Gardner v. Williams

56 F. App'x 700
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 6, 2003
DocketNo. 02-5363
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 56 F. App'x 700 (Gardner v. Williams) 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
Gardner v. Williams, 56 F. App'x 700 (6th Cir. 2003).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Marvin Gardner, along with his son, Mark, and his wife, Betty, brought this action against Kentucky State Trooper Patrick Williams and others for alleged violations arising out of the arrest of Marvin and Mark on August 17, 1999. Williams arrested the two men after they refused to leave an area in which Williams was issuing a traffic citation and after Marvin refused to produce identification. Williams and the other defendants moved for summary judgment, which the district court granted except as to Marvin’s claim against Williams for wrongful arrest. Williams appeals from this ruling, arguing that he is entitled to qualified immunity because there was probable cause to arrest Marvin or, in the alternative, because there was no “clearly established law” regarding the statutory requirements of the failure to disperse and disorderly conduct statutes. Because we conclude that Williams’s actions violated “clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known,” Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982), we affirm the district court’s decision denying Williams qualified immunity.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Kentucky State Trooper Patrick Williams initiated a traffic stop on August [702]*70217, 1999 after he observed a motorcycle driver execute an illegal u-turn. The driver pulled over onto the private property of Joe Burke Jones, and Williams followed. On Jones’s property, Marvin and Mark Gardner were sitting in a pick-up truck and talking with Jones, who was standing by the passenger-side window of the truck. Marvin had gone to speak with Jones about purchasing a car from him. Williams began a pat-down search of Jones at the front of the police car, at which time Mark backed his truck behind and perpendicular to the police car. Apparently concerned for his safety, Williams ordered the two Gardners to leave the scene, but they refused to go. After searching the motorcycle driver and his passenger, Williams repeated his request to the Gardners, and the Gardners again refused.

Williams then approached the Gardners’ truck, ordering them to leave for a third time. Marvin, adamant, told Williams that he was not leaving. Williams then explained that if they did not leave he would issue each Marvin and Mark a citation for failure to disperse. To this, Marvin responded, “It ain’t gonna happen, do what you got to do.” Williams asked for identification from both men so that he could complete the citations. Mark immediately complied, but Marvin refused. At this point, Williams returned to his police car to request assistance and to check the motorcycle driver’s identification. On his way to the police car, Williams told Jones he was free to leave.

Sheriffs Deputy Eddie Wilson, in response to Williams’s request for backup, arrived on the scene and, together with Williams, arrested Marvin when he again refused to produce identification. After Marvin was arrested, Williams returned his attention to Mark, whose attorney had arrived at the scene. While Williams was issuing Mark a citation, Mark became agitated and was ultimately placed in a latera vascular neck restraint and arrested by Williams.

Subsequently, both Marvin and Mark Gardner were acquitted of all charges stemming from this incident. They then initiated a civil action against Williams, Captain Wayne Edwards, and Commissioner Gary Rose for alleged violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and for state law claims of false arrest, assault, battery, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and outrageous conduct. Gardner’s wife brought a claim against Williams for loss of consortium.

The defendants moved for summary judgment on grounds of qualified immunity, which the district court granted except as to Marvin’s § 1983 claim against Williams for wrongful arrest. Williams now appeals from the district court decision.

DISCUSSION

A. Standard of Review

We review a district court’s denial of summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds de novo. See Heggen v. Lee, 284 F.3d 675, 679 (6th Cir.2002). Summary judgment is appropriate when there is “no genuine issue as to any material fact.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56. In making this determination, we consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. See Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986).

B. The Privilege of Qualified Immunity

Under the doctrine of qualified immunity» “government officials performing discretionary functions generally are shielded from liability for civil damages insofar as [703]*703their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.” Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982). Even if an official errs in his or her judgment and violates an individual’s constitutional rights, the officer is not subject to suit so long as the mistake was a reasonable one. See Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 205, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001). Furthermore, once a defendant asserts the privilege of qualified immunity, the burden shifts to the plaintiff “to establish that the defendant’s conduct violated a right so clearly established that any official in his position would have clearly understood that he was under an affirmative duty to refrain from such conduct.” Flint ex rel. Flint v. Kentucky Dept. of Corrections, 270 F.3d 340, 347 (6th Cir.2001).

To determine if qualified immunity attaches, we apply the sequential analysis set forth by the Supreme Court in Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001). See Greene v. Barber, 310 F.3d 889, 894 (6th Cir.2002), Goad v. Mitchell, 297 F.3d 497, 501 (6th Cir.2002). As an initial matter, we must determine whether, taken in the light most favorable to the party asserting the injury, the facts alleged are sufficient to make out a constitutional violation. See Saucier, 533 U.S. at 201. “If the answer is yes, then the second step is to determine whether the right is so ‘clearly established’ that a ‘reasonable official’ would understand that what he is doing violates that right.” Brennan v. Township of Northville, 78 F.3d 1152,1154 (6th Cir.1996) (quoting

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Bluebook (online)
56 F. App'x 700, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gardner-v-williams-ca6-2003.