Court Opinion

ID: 9895661
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-11-08 14:07:39.744589+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:12:22.830447
License: Public Domain

[Cite as Lanier v. Luxottica of Am., Inc., 2023-Ohio-4041.]

                      IN THE COURT OF APPEALS
                  FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT OF OHIO
                       HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO

 JONATHAN LANIER,                                       :     APPEAL NO. C-220593
                                                              TRIAL NO. A-2103516
           Plaintiff-Appellant,                         :

     vs.                                                :
                                                                  O P I N I O N.
 LUXOTTICA OF AMERICA, INC.,                            :

                                                        :

     and                                                :

 BREANNE GILBERT,                                       :

           Defendants-Appellees.                        :

Civil Appeal From: Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas

Judgment Appealed From Is: Affirmed

Date of Judgment Entry on Appeal: November 8, 2023

James E. Kolenich, for Plaintiff-Appellant,

Robbins, Kelly, Patterson & Tucker, LPA, and Matthew C. Curran, for Defendants-
Appellees.
                    OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS

BOCK, Judge.

       {¶1}   Plaintiff-appellant Jonathan Lanier brings this appeal, arguing that the

trial court erred by granting summary judgment in favor of defendants-appellees

Luxottica of America, Inc. (“Luxottica”), and Breanne Gilbert (collectively,

“defendants”) on Lanier’s claim for false arrest. Because Lanier failed to show that

Gilbert directed the police to arrest Lanier, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.

                            I.     Facts and Procedure

       {¶2}   In October 2018, an employee of Sunglass Hut in Kenwood, which is

owned by Luxottica, reported a theft to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office

(“HCSO”). Deputy Sheriff Jason Schmieg investigated the theft.

       {¶3}   Five days later, Gilbert, an employee of Sunglass Hut, called the

deputies to report that the shoplifter from the previous week had returned to the store.

Deputies went to the store and arrested Lanier.

       {¶4}   In February 2019, at the state’s request, the trial court dismissed

Lanier’s theft case and expunged the record. The state issued Lanier a public apology

after it determined that Lanier did not match the physical identity of the thief in the

store’s surveillance footage.

       {¶5}   Later in 2019, Lanier sued defendants for “negligent misidentification.”

The trial court granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment, finding that Ohio

does not recognize a tort for “negligent misidentification.” Lanier refiled his complaint

in October 2021 for false arrest, respondeat superior, and negligent hiring. He argued

that Gilbert did not act in good faith by wrongfully identifying him as the person who

had committed theft in Sunglass Hut.

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                    OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS

   Investigating officers testify that Gilbert never directed them to arrest Lanier.

       {¶6}    Lanier deposed Deputy Sheriffs Schmieg, Prickett, and Fore, all who

had responded to Gilbert’s call.

       {¶7}    Schmieg had begun to investigate the shoplifting incident shortly after

it happened, five days before the deputies detained Lanier. Schmieg had viewed the

store surveillance video before Gilbert’s report.

       {¶8}    Fore testified that he watched the video after Lanier had been placed in

handcuffs and told Schmieg that he agreed 100 percent that it was Lanier in the video.

Schmieg’s body-worn camera footage showed both deputies stating that they believed

the man in the video was Lanier.

       {¶9}    After they watched the video, the deputies asked Gilbert to come to the

parking lot to see if she could identify Lanier as the shoplifter. After Gilbert identified

Lanier, the deputies arrested him.

       {¶10} Schmieg testified that Lanier’s arrest was “based on the prior report * *

* confirmed [that] an offense * * * happened, eyewitness testimony, and * * * Deputy

Fore’s review of the video.” He added that establishing probable cause “is based on

[the] totality of the evidence and the multiple officers’ point of view.”

                Luxottica and Gilbert moved for summary judgment.

       {¶11} In July 2022, defendants moved for summary judgment, arguing that

the evidence showed that Gilbert did not maliciously report that Lanier was the thief.

The trial court found that Gilbert did not direct or demand Lanier’s arrest:

       I do see the officers investigating. I know that there’s some issue about

       when did they actually look[ed] at the video. * * * I don’t think it matters.

       * * * I do think [Gilbert] made identification. * * * So, to me, that was

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                    OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS

       sort of a crucial moment that that officer was going to arrest based upon

       identification of the eyewitness, not that the eyewitness said arrest him.

       But if the eyewitness said that’s the guy, that was going to be enough for

       the officer to say, I’m arresting based upon my investigation. So I don’t

       really see that the employee demanded or directed the officers to arrest.

       And, to me, that’s what’s key here.

       {¶12} The trial court further stated that a witness’s identification is not a

request or demand to arrest a person.

       Identification is something different, because people identify people all

       the time. That doesn’t mean that they have to be arrested because that

       person said I ID’d them. The officers make that decision, I think. And

       the affidavits from the officers indicated they were never directed or

       demanded to arrest them. That they did their own investigation, they

       thought this was the person * * * she says, I’m 100 percent certain that

       that’s the person. That’s not, to me, not a request to apprehend. It’s

       giving the officers information this is the person that committed the

       theft.

       {¶13} The trial court granted defendants’ summary-judgment motion. Lanier

appeals the trial court’s judgment.

                              II.     Law and Analysis

       {¶14} In his sole assignment of error, Lanier argues that the trial court erred

in granting summary judgment in favor of Gilbert and Luxottica because Gilbert

maliciously made a false identification. Lanier asserts that Gilbert should be liable for

wrongful arrest where the deputies physically made the arrest.

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                      OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS

          {¶15} We conduct a de novo review of summary-judgment decisions.

Holloman v. Permanent Gen. Assur. Corp., 1st Dist. Hamilton No. C-180692, 2019-

Ohio-5077, ¶ 8. Under Civ.R. 56(C), summary judgment is proper when the moving

party establishes that “(1) no genuine issue of any material fact remains, (2) the

moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, and (3) it appears from the

evidence that reasonable minds can come to but one conclusion, and construing the

evidence most strongly in favor of the nonmoving party, that conclusion is adverse to

the party against whom the motion for summary judgment is made.” Id. at ¶ 7, quoting

State ex rel. Duncan v. Mentor City Council, 105 Ohio St.3d 372, 2005-Ohio-2163,

826 N.E.2d 832, ¶ 9.

                Lanier failed to name his arresters in his false-arrest claim.

          {¶16} The elements of a false-arrest claim are (1) the intentional detention of

a person and (2) the unlawfulness of the detention. Ficklin v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc.,

8th Dist. Cuyahoga No. 94458, 2010-Ohio-5601, ¶ 34. A false-arrest claim must be

filed against those who made the arrest or their employees. Barnes v. Meijer Dept.

Store, 12th Dist. Butler No. CA2003-09-246, 2004-Ohio-1716, ¶ 16; see Ficklin at ¶ 34.

          {¶17} The defendants did not falsely arrest Lanier. Gilbert neither detained

nor arrested Lanier. Gilbert was inside the store when the deputies detained Lanier in

the parking lot. At the deputies’ request, Gilbert came outside to identify Lanier. She

did nothing further. And Lanier did not name HCSO or the deputies who made the

arrest.

            Lanier’s false-arrest claim requires a demand for arrest or malice.

          {¶18} Citing Foley v. Univ. of Dayton, 150 Ohio St.3d 252, 2016-Ohio-7591,

81 N.E.3d 398, and Jordan v. Giant Eagle Supermarket, 8th Dist. Cuyahoga No.

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                    OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS

109304, 2020-Ohio-5622, Lanier argues, “When a business calls the police and the

police make an arrest, not based on anything they independently observed, but only

based on the report made by the business, and that report turns out to be ‘concededly

erroneous,’ then a false arrest claim is available to the injured party.” Lanier asserts

that he established the elements of a false arrest because (1) Gilbert called the deputies,

(2) Lanier’s arrest was “solely based on the report made by” Gilbert, (3) the charge

against him was clearly erroneous, and (4) Gilbert acted in bad faith.

       {¶19} Lanier is correct that a business is not completely insulated from

liability for a false arrest. Jordan provides that a business may be liable when an

employee asks or demands that police arrest a suspect, and the result of that request

is an unlawful detention. Jordan at ¶ 36-37. But simply calling the police or providing

information—such as an identification—will not create liability. Id.

       {¶20} Foley provided a means for holding a person or entity liable when an

employee falsely accused a person of a crime. In Foley, the occupant of a townhouse

called the police after three men knocked on the door, and the police arrested the men

for burglary. Foley at ¶ 3. The charges were later dismissed. Id. The men asserted

negligence claims against the townhouse occupant. Id. The Ohio Supreme Court held

that, while Ohio law does not recognize a tort for negligent misidentification, there are

other avenues to pursue malicious prosecution or wrongful or false arrest. Id. at ¶ 14.

Specifically, the court noted that a person wrongfully detained could establish

malicious prosecution by establishing that a “prosecution is initiated or continued

with malice and without probable cause, the prosecution has ended in the injured

party’s favor, and in cases founded on civil proceedings, a seizure of the injured party

or his property during the prior proceedings has occurred.” Id.

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                    OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS

       {¶21} Here, Lanier failed to show that Gilbert directed the deputies to arrest

Lanier or that she acted with malice in reporting him as the thief. Further, a person

who has been wrongly accused under these circumstances could succeed on a

defamation claim. Foley, 150 Ohio St.3d 252, 2016-Ohio-7591, 81 N.E.3d 398 at ¶ 16.

But Lanier did not allege defamation against Gilbert and Luxottica.

                      The deputies identified Lanier as the thief.

       {¶22} Lanier asserts that the deputies “flatly stated that they made no pre-

arrest investigation and made the arrest based on the report that they received from

the Appellees.” But the evidence does not bear that out.

       {¶23} In his deposition, Schmieg testified that he had begun investigating the

theft five days before Lanier’s arrest and had reviewed the video before encountering

Lanier. Fore testified that he reviewed the video after Lanier was put in handcuffs and

that he was “100 percent” sure that Lanier was the shoplifter on the video. Fore and

Schmieg agreed that there was enough probable cause for an arrest based on the

“totality of the circumstances.”

       {¶24} Accordingly, no genuine issue of material fact existed to show that

defendants were liable for false arrest. Lanier’s sole assignment of error is overruled.

                                   III.   Conclusion

       {¶25} The trial court did not err in granting defendants’ motion for summary

judgment. Therefore, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.

                                                                     Judgment affirmed.

WINKLER, P.J., and KINSLEY, J., concur.

Please note:

       The court has recorded its entry on the date of the release of this opinion.
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