Houston ex rel. Houston v. City of Athens

652 F. Supp. 868, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16841
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Alabama
DecidedDecember 5, 1986
DocketNo. CV 86-HM-5427-NE
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 652 F. Supp. 868 (Houston ex rel. Houston v. City of Athens) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Houston ex rel. Houston v. City of Athens, 652 F. Supp. 868, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16841 (N.D. Ala. 1986).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

HALTOM, District Judge.

The above entitled civil action is before the Court upon the defendant City of Athens’ 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss plaintiffs’ complaint, as last amended on October 20, 1986.1

Plaintiffs’ original complaint filed on August 8, 1986 is set out in the attached appendix to the within order which is expressly made a part hereof. Counts II (claim against City under respondeat superior doctrine for actions of its police officers) and IV (claim against City, County and motel under conspiracy theory for illegal arrest and malicious prosecution of plaintiffs) thereof contain the only claims for relief asserted by plaintiffs against the defendant municipality. Neither of these counts state a claim upon which relief can be granted and this Court’s October 16, 1986 Order herein so held.

By their October 20, 1986 amendment plaintiffs add (emphasis supplied) the fol[870]*870lowing allegations to Count II of their complaint: 2

On or about August 31, 1985 at the premises of the Town and Country Motel in Athens, Alabama the defendants Bill Davis, Harlan Mitchell, and Russ Morgan while acting in their official capacity as police officers for the City of Athens, Alabama did arrest the plaintiffs Victor Houston and Roosevelt Houston, Jr., and place the plaintiffs in the Limestone County jail. Plaintiffs further allege that the plaintiff Victor Houston was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest and said charges were dismissed or otherwise nol prossed. Plaintiffs allege that the plaintiff Roosevelt Houston, Jr., was found delinquent by the Limestone County Juvenile Court as a consequence of the arrest by the Defendants Bill Davis, Harlan Mitchell and Russ Morgan.
Plaintiffs allege that the arrest of the plaintiffs by the defendants Russ Morgan, Harlan Mitchell, and Bill Davis was an unlawful seizure by the City of Athens, Alabama done in violation of the plaintiffs rights as secured by the Fourth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Wherefore plaintiffs demand judgement against the City of Athens, Alabama in the amount of $250,000.

As so amended, amended Count II against the defendant municipality now reads:

2. ) The plaintiff Victor Houston, is a black male citizen of the United States under the age of nineteen residing at 705 Browns Ferry Street, Athens, Alabama.
3. ) The plaintiff Roosevelt Houston, Jr. is a black male citizen of the United States under the age of nineteen residing at 705 Brown Ferry Street, Athens, Alabama.
4. ) The next friend Roosevelt Houston, Sr. is a black male citizen of the United States over the age of nineteen residing at 705 Browns Ferry Street, Athens, Alabama and is the father of the plaintiffs Victor Houston and Roosevelt Houston, Jr.
5.) At all times material herein, defendants, the City of Athens was a municipal corporation of the State of Alabama, and was the employer of the defendants Bill Davis, Harlan Mitchell, and Russ Morgan. Defendant City of Athens, provided each of the individual defendants Bill Davis, Harlan Mitchell, and Russ Morgan with an official badge and identification card which designated and described its bearer as a police officer of said city’s police department. The City of Athens is the municipal corporation in whose name the individual defendants Bill Davis, Harlan Mitchell, and Russ Morgan performed all acts and omisions alleged here.
8. ) On or about the 31st day of August 1985 at the premises of the Town and Country Motel in Athens, Alabama, the defendants Bill Davis, Harlan Mitchell, and Russ Morgan, separately and in concert, acted under the color of law statutes, ordinances, regulations of the State of Alabama, and the County of Limestone and the City of Athens to illegally deprive the plaintiffs of rights, privileges, and immunities secured to the plaintiffs by the Fourteenth Amendment and the laws of the United States, to wit the defendants Bill Davis, Harlan Mitchell, and Russ Morgan did illegally arrest and physically assault and batter the plaintiffs Victor Houston and Roosevelt Houston, Jr. causing severe injury, pain, and suffering to said plaintiffs.

COUNT II

9. ) Plaintiffs incorporate by reference all allegations in paragraph 1 through 8 and alleges further that at all times material to this complaint. The defendants Bill Davis, Harlan Mitchell, and Russ Morgan were servants and agents of the [871]*871City of Athens, so that their acts are impuated [sic] to the City of Athens.
On or about August 31, 1985 at the premises of the Town and Country Motel in Athens, Alabama the defendants Bill Davis, Harlan Mitchell, and Russ Morgan while acting in their official capacity as police officers for the City of Athens, Alabama did arrest the plaintiffs Victor Houston and Roosevelt Houston, Jr., and place the plaintiffs in the Limestone County jail. Plaintiffs further allege that the plaintiff Victor Houston was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest and said charges were dismissed or otherwise nol prossed. Plaintiffs allege that the plaintiff Roosevelt Houston, Jr., was found delinquent by the Limestone County Juvenile Court as a consequence of the arrest by the Defendants Bill Davis, Harlan Mitchell and Russ Morgan.
Plaintiffs allege that the arrest of the plaintiffs by the defendants Russ Morgan, Harlan Mitchell, and Bill Davis was an unlawful seizure by the City of Athens, Alabama done in violation of the plaintiffs rights as secured by the Fourth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Wherefore plaintiffs demand judgement against the City of Athens, Alabama in the amount of $250,000.

A reasonable construction of amended Count II leads to the conclusion that plaintiffs are here seeking to establish section 1983 liability against the defendant City of Athens, Alabama for an alleged unreasonable seizure of and alleged excessive force on the persons of plaintiffs Roosevelt Houston, Jr. and Victor Houston allegedly committed by Athens Police Officers Bill Davis, Harlan Mitchell and Russ Morgan while acting in their respective official capacities and within the line and scope of their employment, all in alleged violation of plaintiffs’ rights secured by the Fourth Amendment3 and Fourteenth Amendment4 to the United States Constitution.

FOURTH AMENDMENT

UNREASONABLE SEIZURE

The initial issue before the Court in evaluating the Fourth Amendment unreasonable seizure claim against the defendant municipality is whether plaintiffs have alleged the elements of an unreasonable seizure.

The United States Supreme Court in Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1, 105 S.Ct. 1694, 85 L.Ed.2d 1 (1985), noted: “[whenever an officer restrains the freedom of a person to walk away, he has seized that person.” Under that standard, it is apparent from amended Count II of the complaint that a seizure of the persons of plaintiffs clearly occurred. A seizure, however, is not unconstitutional unless it is “unreasonable.” In Gilmere v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
652 F. Supp. 868, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16841, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/houston-ex-rel-houston-v-city-of-athens-alnd-1986.