klein ran a check on plaintiffs license, which showed that plaintiff had no previous arrests for impaired driving. Klein shared this information with defendant Caygill.

Defendant Caygill returned to plaintiffs car and asked him whether he had been drinking; plaintiff said that he had “one margarita before dinner.” The passengers in the car concurred. (The parties dispute whether plaintiff smelled like alcohol.) Plaintiff spoke “slowly and deliberately.” Plaintiff did not slur his speech at this time or any other time throughout the evening and he never changed the way he spoke.

Defendant Caygill instructed plaintiff to step out of his car to perform field sobriety tests. Plaintiff responded that he did not want to perform the tests because he had not done anything wrong. After Caygill threatened to arrest plaintiff, he agreed to perform the tests.

Plaintiff informed defendants that he was suffering from neck and back problems and that he was being treated by a chiropractor. In addition, plaintiff said that he needed to use the bathroom. (The parties dispute whether plaintiff said he was suffering from “leg” problems and whether he told defendants he was not sure that he could perform the tests.) Defendants did not ask plaintiffs wife for confirmation of plaintiffs statements. The air temperature was “freezing cold” and the wind was still “blowing hard.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
682 F. Supp. 2d 894, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2431, 2010 WL 148376, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bernardi-v-klein-wiwd-2010.