Smook v. Minnehaha County, SD

353 F. Supp. 2d 1059, 60 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 829, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1228
District Court, D. South Dakota·Decided January 20, 2005·No. CIV. 00-4202·Published

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

PIERSOL, Chief Judge.

Defendants filed a Motion to Reconsider, Doc. 129, asking that the Court reconsider its ruling on the summary judgment motions in this case in light of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in N.G. v. Connecticut, 382 F.3d 225 (2d Cir.2004), issued on September 7, 2004. (Memorandum Opinion and Order, Doc. 116, September 27, 2004.) The motion has been fully briefed and having carefully considered the parties’ arguments and the entire record in this case, the Court has considered the Motion to Reconsider and it is granted to the extent that liability on Plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment claim and the qualified immunity issue are reconsidered on the merits. After such reconsideration, the Court again finds that Defendants are liable on Plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment claim and that Defendants Jim Banbury and Todd Cheever are not entitled to qualified immunity on Plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment claim.

BACKGROUND

On September 27, 2004, the Court held that the Juvenile Detention Center’s (“JDC”) blanket policy of strip searching minors arrested for minor or non-felony offenses, without any individualized determination of reasonable suspicion that the individual was or is likely to be carrying or concealing weapons, drugs or other contraband, violates the Fourth Amendment. See Smook v. Minnehaha County, 340 F.Supp.2d 1037, 1050 (D.S.D.2004). The Court applied the balancing test in Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 559, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979), to determine whether the JDC’s strip search policy in existence at the relevant time period violated the Fourth Amendment:

The test of reasonableness under the Fourth Amendment is not capable of precise definition or mechanical application. In each case it requires a balancing of the need for the particular search against the invasion of personal rights that the search entails. Courts must consider the scope of the particular intrusion, the manner in which it is conducted, the justification for initiating it, and the place in which it is conducted.

See Smook, 340 F.Supp.2d at 1042-43 (quoting Bell, 441 U.S. at 559, 99 S.Ct. 1861). The Second Circuit applied the “overarching principle” set forth in Bell in conducting “ ‘a fact-specific balancing of the intrusion ... against the promotion of legitimate governmental interests.’ ” N.G. *1061 v. Connecticut, 382 F.3d at 230-31 (quoting Board of Education v. Earls, 536 U.S. 822, 829, 122 S.Ct. 2559, 153 L.Ed.2d 735 (2002)). The Second Circuit held that “[assessing all of the circumstances — the risks to the psychological health of the children from performing the searches and the risks to their well-being and to institutional safety from not performing the searches, we conclude that the strip searches upon initial admission do not violate Fourth Amendment standards.” N.G. v. Connecticut, 382 F.3d at 237. The Second Circuit did not evaluate the facial validity of the strip search policy, but held that two of the strip searches involved in that case did not violate the Fourth Amendment. See id. at 230 n. 6. In the present case, the Court evaluated both the facial validity of the JDC’s strip search policy and the strip search of Plaintiff Smook. Under the facts of the present case, the Court reached the opposite conclusion from the Second Circuit in conducting the fact-specific balancing of the intrusion of the privacy of Plaintiff Smook and other juveniles admitted to the JDC against the promotion of JDC’s legitimate governmental interests. See Smook, 340 F.Supp.2d at 1050.

DISCUSSION

Defendants brought their motion for reconsideration under Rule 54(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The Court recognizes that it may reconsider its rulings on the summary judgment motions because judgment adjudicating all the claims and the rights and liabilities of all the parties has not been entered in this case. Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b).

A. Liability on Fourth Amendment Claim

The initial issue to be addressed is Defendants’ failure to recognize the Court’s factual findings regarding the breadth of the JDC’s strip search policy in existence at the relevant time period. While Defendants continue to repeatedly assert in their brief that the strip search policy in effect at the time of Plaintiffs search did not require juveniles to remove their undergarments, Defendants disregard the evidence on record and the Court’s finding that the written policy in effect at that time did require juveniles to remove their undergarments while being strip searched. See Smook, 340 F.Supp.2d at 1040. Thus, Defendants’ contention that the strip search policy in this case was less intrusive than the strip searches held constitutional by the Second Circuit is erroneous. To argue that the Court was wrong in its fact finding is one way to approach that issue. To fail to even acknowledge the facts as found by the Court results in a brief that is of no assistance to the Court.

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Smook v. Minnehaha County, SD, 353 F. Supp. 2d 1059, 60 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 829, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1228 (D.S.D. 2005).

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