William Royster v. Tommy Nichols

698 F.3d 681, 2012 WL 5308046, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 22355
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedOctober 30, 2012
Docket10-3798
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 698 F.3d 681 (William Royster v. Tommy Nichols) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
William Royster v. Tommy Nichols, 698 F.3d 681, 2012 WL 5308046, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 22355 (8th Cir. 2012).

Opinions

SMITH, Circuit Judge.

William Edward Royster filed an eight-count second amended complaint against, inter alia, Kansas City, Missouri Police Officer Tommy Nichols; the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners (“the Board”); Kona Macadamia, Inc. d/b/a Kona Grill (“Kona Grill”); George D. Rosenkoetter; and Chesley Brown International, Inc. d/b/a Plaza Security (“Plaza Security”),1 asserting a variety of federal and state claims arising out of his arrest at the Kona Grill. The district court2 granted summary judgment to all the defendants. Royster appeals, arguing that the district court improperly weighed facts. We affirm.

I. Background

“As this is an appeal from the grant of summary judgment, we review and recite the facts in the light most favorable to [Royster] as the non-moving party.” Fisher v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 619 F.Bd 811, 814 n. 3 (8th Cir.2010).

On February 28, 2006, Royster went to the Kona Grill between 3:15 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Upon his arrival, he handed a Kona Grill employee his American Express credit card to open a tab. While at the Kona Grill, Royster and a friend ordered 15 Gray Goose vodka drinks, totaling $156.00 with tax.

Around 8:00 p.m., Rosenkoetter, the Kona Grill manager on duty, asked Royster to leave the establishment because of Royster’s unacceptable conduct. According to Rosenkoetter, he contacted Plaza Security stating that he “need[ed] someone escorted out” because Royster was “refusing to leave the restaurant.” Before security arrived, Royster left the Kona Grill without reclaiming his American Express credit card and without signing a credit-card receipt. Plaza Security sent Officer Nichols, a Kansas City, Missouri police officer working off-duty for Plaza Security, in response to the call. According to Officer Nichols, Plaza Security “[despatch advised of a disturbance, a party refusing to pay.” Officer Nichols testified that, upon his arrival at the Kona Grill, he “was told [by Rosenkoetter] that the parties were being told to leave from an inappropriate comment and that they refused to pay their tab.”3

Shortly after leaving the Kona Grill, Royster returned to get his American Express credit card. Viewing the facts in the [685]*685light most favorable to Royster — as we must — the following events then occurred. Upon Royster’s return to the Kona Grill, “there were two Kansas City police officers dressed in Kansas City police officer’s uniform[s] and Plaza Security that walked into the [Kona] Grill as [Royster] was approaching it.” Then, “the Kansas City police officers and the Plaza Security came back out on to the sidewalk accompanying the manager and that’s when [everyone was] together on the sidewalk.” As the officers and Rosenkoetter “were walking out of the [Kona] Grill onto the sidewalk in [Royster’s] direction,” Rosenkoetter pointed at Royster and said, “That’s the guy.” When the officers and Plaza Security approached Royster, he asked what was wrong. Then, either Rosenkoetter or one of the police officers “brought up that [Royster] had stolen” something. Royster asked, ‘What did I steal?” Officer Nichols then responded that Royster “didn’t pay [his] bar tab, that [he] didn’t pay the bill.” In response, Royster said, ‘Well[,] [Rosenkoetter’s] got my card.”

Thereafter, Rosenkoetter went back into the Kona Grill and asked the server to close Royster’s tab. To close the tab, the server swiped Royster’s credit card through the credit-card machine. The credit-card receipt did not show an itemized receipt of the drinks purchased. The server’s normal practice was to print the “itemized receipt along with [the] eredit[-]card receipt,” but she did not “remember ... 100%” whether she had done so that evening. After the server closed out the tab and printed off the credit-card receipt, she handed the card, the receipt, and all other items back to Rosenkoetter. Rosenkoetter then exited the Kona Grill with “a fistful of what appeared to be receipts” and Royster’s credit card. Royster then “reached across through the police office[r] toward [Rosenkoetter] and ... grabbed [his] card back.” Royster testified that after he obtained his card, Officer Nichols told Royster “to sign the receipts.” In response, Royster told Officer Nichols that he “hadn’t seen the receipts, that [he] do[es]n’t just sign blindly something [he] ha[s]n’t looked at.” Royster informed Officer Nichols, “I’m not going to sign something that I haven’t looked at.”

According to Rosenkoetter’s testimony, which Royster credits,4 Officer Nichols then responded, “You need to sign this bill ... or you’re going to be arrested for theft of restaurant services.”5 At some point during the exchange, Officer Nichols had asked Rosenkoetter, ‘Will you prosecute if he refuses to pay the tab?” Rosenkoetter had responded, “Yes.” Officer Nichols had then asked Rosenkoetter, “Will you sign a General Ordinance Summons?” Rosenkoetter again replied, “Yes.”6 According to the Joint Stipulation of Uncontroverted Facts (“Stipulation”), Rosenkoetter did, in fact, “sign[] the general ordinance summons as the complaining party.”

After Royster again informed Officer Nichols that he was “not signing anything [he] ha[s]n’t seen,” Officer Nichols replied, “Then you’re under arrest.” In summary, [686]*686both parties admitted the following facts in their Stipulation:

11. Officer Tommy Nichols asked that William Royster sign his credit card charge.
12. William Royster did not sign the charge for the $156.00 bill for Kona Grill’s restaurant services and product.
13. Officer Tommy Nichols arrested William Royster for a municipal violation of failing to pay for restaurant services which totaled $156.00.

When Officer Nichols began handcuffing Royster’s hands behind his back, Royster informed Officer Nichols that he had “service-connected injuries from [his] Naval service from an ejection that [he] sustained.” He told Officer Nichols that he had “a shoulder injury and a back injury.” Royster further requested that Officer Nichols “not handcuff [Royster] behind [his] back” but instead to “please handcuff [Royster] in front.” Officer Nichols handcuffed Royster behind his back despite Royster’s request that he be handcuffed in front due to an old shoulder injury.

The Board establishes the policies and procedures for officers to follow in the operations of the Kansas City Police Department (KCPD). When Officer Nichols arrested Royster, he was dressed in a KCPD uniform. The handcuffs and the gun that Officer Nichols carried were “Police Department issue.” Off-duty officers like Officer Nichols are bound by all KCPD policies. KCPD policy provides, in relevant part, that [w]hen an officer places a person in handcuffs, the officer will:

d. Make every attempt to place handcuffs behind the arrest[ee]’s back. If the arrest[ee] has a medical or physical condition that would preclude them from being handcuffed behind their back, they will be handcuffed (double-locked) in front, and a wagon will be requested to transport the arrest[ee]. Once the arrest[ee] has been transported to the Detention Unit at Headquarters, the officer will inform detention personnel that the arrest[ee] is handcuffed in front and the reason for this action.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
698 F.3d 681, 2012 WL 5308046, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 22355, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/william-royster-v-tommy-nichols-ca8-2012.