Opinion ID: 413286
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Tools and Camper.

Text: 16
17 Nothing in the pleadings suggests that the camper and tools, before their seizure, were anything but Mr. Coleman's rightful property. Now, however, he has no property interest in them: under Oklahoma law, a good faith buyer of the camper and tools takes them free of Mr. Coleman's claims. Okla.Stat.Ann. tit. 12A, Sec. 7-210 (West 1963). Thus, the seizure and sale deprived Mr. Coleman of property. It is irrelevant, of course, that Mr. Coleman is on death row. His property interest embraces not only his personal enjoyment of the camper and tools, but also his right to preserve them for his estate and heirs. 18 Kiefer's sale of the property was an integral part of the deprivation: it transformed a temporary seizure into a permanent divestment. Nevertheless, the district court found that because Kiefer's sale of the camper and tools was not under color of law, Mr. Coleman had no remedy against Kiefer under section 1983. We disagree. In Lugar v. Edmondson Oil Co., --- U.S. ----, 102 S.Ct. 2744, 73 L.Ed.2d 482 (1982), the Supreme Court held that activities satisfying the state action requirement of the fourteenth amendment satisfy the under color of law requirement of section 1983. The Court enunciated a two-part test for the existence of state action: 19 First, the deprivation must be caused by the exercise of some right or privilege created by the state or by a rule of conduct imposed by the state .... Second, the party charged with the deprivation must be a person who may fairly be said to be a state actor. This may be because he ... has acted together with or has obtained significant aid from state officials .... 20 Id. at ----, 102 S.Ct. at 2754. The State, in enacting section 7-210, created the right exercised by Kiefer when it sold the truck. Thus, the sale satisfied the first part of the Lugar test. Id. at ----, 102 S.Ct. at 2755. In applying the second part, the Court in Lugar stated that a private party's joint participation with state officials in the seizure of disputed property is sufficient to characterize that party as a 'state actor' for purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment. Id. at ----, 102 S.Ct. at 2756. Kiefer jointly participated in seizing the truck by towing it away. Since the State has asserted a right to maintain possession of the camper, Kiefer held the truck for the State, not for Mr. Coleman. In allowing Kiefer to sell the camper, the State thus deprived Mr. Coleman of his property in joint participation with Kiefer. We hold that Kiefer's sale of the camper was state action under the fourteenth amendment and was therefore under color of state law for purposes of section 1983. 21 In addition, if the allegations are true, the deprivation of Mr. Coleman's property was without due process. Mr. Coleman might have a state cause of action for conversion against Kiefer if Kiefer did not notify him before it sold the property. Okla.Stat.Ann. tit. 12A, Sec. 7-210 (West 1963). However, since it would have been practical for the State to provide a hearing before the sale, and since there was no necessity to allow Kiefer to sell the property quickly, the postdeprivation conversion remedy does not provide due process. See Parratt, 451 U.S. at 539, 101 S.Ct. at 1915. 4 We hold that Mr. Coleman has stated a cause of action against all three defendants for the deprivation of his tools and camper. 22
23 The trial court relied on Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. 409, 96 S.Ct. 984, 47 L.Ed.2d 128 (1976), to find Prosecutor Turpen absolutely immune from liability. Imbler, however, confers absolute immunity on a public prosecutor only for his conduct in initiating a prosecution and in presenting the State's case. Id. at 431, 96 S.Ct. at 995. The Court in Imbler explicitly declined to decide whether there is absolute immunity for those aspects of the prosecutor's responsibility that cast him in the role of administrator or investigative officer rather than that of an advocate. Id. at 430-31, 96 S.Ct. at 994-995. As the Court recently noted in reaffirming this limit of the Imbler holding, our cases have followed a 'functional' approach to immunity law. [Absolute immunity] has extended no further than its justification would warrant. Harlow v. Fitzgerald, --- U.S. ----, ---- & n. 16, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 2735 & n. 16, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982). In adumbrating the distinction between a prosecutor's roles as advocate and as administrator, the Court noted that 24 the duties of the prosecutor in his role as advocate for the State involve ... actions apart from the courtroom.... Preparation, both for the initiation of the criminal process and for a trial, may require the retaining, reviewing, and evaluating of evidence. At some point, and with respect to some decisions, the prosecutor no doubt functions as an administrator rather than as an officer of the court. 25 424 U.S. at 431 n. 33, 96 S.Ct. at 995 n. 33. We find that in managing the post-trial disposition of seized property not used as evidence that the State did not intend to keep--as evidenced by its acquiescence in the sale--Mr. Turpen was acting as an administrator, not as an advocate. 5 Thus, Imbler 's holding does not apply to this case, and we must examine its rationale to determine whether to extend it. 26 Explaining Imbler in a later case, the Court identified two concerns requiring absolute immunity in some cases for prosecutors: 27 A qualified immunity might have an adverse effect on the functioning of the criminal justice system, not only by discouraging the initiation of prosecutions but also by affecting the prosecutor's conduct of the trial. Attaining the system's goal of accurately determining guilt or innocence requires that both the prosecution and the defense have wide discretion in the conduct of the trial and the presentation of evidence.... If prosecutors were hampered in exercising their judgment as to the use of ... witnesses by concern about resulting personal liability, the triers of fact in criminal cases often would be denied relevant evidence. 28 Butz v. Economou, 438 U.S. 478, 510, 98 S.Ct. 2894, 2912, 57 L.Ed.2d 895 (1978) (citations omitted). 6 Neither of these concerns applies here. A prosecutor's knowledge that he may be liable if he participates in the illegal sale of seized property will not make him hesitate to initiate a case or introduce seized property as evidence. Since neither the holding nor the rationale of Imbler applies to the facts alleged by Coleman, we hold that under those facts--which we treat as true only for this appeal--defendant Turpen has only a qualified immunity for his conduct relating to the converted tools and camper. This immunity does not shield him from liability for a deprivation of the tools and camper if he should reasonably have known that the sale violated Mr. Coleman's constitutional rights. 7 See Harlow, --- U.S. at ---- - ----, 102 S.Ct. at 2737-40. 29 As with the money, the sheriff's immunity for his conduct leading to a deprivation of the tools and camper is only qualified. See ante at Part II.A.2. at 5-6. Of course, he cannot show his reasonableness in allowing property to be sold by pointing to a statute that requires him to retain it.