Eric Youngblood, Sr. v. City of Georgiana, Alabama

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[DO NOT PUBLISH]

In the

United States Court of Appeals

For the Eleventh Circuit

____________________

No. 23-13142

____________________

ERIC C. YOUNGBLOOD, SR.,

MELISSA D. YOUNGBLOOD,

Plaintiffs-Appellants,

versus

CITY OF GEORGIANA, ALABAMA,

an Alabama Municipal Corporation,

WILLIE R. BENBOW,

CARLTON COOK,

in their individual capacities,

RICKY STALLWORTH,

JEREMY PEAGLER,

in his individual capacity,

BEVERLY H. ROGERS,

in her individual capacity,

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2 Opinion of the Court 23-13142

Defendants-Appellees,

____________________

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Middle District of Alabama

D.C. Docket No. 2:19-cv-01072-ECM-JTA

____________________

Before NEWSOM, BRASHER, and WILSON, Circuit Judges.

BRASHER, Circuit Judge:

After an officer arrested Eric Youngblood on an arrest war-

rant for harassment, Youngblood filed a pro se action against several

officials alleging, among other things, false arrest, false imprison-

ment, and malicious prosecution under the Fourth Amendment.

He sued the clerk who issued the arrest warrant. He sued both the

officer who arrested him and that officer’s supervisors. His wife

filed a loss-of-consortium claim too.

The Youngbloods’ claims all fall short. The clerk had proba-

ble cause to issue Youngblood’s arrest warrant. The arresting of-

ficer is protected by qualified immunity because he arrested

Youngblood with probable cause. And because that officer com-

mitted no constitutional violation, Youngblood’s supervisory-lia-

bility claim against the officer’s supervisors also fails. So, his wife’s

loss-of-consortium claim—which derives from his claims—fails as

well. We affirm.

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I.

A.

Eric Youngblood was hired for a property-maintenance job

by Woodglen Apartments in Georgiana, Alabama. On November

15, 2018, Youngblood arrived at Woodglen to deliver employment

paperwork to Woodglen’s manager, Tonya Castleberry.

As Youngblood was preparing to leave Castleberry’s office,

Ricky Stallworth, one of Woodglen’s residents, entered. According

to Castleberry, Youngblood said “Hey” to Stallworth, who then

“[s]tarted [p]unching Eric Youngblood in the face and yelling at

him ‘You[’re] not so bad now without your gun’” and “‘[n]ext time

you pull a gun you will think.’” Castleberry called Assistant Chief

of Police Jeremy Peagler, and Officer Willie Benbow was dis-

patched to the scene. Youngblood held Stallworth until Officer

Benbow arrived.

Upon arriving, Officer Benbow asked what happened. Stall-

worth exclaimed that Youngblood “pulled a gun” on him earlier

and that Youngblood had legal issues with Stallworth’s brother;

Youngblood said he was there for a job appointment. Stallworth

further exclaimed that Youngblood still had a handgun, and asked

the officer to check Youngblood’s car, “guarantee[ing]” there was

a gun inside. Youngblood gave Officer Benbow permission to

search the car. Video footage reveals that the officer then briefly

peered into the car. He did not see a gun.

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Officer Benbow concluded that Stallworth was the aggres-

sor in the altercation and arrested him for assault. In the course of

the arrest, Stallworth said Youngblood had been “terroriz[ing]”

people by using guns. Officer Benbow responded that Stallworth

could “sign a warrant” on Youngblood later. The next day, Officer

Benbow appeared before Beverly Rogers, a city clerk who was also

a magistrate, to complete a criminal complaint against Stallworth

for assault.

Youngblood, in turn, went to Georgiana’s city hall after the

altercation to complete an incident report. His complaint in this

case alleged that he sought to sign a criminal complaint against

Stallworth, but Rogers did not allow it and, instead, signed an arrest

warrant herself. According to Youngblood, Rogers was “com-

bative,” accused him of threatening her, and stated that he was “‘ir-

ritating everyone talking about suing and stuff like that.’”

Sometime after the altercation, Stallworth also appeared be-

fore Rogers to swear out a warrant on Youngblood for harassment.

In a formal affidavit, Stallworth attested to the following in support

of an arrest warrant for Youngblood:

This incident occurred at Woodglen apartments in

[G]eorgiana. [O]n November 15, 2018 at 6:30 a.m. I

came out of my apartment for my daily walk[.] I seen

Eric Youngblood riding through the parking lot. He

made eye contact with me and then reach down to his

side and pulled out a revolver hand gun and brandish

at me. I immediately retreated back into my apart-

ment. I walked over to apartment manager office[.] I

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walked in[.] Eric was on his way out office. As he

passed me he said Mother Fucker I’m still going to kill

you. At that time him and I got into a altercation. Eric

has made threats about killing me in the past. I also

noticed when [I] was at clerk office he rode by follow-

ing me and I pointed it to the clerk. I just want the

harassment and the following to stop.

Based on Stallworth’s sworn testimony, Rogers issued a warrant

for Youngblood’s arrest.

After Youngblood learned about that warrant, he had a

phone call with Chief of Police Carlton Cook, who encouraged

Youngblood to turn himself in to avoid being arrested. So on De-

cember 21, 2018, Youngblood went to the police department to

surrender himself, and Officer Benbow arrested Youngblood pur-

suant to the warrant that Rogers had issued. Youngblood posted a

property bond and was released from custody that day.

In January 2019, Stallworth’s complaint against Youngblood

for harassment was brought before a municipal court. The City of

Georgiana moved to dismiss the charges, however, and the munic-

ipal court granted that motion on the condition that Youngblood

and Stallworth “avoid contact with each other, directly or indi-

rectly.” In December 2019, the municipal court fully granted the

City’s dismissal motion, and all charges against Youngblood were

formally dropped.

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B.

Youngblood filed a pro se action in federal district court, su-

ing the City of Georgiana, Rogers, Officer Benbow, Officer Cook,

and Stallworth. He amended his complaint to add his wife Melissa

Youngblood (“Melissa”) as a plaintiff and Officer Peagler as a de-

fendant. The district court ordered Youngblood to prepare a sec-

ond amended complaint.

In the operative second amended complaint, the

Youngbloods alleged fifteen counts, all against the defendants in

their individual capacities. Relevant here, Youngblood sued Rog-

ers, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, for retaliation in violation of the First

Amendment (count 1) and malicious prosecution and false arrest

in violation of the Fourth Amendment (counts 2 and 3). He sued

Officer Benbow under section 1983 for false arrest (count 4) and

false imprisonment (count 5) in violation of the Fourth and Four-

teenth Amendments, and under Alabama state law for malicious

prosecution (count 11). He sued Officers Cook and Peagler under

section 1983 for unlawful seizure in violation of the Fourth Amend-

ment using a theory of supervisory liability (count 7). Melissa sued

all the defendants for loss of consortium (count 15).

Rogers moved to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Proce-

dure 12(b)(6), arguing that she was entitled to absolute immunity

because she acted in her judicial capacity when issuing

Youngblood’s arrest warrant. The district court granted Rogers’s

motion, concluding that she was entitled to absolute immunity.

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The parties proceeded to discovery, after which Officers

Benbow, Peagler, and Cook moved for summary judgment. The

Youngbloods responded that Eric Youngblood’s “malicious prose-

cution, false arrest, and false imprisonment claims against the indi-

vidual Defendants must survive” and that the court was to “deny

the motion for summary judgment on the above claims.”

The district court granted summary judgment for the de-

fendants. First, the court concluded that Officer Benbow was enti-

tled to qualified immunity on the false arrest and false imprison-

ment claims (counts 4 and 5) because he was performing a discre-

tionary function and had probable cause to arrest Youngblood

based on the arrest warrant. The court also concluded that

Youngblood had abandoned his state-law malicious prosecution

claim against Officer Benbow (count 11) because Youngblood

failed to provide support for it in his response to the officer’s mo-

tion for summary judgment. See Resol. Tr. Corp. v. Dunmar Corp., 43

F.3d 587, 599 (11th Cir. 1995) (explaining that “grounds alleged in

the complaint but not relied upon in summary judgment are

deemed abandoned”). Second, the court concluded that

Youngblood had abandoned his supervisory-liability claim against

Officers Cook and Peagler (count 7) because he failed to address

that claim in his summary judgment response. See id. Third, the

court concluded that Melissa abandoned her loss-of-consortium

claim because she did not address it at summary judgment. The

court then entered final judgment, and the Youngbloods timely ap-

pealed.

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II.

We review de novo a motion to dismiss for failure to state a

claim, accepting the complaint’s allegations as true and construing

them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Sibley v. Lando, 437

F.3d 1067, 1070 (11th Cir. 2005) (per curiam). We review de novo a

district court’s grant of summary judgment, viewing the evidence

and all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the non-

moving party. Hornsby-Culpepper v. Ware, 906 F.3d 1302, 1311 (11th

Cir. 2018). Summary judgment is proper “‘if the movant shows that

there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant

is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.’” Williams v. Aguirre, 965

F.3d 1147, 1156 (11th Cir. 2020) (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a)).

III.

Youngblood makes several arguments. First, he argues that

Rogers was not absolutely immune from suit. Second, he argues

that Officer Benbow lacked qualified immunity from Youngblood’s

false arrest, false imprisonment, and state-law malicious prosecu-

tion claims because the officer lacked arguable probable cause to

arrest him. Third, he argues that Officers Cook and Peagler are lia-

ble under supervisory liability for Officer Benbow’s unlawful sei-

zure in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Lastly, Melissa argues

that the court erred in dismissing her loss-of-consortium claim.

Each challenge fails.

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A.

We begin with Youngblood’s argument that Rogers lacked

absolute immunity. Youngblood alleged that Rogers, by issuing an

arrest warrant against him, engaged in First Amendment retalia-

tion and Fourth Amendment malicious prosecution and false ar-

rest. The district court dismissed those claims, reasoning that Rog-

ers was entitled to absolute immunity because she was performing

acts in her judicial capacity. Youngblood contends on appeal that

the court erred in granting Rogers absolute immunity.

Assuming Youngblood preserved his challenge against Rog-

ers’s assertion of absolute immunity, we uphold the district court’s

dismissal of his claims against Rogers—but on the basis that Rogers

had probable cause to issue the arrest warrant. Even though the

district court did not dismiss Youngblood’s claims against Rogers

on probable-cause grounds, we “may affirm the district court’s

judgment on any ground supported by the record.” Ounjian v. Glo-

boforce, Inc., 89 F.4th 852, 857 (11th Cir. 2023). And here, even if

Rogers lacked absolute immunity, Youngblood’s claims fail be-

cause Rogers had probable cause to issue an arrest warrant.

Indeed, Youngblood’s claims against Rogers all require a

pleading of no probable cause. To plead First Amendment retalia-

tion, Youngblood must plead “an absence of probable cause as to

the challenged retaliatory arrest or prosecution in order to establish

the causation link between [Rogers’s] retaliatory animus and

[Youngblood’s] injury.” DeMartini v. Town of Gulf Stream, 942 F.3d

1277, 1289 (11th Cir. 2019); see Nieves v. Bartlett, 587 U.S. 391, 405

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(2019) (“The presence of probable cause should generally defeat a

First Amendment retaliatory arrest claim.”). And although an ex-

ception to the no-probable-cause requirement exists when govern-

ment officials have probable cause to make arrests but typically ex-

ercise their discretion not to do so, see DeMartini, 942 F.3d at 1296–

97, nothing suggests that the exception applies here. Likewise, to

plead malicious prosecution and false arrest under the Fourth

Amendment, a plaintiff must plead a lack of probable cause. See

Grider v. City of Auburn, 618 F.3d 1240, 1256 (11th Cir. 2010) (“[T]he

existence of probable cause defeats a § 1983 malicious prosecution

claim.”); Crocker v. Beatty, 995 F.3d 1232, 1243 (11th Cir. 2021) (“The

existence of probable cause bars a Fourth Amendment false-arrest

claim.”).

The record makes clear that Rogers had probable cause to

issue Youngblood’s arrest warrant for harassment. “Probable cause

exists when a reasonable officer could conclude . . . that there [is] a

substantial chance of criminal activity.” Richmond v. Badia, 47 F.4th

1172, 1180 (11th Cir. 2022) (quotation marks omitted). And here,

Rogers could reasonably conclude, based on Stallworth’s affidavit,

that Youngblood had engaged in harassment.

Under Alabama law, a person commits harassment if he,

“with intent to harass, annoy, or alarm another person,” issues “a

threat, verbal or nonverbal, made with the intent to carry out the

threat, that would cause a reasonable person who is the target of

the threat to fear for his or her safety.” Ala. Code §§ 13A-11-8(a)(1),

(2). Here, Stallworth’s affidavit conveyed that there was a

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“substantial chance” that Youngblood had intentionally threatened

Stallworth in a way that would cause a reasonable person to fear

for his safety. See id.; Badia, 47 F.4th at 1180 (quotation marks omit-

ted). Stallworth stated in the affidavit that on “November 15, 2018

at 6:30 a.m.,” he saw Youngblood ride “through the parking lot” in

his apartment complex and brandish a revolver handgun at him;

that Youngblood later said to him at the manager’s office “I’m still

going to kill you”; that Youngblood had made threats about killing

Stallworth in the past; and that Youngblood followed Stallworth

when he was at the clerk’s office. From these details, Rogers had

probable cause to conclude that Youngblood had engaged in har-

assment in violation of Alabama law.

Thus, Youngblood’s claims that Rogers violated his First and

Fourth Amendment rights by issuing an arrest warrant, all fail.

B.

So do his claims against Officer Benbow for false arrest, false

imprisonment, and state-law malicious prosecution.

We start with Youngblood’s false arrest and false imprison-

ment claims. The district court held that Officer Benbow was pro-

tected from those claims by qualified immunity. In qualified im-

munity analysis, the defendant officer must establish that he was

acting within his discretionary authority; if he does, the plaintiff

must establish that (1) the officer violated a constitutional right that

(2) was clearly established at the time of the violation. Patel v. Lanier

County, 969 F.3d 1173, 1181 (11th Cir. 2020). The parties do not dis-

pute, and the district court concluded, that Officer Benbow acted

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within his discretionary authority. The issue is whether Officer

Benbow violated Youngblood’s clearly established rights.

As an initial matter, we treat the “right” underlying

Youngblood’s false arrest and false imprisonment claims as the

right against unreasonable seizures under the Fourth Amendment.

See generally Ortega v. Christian, 85 F.3d 1521, 1525–26 (11th Cir.

1996) (rooting false arrest and false imprisonment claims in the

Fourth Amendment). Although Youngblood’s second amended

complaint labeled his false imprisonment claim as a Fourteenth

Amendment claim, the district court treated it as a Fourth Amend-

ment claim, and Youngblood asks us on appeal to treat that claim

as a Fourth Amendment one too. So, the question is whether Of-

ficer Benbow violated Youngblood’s clearly established Fourth

Amendment right against unreasonable seizure.

That question resolves in the officer’s favor. For

Youngblood to succeed on his false arrest and false imprisonment

claims, he must establish that Officer Benbow lacked probable

cause to arrest him. See Crocker, 995 F.3d at 1243; Ortega, 85 F.3d at

1526; Case v. Eslinger, 555 F.3d 1317, 1330 (11th Cir. 2009) (existence

of probable cause defeated false imprisonment claim). And even if

we, as Youngblood requests, construe his false arrest and false im-

prisonment claims as a Fourth Amendment malicious prosecution

claim, such a claim would also require Youngblood to establish that

Officer Benbow lacked probable cause. See Grider, 618 F.3d at 1256.

Further, to win on qualified immunity’s clearly-established-law

prong, Youngblood must do even more: he must establish that

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Officer Benbow did not have even arguable probable cause to arrest

him—in other words, that no reasonable officer in Officer Ben-

bow’s circumstances could have believed there was probable cause

to arrest him. See Edger v. McCabe, 84 F.4th 1230, 1236 (11th Cir.

2023).

Youngblood has not satisfied that burden: Officer Benbow

had probable cause to arrest him. To start, the officer arrested him

pursuant to an arrest warrant—and the bar to establish a lack of

probable cause “only rises higher” when an arrestee is “arrested un-

der the authority of a warrant.” Turner v. Williams, 65 F.4th 564, 582

(11th Cir. 2023). More specifically, Stallworth’s affidavit, which un-

dergirded the warrant, provided probable cause—and certainly ar-

guable probable cause—to arrest Youngblood for Alabama-law

harassment. Again, a person commits such harassment if he, with

intent to harass a person, threatens the person in a way that would

cause him to reasonably fear for his safety. See Ala. Code §§ 13A-

11-8(a)(1), (2). And here, as discussed above, Stallworth’s affidavit

detailed how Youngblood made multiple verbal threats to kill Stall-

worth, followed him, and brandished a gun. Officer Benbow rea-

sonably concluded from the warrant that there was a “substantial

chance” that Youngblood had intentionally threatened Stallworth

so as to cause him to reasonably fear for his safety. See Badia, 47

F.4th at 1180 (quotation marks omitted).

Youngblood’s counterarguments fall short. He points to our

caselaw stating that a probable cause determination cannot “stand

principally on the unsupported statements of interested” witnesses,

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“when those statements have been challenged and countered by

objective evidence.” Kingsland v. City of Miami, 382 F.3d 1220, 1228

(11th Cir. 2004). And here, he says, Stallworth’s affidavit was not

credible because (1) it was not specific enough; (2) when Officer

Benbow initially arrived at the scene, Stallworth said Youngblood

had a gun in his car and it turned out he did not; and (3) Officer

Benbow initially determined Stallworth to be the aggressor and

placed Stallworth under arrest.

None of these facts demonstrates that Officer Benbow

lacked probable cause to arrest Youngblood. First, the affidavit was

specific. It mentioned when Youngblood threatened Stallworth

(around 6:30 a.m. on November 15, 2018), where (at the apartment

complex parking lot and the manager’s office), and how

(Youngblood brandished a gun and said he would kill Stallworth).

Second, that Officer Benbow did not immediately find a gun

in Youngblood’s car after Stallworth said a gun was inside, does not

mean the officer could not reasonably rely on the arrest warrant

based on Stallworth’s affidavit. For one, Stallworth’s exclamation

about a gun being in the car, did not mean he could not be trusted

later in his sworn affidavit. And, Youngblood could have easily re-

moved a gun from his car in between his brandishing of the gun at

around 6:30 a.m. and when he let Officer Benbow search the car.

Plus, video footage revealed that Officer Benbow only peeked into

Youngblood’s car—without, for instance, flipping through things

inside or looking inside the car’s cabins or underneath its seats.

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Third, that Officer Benbow determined Stallworth to be the

aggressor at first, does not mean it was unreasonable for the officer

to conclude that there was probable cause that Youngblood har-

assed Stallworth before or after their confrontation in the lobby. By

the time the officer executed the arrest warrant, Stallworth’s affi-

davit provided details about Youngblood’s alleged conduct that the

officer either did not hear when he initially arrested Stallworth, or

did hear but were not in a sworn statement. Because Youngblood

has not established that Officer Benbow lacked probable cause to

arrest him, his Fourth Amendment claims against the officer fail.

Likewise, his Alabama-law malicious prosecution claim,

even if it had not been abandoned, also fails. Malicious prosecution

under Alabama law requires a plaintiff prove, among other things,

that the defendant initiated a judicial proceeding “without proba-

ble cause.” Ex parte Harris, 216 So. 3d 1201, 1214 (Ala. 2016) (quo-

tation marks omitted). In the Alabama-law malicious-prosecution

context, probable cause is a “reasonable ground for suspicion, sup-

ported by circumstances sufficiently strong in themselves to war-

rant a cautious man in the belief that the person accused is guilty

of the offense charged.” See Moon v. Pillion, 2 So. 3d 842, 846 (Ala.

2008) (quotation marks omitted). Here, even if we assume that Of-

ficer Benbow initiated a proceeding by executing a warrant to ar-

rest Youngblood, the officer had probable cause to do so. For the

reasons discussed above, the officer clearly had a reasonable

ground for suspicion that Youngblood had engaged in harassment.

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C.

We turn to Youngblood’s Fourth Amendment supervisor-

liability claim against Officers Cook and Peagler. A supervisor is

liable under section 1983 “either when the supervisor personally

participates in the alleged unconstitutional conduct or when there

is a causal connection between the actions of a supervising official

and the alleged constitutional deprivation.” Christmas v. Harris

County, 51 F.4th 1348, 1355 (11th Cir. 2022) (quotation marks omit-

ted). Here, Youngblood argues that Officers Cook and Peagler

should be liable as supervisors for Officer Benbow’s unlawful sei-

zure under the Fourth Amendment, because Officers Cook and

Peagler knew that Officer Benbow was “poised to execute an un-

lawful warrant” yet failed to intervene.

We disagree. Indeed, Youngblood does not argue that Offic-

ers Cook and Peagler personally participated in Youngblood’s ar-

rest, so he must instead establish a sufficient causal connection be-

tween the supervisors’ actions and Officer Benbow’s alleged depri-

vation of Youngblood’s rights. See Christmas, 51 F.4th at 1355. But

because, as explained above, Officer Benbow had probable cause

to arrest Youngblood, he committed no unlawful activity in the

first place: there was no constitutional deprivation against which

Officers Cook and Peagler failed to intervene—let alone any depri-

vation they helped cause. Youngblood’s supervisory-liability claim

fails.

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D.

Lastly, we turn to Melissa’s loss-of-consortium claim, which

is entirely derivative of Youngblood’s claims. See Lyons v. Vaughan

Reg’l Med. Ctr., LLC, 23 So. 3d 23, 29 (Ala. 2009). Because all of

Youngblood’s claims fail, her claim—even if we assume it was not

abandoned—fails too.

IV.

We AFFIRM the district court.