Paul Burritt v. Lisa Ditlefsen

807 F.3d 239, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 20760, 2015 WL 7729409
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedNovember 30, 2015
Docket15-1896
StatusPublished
Cited by278 cases

This text of 807 F.3d 239 (Paul Burritt v. Lisa Ditlefsen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Paul Burritt v. Lisa Ditlefsen, 807 F.3d 239, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 20760, 2015 WL 7729409 (7th Cir. 2015).

Opinions

BAUER, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff-appellant, Paul Burritt (“Bur-ritt”), appeals the district court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of defendants-appellees, Lisa Ditlefsen (“Ditlefsen”) and Polk County, on all of Burritt’s causes of action, as well as the district court’s denial of his Rule 59(e) motion. Burritt’s complaint advances claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for false arrest and false imprisonment in violation of his Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, as well as state common law claims for false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, negligence, and defamation. Burritt’s claims stem from his arrest for an alleged sexual assault of an eleven-year-old girl, which allegation turned out to be false. For the following reasons, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Because the facts giving rise to Burritt’s arrest are central to the issues in this case, we present them in detail. In early November 2011, Handi-Lift Transportation, Inc. (“Handi-Lift”), a provider of transportation for medical purposes, hired Burritt as a driver. (Burritt had previously worked as an EMT). On November 23, 2011, Burritt was assigned to transport an eleven-year-old girl (“SMH”) from Impact Counseling Services (“ICS”), located in Hayward, Wisconsin, to her home in Birch-wood, Wisconsin. Burritt was not the regular driver of this route; he had never driven the route prior to November 23, [243]*2432011, and had not previously transported SMH.

Burritt picked SMH up at ICS at 4:15 p.m. At 5:01 and 5:02 p.m., SMH used Burritt’s cell phone to call her mother to let her know she would be late. Burritt dropped SMH off near her home at 6:14 p.m. The distance between ICS and SMH’s home is roughly 30 miles and should be a 40-minute drive.

A. Initial Investigation

Five days later on November 28, 2011, SMH told her counselor at ICS that the Handi-Lift driver sexually assaulted her on November 23, 2011; ICS contacted the Hayward Police Department. SMH was unwilling to speak with the male officer who responded, Ryan Ignace (“Ignace”). When Ignace could not locate a female police officer, he requested that Sara Ross Poquette (“Poquette”) with Sawyer County Health & Human Services interview SMH.

When Poquette arrived at ICS, she met with Ignace, SMH, and SMH’s mother and stepfather. Ignace told everyone that Po-quette’s interview of SMH would be recorded, and everyone consented.

Poquette began by questioning SMH about the difference between the truth and a lie. SMH gave appropriate responses indicating she knew the difference between the truth and a lie and that there are consequences of lying.

SMH reported that after Burritt picked her up at ICS, he deviated from the normal route and drove her to a house in the country, describing the property as an old farm with outbuildings or sheds, but without farm animals. SMH was able to draw a picture of the house, showing wooded areas and the driveway, and indicating where Burritt parked the Handi-Lift van. She stated Burritt got out of the van, went to the house and let out his six dogs, one of which was a pitbull.

SMH stated that after he let out his dogs, Burritt came back to the van, opened the sliding van door next to her, and touched her on her neck, chest, and pubic area, over her clothes. Burritt then tried to unzip her pants. She yelled, “Get away from me,” kicked him, and closed the sliding van door on his hand. SMH then stated that Burritt punched her twice on the inside of her left knee, which left two small bruises. She stated that Burritt said, “I really wanted to have you.”

SMH stated that Burritt closed the sliding van door, put his dogs away, and drove the van from the home. She thought Bur-ritt was speeding because she saw a speed limit sign of “53” but Burritt was going 70. She saw the Dinner Bell Restaurant, located in Trego, Wisconsin. Burritt stopped at a gas station near Rice Lake, Wisconsin, got gas, and bought something in a brown paper bag, which SMH thought was beer. At some point during the trip, SMH used Burritt’s cell phone to call her mother. Finally, Burritt dropped her off at a silage pile a short distance from her home because Burritt was afraid to drop her off in her driveway. Burritt told SMH to say they were late because they made a “ding dong disaster,” went the wrong way, and took a wrong turn. Poquette, a qualified social worker, had no concerns about SMH’s suggestibility or reliability, and felt SMH was credible and gave sufficiently detailed information.

Ignace then interviewed SMH’s mother and stepfather. SMH’s mother confirmed that SMH had called her on the night of the alleged assault. She reported that SMH told her the van driver told SMH to call and say they had made a wrong turn and were going to be late. She indicated SMH did not sound like her usual self during this phone call, and reported that [244]*244SMH began having night terrors on the night of the alleged assault. SMH’s mother and stepfather stated they were very strict about lying at home. The stepfather stated that he saw tire tracks by the silage pile, where SMH reported Burritt dropped her off, roughly 300 feet from their driveway.

On November 28, 2011, Ignace contacted Bill Lussier (“Lussier”), an owner of Handi-Lift, to request information about Burritt, which Lussier provided. Lussier also sent to Ignace a copy of the Handi-Lift transport log prepared by Burritt, which showed, per the odometer readings of the van, that Burritt traveled 121 miles to transport SMH, but “21” was written as the total miles traveled.

Lussier informed Burritt of SMH’s allegations. Lussier had Burritt write out his own version of events pertaining to the November 23, 2011, transport of SMH. Lussier also directed Burritt to have his hand examined, given SMH’s report of having closed the van door on Burritt’s hand. Burritt went to a clinic the same day and had his hand examined, which showed no injury. Lussier sent Burritt’s written statement and the results of the medical examination to the Hayward Police Department the following day.

On November 29, 2011, Ignace went to ICS and photographed a bruise on SMH’s knee. Ignace and Hayward Police Assistant Chief Faulstich (“Faulstich”) went to Burritt’s home in Turtle Lake, Wisconsin, located in Polk County. Ignace took photographs of the property, noting several vehicles in the driveway bearing “EMT” license plates. Several dogs were present outside, and others could be heard barking inside the house. Between the house and the farm field were three buildings. Ig-nace did not see any farm animals. Fauls-tich and Ignace felt SMH’s description of the location of the alleged assault matched Burritt’s property.

Ignace reviewed Burritt’s statement, in which he claimed he took a wrong turn that took him to Rice Lake. Ignace then used Yahoo maps to determine how long it would take to drive from ICS in Hayward to Rice Lake, through Trego via Highway 53, to SMH’s home in Birchwood. (SMH had reported seeing a sign with “53” on it). Yahoo maps indicated a distance of 75 miles for this route. Faulstich and Ignace concluded that the alleged assault took place at Burritt’s home in Polk County and referred the case to the Polk County Sheriffs Department.

B. Investigation by Ditlefsen and Polk County

Ditlefsen is an investigator employed by the Polk County Sheriffs Department since 2002.

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807 F.3d 239, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 20760, 2015 WL 7729409, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/paul-burritt-v-lisa-ditlefsen-ca7-2015.