Stemler v. Florenc

350 F.3d 578 (6th Cir. 2003)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Black (P) was killed in a car accident shortly after police officers removed her from Stemler's car and placed her in the truck of her boyfriend, Steve Kritis. Black and Kritis had been drinking heavily, and after an altercation between them at a bar, Black left with Stemler in Stemler's car. Kritis then began to chase the women on the streets of Florence before both the car and the truck were stopped by the police after a concerned citizen alerted them to the situation. Stemler was arrested. No police officer ever checked Kritis for intoxication or asked him to leave his truck. Black was either escorted or carried from Stemler's car to the passenger seat of Kritis' truck. Kritis then drove away. According to Kritis, Black, who had passed out, woke up and began to hit Kritis. He began to hit back and lost control of the truck. The truck swerved and collided with the guardrail. Black was partially ejected from the passenger-side window. Her arm was completely severed from her body, and her head was split into two parts by some part of the guardrail. Black (P) filed a wrongful death action against the police officers, the City of Florence, and the Boone County Sheriff. The Court entered summary judgment on P's wrongful death claim. The Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed the Circuit Court. The Kentucky Supreme Court then reversed the Court of Appeals and reinstated the summary judgment. P also filed a complaint in federal court against the same defendants alleging that Ds were liable under §1983 for P's wrongful death because they had displayed deliberate indifference by forcing her into Kritis's car. The federal claims were dismissed by the district court in 1994. The appeals court reversed the district court's dismissal of P's claims against the individual officers. The only state court decision prior to the federal decision was the Boone County Circuit Court decision awarding judgment to Ds, holding that P was not in custody when the pickup struck the guardrail and that none of the state actors were the direct cause of her death on the highway. 'While these findings are entitled to preclusive effect, they are irrelevant to the merits of her substantive due process claim.' The district court granted Ds motion for summary judgment on P's substantive due process claim, and Shianne Black's claim for loss of parental consortium. It held that the decision of the Kentucky Supreme Court barred their claims under the doctrine of issue preclusion. The issue that the district court found could not be relitigated was whether P was in 'custody' when she got into Kritis's car because, according to the district court, the Kentucky Supreme Court had held that P was never in custody. P appealed.