Opinion ID: 495436
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Abshire's Cross-Appeal

Text: 26 a. The District Court's Grant of Summary Judgment in Favor 27 of Certain Defendants 28 Prior to trial, the district court granted summary judgment on Abshire's Sec. 1983 claim in favor of Officer Joynes, Chief of Police Behan and Baltimore County. In his cross-appeal, Abshire contends that the court erred in granting summary judgment to Officer Joynes because a genuine issue of material fact existed over his participation in the strip search. Abshire contends the court erred in granting summary judgment to Chief Behan and the County because they failed to take steps to ensure that the County's strip search policy was being enforced properly. We disagree with both contentions. 29 Officer Joynes was the desk officer at the police station. His duties included fingerprinting and photographing arrestees, as well as performing other administrative tasks. At most, the pretrial evidence revealed that he had helped escort Abshire to the utility room and then remained in the room during the search. There was no evidence, however, indicating that he had participated in the search and the district court acted correctly in granting summary judgment in his favor. 30 It is undisputed that the strip search policy promulgated by Chief Behan satisfied constitutional standards. Nonetheless, Abshire contends that by failing to oversee the policy through periodic inspections, Chief Behan closed his eyes to any policy violations and is thus liable for the misconduct of his subordinates. This position, however, is at odds with our decision in Fisher v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, 690 F.2d 1133, 1142-43 (4th Cir.1982). In Fisher, we held that a sheriff could not be vicariously liable under Sec. 1983 for the acts of his subordinates, nor could he be held liable on the basis of a failure adequately to supervise or control any conduct that directly caused the specific deprivation charged. Id. at 1143. Since Abshire's complaint alleged only that Chief Behan failed to adequately supervise the County's strip search policy, the district court acted properly in granting summary judgment to Chief Behan. The court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Baltimore County was likewise correct. Monell v. Department of Social Services of the City of New York, 436 U.S. 658, 692-94, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 2036-38, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978). 31 b. Attorneys' Fees 32 The district court found that Abshire, as a prevailing party, was entitled to a reasonable award of attorneys' fees and costs pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1988. Abshire requested $17,366.25 in fees and $482.55 in costs for his legal counsel, Leslie Gladstone. The court determined, however, that Abshire's successful strip search claim was unrelated to his unsuccessful claims for false arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. Relying on the Supreme Court's decision in Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983), in which the Court held that no fees should be awarded for time spent on unsuccessful claims that were unrelated to successful ones, the district court ruled that Abshire should not be compensated for the time Gladstone spent pursuing the false arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution claims. Moreover, because the court was unable to identify exactly how much time was spent on each claim, it reduced Gladstone's total hours by seventy-five percent. Using the same reasoning, it also reduced Abshire's requested costs by seventy-five percent. After further calculations not relevant to this appeal, the court determined that it was reasonable to award Abshire $4,132.75 in attorneys' fees and $120.67 in costs for the time expended pursuing his successful strip search claim. 33 On appeal, Abshire contends that the district court misinterpreted the Supreme Court's ruling in Hensley. We agree. In Hensley, the Court reaffirmed that the award of attorneys' fees is within the discretion of the district court. Hensley, 461 U.S. at 437, 103 S.Ct. at 1941. The Court also observed, however, that this discretion must be exercised in light of the considerations we have identified. Id. One of the considerations identified by the Court was the relationship between successful and unsuccessful claims. For example, in cases where the plaintiff presents claims for relief that are based on different facts and legal theories, the court held that he should not be compensated for the time expended pursuing claims that ultimately proved unsuccessful. Id. at 435, 103 S.Ct. at 1940. On the other hand, the plaintiff's claims for relief [may] involve a common core of facts or ... be based on related legal theories. Id. Under these circumstances, the court stated that 34 [m]uch of the counsel's time will be devoted generally to the litigation as a whole, making it difficult to divide the hours expended on a claim-by-claim basis. Such a lawsuit cannot be viewed as a series of discrete claims. Instead, the district court should focus on the significance of the overall relief obtained by the plaintiff in relation to the hours reasonably expended in the litigation. 35 Id. at 435, 103 S.Ct. at 1940. 36 In this case, Abshire's claims were based on different legal theories, but they all arose from a common core of facts. The facts surrounding Abshire's strip search were inextricably intertwined with the facts surrounding his initial confrontation with the police, his arrest and later imprisonment. In our view, it is impossible to isolate the inquiry into the constitutionality of the strip search from the other facts. Abshire's attorney could not have presented the constitutional aspects of this case without developing and presenting the facts surrounding the entire sequence of events that transpired on the morning of August 3. The district court thus erred in concluding that Abshire's claims for false arrest, false imprisonment, and malicious prosecution were unrelated to his strip search claim. The court's award of attorneys' fees must therefore be vacated and this portion of the case remanded for a recalculation of the amount of attorneys' fees owed Abshire based on the views that we have expressed. 5