[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT FILED
________________________ U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
DECEMBER 9, 2011
No. 11-11955
Non-Argument Calendar JOHN LEY
CLERK
________________________
D.C. Docket No. 1:08-cv-03584-CC
ALEXIS ANTONIO WHITE,
Plaintiff - Appellant,
versus
THE CITY OF ATLANTA,
a Municipal Corporation of the State of Georgia,
d.b.a. Atlanta Police Department,
SCOTT E. DUNCAN,
Defendants - Appellees,
JOHN DOE 1, et al.,
Defendants.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Georgia
________________________
(December 9, 2011)
Before HULL, PRYOR and BLACK, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Alexis White appeals the summary judgment against his complaint about the
violation of his civil rights by the City of Atlanta and Officer Scott E. Duncan.
Duncan interviewed White after he had conspired with three corrupt police
officers, Gregg Junnier, Jason Smith, and Arthur Tesler, to corroborate a false
affidavit and to conceal their unfounded search of a home for drugs that resulted in
the death of homeowner Kathryn Johnston. White complained that he was falsely
imprisoned during Duncan’s interview, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and that the officers and
the City conspired to coerce White to conceal the illegal activities, id. § 1985(2),
and violated state law. After the district court dismissed Junnier, Smith, and
Tesler, Duncan and the City moved for summary judgment. The district court
ruled that White failed to establish that he was falsely imprisoned or that Duncan
or the City were parties to an illegal conspiracy, and the district court dismissed
without prejudice White’s claims under state law. We affirm.
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White argues that a genuine factual dispute exists about whether he was
falsely imprisoned by Duncan, but White’s trial testimony contradicts his
argument. During Tesler’s trial, White testified that he agreed to meet Duncan and
climbed into his vehicle because he did not want to be seen “talking to the police”
because “it isn’t something you do.” White argues that he was unable to escape
from Duncan’s vehicle, but White testified that he was “just ask[ed] . . . questions”
regarding the drug transaction at Mrs. Johnston’s house during the “approximately
eight minutes” that he contends he was wrongfully detained.
White also argues that a genuine factual dispute exists about whether
Duncan conspired to violate his civil rights, but White failed to submit any
evidence that Duncan even knew of the alleged conspiracy. White assumes that
Duncan was involved based on evidence that the conspirators’ supervisor, Lt.
Stacy Gibbs, warned officers before field inspections to “clean out” their desks
and police vehicles; Gibbs dispatched Duncan to question White; Junnier
instructed White how to act when interviewed by Duncan; Smith gave White’s
contact information to Duncan; Duncan insisted that White view a photographic
line-up at the police station before he met with Agent Eric Degree of the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; and Duncan chased White after he fled Duncan’s
vehicle en route to the police station. White contends that “a rational trier of fact
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might infer” from these facts that “Duncan was aware of the illegal goals of the
conspiracy” and “shared the purpose of the conspiracy,” but White’s purported
“‘evidence,’ consisting of one speculative inference heaped upon another, [is]
entirely insufficient” to establish that Duncan joined the conspiracy. Josendis v.
Wall To Wall Residence Repairs Inc., No. 09-12266, slip op. at 50 (11th Cir. Nov.
17, 2011). Viewed in the light most favorable to White, the record establishes that
Gibbs was a corrupt supervisor, the corrupt officers prepared White to meet with
Duncan, and Duncan questioned White and then pursued a material witness to
complete his investigation.
White challenges on two grounds the judgment in favor of the City, but both
of his grounds lack merit. First, White argues that the policies of the City caused
the “conspira[tors] to violate [his] civil rights,” but White failed to provide any
“‘direct causal link between’” the policies regarding arrest quotas and acceptance
of fabricated warrants and the alleged coercion by the corrupt officers, Snow ex
rel. Snow v. City of Citronelle, Ala., 420 F.3d 1262, 1271 (11th Cir. 2005)
(quoting City of Canton v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378, 385, 109 S. Ct. 1197, 1203
(1989)). Second, White argues that the City is liable under state law, but the
district court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over this argument and
White does not challenge that decision.
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White makes three other arguments, all of which are frivolous. First, White
lists as an issue that the “intracorporate conspiracy doctrine does not apply to
claims arising under 42 U.S.C. Section 1985(2),” but White fails to identify an
adverse ruling by the district court on this issue. See Fed. R. App. P. 28(a)(9).
Second, White argues that Duncan was not entitled to qualified immunity, but the
district court did not reach that issue because it determined that White failed to
produce any evidence that “Duncan reached an agreement with” the three corrupt
police officers. Third, White argues that Duncan was not entitled to official
immunity for his alleged violations of state law, but Duncan does not challenge the
dismissal without prejudice of these claims.
We AFFIRM the summary judgment in favor of Duncan and the City.
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