Doe v. City of Miami Gardens
Doe v. City of Miami Gardens
Opinion of the Court
THIS CAUSE is before the Court upon Defendant Javier J. Romaguera ("Sgt. Romaguera")'s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (the "Motion") (D.E. 65).
THE COURT has reviewed the Motion and pertinent parts of the record and is otherwise fully advised in the premises.
For the reasons explained below, the Motion is granted as to the sole federal claim, and the Court declines to exercise jurisdiction over the state law claims.
I. BACKGROUND
On April 8, 2018, Plaintiff Chantal Georges
In his Motion, Sgt. Romaguera asserts that he is entitled to summary judgment on Count I because the § 1983 claim is barred by qualified immunity and, alternatively, Plaintiff has not stated a Fourth Amendment violation. He also asserts that he is entitled to summary judgment on Count IV because Plaintiff had reasonable means of escape from the hotel in which she was allegedly falsely imprisoned. Sgt. Romaguera does not seek summary judgment on Count II. However, he also seeks a summary judgment ruling as to Plaintiff's present and future damages, based on Plaintiff's deposition testimony disclaiming any mental distress or emotional injury because of Sgt. Romaguera's actions.
The Motion is now ripe for disposition.
II. EVIDENTIARY DISPUTES
As a preliminary matter, Sgt. Romaguera correctly notes that "Plaintiff did not file a statement of material facts comporting with Local Rule 56.1." D.E. 94 at 1. Local Rule 56.1 requires a party opposing summary judgment to file an opposing statement of material facts that corresponds with the order and paragraph numbering scheme used in the movant's statement of material facts. S.D. Fla. L.R. 56.1(a). "Additional facts which the party opposing summary judgment contends are material shall be numbered and placed at the end of the opposing party's statement of material facts; the movant shall use that numbering scheme if those additional facts are addressed in the reply."
Plaintiff shirked Rule 56.1's clear procedural directive, ignoring Sgt. Romaguera's statement of facts and instead asserting 46 of her own allegedly undisputed facts. See D.E. 92 at *2-7. 19 of the 46 facts lack any citation to record evidence whatsoever. See id. at ¶¶ 3, 5, 20-30, 35-39, 42. As a result, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(e) and Local Rule 56.1(b), the Court disregards these facts. The Court does not have "an obligation to parse a summary judgment record to search out facts or evidence not brought to the court's attention." Atlanta Gas Light Co. v. UGI Utilities, Inc. ,
Of Plaintiff's remaining facts, 15 facts cite only generally (i.e. , without specific page references) to a 40-page Florida Department of Law Enforcement ("FDLE") Report (D.E. 92-1) (the "Report"). See D.E. 92 at ¶¶ 1-2, 4, 6-12, 31-34, 43. Nine facts cite to specific pages of the Report, but to no other evidence. See id. at ¶¶ 13-16, 18-19, 40, 44-45. Sgt. Romaguera argues that all of these facts should be disregarded because the Report-which consists almost entirely of FDLE investigator Steven Caceres' summaries of conversations with and sworn statements by non-parties-is inadmissible hearsay within hearsay. See D.E. 94 at *2-4. The Court agrees.
Plaintiff argues that the Report is admissible under the public records exception to the hearsay rule. See Fed. R. Evid. 803(8). This exception provides that factual findings from a legally authorized investigation are admissible, so long as the opponent does not show that the record indicates a lack of trustworthiness. See id. But even if the factual findings of an FDLE investigator could be admissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 803(8), the hearsay statements in this Report are not. See, e.g. , Roxbury-Smellie v. Fla. Dep't of Corrections ,
Examining the Report, it is obvious that the FDLE investigator's "findings" were not in any way based on his contemporaneous personal observations of the underlying events. To be admissible as a public record, the matters observed in the Report must be " 'based upon the knowledge or observations of the preparer of the report,' as opposed to a mere collection of statements from a witness." United Techs. Corp. v. Mazer ,
Nor do the statements in the Report constitute prior consistent statements under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(B). The statements in the Report are not offered to rebut a charge of recent fabrication; rather, they are offered for the truth of the matters asserted-an impermissible purpose, as the Rule "speaks of a party rebutting an alleged motive, not bolstering the veracity of the story told." Tome v. United States ,
In sum, because the Report reflects only hearsay and not Agent Caceres' personal first-hand observations of the events, the Court shall not consider those of Plaintiff's facts supported only by the Report.
III. FACTS
Having resolved the foregoing evidentiary disputes, the following are the facts viewed in the light most favorable to Plaintiff, the non-moving party, to the extent Plaintiff's facts are supported by admissible evidence. See Tinker v. Beasley,
A. The 911 Call
On Monday, July 11, 2016, at or about 11:00 p.m., a call came into the Miami Gardens Police Department ("MGPD") about a woman running in the roadway near 2035 NW 183rd Street in Miami Gardens. D.E. 65-1 (the "MGPD Event Report"). MGPD dispatch reported this as a potential suicide attempt, noting that the woman "was just released from the behavior health hospital for depression."
Sgt. Romaguera and other MGPD officers responded to the dispatch, arrived on the scene, and made contact with Germaine Adderley, the individual who made the 911 call. See
The officers determined that Plaintiff did not meet the criteria to be involuntarily confined pursuant to the "Baker Act."
B. The Transport
Sgt. Romaguera was the officer to provide the courtesy transport. See Sanchez Dep. at 23:17-24:9; MGPD Event Report. It is common practice for victims or non-arrestees to be transported in an uncaged police vehicle. See D.E. 65-3 ("Schaefer Dep."), 58:6-24. Plaintiff testified in her deposition that Sgt. Romaguera "offered to drop me off home where I was going. I got in the car. I felt safe with him because he's a police officer and a police officer is there to help and protect. So I got in the car with him, but when he passed my house and he didn't stop, and he took me to [the] Stadium Hotel." D.E. 60 ("Plaintiff Dep."), 60:8-15; see also id. 69:24-70:1 ("The police just passed by my house without stopping and took me to the Stadium Hotel...."); id. at 70:10-16 (Plaintiff: "[Sgt. Romaguera's] job is to help people, and that's why I got into his car." Q: "The - when you got into his car, he drove you to a place in Miramar; is that correct?" Plaintiff: "No, he passed my house, the house where I was staying in Miramar. He passed the house and took me to the hotel."). There is no evidence that Plaintiff was under arrest. There is also no genuine dispute that Plaintiff voluntarily got in Sgt. Romaguera's police vehicle.
C. The Hotel Surveillance
As reflected in the testimony above, Sgt. Romaguera did not drop Plaintiff off at the Miramar address but instead took her to the Stadium Hotel in Miami Gardens. The hotel's surveillance video shows Plaintiff and Sgt. Romaguera walking into the hotel entrance at approximately 1:08 a.m. on July 12, 2016. See video conventionally filed as Exhibit F, 0:13-0:23. In the first second that they are visible on the surveillance video, Plaintiff and Sgt. Romaguera were holding hands. See id. Sgt. Romaguera then pulled his hand away to point at the hotel entrance. See id. Plaintiff and Sgt. Romaguera continued to walk into the hotel together, no longer holding hands. See id.
Once in the hotel entrance, Plaintiff and Sgt. Romaguera took several steps toward what appears to be the hotel check-in desk. See video conventionally filed as Exhibit G, 0:03-0:08. Plaintiff continued to walk further into the hotel hallway, but Sgt. Romaguera took her wrist; she stopped walking and stood still while Sgt. Romaguera apparently interacted with the check-in clerk. See id. , 0:08-0:14. A few seconds later, he dropped Plaintiff's hand and the two of them continued to walk side by side to the elevator. See id. , 0:14-0:24; see also video conventionally filed as Exhibit I, 0:11-0:21. As they waited for the elevator, Sgt. Romaguera and Plaintiff appear to have discussed the hotel key cards, *1126with Plaintiff nodding her head in apparent understanding. See video conventionally filed as Exhibit I, 0:21-0:38. The elevator doors opened, and the two entered the elevator. Id. , 0:38-0:44.
The next surveillance video shows Sgt. Romaguera and Plaintiff exiting the elevator and walking down a hallway of rooms, with Plaintiff holding onto Sgt. Romaguera's forearm. See video conventionally filed as Exhibit H, 0:01-0:12. Sgt. Romaguera opened a hotel room door with a key card, and the two entered the room. See id. , 0:12-0:24. Sgt. Romaguera emerged from the hotel room approximately 10 minutes later. See id. , 10:08. He then walked, alone, back to the elevators, pacing as he waited for elevator doors to open. See id. , 10:08-10:40. Once the doors opened, Sgt. Romaguera got on the elevator and departed. See id. , 10:40-10:50.
D. The Alleged Assault
There is no video evidence of what occurred in the hotel room. Sgt. Romaguera denies any touching. See D.E. 94 at *3 n.2. However, viewing the facts in the light most favorable to Plaintiff, based on the admissible evidence before the Court, Sgt. Romaguera grabbed Plaintiff's breasts against her will and asked her to have sex with him. See Plaintiff Dep. 81:1-82:11, 84:25-85:22, 86:1-3. Plaintiff pushed his hands away and refused to sleep with him, saying "don't do that" and "no, don't touch me." See id. Sgt. Romaguera accepted this rejection and left within 10 minutes of entering the room, giving Plaintiff permission to stay in the hotel room until Wednesday. See id. 81:24-82:3, 82:12-19, 83:2-6; see also video conventionally filed as Exhibit H.
E. Plaintiff's Claims that She Was Trapped in the Hotel
In her deposition, Plaintiff testified that Sgt. Romaguera locked her in the hotel and that she could not leave. See id. 83:25-84:1, 86:12-16, 87:3-5. She could not explain how it was possible that she was locked in: "All I know is that I couldn't leave the room." Id. 84:2-4. She further explained that, having just come to the United States, she had never been to a hotel before: "I didn't know what a place like that is. So I didn't really understand what was happening." Id. 84:5-8. She testified that she tried to leave but didn't know how to open the door. Id. 91:23-92:2.
Plaintiff testified that she was able to get out of the hotel room on Wednesday after hotel employees opened the door to the room and told her to leave. Id. 94:16-95:12.
IV. SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD
Summary judgment is authorized only when the moving party meets its burden of demonstrating that "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). When determining whether the moving party has met this burden, the Court must view the evidence and all factual inferences in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co. ,
The party opposing the motion may not simply rest upon mere allegations or denials of the pleadings; after the moving party has met its burden of proving that no genuine issue of material fact exists, the non-moving party must make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an essential element of that party's case and on which that party will bear the burden of *1127proof at trial. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett ,
If the record presents genuine factual issues, the court must not decide them; it must deny the motion and proceed to trial. Envntl. Def. Fund v. Marsh ,
Moreover, the party opposing a motion for summary judgment need not respond to it with evidence unless and until the movant has properly supported the motion with sufficient evidence. Adickes ,
V. ANALYSIS
The § 1983 claim in Count I is the only claim over which the Court has original jurisdiction pursuant to
A. Sgt. Romaguera is Entitled to Summary Judgment on the § 1983 Claim
Plaintiff's § 1983 claim, as pled, is not a model of clarity. It is titled: "Fourth Amendment -
1. Qualified Immunity Framework
Qualified immunity "offers complete protection for government officials sued in their individual capacities as long as 'their conduct violates no clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.' " Thomas v. Roberts ,
a. Sgt. Romaguera's initial burden
In order to receive qualified immunity, the government official "must first prove that he was acting within the scope of his discretionary authority when the allegedly wrongful acts occurred." Courson v. McMillan ,
*1129Rich v. Dollar,
For qualified immunity purposes, the "discretionary authority" standard has been interpreted at a high level of generality. Woods v. Paradis ,
Here, there is no genuine dispute that Sgt. Romaguera was acting within the scope of his discretionary authority when he arrived at the scene of Plaintiff's reported suicide attempt, transported her in his police vehicle, and took her to the hotel. The only reason Sgt. Romaguera ever encountered Plaintiff in the first place was pursuant to the performance of his duties as a police officer responding to a 911 call. And the undisputed facts establish that victims or non-arrestees are commonly transported in uncaged police vehicles.
Plaintiff concedes that Sgt. Romaguera "was working as an active Police Sergeant during the incident." D.E. 92 at *9. She hopes to reframe the argument, however, to create "a question of fact, as to whether he was performing a discretionary function, or committing a sexual assault."
One might reasonably believe that violating someone's constitutional rights is never a legitimate job-related function or within the scope of a government official's authority or power. As we explained in Harbert Int'l, Inc. v. James,157 F.3d 1271 , 1282 (11th Cir. 1998) (quotation marks and citation omitted), however, "the inquiry is not whether it was within the defendant's authority to commit the allegedly illegal act. Framed that way, the inquiry is no more than an untenable tautology."
Holloman ,
Thus, rather than the question Plaintiff proposes, the inquiry is much broader: whether Sgt. Romaguera's actions were even reasonably related to the outer perimeter of his discretionary duties. Mikko ,
Sgt. Romaguera therefore has met his initial burden, and the burden shifts to *1130Plaintiff to overcome the qualified immunity defense. See
b. Plaintiff's burden to defeat qualified immunity
The Supreme Court has set forth a two-part test for a plaintiff's burden of showing qualified immunity is improper. First, the Court must assess whether the plaintiff has established a constitutional violation. Vinyard v. Wilson ,
If the plaintiff has demonstrated a constitutional violation, the next sequential step is to ask whether the right was clearly established.
"To show the law is clearly established, a plaintiff cannot rely on 'general conclusory allegations' or 'broad legal truisms.' " Post v. City of Ft. Lauderdale ,
"Instead, the burden is on the plaintiff to show that, when the defendant acted, the law established the contours of a right so clearly that a reasonable official would have understood his acts were unlawful." Post ,
2. Plaintiff Has Not Satisfied Her Burden to Defeat Qualified Immunity
Plaintiff has not satisfied the first prong of the qualified immunity test. Neither the police transport nor the hotel stay constitutes a Fourth Amendment violation. Further, the alleged sexual assault-while deplorable if proven-does not violate the Fourth Amendment.
a. The transport was not a seizure.
A person has been "seized" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment "only when, by means of physical force or a show of authority, [her] freedom of movement is restrained. Only when such restraint is imposed is there any foundation whatever for invoking constitutional safeguards." United States v. Mendenhall ,
*1131Mendenhall ,
It is undisputed that Plaintiff was not under arrest when she got into Sgt. Romaguera's police vehicle. The question, then, is whether a reasonable person in Plaintiff's position would have thought she was free to leave. The answer is yes.
The case of James v. City of Wilkes-Barre ,
The mother sued under § 1983, arguing that she was seized because the officer used a show of authority to compel her to go to the hospital, even though she did not want to go.
Likewise, here, where the record is undisputed that Plaintiff voluntarily accepted a courtesy transport from Sgt. Romaguera, there was no seizure as a matter of law. While he may have taken her to a destination to which she did not intend to go, there is no evidence that Sgt. Romaguera threatened Plaintiff, engaged in any physical touching (until later, after they arrived at the hotel), displayed his weapon to coerce her to come with him, nor declared her under arrest. There was no show of authority or pressure to which a reasonable person would have felt compelled *1132to yield. Plaintiff simply cannot establish on this record that she was seized when she drove with Sgt. Romaguera to the hotel.
b. A reasonable person would not have felt restrained in the hotel.
Plaintiff's next alleged "act" of seizure is her time in the hotel. Here, too, the evidence does not demonstrate coercive police pressure amounting to a restriction on a reasonable person's freedom of movement. True, the hotel surveillance video shows Plaintiff and Sgt. Romaguera, at times, holding hands and otherwise in physical contact with one another while walking through the hotel lobby and down the hallway. But the video does not show Sgt. Romaguera pulling, dragging, or otherwise applying authoritative force to get Plaintiff to go to the hotel room, nor did Plaintiff testify to that effect. Cf. United States v. Drayton ,
The fact that Sgt. Romaguera was in uniform and had a gun is not material. "That most law enforcement officers are armed is a fact well known to the public. The presence of a holstered firearm thus is unlikely to contribute to the coerciveness of the encounter absent active brandishing of the weapon."
Finally, no reasonable juror could find that Plaintiff was required to stay in the hotel room once inside. Even if Sgt. Romaguera failed to give Plaintiff a room key to the hotel room, nothing reasonably stopped Plaintiff from leaving. Plaintiff argues that she "had no place" else "to go," D.E. 92 at *12, but this is similar to the kind of bus encounter addressed by the Supreme Court in Drayton . "A bus rider's movements are confined in this sense, but this is the natural result of choosing to take the bus; it says nothing about whether the police conduct is coercive." Drayton ,
Plaintiff argues that she was "ordered" to stay in the room, D.E. 92 at *12, but no record evidence supports this. To the contrary, Plaintiff herself testified: "He said, if you are not going to have sex with me, I will give you until Wednesday. Wednesday you need to get out." Plaintiff's Dep. at 82:1-3; see also id. at 82:13-15 ("He told me, I'll give you until Wednesday for you to get out - leave the hotel because I didn't want to have sex with him."). This was permission to stay until Wednesday, not an authoritative command to not leave.
And no reasonable juror could find a genuine dispute in Plaintiff's claim that she was somehow locked inside the hotel room. Plaintiff has not explained how it is that she came to be locked in. To the contrary, she has testified that she "didn't know how to open the door because...[Sgt. Romaguera] was the one with the key," and that even if she had a key, she would not have been able to figure out how to open the door from the inside: "because the place to *1133insert the card was on the outside. So even if there had been a key, I would not have been able to open the door to leave." See Plaintiff's Dep. at 91:23-92:24. Any reasonable fact-finder with experience in a hotel room knows that while a room key is needed to get into the hotel from the outside, no key is needed to get out from the inside. Plaintiff's subjective, mistaken belief that she could not leave is not an objective seizure. She has not stated a Fourth Amendment violation.
c. The unwanted groping does not rise to the level of a Fourth Amendment violation.
To reiterate, Plaintiff's § 1983 claim rests only on the unreasonable seizure prong of the Fourth Amendment. As to Sgt. Romaguera's alleged unwanted groping and sexual propositioning, this does not amount to a seizure under the Fourth Amendment. "Even unreasonable, unjustified, or outrageous conduct by an officer is not prohibited by the Fourth Amendment if it does not involve a seizure." McCoy v. Harrison ,
The test for a seizure remains the same. An offensive touching is not a seizure if there is no intentional acquisition of physical control over the person resulting in restraint of her movements. See id. at 605-06 (no seizure where government animal control agent hit the plaintiff and dug his fingernails into her arm but then let go). For example, in Keyes v. Washington County , a county employee/community service monitor groped a criminal defendant/community service worker by grabbing her buttocks and genital area. See
So too here. Sgt. Romaguera's objective purpose in grabbing Plaintiff's breast and asking her to sleep with him, if proven, was to initiate unwanted sexual contact, not to restrain Plaintiff's freedom of movement. Further, Plaintiff did not yield to Sgt. Romaguera's show of authority with respect to the groping. She expressly told him to stop, and he did-leaving the hotel room moments later. Certainly, the alleged sexual assault, if true, is unseemly and reprehensible. But while it may rise to the level of a state law tort, it does not violate the Fourth Amendment.
*1134B. The Court Declines to Exercise Supplemental Jurisdiction Over the Remaining State Law Claims
The Court may sua sponte raise a jurisdiction defect at any time. See Barnett v. Bailey,
Under
Therefore, the Court finds that the remaining state law claims are best resolved by Florida courts. See Baggett v. First Nat. Bank of Gainesville ,
Accordingly, the Court declines supplemental jurisdiction over Counts Two and Four of Plaintiff's Complaint.
VI. CONCLUSION
For the reasons stated herein, it is hereby *1135ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that the Motion, D.E. 65, is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART as follows:
(1) Count One of Plaintiff's Complaint is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.
(2) Count Two of Plaintiff's Complaint is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.
(3) Count Four of Plaintiff's Complaint is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.
The Court will enter a separate final judgment.
DONE AND ORDERED in Chambers at Miami, Florida, this 8th day of April, 2019.
Plaintiff is admonished for never seeking leave to proceed pseudonymously. "Generally, parties to a lawsuit must identify themselves in their respective pleadings." Doe v. Frank ,
The Court cites to the CM/ECF page numbers at the top of the Report, D.E. 92-1, rather than the page numbers at the bottom of the document.
See
The Court is aware of cases categorizing sexual assault by a police officer as a "nonconsensual violation of bodily integrity which is protected by substantive due process" rather than as an unreasonable seizure. See, e.g. , Rogers v. City of Little Rock, Ark. ,
Again, the conduct arguably may have constituted a substantive due process violation, but Plaintiff did not press that legal ground, and it is not this Court's role to argue it for her. See supra n.4; see also Mason v. George ,
The Court therefore also declines to reach the issue of present or future damages.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Jane DOE v. CITY OF MIAMI GARDENS
- Cited By
- 6 cases
- Status
- Published