Court Opinion

ID: 9766631
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 04:55:45.968496+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:24.346075
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Smith,
dissenting.
Can it be said that the acts of the deputies were private in nature, and without a trial can this Court hold, as a matter of law, that there was no misfeasance in the official conduct of the deputies and can it be said that the sheriff is not liable, independent of the actions of the deputies? I think not. It is possible that at the close of plaintiff’s evidence, the respondent, *479Hugh Freeman, would be entitled to an instructed verdict, but this does not mean that it was proper for the trial court to sustain special exceptions, which, when read, will be found to be rather vague and indefinite themselves. Article 6870, Vernon’s Annotated Civil Statutes of Texas, provides that “sheriffs shall be responsible for the official acts of their deputies, and they shall have power to require their deputies bond and security; and they shall have the same remedies against their deputies and sureties as any person can have against a sheriff and his sureties.” The pleaded facts in this case show that the deputies were acting in an official capacity when they stopped the plaintiff and requested him to stand on one foot in an effort to test whether or not the plaintiff was intoxicated or under the influence of intoxicating liquor to such degree as to have been driving his automobile in violation of the law in the presence of the officer. It was alleged that the deputies, while attempting to ascertain whether or not the petitioner was drunk or under the influence of intoxicating liquors, and, therefore, driving an automobile in violation of law in the presence of the officer, threatened the life of petitioner, and without warning struck and seriously injured the petitioner. It is my position that these were not such acts on the part of the deputies that can be said to be in law outside of the scope of employment and the sheriff cannot be held liable. The test is: Were the deputies performing an official duty in the first instance? If so, the sheriff is responsible in law for their acts. Article 6870, supra, was enacted by the Legislature for the purpose of protecting the public from the acts of officers such as we have here, wherein the pleadings show an abuse of the extraordinary official powers given an enforcement officer.
The case of Maddox v. Hudgeons, Teas Civ. App., 72 S.W. 414, relied on by respondent and the majority has no application. In that case the Court said in part, “* * * by Article 4897 sheriffs are made responsible for the ‘official’ acts of their deputies, * * In that case, Maddox, the sheriff, was informed of a burglary in a distant part of Jack County, and he immediately left Jacksboro for the place of the burglary. Soon after the sheriff’s departure, one Walter Isbell, a deputy sheriff, notified Will McNeal, a constable, of the burglary, and told Mc-Neal that the sheriff wanted him to assist in arresting the parties who had committed the burglary. Soon thereafter and without warrant or authority of law whatever, McNeal arrested two men, Hudgeons and Setser, in the town of Jacksboro on suspicion alone and took them to the sheriff’s office. McNeal inquired of Isbell (the sheriff was not present) if he should *480place the men in jail. Thereupon, McNeal, in the absence of the jailer, procured the keys from the jailer’s wife and locked up the two men. The Court said: “* * * The deputy sheriff in question (Isbell) was in the performance of no duty imposed on him by law or by appellant (sheriff) in requesting McNeal’s assistance. It is in case of resistance alone that authority is given to summon assistance, and no resistance or ground to so except is here shown. * * * Isbell, then, in summoning McNeal’s assistance, was in no sense acting in the performance of an official act or duty. Appellee’s illegal arrest was not even directed by Isbell, and it would hence seem clear that appellant is not liable therefore. Nor was Isbell in the performance of official duty in directing McNeal to place appellee in jail. Isbell was without authority or color of authority to direct McNeal to imprison, and such direction was no justification to McNeal in doing so. * * *” (Emphasis added.)
In the case of Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. v. Clark, 1941, 136 Texas 238, 150 S.W. 2d 78, this Court quoted with approval the following from the case of Gray v. DeBretton, 192 La. 628, 188 So. 722, 726:
“The purpose of an official bond is to provide indemnity against malfeasance, nonfeasance and misfeasance in public office * * * .
“* * * If the situation had been that the deputy was walking along the street with his prisoner in charge, and for some reason personal to the deputy, he had struck a bystander with his hand or pistol, it could not be said that such an unlawful act on his part was done in the discharge of an official act. But, on the contrary, had he struck the prisoner, when there was no need for it, obviously his conduct in so doing would have been the violation of an official duty. A misfeasance for which the sheriff and his surety would have been liable.”
In the case of Maddox v. Hudgeons, supra, the deputy was without authority and was not performing an official duty in commanding Isbell, the constable, to place Hudgeons in jail; whereas, in our case, the deputy sheriff, Joe MacWagon was performing an authorized official act when he summoned to his aid another deputy sheriff, Garland Freeman, to aid and assist him at a time when the petitioner had resisted and refused to obey the official command of Deputy MacWagon, and it was while acting in response to the request to render aid in arresting the petitioner that the unlawful attack occurred. It can*481not be successfully argued that petitioner was not under arrest at all times, and was immediately carried to the jail. The petitioner alleged under paragraph six of his second amended original petition (no exception to this) that the jail was “under the care and control of the (sheriff), Hugh Freeman, and Hugh Fteemam was aware of the plaintiff’s presence therein, and the plaintiff was bleeding but was refused medical aid and was further refused the use of a first aid packet though the plaintiff requested both of the foregoing and the plaintiff was forced to remain in the aforesaid jail for the balance of the night without medical aid.” (Emphasis added).
Thus it is seen that petitioner stated facts in his petition showing that the sheriff and the deputies were joint tort-feasors and equally responsible in damages. Article 6870, supra, was enacted by the Legislature to protect the public from such unwarranted acts of sheriffs and their deputies. The sheriff was aware of petitioner’s presence in the jail, yet, he made no effort to ascertain why he was there. The pleadings certainly admit of a reasonable deduction that the sheriff made no effort to comply with the law which requires an officer to take his prisoner immediately before a magistrate that he might plead to the charge against him; neither was the sheriff concerned enough to secure medical aid for his prisoner. It is my contention that, regardless of the circumstances under which petitioner was arrested, when the sheriff became aware of the presence of petitioner in his jail, the sheriff, from that moment, was charged, as a matter of law, with responsibility for petitioner’s imprisonment, and, if a wrong was being committed, that is to say, if petitioner was in jail without lawful authority, the sheriff became directly responsible in damages to petitioner. Petitioner prayed for damages in the sum of $16,980.00 against Garland Freeman and the sheriff jointly and severally. In the absence of special exception, the damages prayed for include all injuries sustained as a result of the negligent acts of the deputies as well as the negligent acts of the sheriff after he became aware of petitioner’s presence in the jail. See McBeath v. Campbell, Tex. Com. App., 12 S.W. 2d 118.
Article 5115, Vernon’s Annotated Civil Statutes of Texas, provides that “each sheriff is the keeper of the jail of his county. He shall safely keep therein all prisoners committed thereto* by lawful authority, subject to the order of the proper court, and shall be responsible for the safe keeping of such prisoners. The sheriff may appoint a jailer to take charge of the jail, and supply the wants of those therein confined; but in all cases the *482sheriff shall exercise a supervision and control over the jail.” See Bracken v. Cato, 5th Circuit, 54 F. 2d 457. Article 1169, Vernon’s Annotated Penal Code of Texas defines false imprisonment as “the wilful detention of another against his consent and where it is not expressly authorized by law, whether such detention be effected by an assault, by actual violence to' the person, by threats or by any other means which restrains the party so detained from removing from one place to another as he may see proper.”
The majority opinion quotes from petitioner’s motion for rehearing in the Court of Civil Appeals. I do not agree with the position of the majority that the quotation constitutes an admission that the sheriff was not negligent in the performance of his duties and was not guilty of acts, which, in law, amounted to false imprisonment. A casual reading- of the entire motion for rehearing should convince this Court that the petitioner was attempting to show that the Court of Civil Appeals was in error in following the case of Taylor v. Stanford, Tex. Civ. App., 229 S.W. 2d 427, no writ history. This case, in my opinion, has no application to the facts of the case at bar. There the officers entered a private home without a search warrant or other warrant of authority, and without permission of the owner of the premises. The arrest was unlawful and the sheriff had no knowledge of the unlawful arrest and subsequent false imprisonment. The Court in holding the sheriff not liable quoted from the case of Graves v. Buzbee, Tex. Civ. App., 45 S.W. 2d 392, no writ history, as follows: “If Sheriff Lambert did not know and participate in the unlawful arrest and false imprisonment of the plaintiff, there would be no liability on his part, although his deputy Parks made the arrest without warrant or other lawful authority. * * *” In our case we have facts showing a deputy sheriff clothed with his badge of office, armed with a pistol and with authority to make arrests on the streets of Muleshoe without a warrant, actually arresting the petitioner, and summoning aid when his prisoner refused to obey his orders, and then subsequent assault and imprisonment. From all the facts and circumstances, as plead by the petitioner, it is conclusive, in my opinion, that the Deputy Joe MacWagon was acting upon probable cause from his viewpoint. This does not mean that the petitioner is required to plead that he was drunk or under the influence of intoxicating liquor, or that he was driving his car in a manner that would give the officer probable cause to stop the petitioner. It is entirely possible that petitioner had no way of knowing why the arresting officer commanded him to stop and undergo the humiliation and treat*483ment that followed. For all I know, the deputy had been reliably informed that petitioner was either drunk or transporting intoxicating liquor. In that event, the deputy would have had sufficient probable cause to authorize him to apprehend and stop the petitioner when found driving a car upon the streets or highways, although the petitioner was driving in a perfectly normal manner. No such authority is given an officer to invade a man’s home and search his premises. He must have a legal search warrant, or secure a waiver from the owner of the premises, otherwise all of his acts are unlawful.
The petitioner is entitled to present his cause of action against the sheriff as well as the deputies, and anything short of that would be depriving him of the rights given him under the Bill of Rights and the laws of this State to secure full redress for the wrongs committed by the sheriff as well as his deputies.
I would reverse the judgments of the trial court and the Court of Civil Appeals and remand this cause to the trial court for a trial on its merits.
Opinion delivered May 2, 1956.
Mr. Justice Wilson also dissented.