Opinion ID: 793539
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Application of Qualified Immunity to Officer Shields

Text: 26 In Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001), the Supreme Court established a two-prong analysis for qualified immunity cases. First, a court must determine whether — resolving all disputes of fact and credibility in favor of the party asserting the injury — the facts adduced at summary judgment show that the officer's conduct violated a constitutional right. Saucier, 533 U.S. at 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151. If the court determines that the conduct did not violate a constitutional right, the inquiry is over and the officer is entitled to qualified immunity. 27 However, if the court determines that the conduct did violate a constitutional right, Saucier's second prong requires the court to determine whether, at the time of the violation, the constitutional right was clearly established. Id. A right is clearly established if its contours are sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates that right. Id. (citing Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987)). Even if the violated right is clearly established, the Saucier Court recognized that, in certain situations, it may be difficult for a police officer to determine how to apply the relevant legal doctrine to the particular circumstances he or she faces. It held, therefore, that if an officer makes a mistake in applying the relevant legal doctrine, he or she is not precluded from claiming qualified immunity so long as the mistake is reasonable. That is, if the officer's mistake as to what the law requires is reasonable, . . . the officer is entitled to the immunity defense. Id. at 205, 121 S.Ct. 2151. 28
29 Kennedy alleges that Shields violated her Fourteenth Amendment right to substantive due process by placing her in a known danger with deliberate indifference to her personal, physical safety. 30 It is well established that the Constitution protects a citizen's liberty interest in her own bodily security. See, e.g., Ingraham v. Wright, 430 U.S. 651, 673-74, 97 S.Ct. 1401, 51 L.Ed.2d 711 (1977); Wood v. Ostrander, 879 F.2d 583, 589 (9th Cir.1989). It is also well established that, although the state's failure to protect an individual against private violence does not generally violate the guarantee of due process, it can where the state action affirmatively place[s] the plaintiff in a position of danger, that is, where state action creates or exposes an individual to a danger which he or she would not have otherwise faced. DeShaney v. Winnebago County Dep't of Soc. Serv., 489 U.S. 189, 197, 201, 109 S.Ct. 998, 103 L.Ed.2d 249 (1989); Wood, 879 F.2d at 589-90. 1 31 This circuit first recognized such danger creation liability in Wood v. Ostrander, 879 F.2d 583 (9th Cir.1989). In Wood, a state trooper determined that the driver of an automobile was intoxicated, arrested the driver and impounded the car. The officer's actions allegedly left Wood, a female passenger, stranded late at night in a known high-crime area. Subsequently, Wood accepted a ride from a passing car and was raped. This court held that Wood could claim § 1983 liability, since a jury presented with the above facts could find that [the trooper] acted with deliberate indifference to Wood's interest in personal security under the fourteenth amendment. Id. at 588. 32 Since Wood, this circuit has held state officials liable, in a variety of circumstances, for their roles in creating or exposing individuals to danger they otherwise would not have faced. See L.W. v. Grubbs, 974 F.2d 119 (9th Cir.1992) ( Grubbs ) (holding state employees could be liable for the rape of a registered nurse assigned to work alone in the medical clinic of a medium-security custodial institution with a known, violent sex-offender); Penilla v. City of Huntington Park, 115 F.3d 707 (9th Cir.1997) (holding as viable a state-created danger claim against police officers who, after finding a man in grave need of medical care, cancelled a request for paramedics and locked him inside his house); Munger v. City of Glasgow, 227 F.3d 1082 (9th Cir.2000) (holding police officers could be held liable for the hypothermia death of a visibly drunk patron after ejecting him from a bar on a bitterly cold night). These cases clearly establish that state actors may be held liable where they affirmatively place an individual in danger, Munger, 227 F.3d at 1086, by acting with deliberate indifference to [a] known or obvious danger in subjecting the plaintiff to it, L.W. v. Grubbs, 92 F.3d 894, 900 (9th Cir.1996) ( Grubbs II ). 2 33
34 In examining whether an officer affirmatively places an individual in danger, we do not look solely to the agency of the individual, nor do we rest our opinion on what options may or may not have been available to the individual. Instead, we examine whether the officer[ ] left the person in a situation that was more dangerous than the one in which they found him. Munger, 227 F.3d at 1086. Thus, we ask first whether, as alleged, any affirmative actions by Shields placed Kennedy in danger that she otherwise would not have faced. Interpreting the facts in a manner most favorable to Kennedy, we conclude they did. 35 Shields drove to the Burns residence and notified the Burns family of the allegations against Michael. In doing so, he affirmatively created a danger to Kennedy she otherwise would not have faced, i.e., that Michael Burns would be notified of the allegations before the Kennedys had the opportunity to protect themselves from his violent response to the news. Like plaintiff's supervisor in Grubbs, Shields created an opportunity for [Burns] to assault[the Kennedys] that otherwise would not have existed, Grubbs, 974 F.2d at 121. 36 The dissent's assertion, infra at 1076, that [n]otifying Michael Burns was an inevitable consequence of Kennedy's allegations of child molestation is an impermissible inference from the facts. 3 More importantly, it is beside the point. The only relevant question here is whether Shields, by informing Burns of Kennedy's allegations without first warning her as he had promised to do, realized the inevitable consequence about which the dissent speculates. We find that, in doing so, Shields affirmatively created an actual, particularized danger Kennedy would not otherwise have faced. The existence of this danger does not depend, as the dissent repeatedly suggests, infra at 1075 n. 5, 1075, on a difference of fifteen-minutes to which we give unwarranted constitutional magnitude. That Shields notified Kennedy of the danger he had created fifteen minutes before did not obviate or cure that danger; nor did it give Kennedy a reasonable opportunity to protect her family from it. 37 In addition, we must accept Kennedy's evidence that Shields assured her early in the evening of September 24 that, given the threat Michael posed, the police would patrol the neighborhood that night. As in Grubbs, we do not rest our judgment that Shields affirmatively created a danger on that assurance alone, though in light of it, it is quite reasonable that the Kennedys decided late that night, when Mr. Kennedy returned from his class, to remain at home. Instead, as it did in Grubbs, Shields's misrepresentation as to the risk the Kennedys faced was an additional and aggravating factor, making them more vulnerable to the danger he had already created. See Grubbs, 974 F.2d at 121 (The Defendants also enhanced L.W.'s vulnerability to attack by misrepresenting to her the risks attending her work.). 4 38
39 We must decide the related issues of whether the danger to which Shields exposed the Kennedys was known or obvious, and whether he acted with deliberate indifference to it. See Bryan County v. Brown, 520 U.S. 397, 410, 117 S.Ct. 1382, 137 L.Ed.2d 626 (1997) (`[D]eliberate indifference' is a stringent standard of fault, requiring proof that a municipal actor disregarded a known or obvious consequence of his actions.); Christie v. Iopa, 176 F.3d 1231, 1240 (9th Cir.1999). Again, we look at the alleged facts in the light most favorable to Kennedy. 40 Kennedy has shown that, at their original meeting, she told Shields in detail of Michael Burns's violent tendencies, including several incidents of what can only be described as alarming, aggravated violence, notably, lighting a cat on fire and assaulting his girlfriend with a baseball bat after breaking into her house. Additionally, she has testified that, after learning of Burns's violent behavior, Shields assured her that she would be given notice prior to any police contact with the Burns family. Kennedy also testified that between September 6 and 24, she left several messages with the police department and the CAIC in which she expressed continued fear for her family's safety and refreshed her concern that she be given notice before the Burns family was notified in the course of the investigation. 41 On September 24, Shields knew that Michael was violent. Moreover, he knew that Michael had broken into his girlfriend's house and beaten her with a baseball bat. On the facts alleged, it was obvious that Michael had a predilection for violence and was capable of the attack he in fact perpetrated on the Kennedys. 5 Indeed, Burns's attack was the very act Kennedy had repeatedly warned Shields of, and had sought to protect her family against. Thus, we are convinced that Shields knew that telling Burns about the allegations against him without forewarning the Kennedy's would place them in a danger they otherwise would not have faced. 42 Kennedy also adduced sufficient evidence for us to conclude that, if such evidence is accepted by the fact finder as true, Shields acted with deliberate indifference to the known and obvious danger we have just described. In Grubbs II, we clarified the mental state required in state-created danger cases. See 92 F.3d at 896. Despite its use of the term deliberate indifference, Wood had been interpreted to have established a `bare' gross negligence standard. Id. at 897-98. In Grubbs II, after surveying the standards of our sister circuits, we made clear that the standard in this circuit was not gross negligence but deliberate indifference to a known, or so obvious as to imply knowledge of, danger. Id. at 900. We explicitly said that such a mental state is enough — no more, no less. Moreover, we refused to parse it further, explaining, [w]e have not added a requirement that the conscience of the federal judiciary be shocked by deliberate indifference, because the use of such subjective epithets as `gross' `reckless' and `shocking' sheds more heat than light on the thought process courts must undertake in cases of this kind. 6 Id. 43 Viewing the facts in the light most favorable to Kennedy, we find that, if accepted as true, they are sufficient to establish that Shields acted deliberately and indifferently to the danger he was creating. Kennedy warned Shields repeatedly about Burns and requested that Shields notify her first so she could protect her family. With knowledge of Burns's propensity for violence and of Kennedy's fear, and despite his promise to Kennedy to the contrary, Shields nevertheless notified Burns first. Of all the possible actions he could take, and pursuant to no investigatory duties, he took the one most feared by Kennedy. His only explanation for his action is that it was a more convenient way in which to answer an administrative phone message. Then, after notifying Burns, Shields allegedly reassured the visibly frightened Kennedy of increased security which was either never provided or plainly ineffective. Given the danger created by Shields that the Kennedys faced, we find such alleged, capricious behavior sufficient evidence of deliberate indifference. 44
45 We turn now to the second prong of Saucier, which Plaintiff has the burden of establishing. See Sorrels v. McKee, 290 F.3d 965, 969 (9th Cir.2002). We consider whether Kennedy has shown that the constitutional right violated by Shields was clearly established in September 1998. For the reasons below, we conclude she has. 46 To determine whether a right is clearly established, the reviewing court must consider whether a reasonable officer would recognize that his or her conduct violates that right under the circumstances faced, and in light of the law that existed at that time. Saucier, 533 U.S. at 202, 121 S.Ct. 2151. As the Supreme Court has explained: 47 For a constitutional right to be clearly established, its contours must be sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates that right. This is not to say that an official action is protected by qualified immunity unless the very action in question has previously been held unlawful . . . but it is to say that in the light of pre-existing law the unlawfulness must be apparent. 48 Hope v. Pelzer, 536 U.S. 730, 739, 122 S.Ct. 2508, 153 L.Ed.2d 666 (2002) (citing Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987)) (internal citations omitted). However, [i]n order to find that the law was clearly established . . . we need not find a prior case with identical, or even `materially similar' facts. Our task is to determine whether the preexisting law provided the defendants with `fair warning' that their conduct was unlawful. Flores v. Morgan Hill Unified Sch. Dist., 324 F.3d 1130, 1136-37 (9th Cir.2003) (citing Hope, 536 U.S. at 740, 122 S.Ct. 2508). 49 Thus, the specific, alleged conduct in this case need not have been previously and explicitly deemed unconstitutional, but existing case law must have made it clear that the conduct violated constitutional norms. This has been our consistent standard since Wood. See Wood, 879 F.2d at 592 ([Defendant] seemingly suggests that this case can be disposed of if it does not bear a strict factual similarity to previous cases finding liability. However this crabbed view of the good faith immunity principle cannot withstand analysis. (citing Anderson, 483 U.S. at 640, 107 S.Ct. 3034).). 50 It is beyond dispute that in September 1998, it was clearly established that state officials could be held liable where they affirmatively and with deliberate indifference placed an individual in danger she would not otherwise have faced. This court first recognized the theory of state-created danger liability almost ten years before the events in this case in Wood. In the interim, we published three decisions explicitly recognizing such liability under three distinct factual scenarios. 7 See Grubbs, 974 F.2d 119; Koon, 34 F.3d 1416; Penilla, 115 F.3d 707. Indeed, almost three years before the actions at issue in this case, we concluded the law was clearly established that officers may be liable where they affirmatively place an individual in danger. See Munger, 227 F.3d at 1086. 8 We have explained before that the responsibility for keeping abreast of constitutional developments rests squarely on the shoulders of law enforcement officials. Given the power of such officials over our liberty, and sometimes over our lives, this placement of responsibility is entirely proper. Wood, 879 F.2d at 595 (quoting Ward v. County of San Diego, 791 F.2d 1329, 1332 (9th Cir.1986)). We conclude that no reasonable officer in Shields's position, knowing what he knew, could have concluded that Kennedy had no right not to be placed in physical danger by his deliberately indifferent action. 51 Indeed, even were we to engage in an examination of our case law with the finer resolution encouraged by the dissent, we conclude that, as to the state-creation of danger, this case is not meaningfully distinguishable from Grubbs. See Wood, 879 F.2d at 593. In Grubbs, a registered nurse working at a medium security custodial institution brought a § 1983 claim against her supervisors after she was allegedly raped and terrorized by a young male inmate. According to the plaintiff, her employer had told her she would not be working alone with violent sex offenders. Notwithstanding that representation, her employer subsequently allowed an inmate prone to violence against women to work with her unsupervised. The plaintiff, relying upon that representation, did not take all the precautions she might otherwise have taken, and was subsequently assaulted. 52 In Grubbs, as in this case, a state official affirmatively acted: supervisor Grubbs assigned a violent sex offender to work closely with L.W., and Officer Shields notified Burns, leaving Kennedy unable to protect her family. In Grubbs, as in this case, those state actions left plaintiffs exposed to the danger of the subsequent physical assault and injury they in fact suffered. And in both cases the plaintiff relied upon the state actor's representation and did not take protective measures she otherwise would have taken, and the state's action made plaintiffs vulnerable to a particularized danger they would not have faced but for that action. 53 Indeed, in this case, as in Grubbs, Shields used his authority as a state . . . officer to create an opportunity for [Burns] to assault [Kennedy] that would not have otherwise existed. Grubbs, 974 F.2d at 121. Moreover, Kennedy, like L.W., is not seeking to hold Defendant[ ] liable for [Burns's] violent proclivities. Rather, [she] seeks to make Defendant[ ] answer for [his] acts that independently created the opportunity for and facilitated [Burns's] assault on her. Id. at 122. At bottom Kennedy's claim is exactly like L.W.'s, i.e., that a state actor enhanced [her] vulnerability to attack by misrepresenting to her the risks she faced. Id. at 121. No reasonable officer in Shields's position, knowing what he allegedly knew and what he must be charged with knowing, could have concluded otherwise than that Kennedy had a right not to be placed in obvious physical danger as a result of his deliberately indifferent action.