Buchanan v. Metz

647 F. App'x 659
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedMay 11, 2016
DocketNo. 15-2220
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 647 F. App'x 659 (Buchanan v. Metz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Buchanan v. Metz, 647 F. App'x 659 (6th Cir. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION

OLIVER, District Judge.

Plaintiff-Appellant, John C. Buchanan, Jr., brought this action against Defendants-Appellees James W. Metz II, an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Michigan, and Donovan Motley, a special agent with the Michigan Attorney General’s Office, for malicious prosecution and false arrest under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and Michigan law. The district court granted Metz’s motion to dismiss Buchanan’s First Amended Complaint, holding that Metz was entitled to absolute immunity on Buchanan’s claims. Thereafter, the court granted Buchanan leave to file a Second Amended Complaint, allowing Buchanan to assert claims of false arrest under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and Michigan law against Metz for actions allegedly conducted outside of his prosecutorial function that resulted in Buchanan’s arrest. Subsequent[661]*661ly, the court granted Motley and Metz’s summary judgment motions with respect to all of Buchanan’s claims. The district court concluded that Motley was entitled to qualified immunity on the federal malicious prosecution and false arrest claims and governmental immunity on the state malicious prosecution and false arrest claims. The district court also determined that Metz was entitled to absolute immunity on the federal false arrest claim and governmental immunity on the state false arrest claim. Buchanan argues on appeal that Motley and Metz are not entitled to immunity. For the following reasons, we AFFIRM the district court’s dismissal of Buchanan’s federal and state claims against Metz in his First Amended Complaint and AFFIRM the district court’s grant of summary judgment to Motley and Metz on Buchanan’s remaining federal and state claims.

I. BACKGROUND

Buchanan filed this civil rights action against Motley and Metz, claiming that they falsely arrested him for attempting to defraud the State of Michigan of tax incentives for the film industry. This case arises from Buchanan’s involvement with several other individuals in their efforts to redevelop a manufacturing plant into a film studio as part of Michigan’s Film and Digital Media Tax Credit program.

In 2008, the Michigan State Legislature enacted a film infrastructure tax credit statute, which, at the time relevant to this case, permitted a taxpayer “to claim a tax credit equal to 25% of the taxpayer’s base investment” for investing in “a qualified film and digital media infrastructure project” (“Tax Credit”). M.C.L. § 208.1457(1) — (2). The Michigan Film Office (“MFO”), with the concurrence of the State Treasurer, oversaw the issuance of the Tax Credit. M.C.L. § 208.1457(1).

A. Factual History

Buchanan and his father formed Alpinist Endeavors, LLC (“Alpinist”) to purchase a former plant known as Lear Plant or Hangar 42. Buchanan approached Joseph Peters, who owned West Michigan Films, LLC (“WMF”), and they agreed that WMF would purchase two units of the Lear Plant for $40 million to take advantage of a $10 million Tax Credit. Buchanan’s father did not have any input or knowledge about the specifics of this agreement when it was formed. In November 2009, WMF filed an application for the Tax Credit (“Application”) with the MFO. The Application included a business plan, describing a state-of-the-art film production facility. The MFO also received a purchase agreement executed by Buchanan and Peters, demonstrating Alpinist’s agreement to transfer two units of the Lear Plant to WMF. The purchase agreement contained a condition precedent that the buyer WMF would not be obligated to close the transaction unless it “obtained a commitment for [the Tax Credit] of no less than $10,000,000.” R. 66-10, ID 1431, 1433. In November 2009, the MFO and the Treasurer preliminarily approved the Application. Ultimately, the Application was denied in May 2010.

Between the filing of the Application and the denial of the Application, Peters , communicated frequently with. Janet Lockwood, then Film Commissioner of the MFO, and Penny Launstein, an employee at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (“MEDC”). The MEDC assisted the MFO in evaluating applications for the Tax Credit. Launstein and Lockwood sought final confirmation of WMF’s purchase of the Lear Plant, details regarding the improvements to convert the Lear Plant into a film studio, the cost of these improvements, and other information. [662]*662The MFO also repeatedly asked to conduct its own appraisal to determine whether the $40 million purchase price was reasonable and for invoices for the improvements to assist in conducting its own appraisal. Buchanan had access to these invoices but would not provide them to the MFO.

There were also a number of other individuals involved in the preparation and support of the Application. Buchanan recruited Brice Bossardet, who assisted with the business plan. Eventually though, Bossardet became increasingly uncomfortable with how the project was being financed and handled. He was concerned that Buchanan was ghostwriting statements for others to the MFO and taking a “loose or cavalier approach” to the Tax Credit procedure. R. 671, ID 1935; R. 67-12, ¶¶7-8. Buchanan and Bossardet had a falling out over this project and a different project. As a result, Bossardet stopped working on the Lear Plant project. Buchanan also recruited Noah Sei-fullah, a legislative aide to then-House Representative Robert Dean. Bossardet claimed that Seifullah was to be part owner of the film studio and paid a salary, but appear as an outside official lobbying for a project that would benefit Rep. Dean’s constituency. Buchanan also sought the assistance of CPA Dennis Weiss with the project. Weiss sent a letter to the MFO and MEDC, representing that the qualifying infrastructure cost for the first phase of the project was $40 million, and that the cost complied with the Tax Credit requirements.

On February 2, 2010, Buchanan and his father entered into a “Redemption Agreement,” where Buchanan’s father would sell Alpinist and its ownership in the Lear Plant to Buchanan for $3.2 million. Payment of the purchase price to Buchanan’s father was required in order to finalize the deal. On March 2, 2010, Peters submitted an Investment Expenditure Certificate (“IEC”) form to Lockwood with various representations about the project’s progress, along with a letter from Weiss stating that the WMF’s purchase of the Lear Plant was complete and the infrastructure costs qualified the applicant for the $10 million Tax Credit.

On April 5, 2010, Buchanan and Peters executed a number of agreements purportedly closing the sale of the Lear Plant from Alpinist to WMF. In these documents, Peters assigned his interest in WMF to Seifullah, Seifullah appointed Peters as “authorized agent” for WMF, and Peters (on behalf of WMF) executed a land contract with Buchanan (oh behalf of Al-pinist), granting the Lear Plant to WMF for $40 million. In his interview with Motley, Buchanan’s father stated that he had not transferred the Lear Plant to Buchanan or approved any sale of the Lear Plant to WMF, and thus Buchanan had no authority to sell the Lear Plant to WMF. On May 23, 2010, the MFO denied the Application due to questions about the veracity of the $40 million purchase price, the accuracy of information contained in the Application, and the failure to provide requested documents.

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Bluebook (online)
647 F. App'x 659, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/buchanan-v-metz-ca6-2016.