Terry Summers v. Simon Leis, Sheriff

ALICE M. BATCHELDER, Circuit Judge,

concurring.

I concur in judgment only. Although I generally agree with the majority’s reasoning, I believe that the federal courts should have abstained from hearing the present matter and therefore should not have reached the merits of Summers’ claims.

Summers asked this Court not only to enjoin future arrests, but also to declare that the defendants’ actions are unconstitutional. Although Summers claimed that he did not seek to enjoin the state prosecutions, he in essence sought a predetermination from the federal courts that his pending motion in the state proceeding ought to be granted. Such a holding necessarily impacts the state prosecution.

The Supreme Court has held that absent extraordinary circumstances, federal equity jurisdiction may not be used to enjoin pending state prosecutions. See Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37 , 91 S.Ct. 746 , 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971). The Younger abstention doctrine is based on the principle that the states have a special interest in enforcing their own laws in their own courts. Id. *891 at 44 , 91 S.Ct. 746 . The rule is “designed to permit state courts to try state cases free from interference by federal courts, particularly where the party to the federal case may fully litigate his claim before the state court.” Zalman v. Armstrong, 802 F.2d 199, 205 (6th Cir.1986) (internal quotations omitted). Thus, in applying Younger abstention, the court must consider whether (1) a state proceeding is pending at the time the federal action is initiated; (2) an adequate opportunity is provided to raise the constitutional claims in state court; and (3) there are extraordinary circumstances that nevertheless warrant federal intervention. Respect for the state process precludes a presumption that state courts will not safeguard federal constitutional rights. Middlesex County Ethics Comm. v. Garden State Bar Assoc., 457 U.S. 423, 431 , 102 S.Ct. 2515 , 73 L.Ed.2d 116 (1982). “Extraordinary circumstances” must “render the state court incapable of fairly and fully adjudicating the. federal issues before it.” Kugler v. Helfant, 421 U.S. 117, 124 , 95 S.Ct. 1524 , 44 L.Ed.2d 15 (1975). Where Younger abstention is appropriate, it requires dismissal of the complaint. Zalman, 802 F.2d at 207 n. 11.

The majority has reasoned that the district court’s failure to dismiss the action pursuant to Younger does not qualify as a final decision and that deciding the issue of abstention is unnecessary in order to review the issue of qualified immunity. Even in determining whether Sheriff Leis is entitled to qualified immunity, however, this Court must necessarily pass on Leis’ conduct — or lack thereof — -in the context of the two arrests. This would determine issues which, at the time the federal action was initiated, were present in the criminal proceedings before the Hamilton County Municipal Court. We specifically cautioned against such action in Zalman v. Armstrong. “[T]he principles underlying Younger require that the initial frame of reference for abstention purposes be determined at the time that the federal complaint is filed, or at the very latest, at the time a hearing is held on the merits.... Any other rule would [] permit a district court to directly interfere in an ongoing state proceeding and yet preclude a review of the propriety of that interference by an appellate court.” Zalman, 802 F.2d at 203 (emphasis added).

The Supreme Court has specifically held that when a state prisoner seeks damages in a § 1983 suit, the district court must consider whether a judgment in favor of the plaintiff would necessarily imply the invalidity of his conviction or sentence. Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477, 487 , 114 S.Ct. 2364 , 129 L.Ed.2d 383 (1994). If it would, the complaint must he dismissed unless the plaintiff can demonstrate that the conviction or sentence has already been invalidated. Id. “For example, if a state criminal defendant brings a federal civil-rights lawsuit during the pendency of his criminal trial, appeal, or state habeas action, abstention [is] an appropriate response to the parallel state-court proceedings.” Id. at 487 n. 8, 114 S.Ct. 2364 .

We have directly addressed this issue in the exact context presented here, where a § 1983 action, if successful, would imply the invalidity of a future conviction on a pending criminal charge. In Shamaeizadeh v. Cunigan, 182 F.3d 391 (1999), we found that “the concerns of Heck apply pre-conviction as well as post-conviction.” Id. at 398, 114 S.Ct. 2364 . Under the plain holding of Shamaeizadeh , a plaintiff cannot “bring an action seeking damages related to the criminal proceeding brought against him until a disposition in that proceeding ha[s] been reached.” Id. at 398-99 . Indeed, the statute of limitations does not even begin to run for criminal defendants seeking to file § 1983 claims until *892 the disposition of any pending criminal proceedings. Id. at 399.

Appellate review of Younger abstention is therefore properly before this Court, as the question of abstention cannot be determined at any other time without permitting the type of interference against which Younger and its progeny specifically sought to protect. It would make little sense, I think, to decline to address the issue of abstention at this point, hold that qualified immunity applies to Sheriff Leis’ actions, and then, if we see this case again at a later stage in the litigation, hold at that time that the district court should have dismissed the entire action as an initial matter.

Summers has argued that there is “no identified important State interest in the criminal proceeding.” This belies both the law and common sense. “A State’s decision to classify conduct as criminal provides some indication of the importance it has ascribed to prompt and unencumbered enforcement of its laws.” Younger, 401 U.S. at 55 n. 2, 91 S.Ct. 746 (Stewart, J., concurring). Summers can and should present his federal claims in the state court proceedings. Where a prosecution is threatened by state officers for alleged violations of a state law, the state courts are the final arbiters of the law’s meaning and application, subject only to review by the United States Supreme Court on federal grounds properly asserted. Douglas v. City of Jeannette, 319 U.S. 157, 163 , 63 S.Ct. 877 , 87 L.Ed. 1324 (1943).

Nothing prevented Summers from presenting his federal claims in the pending state court proceedings. If he had done so, and the trial court had denied or otherwise failed to consider Summers’ constitutional claims, he could exercise his right to an appeal under Ohio law. “[Pjlaintiffs will have an adequate opportunity to raise th[e] issue on appeal, which is sufficient for Younger purposes.” Nernberg v. City of Pittsburgh, 50 F.Supp.2d 437, 440 (1999). Summers also has access to remedies under Ohio Criminal Rule 12(C), which permits him to pursue a motion to dismiss by objecting to the “institution of the prosecution” and defects in the complaint. This includes Summers’ claim that he was engaged in constitutionally protected conduct at the time of his arrests. In short, an adequate opportunity is available for Summers to raise his constitutional claims in the state court, and the district court erred in failing to dismiss this action when criminal charges involving the same parties and conduct were pending in state court.

Because abstention is appropriate, this Court should not reach any of the claims in the complaint.