Court Opinion

ID: 9352397
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-01-06 01:00:22.879276+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:02:27.430584
License: Public Domain

Case: 21-10890    Document: 00516599026       Page: 1    Date Filed: 01/05/2023

          United States Court of Appeals
               for the Fifth Circuit
                                                                 United States Court of Appeals
                                                                          Fifth Circuit
                               No. 21-10890
                             Summary Calendar                           FILED
                                                                  January 5, 2023
                                                                   Lyle W. Cayce
   John Roe,                                                            Clerk

                                                        Plaintiff—Appellant,

                                    versus

   Johnson County; Southwestern Correctional, L.L.C.,
   doing business as LaSalle Corrections, L.L.C., doing business as
   LaSalle Southwest Corrections; LaSalle Management
   Company, L.L.C.; David Blankenship, Johnson County Peace
   Officer; Bill Moore; Stu Madison, Assistant Johnson County
   Attorney; Jeffrey Acklen, Johnson County Attorney's Investigator;
   Eddie Williams; Philip Roden; Robert Matson; Adam
   King, Sheriff; Bob Alford, former Johnson County Sheriff, Individually
   & Officially; United States of America,

                                                     Defendants—Appellees.

                 Appeal from the United States District Court
                     for the Northern District of Texas
                          USDC No. 3:18-CV-2497

   Before King, Higginson, and Willett, Circuit Judges.
Case: 21-10890         Document: 00516599026             Page: 2      Date Filed: 01/05/2023

                                          No. 21-10890

   Per Curiam:*
          John Roe brought various constitutional claims, Bivens claims, and
   state law claims related to his arrest for allegedly filing a false sexual assault
   report. The district court dismissed all but one of Roe’s claims and later
   granted Defendants-Appellees’ motion for summary judgment on the
   remaining claim. Roe appeals. We affirm.
                                                I.
          In November 2015, John Roe was in Immigration and Customs
   Enforcement custody in Texas at the Johnson County jail. He alleged that
   Defendant-Appellee Roden, a corrections officer, sexually assaulted Roe
   with his gun. Defendant-Appellee Blankenship interviewed Roe about his
   assault and conducted an investigation. During this investigation,
   Blankenship found inconsistencies in Roe’s allegations and identified
   concerns about his behavior. Blankenship concluded that probable cause
   existed to arrest Roe for making a false report to a peace officer, a
   misdemeanor under Texas Penal Code § 37.08. Blankenship arrested Roe
   and forwarded the case to the County Attorney’s Office of Johnson County.
   In May 2018, Roe was found not guilty after a jury trial.
          Proceeding pro se, Roe sued Blankenship, Roden, other prison
   officials, state officials, prosecutors, entities operating the Johnson County
   jail, and other individuals. He brought claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for
   alleged violations of his constitutional rights under the First Amendment,
   Fourth Amendment, Fifth Amendment, Sixth Amendment, and Fourteenth
   Amendment; he also brought claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 and
   1985(3) and 28 U.S.C. § 1350, Bivens claims, and state law claims. In
   September 2020, the district court granted motions to dismiss filed by
   various Defendants-Appellees; the only claim surviving these motions was a

          *
              This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.

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Case: 21-10890       Document: 00516599026          Page: 3     Date Filed: 01/05/2023

                                     No. 21-10890

   Fourth Amendment claim against Blankenship related to the alleged seizure
   of Roe without probable cause. In August 2021, the district court granted
   Blankenship’s motion for summary judgment based on his defense of
   qualified immunity. Roe appeals.
                                          II.
            Roe challenges the district court’s grant of summary judgment in
   favor of Blankenship based on qualified immunity. We review a grant of
   summary judgment based on qualified immunity de novo. Carnaby v. City of
   Hous., 636 F.3d 183, 187 (5th Cir. 2011). Summary judgment is proper if the
   pleadings and discovery on file, together with affidavits, show no genuine
   dispute as to any material fact and that the movant is entitled to judgment as
   a matter of law. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322 (1986). We liberally
   construe briefs of pro se litigants. Grant v. Cuellar, 59 F.3d 523, 524 (5th Cir.
   1995).
            To determine whether a defendant is entitled to qualified immunity,
   we ask “(1) whether the plaintiff has alleged a violation of a clearly
   established constitutional right; and (2) if so, whether the defendant's
   conduct was objectively unreasonable in the light of the clearly established
   law at the time of the incident.” Domino v. Tex. Dep’t of Crim. Just., 239 F.3d
   752, 755 (5th Cir. 2001) (quoting Hare v. City of Corinth, 135 F.3d 320, 325
   (5th Cir. 1998) (en banc)). We may “analyze the prongs in either order or
   resolve the case on a single prong.” Garcia v. Blevins, 957 F.3d 596, 600 (5th
   Cir. 2020).
            Roe has the burden of showing that the qualified immunity defense is
   unavailable to Blankenship because Blankenship made a good-faith assertion
   of that defense. Joseph v. Bartlett, 981 F.3d 319, 329–30 (5th Cir. 2020). Roe
   must thus “show that there is a genuine dispute of material fact and that a
   jury could return a verdict entitling the plaintiff to relief for a constitutional

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Case: 21-10890        Document: 00516599026             Page: 4      Date Filed: 01/05/2023

                                         No. 21-10890

   injury.” Id. at 330. And “the plaintiff's version of those disputed facts must
   also constitute a violation of clearly established law,” meaning that Roe must
   “identify a case—usually, a body of relevant case law—in which an officer
   acting under similar circumstances . . . was held to have violated the
   [Constitution].” Id. (alteration in original) (internal quotations omitted). We
   need not accept Roe’s version of the facts as true when they are “blatantly
   contradicted by the record, so that no reasonable jury could believe it.” Id. at
   325 (quoting Scott v. Harris, 550 U.S. 372, 380 (2007)).
           We assume arguendo that Roe successfully alleged violations of clearly
   established Fourth Amendment constitutional rights protecting against (1)
   an arrest not supported by probable cause and (2) the initiation of criminal
   charges without probable cause. Even under this assumption, we hold that
   Blankenship can successfully claim that he is entitled to qualified immunity
   because Roe fails to identify analogous caselaw that is sufficient to show that
   Blankenship violated clearly established law. 1
           To meet his burden, Roe must identify a case or statute making
   sufficiently clear that every reasonable officer would have understood that
   what Blankenship did violated that law. Keller v. Fleming, 952 F.3d 216, 225
   (5th Cir. 2020). Specifically, Roe must identify clearly established law
   making it sufficiently clear that despite his consideration of Roe’s
   inconsistent statements, extrinsic evidence, and witness testimony
   suggesting that Roe was not being truthful in his sexual assault claim,
   Blankenship did not have probable cause to arrest Roe.

           1
             Roe does not meet the “sky high” burden to show that analogous case law is not
   necessary because this case presents the extreme circumstance of an obvious constitutional
   violation. Joseph, 981 F.3d at 338.

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                                          No. 21-10890

           Roe does not identify that Blankenship violated clearly established law
   with these actions. Although he correctly notes that he does not need to
   identify relevant caselaw that is directly on point, the cases he cites only
   announce general propositions about, e.g., the Fourth Amendment’s
   protections against searches without probable cause. This is insufficient to
   meet the required burden. Joseph, 981 F.3d at 329. 2
                                              III.
           Roe also argues that the district court erroneously dismissed his
   official capacity claims against Blankenship. Roe argues that Blankenship was
   responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operation of the Johnson County
   jail, which gave him final policymaking authority as to the jail. Roe thus
   attempts to establish county liability based on an alleged unconstitutional
   action taken by Blankenship alone, as the final policymaker.
           We review a dismissal for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6)
   de novo. Whitaker v. Collier, 862 F.3d 490, 496–97 (5th Cir. 2017). We accept
   all well-pleaded facts as true and must view those facts in a light most
   favorable to the plaintiff. Campbell v. City of San Antonio, 43 F.3d 973, 975
   (5th Cir. 1995). However, only facts set forth in the pleadings are considered;
   unsupported conclusions and conclusory allegations are not considered in
   this assessment. Id.
           “Under Texas law, sheriffs are ‘final policymakers’ in the area of law
   enforcement for the purposes of holding a county liable under § 1983.” James
   v. Harris Cnty., 577 F.3d 612, 617 (5th Cir. 2009) (quoting Williams v.

           2
            Roe raises other arguments outlining various factual disputes concerning the
   summary judgment evidence. None of these disputes affect the reasonableness of
   Blankenship’s decision after evaluating the totality of the evidence in identifying probable
   cause, and Roe’s conclusory arguments do not rectify his failure to identify that
   Blankenship’s actions were a violation of clearly established law.

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                                         No. 21-10890

   Kaufman Cnty., 352 F.3d 994, 1013 (5th Cir. 2003)). And the Texas Local
   Government Code allows the county sheriff to appoint a jailer to “operate
   the jail and meet the needs of the prisoners, but the sheriff shall continue to
   exercise supervision and control over the jail.” Tex. Loc. Gov’t Code
   Ann. § 351.041.
           Roe misunderstands the point that “[t]here is a fundamental
   difference between decision makers and policymakers,” such that
   “[d]iscretion to exercise a particular function does not necessarily entail final
   policymaking authority over that function.” Martinez v. City of N. Richland
   Hills, 846 F. App’x 238, 246 (5th Cir. 2021) (per curiam) (quoting Bolton v.
   City of Dallas, 541 F.3d 545, 548–49 (5th Cir. 2008) (per curiam)). None of
   his citations to the record nor his arguments on appeal point to the contrary
   conclusion that Blankenship could be considered a final policymaker based
   only on his ability to make decisions. 3 As such, the district court correctly
   dismissed Roe’s official capacity claims.
           Finally, we briefly address other arguments made by Roe in briefing.
   Roe’s civil conspiracy allegations are unsupported by the record and were
   thus correctly dismissed on summary judgment. See Montgomery v. Walton,
   759 F. App’x 312, 314 (5th Cir. 2019) (per curiam) (“Conclusory allegations
   that do not reference specific factual allegations tending to show an
   agreement do not suffice to state a civil rights conspiracy claim under
   § 1983.”). Roe’s fabrication of evidence claim fails because he offers no

           3
              Roe analogizes his case to Paz v. Weir, 137 F. Supp. 2d 782 (S.D. Tex. 2001).
   There, the court found that there was a jail “custom” of allowing misconduct and denied
   summary judgment because of factual issues as to whether the county and the jail
   administrator displayed deliberate indifference to reports of misconduct and as to whether
   said alleged indifference was the “moving force” behind misconduct related to the
   plaintiff. Id. at 815–16. Roe does not adequately argue that such a custom or deliberate
   indifference is present here, and Paz is thus inapposite.

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                                        No. 21-10890

   material facts showing that any pretrial deprivations of his liberty were
   caused by Blankenship’s alleged malfeasance in fabricating evidence. See
   McDonough v. Smith, 139 S. Ct. 2149, 2156 (2019) (requiring plaintiff to show
   that the deprivations of his liberty were caused by defendant’s malfeasance
   in fabricating evidence). Roe’s collateral estoppel claim fails because his
   argument that the district court found no probable cause mischaracterizes the
   district court’s ruling that an affidavit did not establish probable cause.
   Finally, Roe’s argument that the district court should have retained
   jurisdiction over the remaining state law claims fails because he does not
   show why the district court should have deviated from the general rule of
   declining to exercise jurisdiction over remaining state-law claims 4 when all
   federal-law claims are eliminated before trial. Brookshire Bros. Holding, Inc. v.
   Dayco Prods., Inc., 554 F.3d 595, 602 (5th Cir. 2009). 5
                                             IV.
           For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM.

           4
           For clarity, this includes the indemnity claim against Defendants-Appellees
   Southwestern Correctional, L.L.C. and LaSalle Management Company, L.L.C.
           5
              Roe’s remaining arguments are inadequately briefed and thus abandoned. See
   Cinel v. Connick, 15 F.3d 1338, 1345 (5th Cir. 1994) (“A party who inadequately briefs an
   issue is considered to have abandoned the claim.”).

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