Lawson v. Gregg
Lawson v. Gregg
Opinion of the Court
ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS
Before the Court at Docket 72 is Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment. De
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Defendants applied for and received an anticipatory warrant to retrieve a package that • was packed with cocaine and addressed to an address on Stella Place.
delivered and received by a person at [the Stella Place home], or left at the front door, and a person takes the box inside, or a person takes the box' to another location and one of the following has occurred: a change of tone indicating the box has been opened, the electronic device fails to transmit or at least two hours has elapsed with no change indicting the box remains unopened inside the residence.3 ,
As Defendants were delivering the package to the Stella Place home the beeper malfunctioned and submitted the tone indicating that the box had been opened.
On November 16, 2010, Mr. Lawson was indicted for drug conspiracy, possession of á firearm in‘furtherance of drug trafficking, attempted possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
In July 2011, Mr. Lawson, representing himself, initiated this action by filing a Civil Rights Complaint in which he alleged “police, governmental, prosecutorial, and
In September 2011, Mr. Lawson’s criminal case was tried before a jury. The jury found Mr. Lawson not guilty on the first three counts of the indictment but guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
On February 27, 2013, the Court issued an order lifting the stay of this case and permitting Mr. Lawson to file an amended complaint.
Mr. Lawson filed a Second Amended Complaint (“SAC”) on September 3, 2013.
The SAC alleges that on July 14, 2010, at approximately 3:45 p.m., Mr. Lawson was unlawfully arrested while standing on his back porch. The SAC alleges that law
Defendants filed a motion to dismiss on February 27, 2014, relying on qualified immunity. The Court denied that motion by order dated August 25, 2014.
Mr. Lawson filed the current Motion for Summary Judgment on June 1, 2015. He asserts that the Ninth Circuit’s memorandum decision in the criminal case demonstrates that he had clearly established Fourth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment rights, which Defendants violated. Mr. Lawson maintains that there were no exigent circumstances to allow a warrantless arrest, and he assets that Defendants’ application for a second warrant is evidence that they knew the first warrant was invalid.
Defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss Based on Qualified Immunity on August 10, 2015
I. Jurisdiction.
The Court has jurisdiction over Mr. Lawson’s 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim pursuant to its 28 U.S.C. § 1331 federal question jurisdiction.
II. Summary Judgment Standard.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(a) directs a court to “grant summary judgment if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” When considering a motion for summary judgment, a court must accept as true all evidence presented by the non-moving party and draw “all justifiable inferences” in the non-moving party’s favor.
III.Qualified Immunity.
“The doctrine of qualified immunity protects government officials ‘from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.’ ”
Government officials are not entitled to qualified immunity if (1) the facts taken in the light most favorable to plaintiff show the officials’ conduct violated a constitutional right, and (2) that right was clearly established at the time of the alleged violation.
“For a constitutional right to be clearly established, its contours ‘must be sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates that right.’ ”
These principles were applied in Pearson v. Callahan.
IV. Analysis.
The Ninth Circuit has held that that Defendants’ seareh of Mr. Lawson’s residence violated his constitutional rights. Accordingly, with regard to the search, this Court is only required to determine whether Mr. Lawson ■ has presented sufficient facts to demonstrate a triable issue regarding whether Mr. Lawson’s right to be free of an unreasonable search based on
The Ninth Circuit did not consider the constitutionality of Mr. Lawson’s warrant less arrest.
A. Mr. Lawson’s Motion for Summary Judgment.
Mr. Lawson leans heavily on the Ninth Circuit’s memorandum decision holding that the search was performed unlawfully, He asserts that “the [Fourth] [A]mendment of the Constitution had been clearly established.” Mr. Lawson also asserts that there has been a clear violation of his Fourteenth Amendment due process rights.
Although Mr. Lawson is correct that Defendants violated his Fourth Amendment rights, that is only one part of the question that the Court must answer. Government officials may be shielded by qualified immunity so long as their mistaken actions were reasonable, as explained above. As in Pearson; a court of appeals may find a constitutional violation but the officers may still be entitled to qualified immunity so long as they satisfy the second prong of the test.
Mr. Lawson’s motion argues that thé Fourth Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment were “clearly established” at the time of the Search and seizure, but he reads the test too broadly. The United ‘States Supreme Court has held that a court should “not ... define clearly established law at a high level of generality.”
Defendants assert that- they are entitled to qualified immunity because they reasonably could have believed they were acting lawfully. They assert that the Fourth Amendment does not require triggering conditions to be listed on the warrant’s face, so presumably it was not clearly established that they needed to precisely follow the wording of any such conditions. And they contend that based on the warrant’s language, they could have reasonably believed that the triggering conditions were satisfied by either delivery of the package to the Stella Place home or by the beeper malfunction. Alternatively, Defendants argue that they were acting in accordance with established exigent circumstances case law because the evidence could have been easily disposed of. Finally, they argue the warrantless arrest did not violate Mr. Lawson’s constitutional rights under the first prong of the immunity test because the officers had probable cause to make a warrantless arrest.
Both parties cite to United States v. Grubbs.
The Court disagrees with Defendants that Grubbs is conclusive. For here the issue is not in the placement of the triggering conditions, it is in their fulfilment. If the triggering conditions had been omitted from the warrant but were precisely followed pursuant to the specifications in the affidavit, Defendants’ conduct would be in accordance with clearly established law under Grubbs. But here, Defendants did not precisely follow the triggering conditions listed on the face of the warrant. The Court does not read Grubbs as holding that triggering conditions need not be followed; rather, the Court reads it as holding that these conditions do not need to be included on the face of the warrant.
More on point is United States v. Vesi-kuru.
The warrant at issue here states as a triggering condition that the box be “tak[en] to another location and ... the electronic device fails to transmit.”
The Court concludes that because established law directs officers to read triggering conditions in a common sense manner, Defendants were reasonable in reading the triggering condition to cover the situation here: the beeper malfunction indicating that the package had been opened. The beeper malfunctioned in such a way that it would not be able to transmit when the package was actually opened. As Defendants persuasively argue, in both this scenario and if the beeper stopped transmitting entirely (as likely envisioned in the warrant), the beeper malfunctions in the same way — it can no longer alert Defendants to the opening of the package. A common sense reading of the condition could be that it covered other types of beeper malfunctions as well, so long as the end result was leaving Defendants unable to monitor the package. Defendants would not reasonably have known they were violating Mr. Lawson’s clearly established constitutional rights by entering the home based on a more relaxed reading of the condition.
Qualified immunity “protects all but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law,”
This decision is bolstered by the fact that reasonable jurists did, in fact, disagree regarding whether Defendants violated Mr. Lawson’s rights with their actions. In Ashcroft v. al-Kidd, the Supreme Court noted as persuasive that eight Court of Appeals judges from the Ninth Circuit had agreed with Ashcroft’s eventually unconstitutional interpretation of the law.
Finally, the Court also grants Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss
CONCLUSION
Based on the foregoing,. IT IS ORDERED as follows:
1. Mr. Lawson’s Motion "for Summary Judgment at Docket 72 is DENIED.
2. Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss at Docket 87 is GRANTED.
4. The Clerk of Court is instructed to enter a judgment accordingly.
. Docket 87-1 (Gregg Decl.) at 2. Plaintiff does not appear to dispute these background facts. See Docket 34 (SAC); Docket 89 (Lawson Opp'n)..
. Docket 87-1 (Gregg Decl.) at 3.
.- Docket 89-1 (Warrant) at 3.
. Docket 87-1 (Gregg Decl.) at 3-4.
. Docket 87-1 (Gregg Decl.) at 4-6; see also Docket 34-2 (Attachment 2 to SAC).
. Docket 87-1 (Gregg Decl.) at 6; see also Docket 34-2 (Attachment 2 to SAC);
. Docket 2, United States v. Lawson, Case No. 3:10-cr-00116-TMB (Indictment).
. Docket 32, United States v. Lawson (Mot. to Suppress).
. Docket 103, United States v. Lawson (Final Recommendation re Mots, to Suppress).
. Docket 110, United States v. Lawson (Order Adopting Recommendation).
. Docket 1 (Compl.) at 1.
. Docket 3 (Order Staying Case).
. Dockets 166, 170, United States v. Lawson (Jury Verdicts).
. Docket 202, United States v. Lawson (Notice of Appeal).
. United States v. Lawson, 499 Fed.Appx. 711, 712 (9th Cir. 2012).
. See Lawson, 499 Fed.Appx. at 712 (absence).
. Docket 24 (Order Lifting Stay & Permitting Am. Compl.).
. Docket 27 (Am. Compl.).
. Docket 31 (Order re Am. Compl.) at 21. The Order held that the Amended Complaint failed to state a claim for unlawful arrest, but it granted Mr. Lawson leave to amend with respect to, .this claim. Docket 31 at 10, 24.
. Docket 31 (Order re Am, Compl.) at 21. ,
. Dockét-34 (SAC).
. Docket 34-2 (Attachment 2 to SAC); Docket 34-3 (Attachment 3 to SAC).
. Docket 34-2 (Attachment 2 to SAC) (emphasis in original).
. Docket 34 (SAC) at 8.
. Docket 65 (Order re Mot. to Dis.).
. Docket 73 (Lawson SJ Mot.).
. Docket 77 (Defendants Opp’n).
. Docket 81 (Lawson Reply).
. Docket 87 (Defendants Mot. to Dis.).
. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(d) ("If, on a motion under Rule 12(b)(6) or 12(c), matters outside the pleadings are presented to and not excluded by the court, the motion must be treated as one for summary judgment under Rule 56.”). Moreover, in the body of the motion Defendants state that they are moving for summary judgment. Docket 87 at 1. None of the supporting documentation specifically discusses Mr. Lawson’s Fourteenth Amendment rights, so the Court will view Defendants’ motion in that regard as a motion to dismiss.
. Docket 89 (Lawson Opp’n).
. Docket 92 (Defendants Reply).
. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986) (citing Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 158-59, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970)).
. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); In re Oracle Corp. Sec. Litig., 627 F.3d 376, 387 (9th Cir. 2010).
. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 250, 106 S.Ct. 2505; Oracle, 627 F.3d at 387.
. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505.
. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249-50, 106 S.Ct. 2505 (citing Dombrowski v. Eastland, 387 U.S. 82, 84-85, 87 S.Ct. 1425, 18 L.Ed.2d 577 (1967); First Nat’l Bank of Ariz. v. Cities Serv. Co., 391 U.S. 253, 290, 88 S.Ct. 1575, 20 L.Ed.2d 569 (1968)).
. Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223, 231, 129 S.Ct. 808, 172 L.Ed.2d 565 (2009) (quoting Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982)).
. Pearson, 555 U.S. at 231, 129 S.Ct. 808.
. Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001).
. Pearson, 555 U.S. at 232, 129 S.Ct. 808 (quoting Hunter v. Bryant, 502 U.S. 224, 227,
. Conner v. Heiman, 672 F.3d 1126, 1131 (9th Cir. 2012) (quoting Peng v. Mei Chin Peng Hu, 335 F.3d 970, 979-80 (9th Cir. 2003) cert. denied 540 U.S. 1218, 124 S.Ct. 1506, 158 L.Ed.2d 153 (2004)).
. Hope v. Pelzer, 536 U.S. 730, 739, 122 S.Ct. 2508, 153 L.Ed.2d 666 (2002) (quoting Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987)).
. Peng v. Mei Chin Peng Hu, 335 F.3d 970, 980 (9th Cir. 2003) (emphasis added) (quoting Fuller v. M.G. Jewelry, 950 F.2d 1437, 1443 (9th Cir. 1991)).
. Messerschmidt v. Millender, — U.S. -, 132 S.Ct. 1235, 1244, 182 L.Ed.2d 47 (2012) (quoting Ashcroft v. al-Kidd, 563 U.S. 731, 131 S.Ct. 2074, 2085, 179 L.Ed.2d 1149 (2011)) (internal quotation marks omitted).
. 555 U.S. 223, 129 S.Ct. 808, 172 L.Ed.2d 565 (2009).
. Pearson, 555 U.S. at 228, 129 S.Ct. 808.
. Pearson, 555 U.S. at 227, 129 S.Ct. 808.
. Pearson, 555 U.S. at 244, 129 S.Ct. 808 (quoting Wilson v. Layne, 526 U.S. 603, 614, 119 S.Ct. 1692, 143 L.Ed.2d 818 (1999)).
. Pearson, 555 U.S. at 244, 129 S.Ct. 808.
. See Lawson, 499 Fed.Appx. at 712.
. See Docket 73 (Lawson SJ Mot.) at 2. Mr. Lawson also makes a double jeopardy argument under the Fifth Amendment pertaining to Defendants’ interrogatories. Docket 73 (Lawson SJ Mot.) at 6-7. 'But the Fifth Amendment’s protection against double jeopardy is inapplicable in this civil case. See Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co., 556 U.S. 868, 899, 129 S.Ct. 2252, 173 L.Ed.2d 1208 (2009) ("[T]he Double Jeopardy Clause only applies to criminal penalties, not civil ones.”).
. City & Cnty. of San Francisco, Calif. v. Sheehan, — U.S. -, 135 S.Ct. 1765, 1776, 191 L.Ed.2d 856 (2015) (quoting Ashcroft v. al-Kidd, 563 U.S. 731, 131 S.Ct. 2074, 179 L.Ed.2d 1149 (2011)) (internal quotation mark omitted).
. City & Cnty. of San Francisco, Calif., 135 S.Ct. at 1776.
. Mr. Lawson also appears to assert that Defendants were unreasonable because (1) they asserted both the warrant and exigent circumstances to support the constitutionality of the search, and (2) they received a second warrant later. Docket 89 (Lawson Opp'n) at 2; Docket 73 (Lawson SJ Mot.) at 5-, But for many searches where it could be reasonable to! enter under: a warrant there may also be exigent circumstances. Asserting exigent circumstances as a ground for immunity does not show that Defendánts knew the warrant was invalid'. And, so far as Mr. Lawson is arguing that the necessity for a second warrant to search the home makes reliance on the warrant to retrieve the package unreasonable, this argument is unavailing. The two warrants were not connected — evéñ were the retrieval' warrant valid. Defendants would have needed to procure a warrant to search the house.
. Docket 87 (Defendants Mot. to Dis.).
. 547 U.S. 90, 126 S.Ct. 1494, 164 L.Ed.2d 195 (2006). See Docket 87 (Defendants’ Mot. to Dis.) at 20-21; Docket 89 (Lawson Opp'n) at 6.
. Grubbs, 547 U.S. at 97-99, 126 S.Ct. 1494.
. 314 F.3d 1116 (9th Cir. 2002).
. 314 F.3d at 1123.
. Docket 89-1 (Warrant) at 3.
. Messerschmidt v. Millender, — U.S. -, 132 S.Ct. 1235, 1244, 182 L.Ed.2d 47 (2012) (quoting Ashcroft v. al-Kidd, 563 U.S. 731, 131 S.Ct. 2074, 2085, 179 L.Ed.2d 1149 (2011)) (internal quotation marks omitted).
. Ashcroft v. al-Kidd, 563 U.S. 731, 131 S.Ct. 2074, 2085, 179 L.Ed.2d 1149 (2011).
. Although the Court declined to take judicial notice of the Magistrate Judge’s factual findings while considering Defendants' first Motion to Dismiss for Qualified Immunity, see Docket 65 (Order re Mot. to Dis.) at 8-9, the Court will now consider the Magistrate Judge’s and District Court Judge’s legal conclusions because they help to show that Defendants would not have known they were violating Mr. Lawson’s rights. See Ashcroft, 131 S.Ct. at 2085 (considering as additional support).
. See Hope v. Pelzer, 536 U.S. 730, 739, 122 S.Ct. 2508, 153 L.Ed.2d 666 (2002).
. Docket 34-2 (Attachment 2 to SAC); Docket 87-3 (Doll Decl.) at 3; Docket 87-4 (Clem-entson Decl.) at 3.
. Michigan v. Summers, 452 U.S. 692, 700, 101 S.Ct. 2587, 69 L.Ed.2d 340 (1981).
. Beck v. Ohio, 379 U.S. 89, 91, 85 S.Ct. 223, 13 L.Ed.2d 142 (1964).
. 87-4 (Clementson Decl.) at 3; 87-5 (Dahnstrom Decl.) at 2; Docket 34-2 (Attachment 2 to SAC); Docket 74, Lawson v. United States, at 113; Docket 75, Lawson v. United States, at 9; Docket 87, Lawson v. United States (Report & Rec.) at 11-12. Lawson does not present any evidence to counter the evidence Defendants have provided and asserted.
. Courts may address either prong of the test first. Pearson, 555 U.S. at 236, 129 S.Ct. 808.
. Because Defendants did not attach any extra documentation regarding the Four- ‘ teenth Amendment claims to their Motion to Dismiss, the Court will treat that as a motion to dismiss and not as a motion for summary judgment. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(d).
. Lee v. City of L.A., 250 F.3d 668, 688 (9th Cir. 2001) (second alteration in original) (quoting Epstein v. Wash. Energy Co., 83 F.3d 1136, 1140 (9th Cir. 1996)).
. Graham v. Connon, 490 U.S. 386, 393-95, 109 S.Ct. 1865, 104 L.Ed.2d 443 (1989) (holding that the first step in § 1983 analysis should be “identifying the specific constitutional right alleged infringed,” which will usually be the Fourth Amendment or the ■ Eighth Amendment).
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Leonard A. LAWSON, Jr. v. Jeffery GREGG
- Status
- Published