NOT RECOMMENDED FOR FULL-TEXT PUBLICATION
File Name: 07a0269n.06
Filed: April 10, 2007
No. 06-5683
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT
TAWANNA CURRIE, )
)
Plaintiff-Appellant, )
)
v. )
)
HAYWOOD COUNTY, TENNESSEE, )
)
Defendant-Appellee, ) ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED
) STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR
HAYWOOD COUNTY SHERIFF’S ) THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF
DEPARTMENT, ) TENNESSEE
)
Defendant, )
)
and )
)
TIMOTHY LEON ROGERS, individually )
and as an employee, officer, and agent of )
Haywood County, Tennessee, )
)
Defendant-Appellee. )
____________________________________ )
Before: ROGERS and GRIFFIN, Circuit Judges; and RUSSELL, District Judge.*
PER CURIAM.
Plaintiff Tawanna Currie appeals the district court’s judgment in favor of defendants
*
The Honorable Thomas B. Russell, United States District Judge for the Western District of
Kentucky, sitting by designation.
Case No. 06-5683
Currie v. Haywood County, et al.
Haywood County, Tennessee; Haywood County Sheriff’s Department; and Timothy L. Rogers in his
official capacity (collectively “defendants” or “Haywood County”) following a bench trial. Plaintiff
also appeals the adequacy of a damage award of a judgment in her favor against former deputy
Rogers, in his individual capacity, in the sum of $25,000.
Plaintiff Currie initially filed this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against defendants and
Rogers in his individual capacity alleging that her constitutional rights were violated when she was
sexually assaulted1 by Rogers while he was on duty as a deputy sheriff for Haywood County.
Thereafter, the district court dismissed Currie’s claims for punitive damages against Haywood
County and declined supplemental jurisdiction over any state law claims. The district court further
granted summary judgment to defendants on the issue of whether Haywood County was deliberately
indifferent in retaining Rogers as an employee.
In July 2005, the district court tried the case without a jury, subsequently issuing “Findings
of Fact and Conclusions of Law,” thereby partially granting and partially denying judgment for
plaintiff. Currie has timely appealed.
For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.
I.
The underlying facts are largely undisputed. On February 28, 2002, plaintiff Tawanna Currie
called 911 on her cell phone in Haywood County, Tennessee, from her mother’s residence to procure
1
The terms “sexually assaulted” and “assaulted” are not used in their criminal sense, but
merely as descriptive terms.
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Currie v. Haywood County, et al.
help for her brother, who had overdosed. Defendant Rogers, a deputy employed by Haywood
County, was the first to arrive at the house. Currie previously had contact with Rogers during the
investigation of an unrelated automobile accident. Upon Rogers’ arrival, he checked the condition
of Currie’s brother, who was unresponsive, and remained with Currie and her mother, Willie Mae
Powell, until the paramedics arrived. During this period, Rogers did not say anything or take any
action that was inappropriate or unprofessional. As the paramedics took Currie’s brother from the
house, Rogers offered to return to the house and update Currie on her brother’s condition because
he knew that Currie did not have a phone in the home. Currie agreed.
When Rogers returned to the residence, Currie let him inside the house, where he followed
her into the kitchen. After informing her that her brother was going to a hospital in Brownsville,
Rogers proceeded to touch Currie inappropriately, attempting to put his hand between her legs,
inside the boxer shorts she was wearing, and attempting to touch her breast. Currie resisted, telling
him to stop. She later testified that she felt threatened and considered hitting him with a skillet she
was holding, but was afraid to because Rogers was armed and could have shot her while claiming
she attacked him. Currie attempted to turn away from him, but he pinned her between his body and
the washing machine and tried to kiss her. She continued telling him to stop and to leave.
Currie was able to maneuver away from Rogers, but he followed and came up behind her,
rubbing his genital area across her back and buttocks. Currie told him to leave her alone and tried
to distract him by asking questions. Nevertheless, Rogers continued his advances, telling her that
he would leave if she kissed him. Currie refused, but said she would hug him if he would leave, and
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Currie v. Haywood County, et al.
he agreed. As Currie leaned in to give Rogers a quick hug, Rogers reached around her and, grabbing
her buttocks, lifted her off her feet and pulled her against his body. Rogers continued to attempt to
kiss her; she continued to resist. Currie testified that she then began to cry and kept asking him to
leave. In response, Rogers dropped Currie back to the floor, asked her to come see him sometime,
and left. Currie testified that she locked the door behind him, then went into her bedroom and locked
herself in.
Currie went the next day to report what had happened to the Haywood County Sheriff,
Raymond E. Russell. Russell requested that Currie give a statement to a female investigator, Kim
Williams, and also referred the matter to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Following the
investigation of the incident, Rogers was terminated from the Department and charged with official
misconduct, to which he entered a guilty plea. This suit followed.
Specifically, Currie filed this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Haywood County,
Tennessee; the Haywood County Sheriff’s Department; and Timothy L. Rogers in both his individual
and official capacities, alleging that her constitutional rights were violated when Rogers sexually
assaulted her while on duty. On September 2, 2003, the district court issued an order dismissing the
Sheriff’s Department as a separate defendant and dismissing plaintiff’s claim for punitive damages
against Haywood County. The district court also declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over
any state law claims. On March 10, 2005, the district court issued an order partially denying
summary judgment regarding the constitutionality of Haywood County’s policies and procedures and
partially granting summary judgment to defendants regarding whether Haywood County was
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Currie v. Haywood County, et al.
deliberately indifferent in retaining Rogers as an employee.
The case was subsequently tried by the district court, sitting without a jury, on July 6-7, 2005.
Following the trial, the district court issued “Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law” pursuant to
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52(a), thereby partially granting and partially denying judgment for
plaintiff. Specifically, the district court held that: (1) the Haywood County Sheriff’s Department’s
Policies and Procedures were adequate and not constitutionally deficient; (2) Haywood County was
not deliberately indifferent to Currie’s constitutional rights because of a failure to train its deputy
sheriffs; (3) defendant Rogers was individually liable to Currie by virtue of his inappropriate sexual
advances; and (4) Rogers was individually liable to Currie in the amount of $20,000 compensatory
damages and $5,000 punitive damages. Currie appeals all of these findings and conclusions, except
the finding of Rogers’ individual liability.
II.
When reviewing an appeal from a judgment entered following a bench trial, this court
reviews the district court’s factual findings for clear error and its legal conclusions de novo.
Pressman v. Franklin Nat. Bank, 384 F.3d 182, 185 (6th Cir. 2004). Rule 52(a) of the Federal Rules
of Civil Procedure prescribes the deference to be afforded the district court’s findings of fact
following a bench trial; specifically, “[f]indings of fact, whether based on oral or documentary
evidence, shall not be set aside unless clearly erroneous, and due regard shall be given to the
opportunity of the trial court to judge of the credibility of the witnesses.” FED . R. CIV . P. 52(a). This
court has elaborated:
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Currie v. Haywood County, et al.
If the district court’s account of the evidence is plausible in light of the record viewed
in its entirety, the court of appeals may not reverse it even though convinced that had
it been sitting as the trier of fact, it would have weighed the evidence differently.
Where there are two permissible views of the evidence, the factfinder’s choice
between them cannot be clearly erroneous. This is so even when the district court’s
findings do not rest on credibility determinations, but are based instead on physical
or documentary evidence or inferences from other facts.
Harrison v. Monumental Life Ins. Co., 333 F.3d 717, 721 (6th Cir. 2003) (quoting Anderson v. City
of Bessemer City, 470 U.S. 564, 573-74 (1985)).
On appeal, Currie’s primary contention is that the district court erred by concluding that
Haywood County was not subject to municipal liability because Haywood County’s lack of policies
or procedures regarding sexual harassment failed to equip law enforcement officers with specific
tools to handle recurring situations. In support of this alleged constitutional failure, Currie notes that
Haywood’s training or policies and procedures do not contain provisions specifically stating that it
is against Department policy to sexually harass or intimidate members of the public. Currie points
to the testimony proffered by her expert witness at trial, Phillip Davidson, that the lack of policies
and programs to identify maladaptive behaviors or prevent sexual abuse was inconsistent with the
practices of many modern police departments. Accordingly, Currie contends that the district court’s
resolution was clearly erroneous and requests that this court reverse.
It is well established that “a municipality cannot be held liable solely because it employs a
tortfeasor – or, in other words, a municipality cannot be held liable under § 1983 on a respondeat
superior theory.” Monell v. Dep’t of Soc. Servs. of City of N.Y., 436 U.S. 658, 691 (1978). “Instead,
it is when execution of a government’s policy or custom, whether made by its lawmakers or by those
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Currie v. Haywood County, et al.
whose edicts or acts may fairly be said to represent official policy, inflicts the injury that the
government as an entity is responsible under § 1983.” Id. at 694. The district court correctly
recounted that “the inadequacy of police training may serve as the basis for § 1983 liability,” but
“only where the failure to train amounts to deliberate indifference to the rights of persons with whom
the police come into contact.” City of Canton v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378, 388 (1989). To successfully
allege as much, Currie must establish that: “1) [Haywood’s] training program was inadequate for
the tasks that officers must perform; 2) the inadequacy was the result of [Haywood’s] deliberate
indifference; and 3) the inadequacy was closely related to or actually caused the injury.” Ciminillo
v. Streicher, 434 F.3d 461, 469 (6th Cir. 2006). “‘[D]eliberate indifference is a stringent standard
of fault, requiring proof that a municipal actor disregarded a known or obvious consequence of his
action.’” Perez v. Oakland Cty., 466 F.3d 416, 430-31 (6th Cir. 2006) (quoting Bd. of Cty. Com’rs
of Bryan Cty., Okl. v. Brown, 520 U.S. 397, 410 (1997) (internal quotation marks omitted)).
Although it is possible that “a single violation of federal rights, accompanied by a showing that a
municipality has failed to train its employees to handle recurring situations presenting an obvious
potential for such a violation, could trigger municipal liability,” Brown, 520 U.S. at 409 (1997),
“[a]llegations that a particular officer was improperly trained are insufficient to prove liability, as
are claims that a particular injury could have been avoided with better training.” Sova v. City of Mt.
Pleasant, 142 F.3d 898, 904 (6th Cir. 1998). “To prevent municipal liability for a hiring decision
from collapsing into respondeat superior liability, a court must carefully test the link between the
policymaker’s inadequate decision and the particular injury alleged.” Brown, 520 U.S. at 410.
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Currie v. Haywood County, et al.
With respect to the potential liability arising from Rogers’ alleged lack of training, the district
court concluded:
Regarding the adequacy of the Department’s policies, both written and unwritten,
addressing the proper use of force and the proper way to interact with members of the
public, both male and female, there was significant evidence offered at trial,
including the testimony of Blackwell and Mays, the defendants’ expert[s], that those
policies were not constitutionally deficient. The Court finds that evidence
persuasive. Therefore, notwithstanding the opinions of Davidson, the plaintiff’s
expert, the Court finds that plaintiff has failed to prove, by a preponderance of the
evidence, that the Department’s policies in those areas were inadequate to the tasks
the Department’s officers were required to perform.
In addition, Rogers clearly stated that, due to his law enforcement training, he knew
it was wrong to touch inappropriately, or to make sexual advances toward, females
with whom he interacted in the course of his duties. Nevertheless, despite that
training, Rogers sexually assaulted the plaintiff. Thus, the Court finds that the
plaintiff has failed to prove the required element of causation with regard to her claim
that the Department failed to train Rogers. She has failed to show that the
constitutional violation was “closely related to” or “actually caused” by such a
failure to train. City of Canton, 489 U.S. at 390-91.
Davidson,[sic] also testified that the Department’s training and supervision were
deliberately indifferent because there was no program in place to identify those
officers with tendencies toward aberrant behavior. However, the Court finds
unpersuasive the assertion that the mere occurrence of the sexual assault, by itself,
is evidence that Rogers must have demonstrated such traits previously and that a
preventative program would have caught and identified him as a potential problem
in time to prevent the assault. A finding of causation based on that assertion would
be unacceptably tenuous, as plaintiff has offered no evidence whatsoever that Rogers
previously exhibited any of the “warning” traits noted by Davidson. Therefore, the
Court finds that plaintiff has failed to prove that the constitutional violation in this
case was caused by the lack of such a preventative program.
No. 03-1052, 2006 WL 840427, *6 (W.D. Tenn. March 30, 2006) (emphasis added).
We agree and adopt this analysis and conclusion.
III.
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Currie v. Haywood County, et al.
Next, Currie appeals the district court’s grant of Haywood County’s motion for summary
judgment regarding the issue of Rogers’ retention as an employee. In support, Currie submitted
evidence to the district court that in January 2002, prior to the above-described incident, Rogers had
notified Sheriff Russell that he had been diagnosed with a bipolar disorder. Rogers was given some
time off, but was allowed to return to duty after obtaining a release from his doctor. The Department
apparently did not require him to be evaluated psychologically before he returned to duty.
In the summary judgment disposition, the district court held that “[p]laintiff has submitted
no evidence showing how the fact that Rogers was bipolar rendered him ‘highly likely’ to sexually
harass and assault plaintiff or anyone else. She relies instead on the suggestion that Rogers was
simply too ‘unstable’ to do his job[,]” an allegation that “fails to satisfy Brown’s requirement that
there be a strong connection between the employee’s background and the ‘specific constitutional
violation.’”
We agree and affirm.
IV.
Finally, Currie urges this court to review the district court’s award of damages against Deputy
Rogers in his individual capacity, alleging that the awarded damages were insufficient. This court
reviews a trial court’s finding of fact on the issue of compensatory damages pursuant to the clearly
erroneous standard; it “is not reversible error ‘unless it manifests plain injustice, or is so grossly
excessive as to be clearly erroneous.’” Moorer v. Baptist Mem’l Health Care Sys., 398 F.3d 469,
485 (6th Cir. 2005) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Likewise, a district court’s
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Currie v. Haywood County, et al.
award of punitive damages is reviewed pursuant to a clear error standard. Ellis v. Gallatin Steel Co.,
390 F.3d 461, 471 (6th Cir. 2004).
We find that Currie’s appellate arguments regarding the alleged inadequacy of the damage
award are generalized and unsupported. Accordingly, we affirm the analysis and award of the
district court.
V.
For the reasons stated above, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.
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