Rayfield v. Grand Rapids, City of
Rayfield v. Grand Rapids, City of
Opinion of the Court
INTRODUCTION
On October 1, 2014 Defendants Eric Hornbacher and Craig Glowney arrested Plaintiff Weston Rayfield for violating a Personal Protection Order ("PPO"). The PPO required that Mr. Rayfield refrain from approaching or confronting Ms. Nancy Sawinski-Mr. Rayfield's neighbor in a two-unit residence.
Defendants move to dismiss. (ECF Nos. 25 and 27). The Court heard argument on the motions on June 25, 2018, and took the matter under advisement. (ECF No. 38 ). For the reasons detailed below, the individual named defendants are entitled to qualified immunity, and the claims against the remaining defendants fail for several procedural or substantive reasons. Therefore, the two motions to dismiss are GRANTED.
*967FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
1. Mr. Rayfield Begins a Relationship with Ms. Smith
Mr. Rayfield describes himself as an accomplished artist, author, designer, and business consultant. (ECF No. 14, PageID.65). He is also a repeat participant in ArtPrize, an annual art competition in the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan. (Id. ). Several years before the events in question, Mr. Rayfield met non-party Susan Smith while at ArtPrize, and both a business and a romantic relationship between the two developed. Mr. Rayfield moved into one of Ms. Smith's rental properties located on Kendalwood Street in the city of Grand Rapids, and Ms. Smith resided with Mr. Rayfield off and on during their relationship. (Id. at PageID.66). The rental unit was one of two units in a detached residence (one upper and one lower unit). The occupant of the upper unit was non-party Nancy Sawinski.
2. Mr. Rayfield's Relationship with Ms. Smith Ends and Ms. Smith and Ms. Sawinski seek to Evict Mr. Rayfield from his Rental Unit.
By the summer of 2014, the relationship between Mr. Rayfield and Ms. Smith came to an end, and Ms. Smith sought to evict Mr. Rayfield from the Kendalwood address. Mr. Rayfield resisted the eviction because he believed that he was entitled to stay as compensation due for certain renovation work he had done. Ms. Smith initiated formal eviction proceedings by filing a complaint against Mr. Rayfield in the 63rd state district court on September 17, 2014. Mr. Rayfield was served with the complaint on September 29, 2014, and a hearing on the matter was set for October 2, 2014. (Id. at PageID.67-68).
Mr. Rayfield contends that while these formal proceedings were pending, Ms. Sawinski decided to help Ms. Smith evict him from the Kendalwood address through informal, and illegal, means. So, according to Mr. Rayfield, during ArtPrize 2014 Ms. Sawinski illegally removed artwork, tools, and supplies from a shared garage space. Then Ms. Sawinski took out a PPO against Mr. Rayfield. This too, Mr. Rayfield contends, was done in order to push him out of the rental unit. In fact, Mr. Rayfield claims that an August 2014 police report establishes that Ms. Sawinski admitted this. (Id. at PageID.67). Mr. Rayfield also says that the PPO was difficult to enforce, as a practical matter, and that the Grand Rapids Police had previously acknowledged this. (Id. ).
3. Mr. Rayfield is Arrested for Violating the PPO
The day before the scheduled hearing on the eviction proceedings, on October 1, 2014, Defendants Hornbacher and Glowney were called to the Kendalwood address over a dispute between Mr. Rayfield and Ms. Sawinski. Mr. Rayfield says the October 1, 2014 call was initiated by Ms. Sawinski and stemmed from an altercation between the two that pertained to the common space in the Kendalwood address's garage.
The Amended Complaint alleges that when the defendant officers arrived, Mr. Rayfield explained to the officers that he had gone to court to get the PPO lifted. He also told the officers he had videotaped the incident that led to the call, and he *968explained to them that the tape would show that Ms. Sawinski was the aggressor in the altercation and that he had not violated the PPO. (ECF No. 14, PageID.68). Mr. Rayfield avers the officers refused to view the video and proceeded to arrest him.
4. Mr. Rayfield is Transferred to the Custody of Kent County and Misses his Court Date on Eviction Proceedings.
According to the Amended Complaint, "[a]t some point after [Mr. Rayfield's] arrest," his custody was transferred from the Grand Rapids Police Department to Defendant Kent County under the terms of an agreement between the two municipalities. (ECF No. 14, PageID.69). Mr. Rayfield says that in total he was detained for approximately three days, until October 3, 2014, before he was released from custody. The length of his detention exceeded the 24 hours that Mr. Rayfield contends was the maximum time he could be detained under Michigan law before he would have to be brought before a court for a hearing on bond. The exact timing that Mr. Rayfield alleges he was in the custody of each municipality is not clear in the complaint. But regardless of who held him at any particular moment, Mr. Rayfield contends that both the city and the county are responsible.
As a result of his allegedly unlawful detention, Mr. Rayfield contends he missed the scheduled hearing on the eviction proceedings, leading to entry of a default judgment against him. He then sought to have the default set aside, but was unsuccessful in his attempts. Ultimately he was forcibly evicted from the Kendalwood rental unit, which Mr. Rayfield contends resulted in the loss of significant amounts of his personal property. (Id. at PageID.71).
Mr. Rayfield originally filed this action against Defendants City of Grand Rapids, the Grand Rapids Police Department, and the individual officers Hornbacher and Glowney on September 28, 2017.
LEGAL STANDARDS
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) requires that a complaint contain a "short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief." Detailed factual allegations are not necessary. The Federal Rules provide that a cause of action may be dismissed for "failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted." FED. R. CIV. P. 12(b)(6). To survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, "a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to state a claim for relief that is plausible on its face." Ashcroft v. Iqbal ,
*969When reviewing a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) :
Assessment of the facial sufficiency of the complaint must ordinarily be undertaken without resort to matters outside the pleadings. If a court does consider material outside the pleadings, the motion to dismiss must be treated as a motion for summary judgment under Rule 56 and all parties must be given a reasonable opportunity to present all material pertinent to the motion. However, a court may consider exhibits attached to the complaint, public records, items appearing in the record of the case, and exhibits attached to defendant's motion to dismiss, so long as they are referred to in the complaint and are central to the claims contained therein, without converting the motion to one for summary judgment
Gavitt v. Born ,
DISCUSSION
1. Officers Hornbacher and Glowney are Entitled to Qualified Immunity on the False Arrest and Unlawful Detention Claims
In the first two counts of the Amended Complaint, Mr. Rayfield claims Defendants Hornbacher and Glowney violated § 1983 by arresting him without probable cause, and detaining him. Defendants respond by arguing they are entitled to qualified immunity on these claims. The Court agrees with Defendants.
a. Governing Law
Qualified immunity is an affirmative defense that extends to government officials performing discretionary functions. See Harlow v. Fitzgerald ,
*970In sum, "[t]o survive [a] motion to dismiss on qualified-immunity grounds, the plaintiff must allege facts that 'plausibly mak[e] out a claim that the defendant's conduct violated a constitutional right that was clearly established law at the time, such that a reasonable officer would have known that his conduct violated that right.' " Courtright v. City of Battle Creek ,
b. False Arrest
Mr. Rayfield first alleges a claim for false arrest under federal law against Officers Hornbacher and Glowney. The federal right at issue is the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unlawful arrest. See, e.g. , Everson v. Leis ,
Probable cause to effect a warrantless arrest exists when "the facts and circumstances known to the officer warrant a prudent man in believing that an offense has been committed." Henry v. United States ,
"A probable cause determination is based on the 'totality of the circumstances,' and must take account of 'both the inculpatory and exculpatory evidence' " then within the knowledge of the arresting officer. Wesley [v. Campbell ], 779 F.3d [421] at 429 [6th Cir. 2015] (quoting Gardenhire [v. Schubert ], 205 F.3d [303] at 318 [6th Cir. 2000] ). Thus, if the officer discovers information or evidence favorable to the accused in the course of an investigation, the officer " 'cannot simply turn a blind eye.' "Id. (quoting Ahlers v. Schebil ,188 F.3d 365 , 372 (6th Cir. 1999) ). Rather, that information or evidence must enter into the totality-of-the-circumstances analysis to determine whether there is probable cause for arrest.
Courtright ,
Officers Hornbacher and Glowney had probable cause to arrest Mr. Rayfield for violation of the PPO even accepting Mr. Rayfield's version of events. According to Mr. Rayfield's Amended Complaint, Ms. Sawinski called the police regarding an altercation between her and Mr. Rayfield in the residence's common area. Before departing to the scene, the officers verified that the PPO was still in place. The PPO, among other things, prohibited Mr. Rayfield from approaching or confronting Ms. Sawinski in a public place or on private property. (ECF No. 26-1, PageID.152). Mr. Rayfield admits in his Amended Complaint there was an altercation between Ms. Sawinski and himself. The difference between altercation and confrontation here are mere semantics. Furthermore, the officers knew that Mr. Rayfield, and Ms. Sawinski, had a history of confronting and *971aggravating each other.
Mr. Rayfield's arguments to the contrary are not persuasive. First, he makes several arguments that share a common underlying theme that the PPO should never have been entered in the first place, or should be lifted or modified to deal with the practical realities. At different points Mr. Rayfield argues that the PPO was invalid because Ms. Sawinski admitted she took out the PPO for an improper purpose, that the officers knew the PPO was impossible to enforce, and that the officers knew Mr. Rayfield had gone to court to dissolve the PPO. Mr. Rayfield cannot spin a plausible claim out of these allegations because the undeniable fact is that a PPO was in effect at the time he and Ms. Sawinski had their altercation. Moreover, the officers checked to verify this. The excerpts of the police report in the Amended Complaint make clear the officers checked the validity of the PPO-twice-before arresting him. And even assuming as true that Ms. Sawinski took out the PPO for an improper purpose, Mr. Rayfield cites no authority that would show this somehow undermines the validity of an arrest based on the PPO. Moreover, while he argues this was information known to the Grand Rapids Police Department, he does not allege the defendant officers knew anything about it.
Second, Mr. Rayfield argues the arresting officers did not have probable cause to make an arrest because they did not look at a video that he told them would exonerate him. The video at issue (now part of the record) is at best neutral and certainly not exonerating. In fact, it does not even appear to be made on the date in question. But Mr. Rayfield responds that the contents of the video at this stage of the case is actually irrelevant. What matters, according to him, is that the officers failed to view the alleged exculpatory evidence, which in Mr. Rayfield's view, automatically defeats probable cause. Mr. Rayfield likens his case to that of Harrington v. City of Detroit , No. 10-11946,
This argument is unpersuasive. Probable cause is a practical determination based on the totality of the circumstances. Officers cannot turn a blind eye to obviously exculpatory information, but this does not mean they have to wait to execute an arrest otherwise supported by probable cause to consider every shred of information a suspect proffers:
A suspect's satisfactory explanation of suspicious behavior is certainly a factor which law enforcement officers are entitled to take into consideration in making the determination whether probable cause to arrest exists. A policeman, however, is under no obligation to give any credence to a suspect's story nor should a plausible explanation in any sense require the officer to forego arrest pending further investigation if the facts as initially discovered provide probable cause.
Rodriguez v. City of Cleveland ,
Furthermore, Mr. Rayfield has provided no clearly established law that arresting officers must view a videotape identified by an arrestee before probable cause to effect an arrest exists. Harrington is not persuasive. All Harrington does is permit a fact-finder to consider how the officers responded to the proffer of a videotape as part of the probable cause determination. The case was going to trial because the defendants failed to seek summary judgment on the issue. Harrington ,
Because Mr. Rayfield has not stated a plausible claim that his arrest was unsupported by probable cause, he has not alleged a violation of a clearly established constitutional right. Cf. Courtright ,
c. Unlawful Detention
Mr. Rayfield next alleges Officers Hornbacher and Glowney violated § 1983 by detaining him in excess of the time prescribed both by state law and the Fourth Amendment.
That is not the end of the analysis, however, because Mr. Rayfield also references Cherrington v. Skeeter ,
The [Supreme] Court previously had recognized in *973Gerstein v. Pugh ,420 U.S. 103 , 114,95 S.Ct. 854 ,43 L.Ed.2d 54 (1975), that "the Fourth Amendment requires a judicial determination of probable cause as a prerequisite to extended restraint of liberty following arrest." In County of Riverside , the Court considered just how soon such a determination must be made, and concluded that "judicial determinations of probable cause within 48 hours of arrest will, as a general matter, comply with the promptness requirement of Gerstein. " County of Riverside [v. McLaughlin ], 500 U.S. [44] at 56, 111 S.Ct. [1661] at 1670 [114 L.Ed.2d 49 (1991) ]. While a delay of over 48 hours is not per se unlawful, the Government bears the burden in such cases to "demonstrate the existence of a bona fide emergency or other extraordinary circumstance" that led to the delayed probable cause determination. County of Riverside, 500 U.S. at 57, 111 S.Ct. at 1670.
Cherrington ,
As to this claim, Defendants Hornbacher and Glowney argue that they are entitled to qualified immunity because Mr. Rayfield fails to tie their conduct to any ongoing detention. They effected an arrest on probable cause, and then turned Mr. Rayfield over to the custodial officers. Defendants are correct. Assuming for purposes of argument that Mr. Rayfield's detention could violate County of Riverside , "[t]he plaintiff also must allege with particularity 'facts that demonstrate what each defendant did to violate the asserted constitutional right.' " Courtright ,
2. Mr. Rayfield's Due Process Allegation in Count III must be dismissed.
Because § 1983 is a method for vindicating federal rights, not a source of substantive rights itself, the first step in an action under § 1983 is to identify the specific constitutional right allegedly infringed. Albright v. Oliver ,
3. Mr. Rayfield's Claims against the City of Grand Rapids, County of Kent, and John Doe Defendants must be dismissed.
In Count IV, Mr. Rayfield alleges that Defendants City of Grand Rapids and County of Kent failed to provide proper training to their officers, and in particular Michigan's 24-hour detention limit for PPO arrestees who have not received a judicial determination of probable cause. Mr. Rayfield also brings counts against John Doe defendants, who he avers are "multiple as-yet-unidentified officers, employees, or affiliates of the City of Grand Rapids and/or the County of Kent who were involved in the detention of Plaintiff from October 1, 2014, through October 3, 2014, or whose actions or failures to act resulted in same." (ECF No. 14, PageID.64). These claims are also subject to dismissal.
A municipality or other local governmental entity is considered a "person" under § 1983, and may therefore be held liable for its actions depriving a plaintiff of his federal rights-commonly referred to as Monell liability. Board of Cty. Comm'rs of Bryan Cty., Okl. v. Brown ,
a. Mr. Rayfield's Claims against the John Doe and Kent County Defendants are Time-Barred
Mr. Rayfield added Kent County to the case in an Amended Complaint filed more than three years after the October 2014 events. "A complaint is subject to dismissal for failure to state a claim if the allegations, taken as true, show the plaintiff is not entitled to relief. If the allegations, for example, show that relief is barred by the applicable statute of limitations, the complaint is subject to dismissal for failure to state a claim[.]" Jones v. Bock ,
State statutes of limitations and tolling principles apply to determine *975the timeliness of claims asserted under
The events Mr. Rayfield complains about took place between October 1, 2014 and October 3, 2014. Mr. Rayfield brought this action on September 28, 2017, just inside the three-year window. But when Mr. Rayfield first filed this suit, he did not name Kent County as a defendant. Rather, on November 21, 2017, Mr. Rayfield filed a stipulation stating he "anticipate[d] adding an additional Defendant, the County of Kent who, per records provided by the Defendants' counsel, may have had custody over Plaintiff at times relevant to the Complaint." (ECF No. 8, PageID.29). On January 9, 2018, Mr. Rayfield filed a document entitled "Motion to Add Party" to add Kent County under Rule 21. (ECF No. 11 ). The Court granted the "motion to add a party" on January 11. (ECF No. 13 ). The Amended Complaint was filed the same day. (ECF No. 14 ). Mr. Rayfield does not dispute that he added Kent County after the three year statute of limitations had expired, but he contends that the January 11th amendment relates back to the date of his original complaint under Rule 15 of the Federal Rules of Federal Procedure. The Court disagrees.
Rule 15 provides as follows:
(c) Relation Back of Amendments.
(1) When an Amendment Relates Back. An amendment to a pleading relates back to the date of the original pleading when:
(A) the law that provides the applicable statute of limitations allows relation back;
(B) the amendment asserts a claim or defense that arose out of the conduct, transaction, or occurrence set out-or attempted to be set out-in the original pleading; or
(C) the amendment changes the party or the naming of the party against whom a claim is asserted, if Rule 15(c)(1)(B) is satisfied and if, within the period provided by Rule 4(m) for serving the summons and complaint, the party to be brought in by amendment:
(i) received such notice of the action that it will not be prejudiced in defending on the merits; and
(ii) knew or should have known that the action would have been brought against it, but for a mistake concerning the proper party's identity.
FED. R. CIV. P. 15(c). Accordingly, for a claim against a new defendant to relate back to the time of the original complaint, three requirements must be met:
First, the claim against the new defendant must arise "out of the conduct, transaction, or occurrence set out-or attempted to be set out-in the original pleading." Second, "within the time period provided by Rule 4(m) for serving the summons and complaint," the party being added must have "received such notice of the action that it will not be prejudiced in defending on the merits." And third, within that same time period, it must be the case that the defendant "knew or should have known that the action would have been brought against it, but for a mistake concerning the proper party's identity."
*976In re Biozoom, Inc. Securities Litigation ,
Mr. Rayfield avers he can meet these requirements because when he originally filed this action he believed that he was in the custody of Grand Rapids for the entirety of the October 1 through October 3, 2014 period. He did not find out until later, he says, that he had been transferred to Kent County's custody. Mr. Rayfield says the delay is due to a FOIA dispute with the city that prevented him from finding out that Kent County held him until after the statute of limitations had run.
In Smith v. City of Akron ,
Mr. Rayfield insists that he is not seeking to "add" a party, but rather he was mistaken over the identity of the party that held him between October 1 and October 3, 2014, and that this case should be controlled by the Supreme Court's decision in Krupski v. Costa Crociere S.p.A. ,
Accordingly, the addition of Kent County as a named defendant in the Amended Complaint does not relate back and Mr. Rayfield's claims against Kent County are untimely.
b. Mr. Rayfield Fails to State a Plausible Monell Claim.
Mr. Rayfield's claims under Monell against the city of Grand Rapids and Kent County based on alleged inadequate training also fail to state a claim upon which relief can be granted for several substantive reasons. First, it is not enough to raise a claim under Monell that the municipalities failed to properly train employees regarding the requirements of state law. Rather, "Monell liability attaches only to constitutional violations, and not to state-law violations." Joy v. Godair , No. 1:16-cv-187,
Any failure to train claim must rest on the Fourth Amendment and the 48 hour safe harbor rule as laid out in Cherrington and County of Riverside , discussed above. But those cases are silent on what happens when two separate municipalities share responsibility, as Mr. Rayfield contends. Mr. Rayfield suggests a sort of tacking argument, or non-delegable duty on the part of the City to make sure that the County did not violate constitutional rights. But Mr. Rayfield cites no law to support the theory. Moreover, Mr. Rayfield's allegations include nothing that concretely identifies training failures of any kind, or that attempts to link any such alleged failures to what happened here. Conclusory assertions are not enough to state a Twombly plausible Monell claim. See Twombly ,
At best, what Mr. Rayfield manages to allege against the municipalities is that one or both fumbled the ball in managing the custodial handoff of Mr. Rayfield. But Monell claims do not lie to redress isolated mistakes. In Heyerman v. County of Calhoun , a case where the plaintiff was imprisoned for more than seventeen years as a pretrial detainee following a Court of Appeals vacatur and remand, the Sixth Circuit held that:
A municipality may be liable under § 1983 for a failure to train its employees or to institute a policy to avoid the alleged harm where the need to act "is so obvious, and the inadequacy so likely to result in the violation of constitutional rights, that the policymakers of the [municipality] can reasonably be said to have been deliberately indifferent to the need." City of Canton v. Harris ,489 U.S. 378 , 390,109 S.Ct. 1197 ,103 L.Ed.2d 412 (1989). The occasional negligent administration of an otherwise sound policy is not sufficient to impose municipal liability. Seeid. at 390-91 ,109 S.Ct. 1197 ("That a particular officer may be unsatisfactorily trained will not *978alone suffice to fasten liability on the city, for the officer's shortcomings may have resulted from factors other than a faulty training program.").
Heyerman v. County of Calhoun ,
There is nothing in the Amended Complaint to suggest that the City or County were doing anything by design to hold Mr. Rayfield longer than the Constitution permits. Mr. Rayfield's argument that he needs discovery to ascertain whether there are other cases like his puts the cart before the horse. At most all he has alleged is a mistake by defendants that led to his detention for a short time beyond the County of Riverside 48-hour safe harbor. This does not amount to a plausible claim under Monell for the same reason that the Sixth Circuit concluded in Heyerman that a mistake leading to an individual's pretrial detention for seventeen years did not amount to a Monell claim. In sum, "[t]his is not a circumstance where the need for action was 'plainly obvious' to the municipality's policymakers or where what happened was a 'highly predictable consequence' of the County's existing policy." Id. at 649. Accordingly, Mr. Rayfield has failed to state a Monell claim against the two municipalities.
CONCLUSION
Even accepting Mr. Rayfield's version of events, the individual officers had probable cause to arrest him for violation of a PPO that was still in effect as issued by the state judge. At a minimum, they are entitled to qualified immunity for their decision to arrest.
The potential claims against unidentified "John Doe" defendants, and against the belatedly added County of Kent are time-barred. Moreover, the allegations of the Amended Complaint fail to state Twombly plausible Monell claims against the County and City in any event.
ACCORDINGLY, IT IS ORDERED that the Defense Motions to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim (ECF Nos. 25 and 27) are GRANTED to the extent as detailed in this Opinion and Order. This case is DISMISSED.
JUDGMENT
In accordance with the Opinion and Order entered this date, Judgment is entered in favor of Defendants and against Plaintiff, dismissing all claims.
During the events in question Plaintiff was known as Gary Satterfield. Consistent with Plaintiff's present preference, however, the Court will refer to Plaintiff as Mr. Rayfield.
The parties disagree on some of the background circumstances in this case. Here, the Court recites and accepts as true Mr. Rayfield's version of the background facts solely for the purpose of the motion to dismiss. The Court makes no findings of fact in this Opinion and Order.
In a separate action not before this Court, Mr. Rayfield has brought a series of claims relating to his eventual eviction from the Kendalwood address against Ms. Smith and her son. Rayfield v. Smith , No. 1:17-cv-802 (W.D. Mich. filed Aug. 31, 2017) (Quist, J).
The Amended Complaint also dropped the "Grand Rapids Police Department" as a defendant.
Plaintiff highlights Officer Hornbacher's recommendation that the PPO be reviewed for possible termination because Ms. Sawinski's actions were not consistent with a fear for her safety. (ECF No. 14, PageID.68). That does not change the fact, however, that on the date in question there was still a valid PPO against Mr. Rayfield.
Moreover, actually viewing the video would have changed nothing because it is not the smoking gun of exoneration that Mr. Rayfield supposes it to be. For one thing, the video appears to be of an earlier interaction, not the altercation at issue on October 1, 2014. The time stamp on the video is dated in August 2014, and the clothing worn by the individuals in the video, as well as the observable weather, is certainly more consistent with August in West Michigan than October. Moreover, the video plainly begins in the middle of the dispute, thus it does not show what led to the dispute, or who began it.
Plaintiff also brings this count against the John Doe defendants. Plaintiff's claims against these defendants will be discussed in a later section.
Mr. Rayfield appears to have made this statement for purposes of explanation, and does not appear to argue for equitable tolling.
As an alternative basis, Kent County argues that Mr. Rayfield's claims fail as a matter of law under Twombly and Iqbal because they are supported only by his unsubstantiated beliefs, that is, by "information and reasonable belief." The Court is not persuaded by this alternative argument. " 'Although there is no express authorization in the federal rules for pleading on information and belief, allegations in this form have been held to be permissible, even after the Twombly and Iqbal decisions.' " Cassidy v. Teaching Co., LLC , No. 2:13-cv-884,
Reference
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