Conyers v. City of Chicago

162 F. Supp. 3d 737, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17117, 2016 WL 537947
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedFebruary 10, 2016
DocketNo. 12 C 06144
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 162 F. Supp. 3d 737 (Conyers v. City of Chicago) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Conyers v. City of Chicago, 162 F. Supp. 3d 737, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17117, 2016 WL 537947 (N.D. Ill. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

John J. Tharp, Jr., United States District Judge

Plaintiffs Blake Conyers, Lamar Ewing, and Kevin Flint, individually and on behalf of a class, bring claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the City of Chicago (the “City”). The plaintiffs allege that the City’s policies pertaining to the destruction of personal property items seized from arres-tees at the City’s police station violate the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. The City has moved to dismiss the plaintiffs’ Fourth Amended Complaint pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6). Def.’s Mot. to Dismiss Fourth Am. Compl., ECF No. 88. For the reasons stated below, the City’s motion is granted with respect to the Fifth Amendment claim, but the plaintiffs may proceed on their Fourteenth Amendment procedural due process claim.

BACKGROUND

The City requires that its police officers remove and inventory all personal property in the possession of arrestees who are detained at the City police station. At the time of arrest, the City provides arrestees with a Chicago Police Department (“CPD”) inventory receipt identifying the seized property and a written notice explaining how that property can be retrieved: Fourth Am. Compl., ECF No. 81, ¶ 15. Pursuant to CPD policy, if an arres-tee is subsequently transferred to the Cook County Jail the City sends certain types of inventoried personal property with the arrestee to the Jail and retains all other types of inventoried personal property. Id. at ¶ 12.1 Since September 14, 2007, the City’s policy has been to destroy any retained personal property of arrestees transferred to the Jail that is not claimed within 30 days of the inventory date. Id. at ¶ 23. Each of the plaintiffs had personal property items seized and ultimately destroyed as a result of the City’s policies.

Plaintiff Conyers was arrested by City police officers on or about February 26, 2012, while in lawful possession of an earring, a bracelet, and two cell phones. Id. at ¶ 30. This property was removed and inventoried by the City, retained by the City upon Conyers’ transfer to the Jail, and destroyed by City personnel because it was not claimed within 30 days. Id. at ¶ 32. Plaintiff Ewing was arrested by City police officers on or about December 20, 2012, while in lawful possession of a wallet, a debit card, a library card, and two cell phones. Id. at ¶ 37. This property was removed and inventoried by the City, retained by the City upon Ewing’s transfer [739]*739to the Jail, and destroyed by City personnel because it was not claimed within 30 days. Id. at ¶ 39. Plaintiff Flint was arrested by City police officers on or about January 1, 2013, while in lawful possession of a cell phone and a ring with a small stone. Id. at ¶ 44. This property was removed and inventoried by the City, retained by the City upon Flint’s transfer to the Jail, and destroyed by City personnel because it was not claimed within 30 days. Id. at ¶ 45. All three plaintiffs remained incarcerated in the Jail throughout the 30-day period following their respective arrests. Id. at ¶¶ 29, 38, 45.

The City provided a written notice to each of the plaintiffs at the time of their arrest (the “Notice”) that included the following information:

You may get inventoried property back by following the procedures detailed below. Information on how to get back inventoried property is also available at www.ChicagoPolice.org. If you have any questions, please contact the CPD Evidence and Recovered Property Section (“ERPS”) at (312) 746-6777. ERPS is located at 1011 S. Homan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60624 and is open Monday through Friday (8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., closed holidays).

Property Available for Return to Owner:

If your receipt is marked “Property Available for Return to Owner” you may get your property back by providing the receipt and a photo ID at ERPS. If you do not contact the CPD to get your property back within 30 days of the date on this receipt, it will be considered abandoned under Chicago Municipal Code Section 2-84-160, and the forfeiture process will begin under Illinois Law, 765 ILCS 1030/1, et seq.
If you are in jail or incarcerated, and your receipt is marked “Property Available for Return to Owner,” you may get money returned to you by sending copies of your receipt, your photo ID and the name of the facility where you are jailed or incarcerated to: Chicago Police Department Evidence and Recovered Property Section; 1011 S. Homan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 60624. If the property is money, a check will be sent to you at the facility where you are jailed or incarcerated.

Ex. 1 to Id. at 14.2

Plaintiffs Conyers and Ewing attempted to retrieve their property while incarcerated before learning that it had been destroyed. Conyers “filed a grievance with the Cook County Jail, requested assistance from the jail’s social worker, and wrote a letter to [ERPS] seeking return of his personal property.” Id. at ¶ 31.3 Ewing “prepared a form authorizing his cousin to [claim his] property” and had his cousin go to ERPS to attempt to retrieve the property before the 30-day period had elapsed. Id. at ¶ 38. Flint made no attempt to retrieve his property while incarcerated but [740]*740eventually learned of its destruction upon his release. Id. at ¶ 45.

In dismissing the Third Amended Complaint, see Order Dismissing Third Amended Complaint, Dkt. 80, the Court gave plaintiffs specific instructions with respect to repleading and filing a Fourth Amended Complaint. The Court dismissed plaintiffs’ Fifth Amendment-based § 1983 claim with prejudice to the extent that it purported to assert a facial challenge to the City’s policy, but without prejudice to the extent that it presented an as-applied challenge. Order, Dkt. 80, at. 15. However, the Court cautioned that an as-applied Fifth Amendment challenge could not be pursued unless and until Plaintiffs have exhausted all potential remedies under state law. Id. at 15. The plaintiffs’ Fourteenth Amendment-based § 1983 claim was also dismissed without prejudice for lack of standing. The Court granted the plaintiffs leave to re-plead that claim within 28 days. MThe plaintiffs timely filed their Fourth Amended Complaint, and this Motion to Dismiss followed.

ANALYSIS

The plaintiffs allege that the City is liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 because its policies pertaining to the destruction of retained personal property of arrestees transferred to the Jail deprive arrestees of rights secured by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. To state a claim against a municipal entity under § 1983, a plaintiff must allege that a person acting under color of state law violated a right secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States, and that the violation was caused by a policy or custom of the defendant. See Monell v. Dep’t of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 694, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978); Rodriguez v. Plymouth Ambulance Serv.,

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162 F. Supp. 3d 737, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17117, 2016 WL 537947, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/conyers-v-city-of-chicago-ilnd-2016.