Robert Tolan v. Jeffrey Cotton
070rehearing
The court having been polled, and a majority of the judges who are in regular active service and not disqualified not having voted in favor (Fed. R.App. P. And 5th Cir. R. 85), rehearing en banc is DENIED.
Voting for en-banc rehearing were: Judge James L. Dennis, Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod, and Judge James E. Graves, Jr. Voting against were: Chief Judge Carl E. Stewart, Judge Carolyn Dineen King, Judge E. Grady Jolly, Judge W. Eugene Davis, Judge Edith H. Jones, Judge Jerry E. Smith, Judge Edith Brown Clement, Judge Edward C. Prado, Judge Priscilla R. Owen, Judge Leslie H. South-wick, Judge Catharina Haynes, and Judge Stephen A. Higginson.
Upon the filing of this order, the clerk shall issue the mandate forthwith, see Fed. R. App. P. 41(b).
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting:
I respectfully but emphatically dissent from the court’s failure to rehear this case en banc. The panel opinion contains three serious errors that should be corrected by this court en banc or by the Supreme Court: (1) The panel opinion erroneously assumes that the Supreme Court’s decision in Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223, 129 S. Ct. 808, 172 L.Ed.2d 565 (2009), authorizes it to skip the first prong of the Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001), analysis and grant Sergeant Jeffrey Wayne Cotton qualified immunity, despite there being no argument or evidence that Cotton’s actions were based on his reasonable mistake of law; consequently, the panel opinion does not correctly apply either prong of the Saucier analysis, but uses a confused jumble of parts of each prong to justify its decision and reach the wrong conclusion; (2) The panel opinion erroneously and misleadingly represents that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact in this case; (3) The panel opinion erroneously and misleadingly represents facts that are genuinely disputed as being undisputed.
1.
In Saucier v. Katz, the Court mandated a two-step sequence for resolving government officials’ qualified immunity claims. First, “a court must decide whether the facts that a plaintiff has alleged (see Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), (e)) or shown (see Rules 50, 56) make out a violation of a constitutional right.” Pearson, 555 U.S. at 232, 129 S.Ct. 808 (citing Saucier, 533 U.S. at 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151). Second, “if the plaintiff has satisfied this first step, the court must decide whether the right at issue was ‘clearly established’ at the time of defendant’s alleged misconduct.” Id. Qualified immunity is applicable unless the official’s conduct violated a clearly established constitutional right. Id. (citing Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987)).
In Pearson, the Court held that while the sequence set forth in Saucier is often appropriate, it should no longer be regarded as mandatory. Id. at 236, 129 S.Ct. 808. “The judges of the district courts and the courts of appeals should be permitted to exercise their sound discretion in deciding which of the two prongs of the qualified immunity analysis should be addressed first in light of the circumstances in the particular case at hand.” Id. Importantly, the Court in Pearson did not change the substance or the purpose of the two Saucier prongs. It merely recognized that lower courts should have the discretion to decide whether following the two prongs in sequence as originally set forth
The panel opinion, in a very confused and erroneous manner, claims that it “do[es] not reach whether Sergeant Cotton’s shooting Robbie Tolan violated his Fourth Amendment right against excessive force (as noted, the district court relied on this first prong of qualified-immunity analysis).” Tolan v. Cotton, 713 F.3d 299, 306 (5th Cir. 2013). Instead, the panel opinion concludes that “showing violation of a constitutional right does not end the inquiry when qualified immunity properly has been invoked. Sergeant Cotton is entitled, through summary judgment, to qualified immunity under the second prong of the analysis.” Id.
After the panel opinion states that it will use only the Saucier second prong analysis to decide this case, one would expect it to address whether Cotton made a reasonable mistake of law in using deadly force against Robbie, for that is the purpose of the second prong.
2.
In pursuing its confused Saucier second prong analysis, the panel opinion further compounds its errors by representing that several genuinely disputed material facts
Resolving the disputed facts reasonably in favor of the plaintiffs, the evidence shows that when Cotton arrived at the Tolans’ residence, the Nissan that Edwards had misidentified as stolen was parked in front of the house, Robbie and Cooper were prone on the porch and on the ground, respectively, Bobby—Robbie’s father—had his hands against the other car in the driveway, and Marian—Robbie’s mother, a middle-aged woman in her pajamas whom Cotton believed to be the homeowner—was explaining to Edwards that she and Bobby owned the Nissan while Edwards had his pistol trained on Robbie and Cooper. Marian and Bobby had already explained to Edwards that he was mistaken in believing the Nissan to be stolen, that they owned the house and the Nissan, that Robbie lived with them, and that Robbie and Cooper were their son and nephew, respectively. Robbie was prone on the porch toward and near the front door of the house. When Cotton arrived, Marian explained to Cotton that she and Bobby owned the Nissan, the house, and that Robbie was their son. Cotton immediately ordered Marian to move to the garage door. She began to comply, then stopped to again explain the officers’ mistake to Cotton. Cotton grabbed her arm, pulled her to the garage, and slammed her up against it so hard that she slid to the ground. At this point, Cotton had a clear and full view of Robbie who was lying approximately 15 to 20 feet away. When Robbie saw and heard his mother being thrown against the garage door, he pushed himself up and turned around to face Cotton while saying, “get your fucking hands off my mom.” Without issuing any warning, Cotton unholstered his weapon, pointed it at Robbie, and shot at him three times, striking him once in the chest. The force of the bullet drove him backwards against the front door, leaving his blood stain near the front door. The bullet collapsed Robbie’s lung and lodged in his liver. Robbie was squatting
Taking the undisputed facts of this case and resolving the disputed facts reasonably in the nonmovant plaintiffs’ favor, the summary judgment record clearly shows that a jury reasonably could find that Cotton used excessive force against Robbie and Marian and that he did not warrant qualified immunity because the law was so clearly established that an objectively reasonable officer in Cotton’s position would have known that his actions violated Robbie and Marian’s Fourth Amendment rights. Only by failing to adhere to proper summary judgment law and by misapplying the two-prong qualified immunity analysis was the panel opinion able to conclude otherwise.
CONCLUSION
The panel opinion erroneously interprets the Supreme Court’s decision in Pearson to authorize it not only to skip the first prong of the Saucier analysis, but also to misapply as its Saucier second-prong analysis an amalgam of both prongs, so that it applies neither prong fully and correctly. Also, the panel opinion misapplies summary-judgment law by dismissing undisputed facts as inconsequential and resolving material facts genuinely at issue in the defendant’s favor rather than in favor of the plaintiff. If the panel opinion had applied the Saucier prongs correctly it would have concluded that the facts that the plaintiffs have shown make out a violation of their constitutional right to be free from excessive and deadly force by a police officer; that this right was “clearly established” at the time that Cotton violated their rights by using excessive force against Marian Tolan and deadly force against Robbie Tolan; and that Officer Cotton is not entitled to qualified immunity because, under the facts shown by the parties’ submissions, a reasonable jury could find that an objectively reasonable officer would have known that Robbie To-lan did not pose an immediate, significant threat to the officer’s life and that the officer’s use of deadly force without forewarning was therefore not justifiable.
. See Saucier, 533 U.S. at 205, 121 S.Ct. 2151 ("The concern of the immunity inquiry is to acknowledge that reasonable mistakes can be made as to the legal constraints on particular police conduct. It is sometimes difficult for an officer to determine how the relevant legal doctrine, here excessive force, will apply to the factual situation the officer confronts. An officer might correctly perceive all of the relevant facts but have a mistaken understanding as to whether a particular amount of force is legal in those circumstances. If the officer’s mistake as to what the law requires is reasonable, however, the officer is entitled to the immunity defense.”)
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Robert R. TOLAN; Marian Tolan, Plaintiffs-Appellants v. Jeffrey Wayne COTTON, Defendant-Appellee
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published