Faith Baptist Church v. Waterford Township

522 F. App'x 322
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedApril 11, 2013
Docket10-1406
StatusUnpublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 522 F. App'x 322 (Faith Baptist Church v. Waterford Township) 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
Faith Baptist Church v. Waterford Township, 522 F. App'x 322 (6th Cir. 2013).

Opinion

MAYS, District Judge.

Plaintiffs Faith Baptist Church and Pastor James Combs appeal the judgment of the district court denying their claims against Waterford Township, Carl Solden, individually and in his official capacity as Waterford Township Supervisor, Daniel T. McCaw, individually and in his official capacity as Chief of the Waterford Township Police Department, Jeffrey James, individually and in his official capacity as Deputy Chief of the Waterford Township Police Department, and Walter Bedell, individually and in his official capacity as Prosecuting Attorney for Waterford Township. 1 Plaintiffs seek relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for Defendants’ violation of Plaintiffs’ rights under the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments. 2 They pray for *324 monetary damages, injunctive relief, and a declaration that Defendants’ actions are unconstitutional.

This case arose when residents in Waterford complained to the Waterford Police Department that the music at Faith Baptist Church was too loud. Officers responded and questioned several worshipers and pastors at the church about the volume of the music. Bedell threatened to prosecute church members for disturbing the peace. No charges were ever filed.

On March 10, 2008, Plaintiffs filed suit. The relevant allegations for purposes of this appeal are that Defendants: 1) violated Plaintiffs’ First Amendment right to free exercise of religion; 2) violated their First Amendment right to freedom of speech; 3) violated their First Amendment right to freedom of association; 4) conspired to deprive Plaintiffs of their First Amendment rights; 5) violated their Fourth Amendment rights; 6) conspired to deprive Plaintiffs of their Fourth Amendment rights; and 7) violated Plaintiffs’ right to Equal Protection under the Fourteenth Amendment.

The district court granted partial judgment on the pleadings, dismissing Plaintiffs’ claims of conspiracy to violate their First and Fourth Amendment rights and violation of their equal protection rights under the Fourteenth Amendment, and all claims against Bedell on qualified immunity grounds. 3 On summary judgment, the district court dismissed all of Plaintiffs’ First Amendment claims for lack of standing. The district court also concluded that Waterford police officers did not violate the Fourth Amendment when they questioned church members or when they entered the church.

For the following reasons, we AFFIRM in part and REVERSE in part the district court’s judgment.

I.

Faith Baptist Church is a non-denominational church in Waterford, Michigan. On Wednesday evenings, it holds youth services where Christian musicians play contemporary religious music. On or about September 11, 2007, Timothy Carlson, a neighbor, complained to the Waterford Township Police Department about loud music at the church. Carlson had lived across the street since 2004. He said he had complained in 2006, but the church was unresponsive. On September 26, 2007, police officers were dispatched to Carlson’s home after he complained that the church was disturbing the peace. Because no music was playing when the officers arrived, they did not visit the church. On October 7, 2007, Carlson complained again. When the officers arrived, the music was so loud they could hear it in Carlson’s home. The officers went to the church and spoke with Pastor Mark Kerr, who said the band in the auditorium was practicing for the evening service. Kerr said the officers “talked for a bit ... and they asked to see my driver’s license.” The police did not tell Kerr or the musicians that they had to turn the music down.

On October 10, 2007, the police were called to Faith Baptist Church again. No music was playing when they arrived. Be-dell, in his capacity as Waterford’s Prosecuting Attorney, had arrived before them, and found the noise excessive. When he arrived, the music was so loud that the windows at Carlson’s residence were rattling, and Bedell could not use a normal *325 speaking tone. Before leaving the church, Bedell advised Combs, the youth pastor, that Bedell would obtain misdemeanor warrants for the members of the band. Bedell also dropped off copies of twelve noise complaints about the church’s music. Bedell had been in the church on unrelated matters twelve to fifteen times before, and no one had told him he was unwelcome.

On October 11, 2007, Bedell spoke with Pastor Martin Woody about the noise complaint. Bedell told Woody “the church should not be playing rock music,” and Bedell “[was] going to continue to issue tickets until it’s stopped.” On October 15, 2007, Bedell sent letters to three members of the band notifying them that the prosecutor’s office had received complaints against them and that they had to make an appointment with Bedell to discuss the complaints. Bedell took no further action, and no one was charged with a misdemeanor.

On October 28, 2007, police officers were again dispatched to Carlson’s home because of a noise complaint. When the officers arrived, the music coming from the church had already stopped. The officers went to the church, identified the band members, and left. The officers did not order the band to stop playing, and the band members did not receive tickets. An unidentified church member videotaped the police. The police did not visit Faith Baptist Church again.

II.

The issues on appeal were decided in two separate orders: a judgment on the pleadings and a summary judgment. Although the district court decided the question of qualified immunity in its judgment on the pleadings, we address qualified immunity separately.

“Qualified immunity is a question of law ... to be reviewed de novo by this Court.” Flint v. Kentucky Dep’t of Corr., 270 F.3d 340, 346 (6th Cir.2001); see also Holzemer v. City of Memphis, 621 F.3d 512, 519 (6th Cir.2010). A court need not accept unwarranted factual inferences as true. Kottmyer v. Maas, 436 F.3d 684, 689 (6th Cir.2006). When considering qualified immunity on appeal from a motion to dismiss, the court must “treat[] all allegations in the complaint as true and draw[ ] all inferences in favor of the non-moving party.” Cockrell v. City of Cincinnati, 468 Fed.Appx. 491, 494 (6th Cir.2012). The court “ ‘review[s] an assertion of qualified immunity to determine only whether the complaint adequately alleges the commission of acts that violated clearly established law.’” Heyne v. Metro. Nashville Pub. Schools, 655 F.3d 556, 562 (6th Cir.2011) (quoting Back v. Hall, 537 F.3d 552, 555 (6th Cir.2008) (internal quotations omitted)). The test on appeal is “whether, reading the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, it is plausible that an official’s acts violated the plaintiffs clearly established constitutional right.” Id. at 562-63.

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522 F. App'x 322, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/faith-baptist-church-v-waterford-township-ca6-2013.