James Setchfield v. Scott Ronald

109 F.4th 1084
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJuly 31, 2024
Docket23-2236
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 109 F.4th 1084 (James Setchfield v. Scott Ronald) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
James Setchfield v. Scott Ronald, 109 F.4th 1084 (8th Cir. 2024).

Opinion

United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________

No. 23-2236 ___________________________

James W. Setchfield

Plaintiff - Appellee

v.

St. Charles County

Defendant

Scott Ronald, P.O. - DSN 676; Nicholas Seiverling, P.O. - DSN 677

Defendants - Appellants

John Williams

Defendant ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri - St. Louis ____________

Submitted: June 11, 2024 Filed: July 31, 2024 ____________

Before COLLOTON, Chief Judge, ARNOLD and GRUENDER, Circuit Judges. ____________ GRUENDER, Circuit Judge.

Sixty-eight-year-old plaintiff James Setchfield filed a lawsuit against St. Charles County Police Department (“SCCPD”) Officer Nicholas Seiverling and Corporal Scott Ronald after the officers allegedly beat him in the parking lot of an Outback Steakhouse. Officer Seiverling and Corporal Ronald filed a motion for summary judgment based on qualified immunity, which the district court1 denied. The officers filed this interlocutory appeal. We affirm.

I.

Though the parties dispute many of the facts of this case, they do agree on how the incident in question began. On August 18, 2020, Officer Seiverling and Corporal Ronald arrested Setchfield’s son in the parking lot of an Outback Steakhouse for driving under the influence. Instead of taking him to the station, the officers told Setchfield’s son that he could call someone to pick him up. So he called his father. When Setchfield arrived, his son was sitting in the back of a patrol car.

What happened next is disputed, so we view the evidence in the light most favorable to Setchfield and draw all reasonable inferences in his favor. See Shannon v. Koehler, 616 F.3d 855, 862-63 (8th Cir. 2010). When Setchfield arrived, he did not know where his son was or why he had been arrested. So Setchfield pulled up next to a police car, rolled down his window, and asked Corporal Ronald where his son was and why he had been arrested. Corporal Ronald responded curtly that it was none of Setchfield’s business. Setchfield asked a second time, and Corporal Ronald responded again: “It’s none of your fucking business.” Their exchange became heated. Both men were shouting. Setchfield called Corporal Ronald a “prick” and a “jerk,” though he remained seated in his car the entire time and did not threaten Corporal Ronald or anyone else.

1 The Honorable Ronnie L. White, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri.

-2- At some point during this unpleasant conversation, Corporal Ronald approached Setchfield and asked him if he had a gun. While Setchfield was speaking with Corporal Ronald, Officer Seiverling rushed in, “shouting in a manner [Setchfield] could not hear nor understand.” When Officer Seiverling reached Setchfield’s car, he reached in through his rolled-down window. Startled, Setchfield moved his left arm in a “protective” manner, and Officer Seiverling began punching Setchfield. Both officers hit him while he was still seated with his seatbelt buckled. He was hit in the face, stomach, shoulder, and crotch.

The officers never asked Setchfield to get out of the car. Instead, they pulled him out by his arm. Corporal Ronald placed Setchfield in a “wristlock” while doing so. Officer Seiverling then swept Setchfield’s legs out from under him, causing Setchfield to fall face first onto the asphalt. Setchfield was handcuffed and placed under arrest. At no point did Setchfield possess a weapon, try to get out of his vehicle, take off his seat belt, try to flee, or threaten Corporal Ronald or Officer Seiverling with any sort of physical violence.

Emergency medical technicians responded to the scene. Setchfield required assistance walking to the ambulance, and he was taken to the hospital. Setchfield suffered various lacerations, abrasions, bruising, and injuries to his shoulder, wrist, and knee. Setchfield was subsequently diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and now fears law enforcement.

Setchfield filed suit against St. Charles County, Corporal Ronald, Officer Seiverling, and another SCCPD officer, John Williams. The district court dismissed the claims against St. Charles County, as well as Setchfield’s negligence claim and his official-capacity claims against the three officers. Invoking qualified immunity, Corporal Ronald and Officers Seiverling and Williams then moved for summary judgment on the remaining claims. The district court granted summary judgment to Officer Williams on the remaining claims against him and also granted summary judgment to Corporal Ronald and Officer Seiverling on one of Setchfield’s claims against them. However, the court denied summary judgment to Corporal Ronald and Officer Seiverling on Setchfield’s excessive force and unlawful arrest claims, as

-3- well as related state-law claims. Corporal Ronald and Officer Seiverling now appeal the denial of summary judgment and qualified immunity as to the excessive-force and unlawful-arrest claims.

II.

“Ordinarily, we lack jurisdiction to hear an immediate appeal from a district court’s order denying summary judgment, because such an order is not a final decision.” Langford v. Norris, 614 F.3d 445, 455 (8th Cir. 2010) (internal quotation marks omitted). “We do have limited authority, however, to review the denial of qualified immunity through an interlocutory appeal under the collateral order doctrine.” Krout v. Goemmer, 583 F.3d 557, 564 (8th Cir. 2009). Our jurisdiction “extends only to abstract issues of law, not to determinations that the evidence is sufficient to permit a particular finding of fact after trial.” Id. (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). “Thus, a defendant entitled to invoke a qualified immunity defense may not appeal a district court’s summary judgment order insofar as that order determines whether or not the pretrial record sets forth a genuine issue of fact for trial.” Langford, 614 F.3d at 455 (internal quotation marks omitted).

We review the denial of summary judgment based on qualified immunity de novo. See Brandy v. City of St. Louis, 75 F.4th 908, 913 (8th Cir. 2023). In conducting our review, we construe the record in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, id., “accept[ing] as true the facts that the district court found were adequately supported, as well as the facts that the district court likely assumed, to the extent they are not blatantly contradicted by the record,” Graham v. St. Louis Metro. Police Dep’t, 933 F.3d 1007, 1008 (8th Cir. 2019) (internal quotation marks omitted). “Summary judgment is proper if the pleadings, the discovery and disclosure materials on file, and any affidavits show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” MacKintrush v. Pulaski Cnty. Sheriff’s Dep’t, 987 F.3d 767, 769 (8th Cir. 2021); see Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). A dispute is genuine “if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party,” and a fact is material if it “might

-4- affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248 (1986).

In § 1983 actions, government officials are entitled to summary judgment if they are entitled to qualified immunity.

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109 F.4th 1084, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/james-setchfield-v-scott-ronald-ca8-2024.