Peter Meyer v. Gwinnett County

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedNovember 14, 2017
Docket17-11270
StatusUnpublished

This text of Peter Meyer v. Gwinnett County (Peter Meyer v. Gwinnett County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Peter Meyer v. Gwinnett County, (11th Cir. 2017).

Opinion

Case: 17-11270 Date Filed: 11/14/2017 Page: 1 of 20

[DO NOT PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________

No. 17-11270 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________

D.C. Docket No. 1:14-cv-00066-WBH

PETER MEYER,

Plaintiff-Appellant

versus

GWINNETT COUNTY, GWINNETT COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT, JENNIFER ROBERTS, individually and in her official capacity as a Gwinnett County Police Officer, KIRK BASONE, LA PETITTE ACADEMY, INC.,

Defendants-Appellees,

VICTORIA KIRKPATRICK,

Defendant. ________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia ________________________ (November 14, 2017) Case: 17-11270 Date Filed: 11/14/2017 Page: 2 of 20

Before TJOFLAT, WILLIAM PRYOR, and ROSENBAUM, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

This case stems from Plaintiff Peter Meyer’s arrest and detention on charges

of sexually abusing a family friend’s five-year-old daughter. Those charges were

eventually dropped, and Gwinnett County released Meyer from jail in December

2011, after he had been detained for nearly twenty months. Over two years after

his release, in January 2014, Meyer sued the entities and persons involved in his

arrest and detention—Gwinnett County, the Gwinnett County Police Department,

Officer Jennifer Roberts, Kirk Basone, La Petite Academy, Inc., and Victoria

Kirkpatrick—asserting state claims of malicious prosecution, false imprisonment,

and defamation, and a federal claim of deliberate indifference to constitutional

rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

Conceding that his lawsuit was not timely filed, Meyer sought the benefit of

a provision of Georgia law that allows for tolling of the statute of limitations

during periods of mental incapacity, which he claimed to have experienced at times

after his release as a result of his traumatic experiences in jail. See O.C.G.A. §§ 9-

3-90(a), 9-3-91. The defendants filed motions for summary judgment, arguing that

the tolling provision did not apply and that Meyer’s claims were barred by the

applicable statute of limitations. The district court granted the defendants’

motions, and Meyer now appeals. Because we agree with Meyer that a genuine

2 Case: 17-11270 Date Filed: 11/14/2017 Page: 3 of 20

issue of material fact exists as to whether he suffered mental incapacity sufficient

to toll the statute of limitations, we vacate the grant of summary judgment and

remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I.

According to Meyer’s second amended complaint, Meyer was living with

family friends and their five-year-old daughter in April 2010. Meyer often

watched the child while her parents were out of town, including on April 5. On

that date, Meyer picked up the child from La Petite Academy, where the child had

just started attending a kindergarten class taught by Kirkpatrick. Two days later,

Kirkpatrick suggested to Basone, the child’s father, that Meyer may have sexually

abused the child because the child had placed her hands in her pants during class

earlier in the week.

Basone eventually contacted the Gwinnett County Police Department and

met with Officer Roberts, who interviewed both Basone and the child. After the

meeting, an arrest warrant was issued for Meyer for the crime of aggravated sexual

battery. A few months after his arrest, Meyer was charged with two additional

counts of child molestation. He was denied bond and detained in the Gwinnett

County Jail for nearly twenty months. Gwinnett County eventually dropped the

charges and released him on December 28, 2011, after he took a polygraph test.

3 Case: 17-11270 Date Filed: 11/14/2017 Page: 4 of 20

Meyer filed this lawsuit in January 2014. Nearly all of Meyer’s claims are

subject to a two-year limitations period.1 See O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33 (personal injury

claims in Georgia must be “brought within two years after the right of action

accrues”); Williams v. City of Atlanta, 794 F.2d 624, 626 (11th Cir. 1986) (“[T]he

proper limitations period for all section 1983 claims in Georgia is the two year

period set forth in O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33 for personal injuries.”). Conceding that his

complaint was not timely filed, Meyer alleged that he was entitled to tolling of the

statute of limitations because, upon his release, he was so unsound of mind that he

was unable to carry on his ordinary life affairs. See O.C.G.A. §§ 9-3-90(a), 9-3-91.

The district court initially granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss the

complaint as time barred, but, on appeal, we vacated that decision and remanded

the case for further proceedings. See Meyer v. Gwinnett Cty., 636 Fed. App’x 487

(11th Cir. 2016). On remand, the district court allowed the parties to conduct

discovery limited to the tolling issue.

After the close of discovery, Gwinnett County (including the Gwinnett

County Police Department and Roberts) and La Petite Academy filed motions for

1 The exception is Meyer’s defamation claim, which was subject to a one-year limitations period. See O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33. The district court determined that this claim was untimely after rejecting Meyer’s contention that the alleged defamatory comments had been republished within a year of the filing of the complaint. Meyer does not challenge that determination on appeal and so has abandoned the issue. See Sapuppo v. Allstate Floridian Inc. Co., 739 F.3d 678, 680 (11th Cir. 2014) (issues not raised on appeal are abandoned). Because the claim would be untimely even if Meyer could establish tolling for mental incapacity, we affirm the grant of summary judgment on this claim. 4 Case: 17-11270 Date Filed: 11/14/2017 Page: 5 of 20

summary judgment, arguing that the lawsuit was time barred. 2 They relied on

Meyer’s deposition testimony in support of their claim that he had sufficient

mental capacity to manage his daily affairs. Meyer responded in opposition,

relying on his deposition testimony, a personal affidavit, affidavits from

coworkers, and three affidavits from his treating therapist, Dr. Nancy Aldridge.

Meyer claimed to be legally incompetent during two specific periods: (1) the first

three weeks following his release; and (2) a one-month period in May and June

2013.

The district court granted the motions for summary judgment, separately

addressing the two periods of alleged incapacity and resolving them on different

grounds. With regard to the first period, the court concluded that Meyer’s

evidence established that he “suffer[ed] from serious and significant mental

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Peter Meyer v. Gwinnett County, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/peter-meyer-v-gwinnett-county-ca11-2017.