Beck v. Scott ( 2000 )


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  •                  UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
    No. 99-60359
    Civil Action No. 3:97-CV-22-BN
    GENE BECK; SHARON BECK; THOMAS WYATT BECK;
    CHARLES BRANDON BECK, Surviving Mother, Father and
    Siblings of Decedent, Jason T. Beck,
    Plaintiffs-Appellees-Cross-Appellants,
    versus
    DEAN SCOTT, Badge No. 527; LAURIE HAMLIN, Badge No. 361,
    Individually and as duly commissioned police officers of the
    City of Jackson, Mississippi; ROBERT JOHNSON; BRACY COLEMAN;
    JIMMY WILSON, Individually and as the duly commissioned and
    appointed police chiefs and interim police chiefs for the City of
    Jackson, Mississippi; KANE DITTO, Individually and as Mayor for
    the City of Jackson, Mississippi; STEVEN MCDONALD,
    Badge No. 401, Individually and as duly commissioned
    police officer of the City of Jackson, Mississippi; BARRY HOMAN,
    Badge 317, Individually and as duly commissioned police officer
    of the City of Jackson, Mississippi; B. A. OWENS, Badge No. 437,
    Individually and as duly commissioned police officer of the City
    of Jackson, Mississippi,
    Defendants - Cross-Appellees,
    CITY OF JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI,
    Defendant - Appellant-Cross-Appellee.
    Appeal from the United States District Court for the
    Southern District of Mississippi
    July 17, 2000
    Before DAVIS, JONES, and STEWART, Circuit Judges.
    PER CURIAM:*
    The City of Jackson has raised several complaints against
    the judgment in favor of appellees.                Principally, the City asserts
    that    the   verdict    exonerating         officers     Scott      and   Hamlin   from
    individual section 1983 liability is inconsistent with its finding
    that the City is liable for a programmatic failure to train its
    police    officers      that    rose    to       the   level    of   unconstitutional
    deliberate indifference.             This argument suffers from a fatal flaw.
    It is the courts’ duty to reconcile a verdict if at all possible in
    order    to   effectuate       the    jury’s      decisions.         Atlantic   &   Gulf
    Stevedores, Inc. V. Ellerman Lines, Ltd., ____ U.S. ____, 
    82 S.Ct. 780
    , 786 (1982).          See also Wright & Miller, 9A Federal Civil
    Practice & Procedure § 2510, at 203 (1995 ed.).                      Read in light of
    the jury instructions, the verdict is not facially inconsistent.
    The jury instructions repeatedly explained that if the individual
    police officers acted with objective reasonableness under the
    circumstances, they might be qualifiedly immune even though the
    City remained liable for the unconstitutional excessive force that
    was caused by its inadequate training policy.                        The jury verdict
    directly applied this admonition.                 The City’s burden, then, is to
    show that the instructions were incorrect.                     It has not done so.
    *
    Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this
    opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited
    circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR. R. 47.5.4.
    2
    The only errors in this part of the charge are (a) an
    evident mis-speaking by the district court when he generally
    defined qualified immunity at the top of transcript p. 1180, and
    (b) the verdict space (unanswered by the jury) that would have held
    the police officers liable in their “official capacity.”             The City
    objected to neither of these errors, so our review must be for
    plain error.    The first error is overcome by the court’s correct
    statements on qualified immunity throughout the remainder of the
    charge, particularly when describing the City’s possible liability
    for   failure   to   train.     The   second   error,   consisting    of   the
    “official    capacity”   liability        blank,   represents   a   harmless,
    redundant expression of the principle of qualified immunity the
    court had articulated.        It added nothing to the verdict form that
    was not already there and does not prevent us from understanding
    the intent of the verdict.
    The other errors asserted by the city are meritless.            We
    need not reach the Becks’ cross-points on appeal.
    The judgment is AFFIRMED.
    3
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 99-60359

Filed Date: 7/19/2000

Precedential Status: Non-Precedential

Modified Date: 12/21/2014