Hebert v. Maxwell

214 F. App'x 451
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 19, 2007
Docket05-30929
StatusUnpublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 214 F. App'x 451 (Hebert v. Maxwell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hebert v. Maxwell, 214 F. App'x 451 (5th Cir. 2007).

Opinion

JERRY E. SMITH, Circuit Judge. *

After being arrested for criminal trespass and spending about forty-eight hours in jail, Lenward Hebert brought a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action for false arrest, false imprisonment, denial of bail, and unconstitutional conditions of confinement. The district court denied the claim of qualified immunity made by the defendants, Sheriff Randy Maxwell and his deputy, Jim Boyd. The defendants appeal the denial of qualified immunity for false arrest and conditions of confinement, and we affirm.

I.

After the Concordia Parish Sheriffs office received several calls about a suspicious blue pickup, Boyd came upon Hebert sitting inside his blue pickup, which was *453 parked off the side of the highway in a grassy area in front of a farm. Boyd approached Hebert and asked who he was and what he was doing. Hebert initially indicated that he was a surveyor, but he soon admitted that he was a private investigator. Hebert refused to provide information about whom he was investigating, although he did provide extensive identification, including a valid driver’s license, a Louisiana private investigator’s license, a Louisiana permit for tinted windows, vehicle registration, a veteran’s identification card, and his scuba diving certification.

Boyd called Gene Tiffee, the landowner, to the scene. Tiffee signed a statement that Hebert was parked “on Gene Tiffee[’s] land at the intersection of La. 129 & 907 next to his cow pen.” Hebert claims that he offered to move his truck and leave the scene but was precluded from doing so. Boyd arrested Hebert for criminal trespass and later testified that Maxwell told him to arrest Hebert and hold him until they “found out more information.”

Hebert was taken to the parish jail Saturday afternoon. He was given two bedsheets, two towels, and two hand towels, was permitted to call his wife, and was placed in a holding cell called the “tank.” Hebert told his wife that he had been arrested but that she should not come to the jail because he would not be let out until Monday. Although the bond for criminal trespass is preset on a bond schedule, Hebert did not pay the bond until Monday. Maxwell had placed a “hold” on Hebert until Monday and testified that the “hold” was maintained until they could “find out who [Hebert] was.” On Monday, Hebert was taken before a judge, posted bond, and was released.

Hebert complains that the jail conditions were inhumane. He asserts that the cell reeked of human waste, which was strewn across the walls and the floor. The “tank” contained no bed, only a hard wooden bench. He claims the overhead lights were never turned off, that he was not permitted to shower or exercise, and that he was not given soap, toilet paper, toothbrush, or toothpaste until shortly before release. Although he received three meals a day, he urges that the food was cold, that it had been sitting out for a considerable time before being served, and that the only edible item was a biscuit. Finally, he alleges that clean cells with mattresses were empty and available in the jail.

II.

We have jurisdiction to review the district court’s denial of summary judgment on the basis of qualified immunity in this case because it comes within the collateral order doctrine. Where the denial of qualified immunity is based on an issue of law, it is an appealable “final order” within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 530, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985). Whether a fact that is in dispute is “material” is a legal issue over which we have jurisdiction. Davis ex rel McCully v. City of N. Richland Hills, 406 F.3d 375, 379 (5th Cir. 2005). We determine whether an issue of the materiality of disputed facts is properly raised on appeal by reference to the nature of the legal argument advanced in the appellant’s brief. Id.

Defendants argue that the uncontested facts demonstrate that there was probable cause to arrest Hebert. They also reason that even if the plaintiffs allegations as to the condition of the “tank” are true, they do not rise to the level of a violation of a clear statutory or constitutional right. These arguments address the materiality of the facts the district court found to be in dispute, raising legal issues that this court may review on interlocutory appeal.

*454 III.

Defendants contend that the district court erred in denying qualified immunity on the claim of false arrest. We review the refusal to dismiss Hebert’s claim on the basis of qualified immunity de novo. Wilkerson v. Stalder, 329 F.3d 431, 434 (5th Cir.2003).

Once a public official has raised the defense of qualified immunity, the burden rests on the plaintiff to rebut it. See Pierce v. Smith, 117 F.3d 866, 871-72 (5th Cir.1997). On a motion for summary judgment, the disputed facts to which the plaintiff points must be sufficient, if his version is accepted, for a reasonable trier of fact to determine (1) that the defendants violated the plaintiffs constitutional rights and (2) that the violation was objectively unreasonable. See Fraire v. City of Arlington, 957 F.2d 1268, 1273 (5th Cir.1992). The inquiry into reasonableness asks “whether ‘[t]he contours of the right [are] sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates the right.’ ” Id. (citing Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987)). If reasonable public officials could differ as to whether the defendants’ actions were lawful, defendants are entitled to immunity. Malley v. Briggs, 475 U.S. 335, 341, 106 S.Ct. 1092, 89 L.Ed.2d 271 (1986).

“The right to be free from arrest without probable cause is a clearly established constitutional right.” Mangieri v. Clifton, 29 F.3d 1012, 1016 (5th Cir.1994). The test for probable cause is whether the officer, at the time of arrest, “had knowledge that would warrant a prudent person’s belief that the person arrested had already committed or was committing a crime.” Id. (citing Duckett v. City of Cedar Park, 950 F.2d 272, 278 (5th Cir. 1992)). “Police officers who reasonably but mistakenly conclude that probable cause is present are entitled to qualified immunity.” Id. at 1017 (citing Hunter v. Bryant,

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214 F. App'x 451, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hebert-v-maxwell-ca5-2007.