Sloan Pleasants v. Town of Louisa

Filing

UNPUBLISHED AUTHORED OPINION filed. Originating case number: 3:11-cv-00032-NKM-RSB Copies to all parties and the district court. [999537749]. [14-1320]

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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 14-1320

SLOAN PLEASANTS,
Plaintiff – Appellant,
v.
ROBERT RIGSBY, sued in his individual capacity,
Defendant – Appellee,
and
TOWN OF LOUISA,
Defendant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western
District of Virginia, at Charlottesville.
Norman K. Moon,
Senior District Judge. (3:11-cv-00032-NKM-RSB)

Argued:

January 28, 2015

Decided:

March 2, 2015

Before SHEDD, DUNCAN, and KEENAN, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by unpublished opinion. Judge Shedd wrote the opinion
in which Judge Duncan and Judge Keenan joined.

ARGUED: Jeffrey Edward Fogel, Charlottesville, Virginia, for
Appellant. Maurice Scott Fisher, Jr., HARMAN, CLAYTOR, CORRIGAN
& WELLMAN, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee.
ON BRIEF: Steven
D. Rosenfield, Charlottesville, Virginia, for Appellant. Jeremy
D. Capps, David P. Corrigan, HARMAN, CLAYTOR, CORRIGAN &

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WELLMAN, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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SHEDD, Circuit Judge:
Sloan Pleasants appeals from the summary judgment entered
against

her

arrested

on

her,

her
in

claim

that

violation

of

Officer
the

Robert

Fourth

Rigsby

Amendment.

falsely
For

the

following reasons, we affirm.
I.
Pleasants filed this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983,
alleging

that

Officer

Rigsby,

of

the

Town

of

Louisa

Police

Department, unlawfully entered her home and arrested her for
assault and battery against a family member. Pleasants asserted
causes of action against the Town of Louisa for failure to train
and against Officer Rigsby for unlawful entry, false arrest,
malicious prosecution, and related state law claims.
The Town of Louisa and Officer Rigsby moved to dismiss the
complaint

pursuant

discovery

on

the

dismissed

all

of

to

Rule

12(b)(6).

unlawful-entry
Pleasants’

After

claim, *

claims.

In

allowing

the
a

district

prior

limited
court

opinion,

we

reversed the dismissal of the false-arrest claim and affirmed
the dismissal of all other claims. See Pleasants v. Town of
Louisa, 524 F. App’x 891 (4th Cir. 2013). We remanded the falsearrest claim for further proceedings because, at the motion to

*

The court’s use of this discovery made the disposition on
the unlawful-entry claim a matter of summary judgment.

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dismiss stage, Pleasants’ complaint stated a plausible claim for
relief.
On remand, and in light of a more developed factual record,
the district court granted summary judgment in favor of Officer
Rigsby on the false-arrest claim. The court held that Officer
Rigsby was entitled to qualified immunity. Pleasants now appeals
that decision.
II.
We review de novo the district court’s grant of summary
judgment in favor of Officer Rigsby. Henry v. Purnell, 652 F.3d
524, 531 (4th Cir. 2011) (en banc). We view the evidence and all
reasonable inferences from it in the light most favorable to
Pleasants, the non-moving party. Id.
Pleasants argues that the district court erred in granting
summary judgment to Officer Rigsby because the court improperly
based

its

qualified

immunity

analysis

on

disputed

facts

and

inferences drawn in favor of Officer Rigsby. We have carefully
reviewed the record and find no error.
The

doctrine

of

qualified

immunity

protects

government

officials performing discretionary functions “from liability for
civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly
established

statutory

or

constitutional

rights

of

which

a

reasonable person would have known.” Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457
U.S. 800, 818 (1982). Qualified immunity is a two-step inquiry
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“that asks first whether a constitutional violation occurred and
second

whether

the

right

violated

was

clearly

established.”

Henry, 652 F.3d at 531 (quoting Melgar ex rel. Melgar v. Greene,
593

F.3d

348,

353

(4th

Cir.

2010))

(internal

quotation

mark

omitted). We need not, however, address these inquiries in that
order. Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223, 236 (2009).
After considering the summary judgment record, the district
court determined that Officer Rigsby is entitled to qualified
immunity

on

Pleasants’

false-arrest

claim.

Exercising

its

discretion, the court proceeded directly to the second prong of
the

qualified

immunity

test.

J.A.

161.

The

court

found

that

regardless of whether probable cause existed for the arrest, a
reasonable officer could have believed Officer Rigsby’s actions
to

be

lawful,

information

in

that

light

of

Officer

clearly

Rigsby

established

possessed.

law

J.A.

and

the

161;

see

Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 641 (1987).
Having

carefully

reviewed

the

record

and

the

parties’

arguments, we find no error in the district court’s conclusion
that

Officer

Rigsby

is

entitled

to

qualified

immunity.

The

summary judgment record demonstrates that at the time of the
arrest, Officer Rigsby was faced with a situation involving a
distraught and frightened child who was not being allowed to
freely talk to others. Officer Rigsby knew that K.P.’s father
had complained that Pleasants had prevented him from talking
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with

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K.P.,

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and

at

Rigsby’s

attempts

Further,

Officer

violence

described

the
to

by

scene,

speak

Rigsby

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Pleasants

to

could
K.P.

was

K.P.

interrupted

on

reasonably
more

several
believe

than

normal

Officer

occasions.
that

the

parental

discipline. Based on these facts, a reasonable officer could
have

believed

that

Officer

Rigsby’s

arrest

of

Pleasants

was

lawful.
III.
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the grant of summary
judgment to Officer Rigsby on the false-arrest claim.
AFFIRMED

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