Erwin v. County of Manitowoc

872 F.2d 1292, 1989 WL 40393
Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit·Decided April 19, 1989·No. Nos. 88-1211, 88-1263·Published·Cited by 55 cases

Opinion

MANION, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs sued defendants under 42 U.S. C. § 1983 for civil rights violations and for damages resulting from a police search of a private residence. Plaintiffs claim that several deputies violated their Fourth Amendment rights by engaging in an unreasonable search and seizure and using excessive force and also violated the Fourteenth Amendment by depriving plaintiffs of property without due process of law. They also claim that the County inadequately trained its officers in executing search warrants of private residences. The jury awarded plaintiffs compensatory and punitive damages amounting to $85,000, most of which the district court vacated on the defendants’ motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. We reverse the district court and remand for a new trial.

I.

A Manitowoc County, Wisconsin circuit judge issued a search warrant to the County Sheriff’s Department authorizing a search of the residence of Joseph and Brenda Erwin to locate four stolen pressure cookers and four ounces of marijuana. On August 30, 1984, the county sheriff’s Special Operations Squad (SOS), consisting of Sergeant Richard Tisler, Officer Timothy O’Hearn and Officer John Felber, executed the search warrant. Upon entering the residence, Sergeant Tisler served the warrant upon Brenda Erwin. The other two officers moved quickly through the house to secure it. In that process, Officer O’Hearn encountered one of several of the families’ dogs, a German shepherd, and shot and killed it, allegedly in self-defense.

When the officers entered the house they were wearing camouflage uniforms. The record does not disclose who or what the officers expected to find (other than the pressure cookers and the marijuana). But the only people present when the officers entered were Brenda Erwin, her sister, Rowena Oclon, several young children in-[1294]*1294eluding Brenda Erwin’s daughter, Debra Laier, and the children’s elderly grandfather. After the house was “secured” the dog was dead, the children and the adults were screaming, and the officers found no pressure cooker or marijuana.

The plaintiffs make several allegations that the defendants strongly dispute. Plaintiffs claim that the officers barged in without knocking or warning, that one of the officers (probably Felber, since deceased) hit Brenda Erwin in the mouth with his gun butt, and that Officer O’Hearn needlessly shot and killed the dog during the confrontation. The defendants, on the other hand, claim they knocked before entering and issued the normal warning, and deny that anyone hit Brenda Erwin. Officer O’Hearn admitted that he shot the dog, but he claims the dog was attacking him and he shot in self-defense.

At trial all the adults present in the household and the surviving officers testified. In addition to complaining about the methods and the results of the search itself, the plaintiffs also alleged that Manito-woc County was grossly negligent in, failing to train its deputy, sheriffs in the manner in which search warrants must be exe.cuted.

At trial there was psychiatric testimony for plaintiffs by Dr. Robert Gale concerning damage incurred by Brenda Erwin and Debra Laier. Also, plaintiffs’ expert witness Robert di Grazia testified that the training of the SOS had been insufficient. Conflicting testimony was taken from Officer O’Heam and from a veterinarian concerning the manner in which O’Hearn had shot the dog.

As damages, the Erwins claimed the value of the dog. In addition, however, they relied on the evidence of severe psychological damage to the various plaintiffs as a result of the method of entry, the conduct of the search, and the impact as a result of the killing of the dog. At the conclusion of trial, the judge prepared a form of jury verdict containing a number of questions and, depending on the answers to those questions, several other questions regarding damages. (The complete verdict form and the answers provided by the jury are set forth in the appendix to this opinion.) The issues on appeal focus on the form of verdict, the conflicting questions in that form, and the seemingly inconsistent answers and award of damages by the jury.

The jury first found that the officers of the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department did not act unreasonably in the manner in which they carried out the search of the Erwin home. However, the jury did find that Timothy O’Hearn acted unreasonably in shooting the dog. Although they found the manner of the search reasonable, the jury nevertheless found that Manito-woc County was grossly negligent in failing to train its deputy sheriffs in the manner in which search warrants may be executed. They also found that there was an affirmative link between the failure to properly train the deputy sheriffs and the injuries that were sustained by the plaintiffs.1

The jury concluded that Brenda Erwin and Debra Laier suffered injuries as a result of the failure of Manitowoc County to properly train its deputy sheriffs. The jury awarded Joseph and Brenda Erwin $600 as compensation for the loss of their dog. As compensation for failure of the County to properly train its deputy sheriffs, the jury awarded Brenda Erwin $35,-000 and Debra Laier $10,000. In addition, the jury awarded punitive damages to only Brenda Erwin and Debra Laier as follows: against Detective Larry Conrad $15,000; against Deputy Timothy O’Hearn $5,000; against Deputy Richard Tisler $5,000; and against Manitowoc County Sheriff Tom Ko-courek $15,000.

The defendants moved for, among other things, judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and for a new trial. The judge denied the motion for a new trial. He also denied the j.n.o.v. with regard to the $600 damages for the loss of the dog and the $5,000 punitive damages against Timothy O’Hearn, who had shot the dog. However, because of the inconsistencies between the [1295]*1295jury’s answers to the questions on the verdict form and the damages awarded, the district court granted the remaining defendants’ motion j.n.o.v., thus vacating the balance of the damages awarded. Plaintiffs appeal from the district court’s partial grant of the j.n.o.v., and Officer O’Heam appeals from the denial of the motion as it applied to damages against him.

The district court considered only the defendants’ motions for a new trial and for j.n.o.v., viewing the evidence as a whole in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party-plaintiffs. The primary problem with the verdict as reviewed by the district court was the award of punitive damages against Conrad, Tisler, and Kocourek, against whom no liability had been found. Because the jury had found that the officers did not act unreasonably in searching the Erwin home, the district court likewise found it impossible to sustain the jury determination that the County had been grossly negligent in failing to train its officers. The trial judge sustained only the damages in the amount of $5,600 against O’Hearn, denying him a new trial.

II.

At issue in this case is whether the district court properly granted the defendants’ motion for j.n.o.v. In reviewing a district court’s decision to grant j.n.o.v. under Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(b), we (as did the trial judge) examine the evidence in a light most favorable to the prevailing parties. Selle v. Gibb,

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Erwin v. County of Manitowoc, 872 F.2d 1292, 1989 WL 40393 (7th Cir. 1989).

872 F.2d 1292 (Erwin v. County of Manitowoc) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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