Lyle v. Dodd

857 F. Supp. 958, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9896, 1994 WL 378638
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedMarch 22, 1994
DocketCiv. No. 1:92-CV-1422-JEC
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 857 F. Supp. 958 (Lyle v. Dodd) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lyle v. Dodd, 857 F. Supp. 958, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9896, 1994 WL 378638 (N.D. Ga. 1994).

Opinion

ORDER

CARNES, District Judge.

This case is presently before the Court on defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment [# 17-1]. The Court has reviewed the record and the arguments of the parties and, for the reasons set forth below, concludes that summary judgment is appropriate for defendant on plaintiffs’ claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Accordingly, the Court grants defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment and dismisses plaintiffs’ state-law claims.

I. Facts1

On June 13, 1990, plaintiffs were moving a house through Fulton County when they were stopped by defendant police officer Melvin Dodd. Plaintiff James West was the owner and operator of the house moving detail. The Building Code Regulations, Section 31-1-11 et seq. of the Code of Laws of Fulton County, requires that any person moving a house over the roads of any unincorporated area must obtain a written permit from the Director of Inspections and Licenses of Fulton County. The Building Code Regulations in Section 31-1-15 further require that at least 24 hours before commencing with the moving of a house, the applicant must notify the captain of the watch in charge of the police of the time, date, and route of the move and must request an officer to escort the move.

Plaintiff James West did not obtain a permit because he believed state law did not require that he obtain a permit from the county and he did not accept the validity of the county’s requirements. Two hours prior to leaving on June 13, West called the radio room of Fulton County Police Department requesting that the county provide them with a police escort. When the house moving detail arrived at the Fulton County line and the Fulton County police escorts were not present, the house moving detail continued traveling through Fulton County without the escorts.

Defendant Dodd saw plaintiffs moving the house near the intersection of Cedargrove Road and Ridge Road. Defendant notified Unit 215 that a house was being moved without police escorts, and he was told to stop plaintiffs. Officer Dodd stopped plaintiffs by pulling in front of the truck moving the house (“the pull truck”). Upon exiting his car, Officer Dodd saw James West, already out of the pull .truck and approaching his vehicle. Officer Dodd asked West if he had a Fulton County permit. When West responded that [961]*961he did not need one, Dodd placed West in the back seat of Dodd’s police car. Plaintiff James Lyle secured the vehicle and exited the pull truck through the driver’s side door. Officer Dodd took Lyle’s license and directed him to sit in the truck.

Officer Dodd, who was not familiar at that time with filling out the paper work for a house moving violation, called on his radio and waited for his supervisor, Sergeant Mul-key, to arrive on the scene and assist him. This took anywhere from a few minutes to fifteen minutes.2 Upon arriving at the scene, Sergeant Mulkey talked with Officer Dodd and directed him how to proceed in handling the stop.

Officer Dodd proceeded to call on the radio to check the license of James Lyle, whom he believed was the driver of the pull truck. Over the radio, Officer Dodd was informed that Lyle had a suspended license in one state and a valid license in another. Lyle was also placed in Dodd’s vehicle. Lyle was subsequently transported to the Fulton County Jail by Officer R.G. Marlow.

Upon returning to the scene in the lead truck, plaintiff Reece Starnes was placed in Dodd’s vehicle along with West. West was charged with violations of the house moving ordinance and damage to public property. He was released at the scene with a copy of the charges. Starnes was released at the scene without any charges.

Plaintiffs claim that defendant violated plaintiffs Lyle and Starnes’ constitutional rights, in that they were arrested without probable cause in violation of their Fourth Amendment rights. Plaintiffs Starnes and West additionally assert that the nature of their detention in a “furnace-like” patrol car for approximately an hour was unjustifiably extreme and violated their Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights in that: (1) the conditions constituted a de facto and unreasonable seizure of their persons in violation of their Fourth Amendment rights; (2) their detention in a hot patrol car was an excessive use of force in violation of the Fourth Amendment; and (3) their right to substantive due process under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment was violated by the nature of their detention. Plaintiffs further assert state-law claims for false arrest, false imprisonment, abuse of process, and negligence.

II. Discussion

A. Standard for Summary Judgment

Summary judgment is not properly viewed as a device that the trial court may, in its discretion, implement in lieu of a trial on the merits. Instead, Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure mandates the entry of summary judgment against a party who fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of every element essential to that party’s case on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). In such a situation, there can be no genuine issue as to any material fact, as a complete failure of proof concerning an essential element of the non-moving party’s case necessarily renders all other facts immaterial. Id. at 322-23, 106 S.Ct. at 2552.

The movant bears the initial responsibility of asserting the basis for his motion. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 323, 106 S.Ct. at 2552. However, the movant is not required to negate his opponent’s claim. The movant may discharge his burden by merely “ ‘showing1— that is, pointing out to the district court— that there is an absence of evidence to support the non-moving party’s case.” Id. at 325, 106 S.Ct. at 2554. After the movant has carried his burden, the non-moving party is then required to “go beyond the pleading” and present competent evidence3 designating “specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.” Id. at 324, 106 S.Ct. at 2553. While the court is to view all evidence and factual inferences in a light most favorable to the non-moving party, Samples v. City of Atlanta, 846 F.2d 1328, 1330 (11th [962]*962Cir.1988), “the mere existence of some alleged factual dispute between the parties will not defeat an otherwise properly supported motion for summary judgment; the requirement is that there be no genuine issue of material fact.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247-48, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

B. Claims pursuant to b-2 U.S.C. § 1983

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
857 F. Supp. 958, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9896, 1994 WL 378638, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lyle-v-dodd-gand-1994.