Crump v. Passaic County

147 F. Supp. 3d 249, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 161463, 2015 WL 7761064
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Jersey
DecidedDecember 2, 2015
DocketCiv. No. 14-cv-02365 (WHW) (CLW)
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 147 F. Supp. 3d 249 (Crump v. Passaic County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Crump v. Passaic County, 147 F. Supp. 3d 249, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 161463, 2015 WL 7761064 (D.N.J. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION

William H. Walls, United States Senior District Judge

Two motions are before the Court in this putative class action arising out of strip searches conducted at the Passaic County Jail. Plaintiff moves for leave to file a second amended complaint and to replace the proposed class representative. Defendants oppose Plaintiffs motion to amend as futile and move to dismiss Plaintiffs first amended complaint. Decided without oral argument under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 78, the Court finds that Defendants Berdnik and Tolerico, in their individual capacities, are protected by qualified immunity from Plaintiffs first cause of action. Plaintiffs motion to amend is otherwise granted, because allowing for the filing of a second amended complaint would be neither inequitable nor futile. Defendants’ motion to dismiss Plaintiffs first amended complaint is denied as moot.

I. Factual and Procedural Background 1

Plaintiff Jeremy Crump was arrested three times between 2011 and 2013 for [252]*252failing to pay child support and taken to the Passaic County Jail each time. Am. Compl., ECF No. 24, ¶¶ 10, 48-49. As he was admitted to the jail, Crdmp was taken into an opén' hallway and required to fully undress in view of at least ten other; detainees as part of a visual strip search. Id. ¶¶ 53-61. Defendants are the County of Passaic and the Corrective Services Division of the Passaic County Sheriffs Office (“Corrective Services”), two county governmental organizations responsible for Passaic County Jail, as well as the Sheriff of Passaic County, Richard Berdnik, and the Warden of Corrective Services, Michael Tolerico, in their official and individual capacities. Id. ¶¶ 10-14.

On April 11, 2014, Crump began this action for relief on behalf of two proposed classes on both federal and state grounds. Compl., ECF No. 1. He later filed an amended complaint on May 15, 2015. Am. Cornal., ECF No. 24. In that complaint, he asserted that Defendants were responsible for a written or de facto “policy, custom or practice of strip searching all individuals” sent to Passaic County Jail. Id. ¶ 35. These visual inspections of detainees’ bodies, including their genitals, were conducted in a “public area.” Id. ¶¶ 32-36. These strip searches were allegedly non supported by reasonable suspicion or probable cause and were conducted on individuals arrested for non-indictable offenses such as having unpaid parking tickets. Id. ¶ 45.

Plaintiffs first cause of action, brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, charged that Defendants violated the Fourth Amendment by having a policy of strip searching detainees arrested or detained for non-indictable offenses before they were introduced into the- general population. Id. ¶¶ 67-74. The second cause of action, brought under the New Jersey Civil Rights Act, N.J.S.A. 10:6-2(c), claimed that Defendants violated Art. I § 7 of the New Jersey Constitution and the New Jersey Strip Search Statute, N.J.S.A. • 2A:161A-1 et seq., because the strip searches were conducted on detainees held for non-indictable offenses without their valid consent and performed in a location; Where the subjects could be ob-servéd by persons not conducting the search. Id. ¶¶ 75-89.

Art. I § 7 of the New Jersey Constitution declares, - in relevant part, that the “right of the people to be secure in their persons ... against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.” N.J.S.A. 2A:161A-1 provides, in relevant part, that a person detained for an offense other than a crime shall not be strip searched unless the search is authorized by a warrant or by consent, or unless the “person is lawfully confined in a municipal detention facility ... and the search is based on a reasonable suspicion that a weapon, [controlled substance], or contraband ... will be found, and the search is authorized pursuant to regulations” issued by the Department of Corrections.

' ' Plaintiff also argued that the class periods should begin in 2007 because the statute of limitations had been tolled by the filing of Levy v. Passaic County, No. 9-cv-1191, a previous putative class action in this, court, that also challenged Passaic County Jail’s strip search policy. Id. ¶¶ 2-3. The plaintiff in that case also asserted that the policy of strip searching all detainees regardless of individualized suspicion violated .the Fourth Amendment, but she did [253]*253not bring any state law claims.-No. 9-cv-1191, ECF .No. 21 at 1. That case was brought on March 17; 2009, stayed pending a Third Circuit decision, and then'dismissed for .lack of prosecution. Id, at 2-3.

Defendants filed a motion to dismiss the amended cómplaint on June 12, 2015, arguing that Plaintiffs constitutional claim should be dismissed and that the Court should decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the remaining state law claim. Mot: to Dismiss, ECF No. 26 at-1-2. Defendants also maintain that the statute of limitations was not tolled by the filing of Levy and that the constitutional claim against Berdnik and Tolerico is barred by qualified immunity and sovereign immunity. Id. at 21-25; 36-39. Plaintiff oppo’sed the motion to dismiss and moved for leave to amend the complaint a second-time,..submitting a proposed amended complaint to the Court. Second Mot. to Amend, ECF No. 30. The parties then agreed to a modification of the proposed second amended complaint, Riback Letter, ECF No. 37-1, and Plaintiff submitted a revised proposed second amended complaint (“Proposed Amended Complaint”) on October 21, 2015 to be considered along with his motion to amend. ECF No. 40.

II. The Proposed Amended Complaint

The Proposed Amended Complaint seeks to remove Crump as class representative and replace him with Paul Nichols. Plaintiffs counsel has certified that Crump “has not responded to ... many contacts' and “is not cooperating .as Class representative.” Riback Cert. ECF No.-30-12 ¶ 4. .Nichols was-incarcerated in Passaic County Jail approximately 20 times in the last five years for failure to pay child support. ECF No. 40-2 ¶ 9. Nichols alleges that each time he was admitted, before he was assigned to the general population, he and one or two other detainees were taken to a room without a door that could be viewed from Ta “busy hallway” and required to undress, bend over, and cough in full view of each other, the corrections officers, and the hallway. Id. ¶ 60.

The Proposed Amended Complaint would also revise Plaintiffs § 1983 claim. Rather than alleging that the underlying Fourth Amendment violation stemmed from strip searches that were conducted without reasonable suspicion, the Proposed Amended Complaint alleges that the Fourth Amendment was violated by the “non-private setting” in which the strip searches took place. ECF No. 40-1 ¶¶ 91-92. The absence of reasonable suspicion remains a component of Plaintiffs state -law cause of action. ECF No. 40-2 ¶¶ 80-93. The Proposed Amended Complaint seeks to certify two classes. The first is a “Federal Law Class,” defined as:

All persons who have been placed into custody of the. Passaic County Jail after being charged with non-indictable offenses (such as disorderly persons offenses, traffic infractions and/or civil commitments) and.

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147 F. Supp. 3d 249, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 161463, 2015 WL 7761064, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crump-v-passaic-county-njd-2015.