Filed: Oct. 28, 2020
Latest Update: Oct. 28, 2020
Summary: USCA11 Case: 20-10671 Date Filed: 10/28/2020 Page: 1 of 7 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ No. 20-10671 Non-Argument Calendar _ D.C. Docket No. 2:17-cv-00118-RSB-BWC SHANESIA JAUDON, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus ROBERT C. SASSER, in their individual and official capacities as Officers of the Glynn County Police Department, MIKE THOMAS, in their individual and official capacities as Officers of the Glynn County Police Department, TIMOTHY HOLLINGSWOR
Summary: USCA11 Case: 20-10671 Date Filed: 10/28/2020 Page: 1 of 7 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ No. 20-10671 Non-Argument Calendar _ D.C. Docket No. 2:17-cv-00118-RSB-BWC SHANESIA JAUDON, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus ROBERT C. SASSER, in their individual and official capacities as Officers of the Glynn County Police Department, MIKE THOMAS, in their individual and official capacities as Officers of the Glynn County Police Department, TIMOTHY HOLLINGSWORT..
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USCA11 Case: 20-10671 Date Filed: 10/28/2020 Page: 1 of 7
[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________
No. 20-10671
Non-Argument Calendar
________________________
D.C. Docket No. 2:17-cv-00118-RSB-BWC
SHANESIA JAUDON,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
ROBERT C. SASSER, in their individual
and official capacities as Officers of the
Glynn County Police Department,
MIKE THOMAS, in their individual and
official capacities as Officers of the Glynn
County Police Department,
TIMOTHY HOLLINGSWORTH, in their
individual and official capacities as Officers
of the Glynn County Police Department,
DETECTIVE MATTHEW J. DOERING, in his individual
and official capacity as Chief of the Glynn
County Police Department,
GLYNN COUNTY, GEORGIA,
Defendants-Appellees.
USCA11 Case: 20-10671 Date Filed: 10/28/2020 Page: 2 of 7
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Georgia
________________________
(October 28, 2020)
Before NEWSOM, LAGOA, and BRASHER, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Shanesia Jaudon appeals the district court’s order granting summary
judgment in favor of defendants on her 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claims for unreasonable
search 1 and malicious prosecution. 2 On appeal, Jaudon asserts that the district
court erred in concluding that defendants are entitled to qualified immunity. After
careful review, we affirm.
I
The events giving rise to this appeal began when Glynn County Police
officers arrived at Jaudon’s home to execute an arrest warrant for Alton Brown
1
Although Jaudon’s complaint doesn’t include a separate cause of action for unreasonable
search, it does allege that the search was unconstitutional.
2
Jaudon initially filed her complaint against five defendants—Officers Robert Sasser, Mike
Thomas, and Timothy Hollingsworth, Chief Matthew Doering, and Glynn County. Her
complaint also included state-law claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress and
negligent hiring and retention, and federal and state-law claims for false arrest, false
imprisonment, and “malicious arrest.” Because Jaudon only addresses her federal claims for
unreasonable search and malicious prosecution against Sasser, Thomas, and Hollingsworth in her
appellate briefing, the remaining claims have been abandoned. Martin v. Fin. Asset Mgmt. Sys.,
Inc., 959 F.3d 1048, 1051 n. 2 (11th Cir. 2020) (explaining that a claim is abandoned when a
party fails to discuss it in her appellate brief).
2
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(who is not a party to this lawsuit). Brown’s car was parked nearby, the warrant
listed Jaudon’s address as Brown’s residence, a “reliable confidential informant”
told Officer Robert Sasser that Brown was hiding out in Jaudon’s home, and a
“concerned citizen” informed another officer that he saw Brown arrive at Jaudon’s
house. The officers requested permission to search Jaudon’s residence—believing
Brown to be hiding inside—but Jaudon refused, claiming that Brown wasn’t inside
and demanding that the officers produce a search warrant. The officers tried again
the following day, and Jaudon again told them that Brown wasn’t there and that
they must produce a search warrant. They returned later that night with a warrant
and, following a search of the property, found Brown hiding inside.
Multiple arrest warrants were subsequently issued for Jaudon in connection
with the incident—two for hindering apprehension of a criminal, two for
obstruction, and later, two for making a false statement to a law enforcement
officer. The arrest warrants were executed, and Jaudon was indicted on criminal
charges per the warrants. But the charges were ultimately disposed of via entry of
nolle prosequi after Jaudon’s motion to suppress the evidence obtained from the
search was granted because the affidavit submitted in support of the search warrant
was deemed “legally insufficient.”
Jaudon filed this lawsuit, and the district court granted summary judgment
in favor of defendants, concluding, as relevant here, that qualified immunity
3
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protects them from Jaudon’s unreasonable-search and malicious-prosecution
claims.
On appeal, Jaudon asserts that the district court erred in granting qualified
immunity to defendants because the officers failed to independently investigate or
corroborate the information included in the affidavit used to support the search
warrant—specifically, that the tip provided by the “reliable confidential informant”
was trustworthy and that it was Brown (and not someone else) who had parked his
car nearby—and therefore, that there was insufficient probable cause to support
issuance of the warrant as required by the Fourth Amendment. 3
II
“Qualified immunity protects government officials performing discretionary
functions from suits in their individual capacities unless their conduct violates
clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person
would have known.” Andujar v. Rodriguez, 486 F.3d 1199, 1202 (11th Cir. 2007)
(citation omitted). To receive the protection of qualified immunity, a defendant
must first establish that he was acting within the scope of his discretionary
authority. Cottone v. Jenne,
326 F.3d 1352, 1357 (11th Cir. 2003). Here, there is
3
“We review de novo a grant of summary judgment based on qualified immunity and apply the
same legal standards as the district court. We resolve all issues of material fact in favor of the
plaintiff, and then determine the legal question of whether the defendant is entitled to qualified
immunity under that version of the facts.” Stephens v. DeGiovanni,
852 F.3d 1298, 1313 (11th
Cir. 2017) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).
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no dispute that the officers were acting within their discretionary authority in
obtaining and executing the search and arrest warrants. Accordingly, the burden
shifts to Jaudon to show that qualified immunity is not appropriate by
demonstrating that “(1) the defendant violated a constitutional right, and (2) this
right was clearly established at the time of the alleged violation.” Holloman ex rel.
Holloman v. Harland, 370 F.3d 1252, 1264 (11th Cir. 2004).
Where, as here, the “alleged Fourth Amendment violation involves a search
or seizure pursuant to a warrant, the fact that a neutral magistrate has issued a
warrant is the clearest indication that the officers acted in an objectively reasonable
manner.” Messerschmidt v. Millender, 565 U.S. 535, 546 (2012). Only when “it is
obvious that no reasonably competent officer would have concluded that a warrant
should issue” will the “shield of immunity otherwise conferred by the warrant [] be
lost, for example, where the warrant was based on an affidavit so lacking in indicia
of probable cause as to render official belief in its existence entirely unreasonable.”
Id. at 547 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).
We agree with the district court that Jaudon failed to meet the high burden
required to establish that “no reasonably competent officer would have concluded
that a warrant should issue.” Id. Even setting aside the tip from the informant, the
affidavit indicated that the officers were searching for the subject of an active
arrest warrant (Brown) at the address listed on the warrant (Jaudon’s home). This
5
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alone was likely sufficient to satisfy the Fourth Amendment. See Steagald v.
United States, 451 U.S. 204, 221 (1981) (“[A]n arrest warrant alone will suffice to
enter a suspect’s own residence to effect his arrest.”). Additionally, the affidavit
stated that a “concerned citizen” (who had provided truthful information in the
past) informed an officer that he saw Brown arrive at Jaudon’s home and that
Brown “frequents [Jaudon’s] residence” and parks his car nearby. Finally, the
affidavit referenced Brown’s criminal history of obstructing law enforcement and
the officers’ observations of Jaudon’s “evasive” behavior when they requested to
search her home. In other words, the affidavit here was not “so lacking in indicia
of probable cause as to render official belief in its existence entirely unreasonable.”
Messerschmidt, 565 U.S. at 547. So in short, based on the totality of the
circumstances, we conclude that Jaudon failed to prove that a Fourth Amendment
violation occurred.
Furthermore, because Jaudon failed to establish a Fourth Amendment
violation, her malicious-prosecution claim must also fail. See Wood v. Kesler, 323
F.3d 872, 881 (11th Cir. 2003) (explaining that to establish a viable malicious-
prosecution claim, a plaintiff must prove both the elements of the common law tort
of malicious prosecution and a violation of her Fourth Amendment right to be free
from unreasonable seizures).
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III
For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the district court correctly
determined that defendants are entitled to qualified immunity on Jaudon’s
unreasonable-search and malicious-prosecution claims, and we affirm the district
court’s grant of summary judgment.
AFFIRMED.
7
