Jefferson v. City of Hazlehurst

936 F. Supp. 382, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21145, 1995 WL 871586
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Mississippi
DecidedDecember 29, 1995
Docket2:93-cv-00250
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 936 F. Supp. 382 (Jefferson v. City of Hazlehurst) 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
Jefferson v. City of Hazlehurst, 936 F. Supp. 382, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21145, 1995 WL 871586 (S.D. Miss. 1995).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

WINGATE, District Judge.

Before the court is the motion of defendants City of Hazlehurst, Mississippi, James D. Shannon, and Ellis Stuart, for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56(b). 1 In her second amended complaint, plaintiff Pamela Jefferson alleges that these defendants unlawfully deprived her of a property right, namely, that of bail bondsman, by terminating her license to write bail bonds without a proper hearing. Plaintiff says that as a direct result of the actions of these defendants, her constitutional and federal statutory rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and by Title 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985 have been violated, and she is, therefore, entitled to compensatory damages and injunctive relief enjoining the defendants from engaging in such conduct toward the plaintiff in the future. Defendants challenge plaintiff’s contentions and assert that they are entitled to *385 summary judgment because: (1) plaintiff has failed to identify any clear, applicable constitutional right violated by defendants; (2) plaintiff has failed to show any specific acts or raise any reasonable inference about any conduct on the part of the City of Hazle-hurst, which would subject the City to liability under Title 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985; and (3) plaintiff has failed to allege any conduct on the part of individual defendants, James D. Shannon and Ellis Stuart, which involves anything other than judicial functions which are protected by judicial immunity. Plaintiff opposes defendants’ motion, arguing that the facts of her lawsuit do indeed establish a constitutional and federal basis for her claims. Relative to defendant James D. Shannon, Municipal Judge for the City of Hazlehurst, and to Ellis Stuart, Chief of Ha-zlehurst Police Department, appointed by Judge Shannon as a hearing officer to determine plaintiff’s eligibility to write bonds, plaintiff argues that these defendants were without jurisdiction to revoke and/or suspend her license and that their acts were not normal judicial functions protected by judicial immunity. Plaintiff does not address the liability of defendant City of Hazlehurst.

I. PARTIES AND JURISDICTION

Plaintiff Pamela Jefferson is a citizen of Crystal Springs, Mississippi. Defendant James D. Shannon, a Municipal Judge for the City of Hazlehurst, Mississippi, is a resident citizen of Copiah County, Mississippi. Defendant Ellis Stuart, the Police Chief of the Hazlehurst Police Department, also is a Mississippi resident. This court has jurisdiction over this dispute pursuant to Title 28 U.S.C. § 1331. 2

II. FACTS

In February, 1992, James D. Shannon became a City of Hazlehurst Municipal Judge. As part of his policy, Judge Shannon required all bail bondsmen to file their license and their power of attorney with the court and upon appearing in his court to have in hand their license and power of attorney. Judge Shannon supposedly adopted this policy so as to keep track of what a bail bondsman had on file with the Sheriff and the Circuit Clerk of the County.

Sometime prior to January 15, 1993, it came to Judge Shannon’s attention that Pamela Jefferson did not have a license or a power of attorney on file. Judge Shannon further learned that Jefferson had outstanding bonds upon which she may have defaulted. Thereafter, Judge Shannon refused to allow Jefferson to write bonds in the City of Hazlehurst, pending the outcome of an evi-dentiary hearing he scheduled for January 15, 1993, to determine whether Jefferson indeed had outstanding bonds. According to Judge Shannon, he provided plaintiff the opportunity for a formal hearing in order to ensure that Jefferson’s right to due process was honored since he felt that the ability to write bonds could possibly be a property right. Jefferson received notice of the hear-' ing and its basis by letter dated January 8, 1993.

Present at the hearing on January 15, 1993, was Ellis Stuart, the individual appointed by Judge Shannon as the hearing officer, the City Attorney, and the City Clerk. Neither Jefferson, nor her lawyer or representative appeared.

After waiting a significant period of time for Jefferson to show up, Stuart conducted the hearing without her and heard evidence presented by the City Attorney and the City Clerk. Stuart also considered a letter written by Jefferson to Stuart in response to Judge Shannon’s letter of January 8, 1993. According to defendants, the evidence presented showed not only that Jefferson’s paperwork under Judge Shannon’s policy was not in order, but that at the time Jefferson had four outstanding bonds, at least one of which had been due since 1991. Based upon this uneontradicted evidence, Stuart suspended Jefferson from writing bonds in the City of Hazlehurst. Stuart notified Jefferson of his ruling via letter dated February 2, 1993.

*386 Upon receiving Stuart’s letter advising her of the suspension of her bond writing privileges, Jefferson commenced this action, alleging, among other things, racial discrimination under Title 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and conspiracy under § 1985.

III. SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD

Summary judgment is appropriate where the movant has demonstrated that there exists no genuine issue of material fact and that the movant is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Daly v. Sprague, 675 F.2d 716 (5th Cir .1982). In assessing whether the movant has met the burden of proof, the court views all of the facts and the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-mov-ant. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. v. Dawson, 4 F.3d 1303 (5th Cir.1993). If after this assessment the court finds that there are material factual disputes, then summary judgment is not appropriate. Id. However, if the court finds that in light of the record taken as a whole a rational trier of fact could not find for the non-movant, there is no genuine issue for trial and summary judgment is appropriate. Sims v. Monumental General Insurance, 960 F.2d 478 (5th Cir. 1992); Celotex Corporation v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).

IV. DISCUSSION

A. SECTION 1983 CLAIM

Title 42 U.S.C. § 1983

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Related

Harris v. Mississippi Valley State Univ.
873 So. 2d 970 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2004)
Brown v. City of Hazlehurst
741 So. 2d 975 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 1999)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
936 F. Supp. 382, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21145, 1995 WL 871586, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jefferson-v-city-of-hazlehurst-mssd-1995.