Opinion ID: 784274
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Chipman's claim

Text: 3 On March 7, 1994, William Chipman, the administrator of the estate of Conni Black, filed a wrongful death action in the Boone County Circuit Court against Florence police officers Dusing, Dolan, and Wince; Boone County police officers Rob Reuthe and Chris Alsip; the City of Florence; and Ron Kenner, the Boone County Sheriff. The Boone County Circuit Court entered summary judgment on behalf of the defendants on Chipman's wrongful death claim. Chipman v. City of Florence, No. 94-CI-00202 slip op. at 4 (Boone Co., Ky., Cir. Ct. Apr. 2, 1996). The Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed the Circuit Court. Chipman v. City of Florence, No.1996-CA-001287-MR (Ky.Ct.App. Nov. 25, 1998). The Kentucky Supreme Court then reversed the Court of Appeals and reinstated the summary judgment ordered by the Boone County Circuit Court. City of Florence v. Chipman, 38 S.W.3d 387 (Ky.2001). 4 Chipman also filed a complaint in federal court against the same defendants on March 31, 1994. 1 The complaint alleged that the defendants were liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for Black's wrongful death because they had displayed deliberate indifference by forcing her into Kritis's car. 2 5 Chipman's federal claims were dismissed by the district court in 1994. The district court granted the individual officers' motions to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), for failure to state a claim, on the ground of qualified immunity. The district court also granted the motions for summary judgment of Florence and Boone County. Chipman v. City of Florence, 858 F.Supp. 87 (E.D.Ky. 1994), reconsideration denied on amended complaint, 866 F.Supp. 332 (E.D.Ky.1994). 6 On appeal, we upheld the district court's order granting summary judgment to the municipal defendants, Florence and Boone County. Stemler, 126 F.3d at 866. However, we reversed the district court's dismissal of Chipman's claims against the individual officers. We held that Chipman had pled facts sufficient to maintain her substantive due process claim against the individual officers. Id. at 870. The only state court decision prior to our decision was the Boone County Circuit Court decision awarding judgment to the defendant officers, holding that Black was not in custody when the pickup struck the guardrail and that none of the state actors were the direct cause of her death on the highway. We stated in Stemler that [w]hile these findings are entitled to preclusive effect, they are irrelevant to the merits of her substantive due process claim. Id. at 870 n. 12. The case was remanded to the district court for further proceedings consistent with the opinion. 7 Shortly after the opinion issued, Randy Black was granted permission to intervene on behalf of Conni Black's minor child, Shianne Black, to bring a claim of loss of parental consortium. At about the same time, the federal district court held the case in abeyance pending a decision by the Kentucky Supreme Court on appeal of the Boone County Circuit court's order entering summary judgment in favor of defendants and the Kentucky Court of Appeals reversal of that order, which was issued February 22, 2001. Chipman later reached a settlement with the Boone County officers. In June 2001, the district court granted the officers' motion for summary judgment on Chipman's substantive due process claim, and Shianne Black's claim for loss of parental consortium. The district court found that the decision of the Kentucky Supreme Court barred their claims under the doctrine of issue preclusion. The issue that the district court found could not be relitigated was whether Black was in custody when she got into Kritis's car because, according to the district court, the Kentucky Supreme Court had held that Black was never in custody.