PAYNE v. KERNS

2020 OK 31, 467 P.3d 659
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 12, 2020
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 2020 OK 31 (PAYNE v. KERNS) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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PAYNE v. KERNS, 2020 OK 31, 467 P.3d 659 (Okla. 2020).

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PAYNE v. KERNS
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PAYNE v. KERNS
2020 OK 31
Case Number: 116978
Decided: 05/12/2020
THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA


Cite as: 2020 OK 31, __ P.3d __

NOTICE: THIS OPINION HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED FOR PUBLICATION. UNTIL RELEASED, IT IS SUBJECT TO REVISION OR WITHDRAWAL.


JAMES C. PAYNE, Plaintiff/Appellant,
v.
JOEL KERNS and MISSY ELDRIDGE, Defendants/Appellees.

ON CERTIORARI FROM THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS, DIVISION I

¶0 The plaintiff/appellant, prisoner, sued various defendants for his detention lasting several months past the end of his sentence. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants. The Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals affirmed. This Court granted certiorari on the remaining issue preserved for our review, i.e., whether a private right of action under Article 2 Section 9 of the Oklahoma Constitution exists under the facts of this case. We hold a private right of action existed at the time the plaintiff/appellant was detained past his sentence and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS' OPINION VACATED IN PART;
JUDGMENT REVERSED AND REMANDED

J. Derek Ingle, Boettcher Devinney Ingle & Wicker, PLLC, Tulsa, OK, for Plaintiff/Appellant

Wellon B. Poe, Collins Zorn & Wagner, P.C., Oklahoma City, for Defendants/Appellees

COMBS, J.:

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶1 On February 8, 2010, the appellant, James C. Payne (Payne), pled nolo contendere to the crime of stalking in Case No. CF-2010-27, District Court of Pittsburg County, State of Oklahoma. He received a five-year deferment with special rules and conditions of probation. He was required to have no contact with the stalking victim. In addition, Payne pled guilty to violating a protective order in many other cases filed in Pittsburg County related to the same victim and was sentenced to six months in the county jail. The sentences were to run concurrently. He received extra credits and was released from custody on May 5, 2010. A month later, on June 10, 2010, the district attorney filed a motion to accelerate the deferred judgment for probation violations. It alleged Payne had been contacting and harassing the victim. The district court issued a felony warrant and Payne was arrested and booked into jail by the Pittsburg County Sheriff's Office on June 11, 2010. Payne did not post bail and remained in the county jail.

¶2 On August 23, 2010, the district court executed a minute order finding Payne guilty of violating the terms of his deferred sentence. He was sentenced to a term of five years imprisonment with four years suspended and one year to serve in the Department of Corrections (DOC). Payne also received credit for the time he had been serving in the county jail since his June 11, 2010 arrest. Therefore, the one year sentence was to expire on June 11, 2011. A formal Judgment and Sentence was filed on May 13, 2011 and dated October 15, 2010. This occurred less than a month of when Payne's sentence was set to expire. The record reflects the Pittsburg County Sheriff's Office received the Judgment and Sentence on May 17, 2011. The Judgment and Sentence ordered Payne into DOC custody and directed the Sheriff's office to transfer Payne to DOC. It provided:

In the event the above sentence is for incarceration in the Department of Corrections, the Sheriff of Pittsburg County, Oklahoma is ordered and directed to deliver the Defendant to the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center at Lexington, Oklahoma, and leave therewith a copy of this Judgment and Sentence to serve as warrant authority of the Sheriff for the transportation and the imprisonment of the Defendant as herein before provided. The sheriff to make due return to the clerk of this Court, with his proceedings endorsed thereon.

The Sheriff's Office of Pittsburg County did not transfer Payne to the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center (LARC) until September 6, 2011, almost three months past the end of his sentence. Payne was released that same day without serving any of his time in DOC custody.

¶3 Payne filed a Notice of Governmental Tort Claims on February 27, 2012 against the State of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Department of Corrections, Pittsburg County Jail, Pittsburg County Sheriff's Department, Pittsburg County Commissioners Chairman Gene Rogers, Commissioner Kevin Smith, and Commissioner Ronnie Young, Pittsburg County Sheriff Joel Kerns, and Pittsburg County Jail Administrator Missy [sic] Eldridge.1 The claim was denied on March 30, 2012. On September 6, 2012, he filed a Petition in the District Court of Pittsburg County (Case No. CJ-2012-233) against the same Defendants. He alleged various violations of his constitutional rights under the United States Constitution, federal statute (42 U.S.C. § 1983) and tort causes of action related to his extended incarceration past his sentence expiration. Less than a month later, October 2, 2012, the case was removed to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma (Case No. 12-CV-407) based upon federal question jurisdiction. After some litigation the parties attempted to settle the action and the federal case was dismissed without prejudice by an Administrative Closing Order filed July 15, 2013.

¶4 On April 11, 2014, Payne re-filed his Petition against the same Defendants in the District Court of Pittsburg County (Case No. CJ-2014-73). The Petition was identical to the one filed in CJ-2012-233, with the addition of alleged violations of his rights under the Oklahoma Constitution.

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2020 OK 31, 467 P.3d 659, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/payne-v-kerns-okla-2020.