Hinson v. Rankin County

873 F. Supp. 2d 790, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66093, 2012 WL 1668875
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Mississippi
DecidedMay 11, 2012
DocketCivil Action No. 3:10CV456TSL-MTP
StatusPublished

This text of 873 F. Supp. 2d 790 (Hinson v. Rankin County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hinson v. Rankin County, 873 F. Supp. 2d 790, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66093, 2012 WL 1668875 (S.D. Miss. 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

TOM S. LEE, District Judge.

This cause is before the court on the motion of defendant Rankin County, Mississippi for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Plaintiffs Michael W. Hinson and Carol C. Hinson have responded to the motion and the court, having considered the memoranda of authorities, together with attachments, submitted by the parties, concludes that the motion is well taken and should be granted.

On January 5, 2009, Richard Weaver, a neighbor of plaintiffs, filed a criminal affidavit against Michael Hinson, claiming that the previous day, he had discharged weapons in the direction of Weaver’s property. Based on the affidavits, a warrant was issued for Michael Hinson’s arrest on misdemeanor charges of disturbing the peace and simple assault. The same day, Rankin County Constable Barry Bean, accompanied by deputies with the Rankin County Sheriffs Department, went to plaintiffs’ residence to arrest Michael Hinson pursuant to the warrant. Plaintiffs allege, and have testified that after Michael Hinson voluntarily exited the residence and was handcuffed by Constable Bean, the sheriffs deputies entered the residence and began searching the residence, ostensibly for weapons. The officers seized two 9mm pistols, two .12 gauge shotguns, a .22 caliber long rifle, a .410 shotgun and a three foot long sword, all of which were returned to Carol Hinson a week later, on January 12, 2009. At Michael Hinson’s initial appearance on January 6, 2009, bond was set at $50,000 on the simple assault charge and $1,000 for the disturbing the peace charge. According to the complaint, he remained in jail for eighteen days, until Carol Hinson sold the couple’s real property in order to have money for the bond.

Plaintiffs filed the present action on August 17, 2010, alleging state and federal law claims relating to Michael Hinson’s arrest and detention, and to the search of the residence and resulting seizure of the guns. Plaintiffs initially named as defendants Constable Bean, in his official and individual capacities; Rankin County Justice Court; Rankin County Sheriffs Department; Rankin County Sheriff Ronnie Pennington, in his individual and official [792]*792capacities; and Rankin County. The court dismissed the Rankin County Justice Court and Rankin County Sheriffs Department by opinion entered May 19, 2011, and plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed their individual capacity claims against Constable Bean and Sheriff Pennington on July 7, 2011, leaving the official capacity claims against Sheriff Pennington and Constable Bean, and against Rankin County1 relating to the search of the residence and seizure of guns and to Michael Hinson’s detention. Rankin County has moved for summary judgment on various grounds. The court concludes the motion is well taken on the following bases.

The County contends it is entitled to summary judgment on plaintiffs’ claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for alleged violation of their Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure because plaintiffs cannot prove that a policy, custom or practice of Rankin County that was adopted or maintained with objective deliberate indifference, proximately caused any deprivation of their constitutional rights.2 In support of its motion, the County argues, first, that plaintiffs cannot establish any deprivation of their Fourth Amendment right to be free from illegal search and seizure, since a warrant-less search of the residence was not unreasonable under the circumstances; and second, that even if plaintiffs could establish a Fourth Amendment violation, they cannot hold the County liable as they cannot establish that such violation was the result of official County policy. The court will assume for purposes of the motion that the deputies violated plaintiffs’ constitutional rights when they undertook a warrantless search inside the residence after Michael Hinson had already been arrested outside the residence.3 However, to recover [793]*793against the County, plaintiff must prove such violation occurred pursuant to official county policy.

A municipality or other local government may be liable under [Section 1983] if the governmental body itself “subjects” a person to a deprivation of rights or “causes” a person “to be subjected” to such deprivation. See Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 692, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978). But, under § 1983, local governments are responsible only for “their own illegal acts.” Pembaur v. Cincinnati 475 U.S. 469, 479, 106 S.Ct. 1292, 89 L.Ed.2d 452 (1986) (citing Monell, 436 U.S. at 665-683, 98 S.Ct. 2018). They are not vicariously liable under § 1983 for their employees’ actions. See id., at 691, 98 S.Ct. 2018.
Plaintiffs who seek to impose liability on local governments under § 1983 must prove that “action pursuant to official municipal policy” caused their injury. Monell, 436 U.S., at 691, 98 S.Ct. 2018; see id., at 694, 98 S.Ct. 2018. Official municipal policy includes the decisions of a government’s lawmakers, the acts of its policymaking officials, and practices so persistent and widespread as to practically have the force of law. See ibid.; Pembaur, supra, at 480-481, 106 S.Ct. 1292; Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 167-168, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970). These are “action[s] for which the municipality is actually responsible.” Pembaur, supra, at 479-480, 106 S.Ct. 1292.

Connick v. Thompson, — U.S.-, 131 S.Ct. 1350, 1359-1360, 179 L.Ed.2d 417 (2011) (additional citations omitted). Thus, in order to hold the County liable, plaintiffs must establish their constitutional rights were violated as a result of the County’s official policy.

Rankin County contends that plaintiffs have not identified an official policy which authorized the alleged constitutional violation, and that they further have not alleged or sought to prove a history of constitutional violations so persistent and widespread that official policy may be inferred. The County observes that the only record evidence relating to the policies and practices of the County are the written policies of the Rankin County Sheriffs Department that set forth standards of conduct for all deputies; and the County submits that Policy No. 3.5 expressly prohibits unreasonable searches in violation of the Fourth Amendment by specifying the limited (and only) situations in which a warrantless search is constitutionally permissible, as follows;

1. Securing weapons or evidence of a crime incident to an arrest;
2. Assisting individuals under life-threatening situations;
3. Protecting the public from harm;
4. Searching for additional victims at crime scenes;
5.

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Bluebook (online)
873 F. Supp. 2d 790, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66093, 2012 WL 1668875, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hinson-v-rankin-county-mssd-2012.