Johnson v. City of Saginaw

365 F. Supp. 3d 818
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedFebruary 6, 2019
DocketCase No. 17-cv-13174
StatusPublished

This text of 365 F. Supp. 3d 818 (Johnson v. City of Saginaw) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Johnson v. City of Saginaw, 365 F. Supp. 3d 818 (E.D. Mich. 2019).

Opinion

THOMAS L. LUDINGTON, United States District Judge

On September 22, 2017, Plaintiff Rita R. Johnson filed suit in the Saginaw County *823Circuit Court against Defendants City of Saginaw (the "City") and Water Department Worker No. 1. Johnson contended that Defendants "arbitrarily and capriciously turned off the water supply" to her business on May 7, 2011, "without notice or authority." Compl. at 2, ECF No. 10, Ex. B. Defendants removed the case to this Court several days later. ECF No. 1. On September 29, 2017, Johnson filed a motion to remand the case, arguing that it was improperly removed. ECF No. 3. Several days later, Defendants filed a motion to dismiss the suit. ECF No. 7. On December 20, 2017, the Court issued an opinion and order denying the motion to remand, denying the motion to dismiss, and resolving several other miscellaneous motions. ECF No. 23. On January 5, 2018, Johnson filed an amended complaint pursuant to a stipulation. ECF No. 28. The first amended complaint identified Jason Cabello as the water department worker identified anonymously in the original complaint.

Afterwards, the case entered discovery. ECF No. 33. On May 7, 2018, Johnson filed a second amended complaint having obtained leave of the Court. ECF No. 39. The second amended complaint named John Stemple (the Chief Inspector for the City of Saginaw) as another Defendant. On July 19, 2018, Johnson filed a motion for leave to file a third amended complaint which the Court denied. ECF No. 53, 70.

On November 19, 2018, Defendants filed a motion for summary judgment. ECF No. 74. Two days later, Johnson filed a motion for partial summary judgment. ECF No. 75. For the following reasons, Defendants' motion will be denied and Johnson's motion will be granted in part.

I.

Rita Johnson owns and operates Rita's Southern Soul Café in Saginaw, Michigan. Am. Compl. at 2, ECF No. 39. She rents out the space on weekends for various events, such as parties, receptions, and baby showers. Johnson Dep. at 16, ECF No. 74-2. On May 5, 2017, Johnson rented the space to Andrick Pruitt for a birthday party. Id. at 47-48. Pruitt had hired a security company to provide eighteen security guards for the party. Id. at 48; Hearing Transcript May 11, 2017 at 12, ECF No. 74-3. Some of the guards were wearing bulletproof vests and at least one carried an AK-47 style assault rifle. ECF. No. 74-3 at 16. At approximately 1:45a.m. the morning of May 6, 2017, approximately sixty shots were fired at the building as the party was still ongoing. ECF No. 74-2 at 47 ; ECF No. 74-3 at 14 ; ECF No. 75-12 at ¶ 12. The Saginaw police chief, Robert Ruth, believed the incident was gang related. ECF No. 74-3 at 80.

The Saginaw police informed Defendant Stemple, Chief Inspector for the City of Saginaw, about the incident and Stemple determined that Johnson's water services should be suspended to prevent any further activities from occurring at the premises. Stemple Dep. at 9, 50, ECF No. 74-4. The evening of May 6, Stemple instructed Joe Gough, Water Department Foreman, to suspend Johnson's water services. Gough Dep. at 6, ECF No. 74-5. Gough contacted Defendant Cabello, a Saginaw Water Department utility worker, to perform the suspension. Id. at 7. A work order was issued and Cabello shut off the water services to Johnson's business. Cabello Dep. at 12, 22, ECF No. 74-6.

The City provided Johnson no notice that it was suspending her water services. Id. at 16; Gough Dep. at 9-10, ECF No. 75-10. On May 8 however, the City provided her notice that it had suspended her business license. Notice of Suspension, ECF No. 74-8. The notice provided

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT PURSUANT TO THE CITY OF SAGINAW ("CITY") CODE OF ORDINANCE, *824ALL ACTIVITY RELATED TO THE USE AND/OR OPERATION OF THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 110 N. WASHINGTON AVENUE SAGINAW MI 48601, ALSO KNOWN AS "RITA'S SOUTHERN SOUL CAFÉ" ("ESTABLISHMENT") IS HEREBY SUSPENDED, EFFECTIVE MAY 8, 2017.

Id. (bold and underline present in original). The notice further provided that pursuant to Ordinance O-1 Sec. 110.06(F), a hearing would be held on May 11, 2017 where Johnson could present a defense against the suspension. Id. The City held the hearing, granting Johnson the opportunity to be heard and to present witnesses and evidence. See Hearing Transcript, May 11, 2017, ECF No. 74-3.

Johnson's water services continued to be suspended following the business license suspension hearing. Johnson claims that she contacted the City requesting that her water services be reinstated, but that her water remained turned off. Johnson Aff. at ¶ 33, ECF No. 75-12. The City represents that it has no record of Johnson making such a request. ECF No. 74-4 at 26. It was not until after Johnson filed this lawsuit that her water services were reinstated, nearly five months after the City initially suspended them. ECF No. 75-12 at 4.

In her second amended complaint, Johnson asserted two causes of action. Second Am. Compl., ECF No. 39. First, she alleged that Defendants' actions violated her substantive due process rights. She argued that Defendants "arbitrarily and/or capriciously ended Plaintiff's delivery of water without any ability or opportunity to have any process or procedure to halt the proposed depravation and/or seek its restoration." Id. at 3. She further alleged that "[e]nding water services when there is no on-going violations of City Ordinances or lack of payment makes the continued suspension of water services arbitrary and/or capricious, of such a character to shock the consciousness of this Court; and/or is an unreasonable restriction is [sic] without a valid rational basis." Id. In Count Two, Johnson alleged that her procedural due process rights were violated. Id. at 5-6. Specifically, Defendants did not provide her with notice before they ended her water services, and they did not provide a pre- (or post-) deprivation hearing.

In addition to filing this complaint, Johnson filed a separate complaint alleging due process violations in relation to the City of Saginaw's suspension of her business license. Johnson v. Morales , 2017 WL 6512450 (E.D. Mich. Dec. 20, 2017). Defendants in that case filed a motion to dismiss which the Court granted. Id.

II.

Defendants now move for summary judgment and Johnson moves for partial summary judgment. A motion for summary judgment should be granted if the "movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). The moving party has the initial burden of identifying where to look in the record for evidence "which it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett , 477 U.S. 317

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Bluebook (online)
365 F. Supp. 3d 818, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johnson-v-city-of-saginaw-mied-2019.