Pierce v. Multnomah County

76 F.3d 1032, 96 Daily Journal DAR 1678, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 1006, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 2142, 1996 WL 61182
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 14, 1996
DocketNo. 93-35405
StatusPublished
Cited by117 cases

This text of 76 F.3d 1032 (Pierce v. Multnomah County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pierce v. Multnomah County, 76 F.3d 1032, 96 Daily Journal DAR 1678, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 1006, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 2142, 1996 WL 61182 (9th Cir. 1996).

Opinions

FLETCHER, Circuit Judge:

Pro se1 plaintiff Stephanie Pierce appeals an adverse judgment following a jury trial in her 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action. Plaintiff sued the City of Portland (“City”), Multnomah County (“County”), the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (“Tri-Met”), fare inspector Jackson, corrections officers Bowdle and Karcher, and police officer Duncan, alleging that the defendants violated her Eighth and Fourth Amendment rights and also violated federal and state law. She was detained for four hours for identification following a citation for boarding a train without proof of payment of fare. The parties tried the ease before a magistrate judge, who directed verdicts for the City, Bowdle, and Duncan. A jury returned a verdict for the defendants on the remaining claims. Upon denial of her motion for a new trial, Pierce timely appealed. We have jurisdiction, 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and reverse and remand.

[1036]*1036FACTS & PRIOR PROCEEDINGS

Fare inspector Jackson stopped Pierce as she was boarding a Tri-Met train and cited her for failing to produce proof of payment of fare. Pierce did not have any identification, so Jackson called the police to do an identification report. After police officer Duncan arrived, Pierce testified that she provided her name, date of birth, zip codes, addresses, and phone numbers — one for her residence and the other for her business — but refused to provide her social security number. Duncan radioed the police computer and was able to locate Pierce’s name, a matching address, and her arrest record. When Duncan asked Pierce whether she had an arrest record, Pierce initially denied that she had ever been arrested. However, Pierce later confirmed his information that she had been arrested for shoplifting many years earlier. The radio check also included a Laidlaw residential address. Although Pierce did not have her driver’s license with her, the police data base provided her driver’s license number. The Laidlaw address and the Ankeny store address were both included on the completed citation.

Duncan ultimately charged Pierce with the misdemeanor of furnishing false information to a police officer, Or.Rev.Stat. § 162.385,2 and with the failure to produce proof of payment of fare, Tri-Met Code § 29.15. She was handcuffed and searched. Pierce testified that Duncan performed these tasks in an excessively rough manner. Pierce was taken by police car to and led in hand-cuffs through the Meier & Frank Department Store where officer Duncan had gone in order to question a shoplifter in an unrelated incident. Pierce was then transported to the Multnomah County Detention Center for a “firm” identification. At the jail, Pierce was photographed, screened by a nurse, fingerprinted, searched, and detained in a cell.

Pierce testified that during the approximately four hours she spent at the jail, she was assaulted by corrections officers Karcher and Bowdle. According to Pierce, the officers forcibly yanked her arm behind her back, shouted at her, grabbed her hair, and forced her back into a cell after she was told she was free to go. The defendants admit that they administered “control holds,” but claim that the force was necessary because Pierce was distraught, demanding, abusive, and uncooperative during her detention.

Pierce filed a section 1983 action. She stipulated to the dismissal of Tri-Met, and the remaining parties consented to trial before Magistrate Judge Juba. Pierce inadvertently dismissed her claim against the County. The magistrate judge denied her motion to reinstate the County as a defendant.

At trial, the City and Duncan stipulated that the charge for furnishing false information was not the basis for their authority to detain Pierce. Rather, the City and Duncan relied solely on the infraction of failure to furnish proof of payment of fare as the basis for the plaintiffs custodial detention.

At the close of plaintiffs case-in-chief, the magistrate judge directed verdicts for the City and Duncan. The magistrate judge also directed a verdict for Bowdle on Pierce’s Fourth Amendment claim for forcibly seizing her after she was released. The magistrate judge instructed the jury on Eighth Amendment standards pertaining to excessive force. It returned a verdict for the defendants on Pierce’s excessive force claims against Bow-dle and Karcher. Judgment was entered for all defendants. After Pierce’s motion for a new trial was denied by the district court, she timely appealed.

DISCUSSION

I. Directed Verdict for City and Officer Duncan on Pierce’s Fourth Amendment Claim

Pierce argues first that the trial court erred by directing a verdict for the City and [1037]*1037Duncan on her claim that her Fourth Amendment rights were violated by the custodial detention for identification for the fare-beating infraction.3 We agree.

We review de novo the grant of a directed verdict. Zamalloa v. Hart, 31 F.3d 911, 913 (9th Cir.1994); In re Hawaii Federal Asbestos Cases, 960 F.2d 806, 816 (9th Cir.1992). “[A] directed verdict is proper when the evidence permits only one reasonable conclusion as to the verdict.” McGonigle v. Combs, 968 F.2d 810, 816 (9th Cir.), cert. dismissed, 506 U.S. 948, 113 S.Ct. 399, 121 L.Ed.2d 325 (1992). “If conflicting inferences may be drawn from the facts, the case must go to the jury.” Rutherford v. City of Berkeley, 780 F.2d 1444, 1448 (9th Cir.1986). Therefore, to uphold the directed verdict for Duncan and the City, we would have to determine that the evidence supported only a verdict in their favor.

A. Duncan’s Claim of Qualified Immunity

As to Duncan, the factual dispute concerns whether Duncan reasonably could have believed the identifying information supplied by Pierce was inadequate or that the fare infraction warranted detention. We conclude that because Pierce presented evidence from which the jury could conclude that any such beliefs were unreasonable, Duncan was not entitled to a directed verdict on his claim of qualified immunity. Accordingly, we reverse and remand for determination by the jury after both sides have introduced their evidence.

The doctrine of qualified immunity shields public officials performing discretionary functions under certain circumstances. See Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 812, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 2735, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982). The availability of qualified immunity “generally turns on the ‘objective legal reasonableness’ of the action, assessed in light of the legal rules that were ‘clearly established’ at the time it was taken.” Anderson v. Creigh ton, 483 U.S. 635, 639, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 3038, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987) (quoting Harlow, 457 U.S. at 818, 819, 102 S.Ct. at 2739); see generally Grossman v. City of Portland, 33 F.3d 1200, 1209-10 (9th Cir.1994) (ordinarily enforcement of an ordinance entitles officer to qualified immunity).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Powell v. Rite Aid Pharmacy
W.D. Washington, 2022
Dylan Mitchell v. Eugene Doherty
37 F.4th 1277 (Seventh Circuit, 2022)
Bell v. City of Spokane
E.D. Washington, 2020
Fernandez-Medina v. Olivarez
W.D. Washington, 2020
Gabino Rosales v. County of Los Angeles
650 F. App'x 546 (Ninth Circuit, 2016)
Yu-Ling Teng v. District Director
820 F.3d 1106 (Ninth Circuit, 2016)
George Nelson, III v. Christopher Aiosa
616 F. App'x 369 (Ninth Circuit, 2015)
Jonathon Castro v. County of Los Angeles
785 F.3d 336 (Ninth Circuit, 2015)
Leonard Porto, Iii v. City of Newport Beach
509 F. App'x 665 (Ninth Circuit, 2013)
Larry Ikei v. The City and County of Honolul
441 F. App'x 493 (Ninth Circuit, 2011)
Law v. City of Post Falls
772 F. Supp. 2d 1283 (D. Idaho, 2011)
Smith v. Bortner
998 A.2d 369 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2010)
Montazer v. S M Stoller, Inc.
363 F. App'x 460 (Ninth Circuit, 2010)
Phi-Long Huynh v. San Diego County Probation Department
271 F. App'x 681 (Ninth Circuit, 2008)
Alexander v. City and County of Honolulu
545 F. Supp. 2d 1122 (D. Hawaii, 2008)
Fitzgerald v. City of Los Angeles
485 F. Supp. 2d 1137 (C.D. California, 2007)
Burnett v. Bottoms
368 F. Supp. 2d 1033 (D. Arizona, 2005)
United States v. Efrain Becerra-Garcia
397 F.3d 1167 (Ninth Circuit, 2005)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
76 F.3d 1032, 96 Daily Journal DAR 1678, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 1006, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 2142, 1996 WL 61182, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pierce-v-multnomah-county-ca9-1996.