Amber Jernigan v. City of Montgomery, Alabama ( 2020 )

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[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
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No. 19-13814
Non-Argument Calendar
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D.C. Docket No. 2:17-cv-00044-ECM-SMD
AMBER JERNIGAN,
TAYLOR JERNIGAN,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
versus
CITY OF MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA,
OFFICER JEREMY BROWNING,
Defendants-Appellees.
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Alabama
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(April 10, 2020)
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Before WILSON, WILLIAM PRYOR and LUCK, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Amber and Taylor Jernigan appeal the summary judgment in favor of the
City of Montgomery, Alabama, and its employee, Officer Jeremy Browning. 42
U.S.C. § 1983. Officer Browning arrested the Jernigans after misinterpreting a
computer database as listing outstanding warrants for their arrest instead of
criminal summonses. The Jernigans complained that Officer Browning falsely
arrested them in violation of the Fourth Amendment and that the City was
deliberately indifferent for failing to train its officers how to interpret its mobile
computer database. The Jernigans also complained of false imprisonment by
Officer Browning and of violations of state laws by the City and its officer, but the
Jernigans have abandoned any challenge they could have made to the summary
judgment against their claim of false imprisonment and to the refusal of the district
court to exercise its supplemental jurisdiction over their claims under state law. See
Hamilton v. Southland Christian Sch., Inc., 680 F.3d 1316, 1318–19 (11th Cir.
2012). The district court ruled that Officer Browning was entitled to qualified
immunity for his reasonable mistake of fact and that City did not act with
deliberate indifference because it was not obvious that the failure to provide
additional training on the mobile computer database would result in improper
arrests. We affirm.
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I. BACKGROUND
While in his patrol car, Officer Browning searched his computer for
outstanding arrest warrants. When trained on the mobile device, a field officer told
Officer Browning that the database catalogued warrants “for misdemeanors and
felonies.” In fact, the database catalogued warrants and criminal summons, and the
summonses were distinguishable by their case numbers, which contained the letter
“s.”
Officer Browning mistakenly determined that the Jernigans had charges
pending for harassment, drove to their home, and arrested them. Officer Browning
detained the Jernigans in the back seat of his patrol car while dispatch verified their
arrest warrants. Approximately 40 minutes later, dispatch reported that the
Jernigans had summonses, not arrest warrants. Officer Browning immediately
released the Jernigans and apologized for his mistake.
During discovery, Officer Browning testified that he was not told during
training on his mobile computer that criminal summons were catalogued with
warrants. He stated that the Jernigans’ case numbers included the letter “s” and that
he would not have arrested the couple had he been told during his training that the
“s” reflected an outstanding summons. Officer Browning could not recall whether
he received training concerning criminal summonses.
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The Jernigans deposed J.E. King, a former police officer, about processing
and serving printed summonses and warrants. Mr. King stated that “[a]n affidavit
summons is usually—from my understanding it’s where there is a complaint, but it
doesn’t rise to the level of violation of a federal, state or local law.” When he
“worked the police desk,” he served criminal summonses and “never kn[ew] for an
affidavit summons to be sent by mail.” Mr. King also stated that, after “a summons
or a warrant is issued, the magistrate’s office usually transfers those to the police
department within a day or that day,” where they were “house[d] . . . in [the]
records section [of the police department] until they are ready to be served.”
Officers executed arrest warrants, according to Mr. King, when there is “some
reason or . . . an instance where a police officer comes in contact with that person
and has a reason to believe that they need to run a check on them to determine
whether or not there is a warrant.” But on further questioning, he stated “[t]here
[was] no set standard” for executing outstanding warrants and “no policy” that
prohibited police officers from arresting suspects on outstanding warrants.
Officer Browning and the City jointly moved for summary judgment, which
the district court granted. The district court found that Officer Browning had
arguable probable cause to arrest the Jernigans based on “the unrefuted evidence in
the record . . . that Browning . . . [had a] mistaken understanding that the listing on
his computer was of warrants for arrest.” The district court ruled that Officer
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Browning was entitled to summary judgment because no clearly established law
declared “unlawful an arrest where an officer mistakenly thinks a warrant has been
issued for a person’s arrest based on the understanding of the information he
reviewed, but instead only a summons has issued.” The district court also ruled that
the City was entitled to summary judgment “because there [was] no evidence . . .
[it had received] notice of prior constitutional violations” caused by the mobile
computers and “the facts of the case f[e]ll outside of the narrow range of
circumstances where the need for training [was] ‘so obvious’ that a failure to
adequately train . . . [amounted to] deliberate indifference.”
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
We review de novo a summary judgment. Carter v. Butts Cty., Ga., 821 F.3d
1310, 1318 (11th Cir. 2016). We view the evidence and draw all factual inferences
in favor of the non-moving party. Id. Summary judgment is appropriate where
“there is no genuine issue as to any material fact.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a).
III. DISCUSSION
The Jernigans challenge the summary judgment in favor of Officer
Browning and the City. They argue that Officer Browning lacked arguable
probable cause to arrest them. They also argue that the City acted with deliberate
indifference by failing to train Officer Browning how to interpret the mobile
computer database.
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A. Officer Browning Had Arguable Probable Cause to Arrest the Jernigans.
Officer Browning enjoys qualified immunity for his discretionary acts so
long as his “conduct [did not] violate clearly established statutory or constitutional
rights of which a reasonable person would have known.” Dalrymple v. Reno, 334
F.3d 991, 994 (11th Cir. 2003) (quoting Hope v. Pelzer, 536 U.S. 730, 739 (2002)).
Because the Jernigans do not dispute that Officer Browning was acting within his
discretionary authority when he arrested them, they must “show that qualified
immunity is not appropriate.” Lee v. Ferraro, 284 F.3d 1188, 1194 (11th Cir.
2002). “Qualified immunity gives government officials breathing room to make
reasonable but mistaken judgments, and protects all but the plainly incompetent or
those who knowingly violate the law.” Messerschmidt v. Millender, 565 U.S. 535,
546 (2012) (internal quotation marks omitted). So Officer Browning enjoys
immunity from suit if his “error is a mistake of law, a mistake of fact, or a mistake
based on mixed questions of law and fact.” Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223,
231 (2009) (internal quotation marks omitted).
The Fourth Amendment protects citizens against an arrest without probable
cause. Carter, 821 F.3d at 1319. For probable cause to exist, law enforcement
officers must have facts sufficient to warrant a reasonable belief that the suspect
has or is committing a crime. Id. Qualified immunity protects an officer so long as
he has arguable probable cause to arrest. Grider v. City of Auburn, 618 F.3d 1240,
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1257 (11th Cir. 2010); Gold v. City of Miami, 121 F.3d 1442, 1445 (11th
Cir.1997). The standard of arguable probable cause is an objective one, and “does
not include an inquiry into the officers’ subjective intent or beliefs.” Rushing v.
Parker, 599 F.3d 1263, 1266 (11th Cir. 2010) (quoting Von Stein v. Brescher, 904
F.2d 572, 579 (11th Cir. 1990)). “Arguable probable cause exists where reasonable
officers in the same circumstances and possessing the same knowledge as the
Defendant could have believed that probable cause existed to arrest.” Id. (quoting
Case v. Eslinger, 555 F.3d 1317, 1327 (11th Cir. 2009)).
Our precedents hold that arguable probable cause exists when an officer
makes a “reasonable mistake in the legitimate performance of [his] duties.”
Washington v. Rivera, 939 F.3d 1239, 1249 (11th Cir. 2019); Post v. City of Ft.
Lauderdale, 7 F.3d 1552, 1558 (11th Cir. 1993). In Post, we concluded that a
police officer had arguable probable cause to arrest a restaurant owner for violating
building code regulations based on the officer’s miscount of the number of
customers in the restaurant. Id. Based on Post, we concluded in Washington that a
probation officer had arguable probable cause to issue a warrant to arrest the
plaintiff for failing to pay a fine based on mistaken information provided by the
clerk’s office that the fine remained unpaid. 939 F.3d at 1241–42, 1249.
Like the officers in Post and Washington, Officer Browning was entitled to
qualified immunity. Because Officer Browning “reasonably but mistakenly
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conclude[d] that probable cause [was] present[, he] [is] entitled to immunity.”
Hunter v. Bryant, 502 U.S. 224, 227 (1991) (internal quotation marks omitted).
The Jernigans argue that any reasonable officer “presented with a summons instead
of a warrant . . . would plausibly believe they were in possession of a valid
warrant,” but Officer Browning did not arrest the Jernigans using a document.
Officer Browning accessed the Jernigans’ case information on his mobile computer
and mistakenly determined there was a warrant for their arrest. Because Officer
Browning made a good faith mistake of fact in arresting the Jernigans, he is
immune from suit.
B. The City Did Not Act With Deliberate Indifference.
The Supreme Court has explained “that there are limited circumstances in
which an allegation of a ‘failure to train’ can be the basis for liability under
§ 1983.” City of Canton, Ohio v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378, 387 (1989). “To satisfy the
statute, a municipality’s failure to train its employees in a relevant respect must
amount to deliberate indifference to the rights of persons with whom the [untrained
employees] come into contact.” Connick v. Thompson, 563 U.S. 51, 61 (2011). But
a municipality is not liable unless the “failure to train reflects a deliberate or
conscious choice.” Canton, 489 U.S. at 389. “[D]eliberate indifference is a
stringent standard of fault, requiring proof that a municipal actor disregarded a
known or obvious consequence of his action.” Bd. of Cty. Comm’rs of Bryan Cty.,
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Okl. v. Brown, 520 U.S. 397, 410 (1997) (internal quotation marks omitted). The
“plaintiff must present some evidence that the municipality knew of a need to train
and/or supervise . . . [and] made a deliberate choice not to take any action.” Gold v.
City of Miami, 151 F.3d 1346, 1350 (11th Cir. 1998). “A pattern of similar
constitutional violations by untrained employees is ‘ordinarily necessary’ to
demonstrate deliberate indifference for purposes of failure to train.” Connick, 563
U.S. at 62 (quoting Brown, 520 U.S. at 409).
The Jernigans argue that their unlawful arrest evidences deliberate
indifference by the City. The Supreme Court has “left open the possibility that, in a
narrow range of circumstances,” a municipality may be held liable when a single
incident is the “obvious” consequence of a failure to provide specific training. Id.
To prevail, a plaintiff must prove that the violation of his or her federal rights was
“a highly predictable consequence” of failing to train its officers. Brown, 520 U.S.
at 409. The plaintiff must prove a correlation between “[t]he likelihood that the
situation will recur and the predictability that an officer lacking specific tools to
handle that situation will violate citizens’ rights.” Id.
The Jernigans liken their situation to Brown v. Bryan County, 219 F.3d 450
(5th Cir. 2000), in which a jury found that a municipality acted with deliberate
indifference in failing to train a 21-year-old reserve sheriff’s deputy on the proper
use of a “takedown” arrest. Id. at 452–53. The deputy had only “been on the force
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for a matter of weeks,” had no prior experience as a law enforcement officer, had a
criminal record and an outstanding warrant for his arrest, and had been accused of
misconduct during his brief time on the force. Id. at 454–55. The Fifth Circuit
concluded that the jury “reasonably could have concluded that the County’s
decision not to train [the deputy], compounded by its policy of not requiring proper
supervision, was the ‘moving force’ behind the unconstitutional use of excessive
force, which caused Brown’s injury.” Id. at 465.
The Jernigans failed to prove deliberate indifference on the part of the City.
This case is distinguishable from Brown because the City trained Officer
Browning. Officer Browning testified that he was trained how to use his mobile
computer, but that his trainer failed to instruct him how to differentiate between
arrest warrants and criminal summonses. The Jernigans do not argue, much less
explain, how the City could have predicted that Officer Browning would
misunderstand the database and mistakenly arrest citizens named in criminal
summonses. The couple faults the City for failing to train how to “properly serv[e]
summons,” but Officer Browning’s knowledge of how to serve a summons would
have made no difference because he did not know the Jernigans were named in
summonses instead of in arrest warrants. Because the Jernigans failed to prove that
the City was deliberately indifferent to their constitutional rights, the district court
correctly entered summary judgment in favor of the City.
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IV. CONCLUSION
We AFFIRM the summary judgment in favor of Officer Browning and the
City of Montgomery.
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