Young v. Bd. of Supervisors of Humphreys Cnty.
Opinion
Carl Young sued the Board of Supervisors of Humphreys County, Mississippi ("the Board"), and its president under
I.
Young bought three empty houses on September 2, 2015, and retained a local contractor eight days later to clean and renovate them. On September 18, Charles Edwards, the County Building Inspector, posted a condemnation notice on one of the properties, declaring each of them unsafe and ordering "[a]ll persons ... to keep out *902 as long as this notice remains posted." Nonetheless, according to Edwards, Young's properties complied with county rules and ordinances and state law at the time he posted the notice. In fact, Edwards testified that he would not have posted the condemnation notice except that R.D. "Dickie" Stevens-the president of the Board 1 -had instructed him to do so. 2
On October 5, the Board met and unanimously voted to hold a hearing on November 17 for the condemnation of Young's properties. 3 The Board maintains that the term "condemnation" in its October meeting minutes was "a clerical error." It further avers that it was not trying to condemn Young's properties but was attempting to give Young notice that he needed to clean them up. The Board separately stipulated, however, that it "speaks through its Minutes." In any event, the Board instructed its attorney to send Young a letter telling him to remove, by November 17, debris left by the previous owners. Willie Bailey, the Board's attorney, sent Young a letter on October 13, explaining that the Board had voted to hold a hearing on November 17 "to determine whether the property ... [was] in such a state of uncleanliness as to be a menace to the public health, safety and welfare of the community."
Young appeared at the November meeting and asked for a continuance to obtain counsel. The parties continued the hearing until December 7. Young obtained counsel, who informed the Board a few days before the rescheduled hearing of Young's intent to sue the Board. The Board, in turn, told Young that it would not hold the hearing and was turning the situation over to its insurance company.
The Board never conducted a condemnation hearing, and neither Stevens nor any other Board member instructed Edwards to remove the condemnation notice from Young's property. The notice remained in effect for over two years until the Board sent Young a letter on February 12, 2018, telling him that he could enter his properties and start repairs.
II.
Young sued the Board and Stevens, in his individual and official capacities, in state court, seeking civil damages under § 1983. Young alleged that Stevens, acting under color of state law, had violated his Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights by instructing Edwards to post the condemnation notice without a legal basis. Young averred that the Board was liable also because it had ratified Stevens's actions during the October 2015 meeting by unanimously voting to continue condemnation proceedings.
Defendants removed, and the district court dismissed the claims against Stevens but allowed the claims against the Board to proceed to trial. The sole issue was whether the Board had ratified Stevens's actions, meaning that it could be held liable under § 1983. The Board unsuccessfully moved for JMOL at the end of Young's *903 case-in-chief. The Board renewed its motion after its case-in-chief, and the court again denied it. The jury returned a verdict for Young, awarding $25,000 in damages. The court entered a final judgment for $43,261.57 in damages, taxes, fees, and litigation expenses. The Board timely moved for a JMOL under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50(b) or, in the alternative, a new trial. The court denied the motion, and the Board appealed.
III.
A.
The Board contends that it was entitled to a JMOL because Young failed to make out a § 1983 claim under a theory of ratification. "We review de novo the district court's denial of a motion for [JMOL], applying the same standard as the district court."
Seibert v. Jackson Cty.
,
"To establish municipal [or county] liability under § 1983, a plaintiff must show that (1) an official policy (2) promulgated by the municipal policymaker (3) was the moving force behind the violation of a constitutional right."
Peterson v. City of Fort Worth
,
There was legally sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to conclude that the Board ratified the unlawful initiation
*904
of condemnation proceedings. Drawing all inferences in the light most favorable to Young, testimony at trial showed that Stevens had directed Edwards to post the condemnation notice, even though Young's properties were compliant with state and county law. The Board ratified that action at its next meeting by unanimously voting to proceed with condemnation, and the notice was not withdrawn for over two years. Those facts are "sufficiently extreme,"
The Board counters that it is "undisputed" that the Board never voted to approve Stevens's direction to Edwards to post the condemnation notice on Young's property, nor did it vote to approve the basis for Stevens's decision. Though the Board did not specifically vote to ratify Stevens's action or the reasons supporting it, taking the facts in the light most favorable to Young, the Board's unanimous vote to proceed with condemnation is legally sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to conclude that the Board ratified Stevens's decision to have Edwards post the notice.
B.
The Board challenges the verdict based on three alleged errors in the jury instructions. "We review challenges to jury instructions for abuse of discretion and afford the trial court great latitude in the framing and structure of jury instructions."
Eastman Chem. Co. v. Plastipure, Inc.
,
1.
The Board takes issue with Jury Instruction 4, which told the jury that it could find the Board liable if it found, by a preponderance of the evidence, one of three things: (1) "The Board of Supervisors authorized a violation of Mr. Young's property rights," (2) "Dickie Stevens had been given the authority by the Board to take the action he took with respect to Mr. Young's property," or (3) "The Board ratified Dickie Stevens' actions after the fact." The Board objects to both the second and third options.
The Board contends that the second option erroneously permitted the jury to decide whether the Board gave Stevens final policymaking authority. That, the Board insists, was a question of law for the court, not a fact question for the jury. Even assuming that the court erred in allowing the jury to determine whether Stevens was a policymaker, there was legally sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to hold the Board liable on a ratification theory, as we have explained. Thus, "any injury resulting from the erroneous instruction is harmless."
Eastman Chem. Co.
, 775 F.3d at 240 (quoting
Rogers v. Eagle Offshore Drilling Servs., Inc.,
Regarding the third option, the Board contends that Jury Instruction 4 incorrectly stated the law on ratification because it "did not require Young to prove the existence of an unconstitutional policy." The Board continues that the ratification *905 theory requires a plaintiff to prove a separate violation of an official policy or custom, not just that the policymaker ratified a subordinate's action. But that misstates the ratification theory. Showing that a policymaker ratified the actions of a subordinate is one way of making out a § 1983 claim against a county or municipality; it is not an additional factor that must be established. 5
2.
The Board claims that Jury Instruction 5 wrongly told the jury that Young had to prove "that he was deprived of his property rights in an arbitrary and capricious manner." The Board maintains that the correct standard of liability was one of "deliberate indifference."
The Board fails to show that this instruction "creates substantial and ineradicable doubt whether the jury has been properly guided in its deliberations."
Mijalis
,
In any event, the district court ultimately instructed the jury on deliberate indifference. Because juries are presumed to follow instructions,
Hollis v. Provident Life & Accident Ins. Co.
,
3.
The Board contends that the district court erred in refusing to give the Board's proffered Jury Instruction 8, which would have told the jury that Young needed to prove an official policy or widespread custom. A party challenging the refusal to give a proffered jury instruction "must show as a threshold matter that the proposed instruction correctly stated the law."
The judgment is AFFIRMED.
The Board is a five-person body that governs Humphreys County.
Stevens disputed that narrative at trial, insisting that he had told Edwards to put up a "cease and desist" sign informing all persons to stop entering the properties and taking items from the houses.
The meeting minutes describe that vote as follows: "Supervisor Broomfield moved and Supervisor Brown seconded the motion setting a hearing on November 17, 2015[,] for owner of property in North Gate and Griffin Circle for condemnation of property ." (Capitalization omitted and emphasis added.) The Board members passed the motion by a 5-0 vote.
The Board suggests that we have limited the ratification theory almost exclusively to cases involving a "use of excessive force that resulted in bodily injuries or death." To the contrary, we have regularly applied ratification to economic injuries.
See
Culbertson v. Lykos
,
See, e.g.
,
Culbertson
,
See, e.g.
,
Gebser v. Lago Vista Indep. Sch. Dist.
,
See, e.g.
,
Regents of Univ. of Mich. v. Ewing
,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Carl YOUNG, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF HUMPHREYS COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI, Defendant-Appellant.
- Cited By
- 20 cases
- Status
- Published