Court Opinion

ID: 9473148
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:21:03.649471+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:43:21.344120
License: Public Domain

GARWOOD, Circuit Judge,
dissenting in part.
I concur in all of the Court’s opinion except that part sustaining the award of punitive damages against Officer Porter.
As the majority recognizes, there was no claim or finding that Porter’s conduct was actuated by or involved any evil motive or intent. Similarly, there is no finding that Porter was not in fact operating under the actual, affirmative belief that his conduct was lawful. Porter testified in this connection:
“Q In conducting this search as you did, searching for items after you had located two tv sets, okay?
“A Yes, sir.
“Q Were you aware of any restriction that said you were not to do that?
“A No, sir.
“Q On January 29, 1982, were you aware of limitation on your search and seizure beyond the two items in the search warrant?
*1321“A No, sir, not with the search warrant. If I had found — my understanding of a search with a warrant is that if I found the items listed on the warrant, then I could in fact seize — continue with the search and seize other items that I suspected as being stolen.
“Q This was your understanding—
“A Yes, sir.
“Q —of permissible law in that area?
“A Yes, sir.
“Q Had you operated on that assumption previously as a detective?
“A Yes, sir.
“Q Did you conduct this search in good faith?
“A Yes, sir.
“Q Did you believe you were violating any kind of constitutional rights of Mr. Creamer’s that evening?
“A No, sir.
“Q Did you wish to harm him in any way?
“A No, sir.”
This testimony was corroborated by that of other officers. Neither the majority nor Creamer cite any substantial evidence to the contrary. The trial court made no finding otherwise, and apparently accepted Porter’s explanation. . It nevertheless awarded punitive damages, because it regarded Porter’s belief that he was acting lawfully as “woefully misguided,” because he was “in charge,” and because the invasion of Creamer’s legally protected privacy was extensive. This is reflected in the following portions of the trial court’s lengthy findings:
“They had, I think Detective Porter had, or Sampson had; but one or the other of them had with them the list of properties taken from Henry Johnson’s house. And they were using that property list as a shopping list as they went through the items in the store and in the residence. Mr. Johnson’s list included numerous items of jewelry which had prompted the officers to go from the store into the residence.
“All three police officers advanced the same reason for continuing the search. Each stated that he believed that once an item in a search warrant had been found, a continuing search is then justified. Their belief, however firmly held, is, in this Judge’s opinion, woefully misguided. Once items in a search warrant are found, any search occurring thereafter is, as a practical matter, a warrantless search.

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“It is easy to understand why those officers may have believed that they were entitled to search all of the buildings included within the fenced lot. The warrant specifically defines this place, including all buildings on the property of Mr. Creamer. But that same warrant placed another limitation on their authority. It stated their right to search extended only to find two described television sets, complete with serial numbers. Once the television sets had been found, the authority to continue the search vanished.

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“Under no circumstances, however, could the officers justify their intrusion into an area such as a desk drawer or a night stand; into which no television set described in the warrant could possibly have fit.

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“Detective Porter testified that he did not list other items that were in Henry Johnson’s desk drawer in the application for a warrant because he said he believed that he had authority to search for the remaining items once the television sets were located. If Detective Porter suspected that the other items were there, he could just as easily have asked that they be described in his warrant. But he did not.

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“It does not require a strained interpretation of the jurisprudence to decide that a search conducted after the termination given in the warrant has expired is a warrantless search. The defense of *1322qualified immunity is therefore not available to the defendants in this case. A reasonable person would have known that a search conducted without the authority of a warrant is in violation of the command clearly written almost two hundred years ago in the Fourth Amendment.

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“Punitive damages are permissable [sic] in a section 1983 case when the defendant or defendants show reckless or callous indifference to federally protected rights. I consider the entering of Mr. Creamer’s home and the search of it; after the television sets had been found and the warrant relapsed or expired; was not only constitutionally infirm, it was somewhat morally deplorable. If the level of the police officer’s training is such that they understand that once you find an item listed on a search warrant, that then you can continue and continue and enter other parts of the premises — I believe that is a matter which would commend itself to the local Police Academy and other law enforcement training personnel in this general area. The primary responsibility for the manner in which the search was conducted lies with Detective Porter. And it is readily apparent from the testimony of all the witnesses that he showed absolutely no regard for Mr. Creamer’s rights to privacy. So far as Detective Porter was concerned, he had a perfect right to go upstairs, unlock that door, and go in Mr. Creamer’s private residence; even after he had found the two items that he had been authorized to search for. That is an impermissable [sic ] intrusion into a place of residence and ought to be considered such in any civil rights country. The leader of the brief investigation was Detective Porter. And the sum of $1,000 in punitive damages is set against Detective Porter.”
While the opinion in Smith v. Wade, 461 U.S. 30, 103 S.Ct. 1625, 75 L.Ed.2d 632 (1983), is not entirely explicit on the point, I believe that fairly read it stands for the proposition that a showing of either willful misconduct or conscious indifference to the rights of others is required for punitive damages to be assessed under section 1983, and that mere gross negligence is not sufficient. See id. 103 S.Ct. at 1633, 1637.1 As applied to a case such as this, conscious indifference connotes a requirement that the defendant, if not actually aware that his conduct is unlawful, must at least be conscious that it may well be so and indifferent whether it is or not.
This view is likewise suggested by the comparison made in Smith v. Wade between the state of mind necessary for a punitive damage award in section 1983 cases and in private figure media libel cases, the latter requiring “proof of ‘knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth.’ Gertz [v. Robert Welch, Inc.], 418 U.S. [323], at 349, 94 S.Ct. [2997], at 3011 [41 L.Ed.2d 789] [1974].” Smith v. Wade, 103 S.Ct. at 1637. Gertz holds that although knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth need not be shown for a private figure to recover actual damages for a media libel, such a showing is required for punitive damages to be recovered, just as it is for there to be any recovery, actual or punitive, where the plaintiff is a public figure or official. Gertz, 94 S.Ct. at 3011, 3012. Gertz also points out in this connection, that although “ ‘actual malice’ in the traditional sense of ill-will” is not required, and although knowledge of falsity is also not required if “reckless disregard of the truth” is established, nevertheless the latter necessitates a showing of “subjective awareness of probable falsity.” Id. 94 S.Ct. at 3004 n. 6.
Here, Officer Porter in good faith believed the search he conducted was legal. *1323Hence he may not be said to have acted in conscious or reckless indifference to Creamer’s legal rights.
I would reach the same conclusion even if the test for punitive damages did not contain any subjective element, but rather could be satisfied merely by a showing of gross negligence of the most extreme variety. While I concede that, under the operative facts as known to Porter and the others (except Austin), the law was not unsettled and their conduct was indisputably illegal, so they were not entitled to qualified immunity, in my opinion any finding of truly gross negligence on their part is wholly unsupported. There is no suggestion that this sort of problem had ever arisen with any frequency or was well known to the average police officer.2
It must be remembered that when the two television sets were taken from Johnson’s house, other items were taken at the same time, some from Johnson’s desk drawer, including numerous items of jewelry. Porter was informed of all this, had a list of the other items, and was looking for them as well as the television sets. Porter had been informed that Johnson saw the television sets in Creamer’s store. This may be why only they were listed in the warrant. The warrant was doubtless recognized as necessary authority to enter the premises. But once lawfully on the premises, it seems not grossly unreasonable for a nonlawyer to think that discovery of the stolen television sets enhanced, rather than diminished, the officer’s authority. Johnson’s story had now been confirmed, not disparaged. One can understand how a person who does not “think like a lawyer” might conclude that once entry and presence were legitimated by the warrant, further search would be governed by a “probable cause” standard, thought to be satisfied in this instance by the initial discovery of the television sets Johnson had reported as being stolen. Only after the officers confirmed the presence of one of the television sets stolen from Johnson’s home were other items searched for. Of course, the officers were not searching for television sets in desk drawers and safes. But jewelry and other items were taken from the Johnson home, including items from his desk drawer, at the same time his television sets were stolen. Since the stolen television sets were at Creamer’s, it was not wholly unreasonable to believe the other items stolen at the same time and place might also have been there, and might have been in a desk drawer, filing cabinet, safe, or the like.3
It seems to me that the district court and majority have failed to realize that what is obvious to a judge, or even to almost any lawyer, is not necessarily obvious to the average police officer, and in holding Officer Porter amenable to punitive damages have erred by focusing on the degree of invasion of Creamer’s legal rights, a matter primarily relevant to the amount of punitive damages, rather than on the level of Porter’s personal moral culpability. Creamer, whom the trial court found suffered no economic loss, has nevertheless recovered $6,000 in damages for feelings of humiliation, distress, and reputation damage, plus full costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees in this action. Porter is justly liable for all this. But in addition, Porter has been penalized $1,000, essentially for no more than negligence in the performance of his official duties. The penalty for the same conduct could as well have been $15,000, if Porter’s invasion of Creamer’s legal rights had been willful or done with conscious indifference to what those rights *1324were. But that has not been shown. The award of any punitive damages is hence contrary to Smith v. Wade. I therefore respectfully dissent from the affirmance of that award.

. See also id. 103 S.Ct. at 1635, citing Restatement (Second) of Torts, § 908(2). Comment b thereto provides in pertinent part: “[P]unitive damages ... can be awarded only for conduct ... involving some element of outrage similar to that usually found in crime. The conduct must be outrageous, either because the defendant’s acts are done with an evil motive or because they are done with reckless indifference to the rights of others." (Emphasis added.)

. Cf. United. States v. Highfill, 334 F.Supp. 700, 701 (E.D.Ark.1971):
“Somewhat surprisingly, neither counsel for the parties nor the Court has been able to find reported cases dealing specifically with the narrow point raised: whether officers executing a search warrant, after having found the very (and only) article listed in the warrant, may lawfully continue to search for, and seize, evidence of the same crime. It is the opinion of the Court that, under the facts and circumstances of this case, they may not____”

. Also, as the majority notes, the nature of Creamer’s business, selling used merchandise acquired from individuals as well as from other merchants, makes it "a possible repository for some stolen items.”