Crisp v. State

1

SERGEANT NATHAN D. CRISP, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. THE STATE OF GEORGIA, GWINNETT COUNTY, MS. TOOLE, Gwinnett County Assistant District Attorney, TUWANDA RUSH WILLIAMS, Gwinnett County Law Office, WARREN DAVIS, Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 21-14190

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit

August 23, 2022

DO NOT PUBLISH

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia D.C. Docket No. 1:21-cv-00175-AT

Before WILSON, LUCK, and MARCUS, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM

Nathan Dee Crisp, proceeding pro se, appeals following the dismissal of his civil complaint, which brought claims arising out of his arrest for impersonating a public officer or employee in violation of Ga. Code Ann. § 16-10-23. On appeal, Crisp challenges: (1) the district court's dismissal of his action against Gwinnett County and the State of Georgia on sovereign immunity and Eleventh Amendment immunity grounds; and (2) the district court's dismissal of his action as to four remaining defendants for failing to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, in part based on Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994).^[1] After careful review, we affirm.

I.

The relevant background is this. In 2017, Crisp was arrested by Gwinnett County, Georgia police officers for impersonating a public officer or employee and charged with violating Ga Code Ann. § 16-10-23. In 2018, a Gwinnett County grand jury indicted him for the same. The charges were brought by Daniel J. Porter, the former Gwinnett County District Attorney, and Assistant District Attorney Ramona Toole prosecuted the case. Crisp's case was assigned to Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Warren Davis.

While his criminal case was pending, Crisp sued Porter, Gwinnett County, and the officers who arrested him in federal court. The civil lawsuit, which alleged several constitutional violations, was assigned to United States District Court Judge Eleanor Ross, who stayed the civil case pending the outcome of Crisp's state court criminal case under the Younger abstention doctrine.^[2] Crisp later sought mandamus relief from the Supreme Court of Georgia, invoking the original jurisdiction of that Court. Assistant Attorney General Brittanie Browning from the Georgia Attorney General's Office represented Judge Davis before the Georgia Supreme Court. In this capacity, Browning wrote the Clerk of the Supreme Court of Georgia and notified the Court of this representation and argued that the petition should be dismissed. The Georgia Supreme Court agreed and dismissed Crisp's petition for mandamus relief shortly thereafter.

Crisp eventually entered into a negotiated guilty plea to the felony charge of impersonating an officer. Judge Laura Tate who was sitting by designation for Judge Davis on the state trial court, sentenced Crisp under Georgia's First Offender Statute to three years of probation.

After pleading guilty, Crisp brought the present pro se "Class Action" complaint in federal court, against thirteen defendants: the State of Georgia ("the State"); Gwinnett County ("the County"); Judge Davis; Gwinnett County Assistant District Attorney Toole; Georgia Assistant Attorney General Browning; Porter, the former Gwinnett County District Attorney; Judge Ross; Tuwanda Rush Williams and David D. Pritchett of the Gwinnett County Law Office; Gwinnett County Magistrate Judge Kenneth A. Parker; Clerk of Gwinnett County Superior Court Richard Alexander; Judge Tate; and a Gwinnett County Magistrate Judge Keith Miles.

The district court dismissed all of Crisp's claims. Relevant here, the district court dismissed Crisp's claims against the State of Georgia and Gwinnett County on the basis of sovereign immunity and Eleventh Amendment immunity. As for four other defendants -- Georgia Assistant Attorney General Browning, former Gwinnett County District Attorney Porter, Officer Williams and Judge Davis -- the district court dismissed Crisp's claims for failing to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, in part, because Heck v. Humphrey and various immunities barred his action.

This timely appeal follows.

II.

Where appropriate, we review de novo the grant of a motion to dismiss based on a state's Eleventh Amendment immunity. In re Employ't Discrimination Litig. Against State of Ala., 198 F.3d 1305, 1310 (11th Cir. 1999). Determinations of sovereign immunity are questions of law that we review de novo. Nat'l Ass'n of Boards of Pharmacy v. Bd. of Regents of the Univ. Sys. of Georgia, 633 F.3d 1297, 1313 (11th Cir. 2011).

We also review de novo a grant of a motion to dismiss, under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), for failure to state a claim. Glover v. Liggett Grp., Inc., 459 F.3d 1304, 1308 (11th Cir. 2006). We accept the allegations in the complaint as true and construe them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Id. We may affirm the district court on any basis that the record supports. See Devengoechea v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, 889 F.3d 1213, 1220 (11th Cir. 2018). Likewise, we review de novo whether an official is entitled to absolute immunity or judicial immunity. Stevens v. Osuna, 877 F.3d 1293, 1301 (11th Cir. 2017); Smith v. Shook, 237 F.3d 1322, 1325 (11th Cir. 2001). And we review a ruling concerning official immunity under Georgia state law de novo as well. See Bailey v. Wheeler, 843 F.3d473, 480 (11th Cir. 2016). Finally, we review de novo a dismissal for failure to state a claim based on qualified immunity. Cottone v. Jenne, 326 F.3d 1352, 1357 (11th Cir. 2003).

III.

First, the district court did not err in dismissing Crisp's claims against the State of Georgia and Gwinnett County on the basis of sovereign immunity and Eleventh Amendment immunity. Eleventh Amendment immunity bars suits by private individuals against a state in federal court unless the state has consented to be sued, has waived its immunity, or Congress has abrogated the state's immunity. Bd. of Trs. of Univ. of Ala. v. Garrett, 531 U.S. 356, 363-64 (2001). "Although, by its terms, the Eleventh Amendment does not bar suits against a state in federal court by its own citizens, the Supreme Court has extended its protections to apply in such cases." Abusaid v. Hillsborough Cnty. Bd. of Cnty. Comm'rs, 405 F.3d 1298, 1303 (11th Cir. 2005). Georgia has not waived "any immunity with respect to actions brought in the courts of the United States." Ga. Code Ann. § 50-21-23(b). And § 1983 does not override states' Eleventh Amendment immunity, meaning that "if a § 1983 action alleging a constitutional claim is brought directly against a State, the Eleventh Amendment bars a federal court from granting any relief on that claim." Pennhurst State Sch. &Hosp. v. Halderman, 465 U.S. 89, 120 (1984).

The State of Georgia is afforded sovereign immunity from suit, which "can only be waived by an Act of the General Assembly which specifically provides that sovereign immunity is thereby waived and the extent of such waiver." Ga. Const. art. I, § II, ¶ IX(e). This sovereign immunity also applies to Georgia's counties. Gilbert v. Richardson, 452 S.E.2d 476, 479 (Ga. 1994); see also Ga. Code Ann. § 36-1-4 ("A county is not liable to suit for any cause of action unless made so by statute.").

In 2020, the Georgia Constitution was amended to waive sovereign immunity to permit certain actions for declaratory and equitable relief. See Ga. Const. Art. I, § II, ¶ V (b)(1).

Sovereign immunity is hereby waived for actions in the superior court seeking declaratory relief from acts of the state or any agency, authority, branch, board, bureau, commission, department, office, or public corporation of this state or officer or employee thereof or any county, consolidated government, or municipality of this state or officer or employee thereof outside the scope of lawful authority or in violation of the laws or the Constitution of this state or the Constitution of the United States. Sovereign immunity is further waived so that a court awarding declaratory relief pursuant to this Paragraph may, only after awarding declaratory relief, enjoin such acts to enforce its judgment. Such waiver of sovereign immunity under this Paragraph shall apply to past, current, and prospective acts which occur on or after January 1, 2021.

Id. (emphases added).

Georgia law also waives sovereign immunity for certain tort suits against state officers and employees committed in the scope of their employment under Ga. Code Ann. § 50-21-23, while a later statute provides that the procedure established under the Georgia Tort Claims Act ("GTCA") provides "the exclusive remedy for any tort committed by a state officer or employee." Id. § 50-21-25(a). The GTCA provides immunity to a "state officer or employee who commits a tort while acting within the scope of his or her official duties or employment." Id.

Here, the district court properly found that Eleventh Amendment and sovereign immunity precluded Crisp from pursuing claims against the State of Georgia and Gwinnett County unless they consented to suit, or their immunity was validly abrogated. Garrett, 531 U.S. at 363-64.^[3] But neither party consented to be sued here. Ga. Code Ann. § 50-21-23(b); Gilbert, 452 S.E.2d at 479. And § 1983 does not abrogate immunity here either. Pennhurst State, 465 U.S. at 120.

Crisp claims that the Georgia Constitution was amended to waive sovereign immunity, but he misreads the text of the amendment, which limits the waiver in several ways, including to "actions in the superior court" concerning acts that "occur on or after January 1, 2021." Ga. Const. Art. I, § II, ¶ V (b)(1). Since he did not bring this suit in the state superior court, and since the challenged acts all predate January 1, 2021, the amendment does not...