Brown v. Hamilton Cnty.

JESSICA LAUREN BROWN, Plaintiff, v. HAMILTON COUNTY, TENNESSEE, and certain Unnamed Sheriff's Deputies, Defendants.

No. 1:16-cv-412

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE at CHATTANOOGA

September 21, 2018

Judge Collier

Magistrate Judge Steger

MEMORANDUM

Before the Court are motions for summary judgment on behalf of Defendant Hamilton County, Tennessee (Doc. 17) and Defendants Certain Unnamed Sheriff's Deputies, individually (Doc. 19) on all of Plaintiff Jessica Lauren Brown's claims. Plaintiff filed a timely consolidated response (Doc. 36) and Defendants timely replied (Docs. 41, 42). For the foregoing reasons, the Court will DISMISS Plaintiff's claims WITH PREJUDICE.

I. BACKGROUND

The allegations in this case surround the booking and detention of Plaintiff Jessica Lauren Brown, who turned herself in to Hamilton County Jail on October 15, 2015, to be booked on a charge of aggravated assault.

Plaintiff was born as a male named Jason Lee Bowen. Plaintiff was previously booked under this name and gender on January 27, 2000, April 30, 2008, May 20, 2008, and January 15, 2009. Plaintiff later began transitioning to the female gender as early as 2000, however, and by 2015, had legally changed her name, her driver's license, and her Social Security card to reflect her name as Jessica Lauren Brown and her gender as female. (Doc. 20-2 [Brown Dep.] at 3.) Plaintiff did not take any further steps to change her name or identity relative to her prior criminal record. (Id. at 4.)

A. Plaintiff's Sworn Allegations

Plaintiff's sworn allegations regarding her booking process are as follows: Plaintiff's booking officer asked her if she was transgendered and if she "had a vagina down there." Doc. 36-1 [Brown Interrog.]). Plaintiff told him yes, that she had completed a gender reassignment surgery, and Plaintiff showed her driver's license to confirm that she was legally recognized as female. The officer began processing her as a male and told her to sit on the male bench. Plaintiff was searched by a male officer. Plaintiff was asked if she had ever been arrested under a different name and Plaintiff said yes and gave the officer her birth name. The officer pulled an old mugshot of Plaintiff, printed it, then waived it towards the officer/inmate area and said "I told you that's a dude." Employees and inmates laughed. Male inmates walked past Plaintiff and made lewd comments such as, "she got a Nicki Manaj booty," "dude you know the sergeant say she a man," and "I ain't no faggot, I'll kill that bitch." Males were allowed to use the jail's phones at the same time as Plaintiff, but not at the same time as other females. Plaintiff told her husband she was really scared. The officers called Plaintiff "Jason Bowen" and "Mr. Bowen," which was confusing and hurtful to Plaintiff.

At the time of lockdown, the sergeant instructed the booking officer to take Plaintiff in the cell with the "other men." Plaintiff said she would not go without being medically examined. Plaintiff told the sergeant that she gave the booking officer her license. When a copy of her license was being made, an employee walked up to Plaintiff and said that he heard from the others about her sex change and how he thought it was hot and said congratulations. Female inmates in the area made threatening statements that Plaintiff "wasn't a real woman," and "that they'd let the manbeat [her] ass when they found out a man was put with them." Plaintiff was ultimately held with female inmates.

When Plaintiff was signing out on bond, she noticed her folder stated "Jason Lee Bowen." She told the officers that was not her legal name, but the jail refused to correct it. As Plaintiff was waiting next to a glass window room in order to be released, male inmates made additional lewd comments towards her.

After her arrest, Plaintiff's newest mug shot appeared in "Just Busted," a publication which attains open records information. (Doc. 20-2 [Brown Dep.] at 7, 8-14.) The publication placed her booking photograph alongside the name Jason Lee Bowen.

Plaintiff brought a civil action on October 14, 2016 pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983¹ seeking damages against Hamilton County, Tennessee and certain Unnamed Sheriff's Deputies, individually ("Deputies"). (Doc. 1.) Under Count One, Plaintiff alleges the Deputies "embarrassed her, demeaned her, and placed her in a dangerous situation" because of her status as a transgendered woman in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause. Under Count Two, Plaintiff alleges Hamilton County also engaged in gender discrimination because "[t]he Hamilton County Sheriff's Department employs the officers in charge of booking in the Hamilton County Jail." Under Count Three, Plaintiff alleges Hamilton County engaged in negligent hiring, training, management, supervision, and retention of its officers in charge of booking. Under Count Four, Plaintiff alleges Hamilton County Sheriff's Department intentionally disclosed that Plaintiff is transgendered woman in violation of her right to privacy.

B. Evidence before the Court

Plaintiff has brought forward evidence of her sworn allegations as addressed above, portions of the official policy of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, as well as the depositions of five officers employed by Hamilton County Jail. Four of the officers stated they did not recall having any interactions with Plaintiff. One officer, Lee Gray, recalled processing Plaintiff at the Jail on October 15, and reported,

When I got the folder of Jessica L. Brown I processed it has [sic] normal, however there was an issue due to a warrant on Jason L. Bowen which had not been taken care of. When I processed Jessica L. Brown I created a new record because all of the information had been changed to my knowledge at that time. I was told that this individual was to be booked as Jason L. Bowen with the alias of Jessica L. Brown, I do not recall who told me to do this I do remember that I advised that Jessica L. Brown had all new identification to include if I remember correctly social security number [sic]. Then I was told that unless they have the full surgery they were still the other person and the name in question would be the alias.

(Doc. 36-7 [Gray Dep.] ¶ 7.)

Defendants have submitted evidence regarding the general booking process at Hamilton County Jail as well as Plaintiff's booking documents.

Defendant's evidence reflects that every individual to be detained at Hamilton County Jail undergoes essentially the same intake and booking procedure, though the process is not always a linear one. (Doc. 20-4 [Hughes Aff.] ¶ 4.) An intake officer will first collect the person's property and search the detainee. (Id. ¶¶ 7-8.) The detainee then waits in a "horseshoe" seating area, or in a temporary holding cell. Female detainees are directed to a bench in front of the booking counter or in a cell named 1HC1, a female holding cell. (Id. ¶¶ 13-14.) At different times, the detainee is called to see various officers as well as a magistrate judge. (Id. ¶ 15.)

When seeing the booking/fingerprint officer, the detainee is asked for his or her social security number and the detainee's fingerprints are taken by the use of a livescan fingerprintmachine. (Id. ¶¶ 15-17.) Each detainee is also assigned an "SPN" number upon booking, which identifies the detainee in Hamilton County's computer system. (Doc. 36-8 [Spletzer Dep.] at 19-20.) The detainee's fingerprints are then sent directly to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation ("TBI"), which then forwards them to the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"). (Id.) After transmission, the officer receives an Automated Fingerprint Information System ("AFIS") response from both the TBI and the FBI. (Id. ¶ 18.) The response contains the name of the person by which the individual's fingerprint record was originally established. (Id.)

In the event of a discrepancy in names, the Sheriff's Office compares the name returned by the AFIS response to the Sheriff's Office database to determine whether the detainee has been previously booked at the Hamilton County Jail. (Doc. 20-7 [Young Aff.] ¶ 13). If the detainee has been previously booked, he or she must be booked under the name and SPN number used by the individual at the time of their first arrest, and not under the name given by the individual at the time of present processing. (Id.) This policy applies to all individuals booked. For example, a female first booked under her maiden name would later be booked under the same name, even if she had married and legally changed her name. (Id.) No officer has the authority to use a name for booking purposes other than the name provided by the FBI. (Id.)

The information attained during the booking process is entered into a data management system. (Doc. 20-3 [Bernard Aff.] ¶ 5). Booking information is subject to the Tennessee Open Records Act. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-503. The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office provides booking information to the public pursuant to its website, www.hcsheriff.gov. Publication of information on the website is triggered automatically by the completion of the booking process through the Sheriff's computer system. (Doc. 20-3 [Bernard Aff.] ¶¶ 9-10). No officer has either the authority or the ability to keep the information private, absent a court order. (Id.)

Hamilton County Jail's data management system indicates that Plaintiff was initially booked as a female under the name Jessica Lauren Brown and was assigned SPN number 541159. (Id. ¶ 14.) On Plaintiff's Uniform Arrest Report and Booking Checklist, that number is crossed through and replaced with SPN number 252330, an earlier generated SPN number originally assigned to an individual with the name Jason Lee Bowen. (Id. ¶ 10.) Plaintiff's Booking Card contains the name Jason Lee Bowen and indicates that Plaintiff is a female who was searched by a female officer and assigned to the female holding cell, 1HC1. (Id. ¶ 5.)

II. PROCEDURAL...