SWALLERS v. DONAVAN, 1:15-cv-01649

Plaintiff Brent Allen Swallers owned residential properties at 539 and 541 S. Auburn St., Indianapolis; DCE inspectors Daniel Donavan and Nicoson Gebert and IMPD Officer Bradley Sollars inspected those properties for code violations.
Gebert photographed alleged exterior code violations visible from the public street on Aug. 13, 2015 and again on Sept. 1, 2015; Swallers confronted Gebert and was later told by Officer Sollars that Gebert was on public right-of-way taking pictures.
Swallers previously sued Donavan and the Marion County Department of Code Enforcement in state court for alleged trespass arising from March 26, 2014; that suit was dismissed for failure to give ITCA notice and was not appealed.
Swallers filed the federal complaint on Sept. 2, 2015 asserting state torts (trespass, theft, extortion) and federal claims (including a Fourth Amendment search/seizure claim and § 1983 allegations).
Defendants moved for summary judgment; Swallers, proceeding pro se, did not respond, so the court treated the defendants’ factual statements as admitted for purposes of the motion.
The court addressed jurisdiction, claim preclusion (res judicata), scope of § 1983, lack of a Fourth Amendment predicate for the 2015 inspections, and whether to retain supplemental jurisdiction over state-law claims.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Subject-matter jurisdiction	Complaint invokes diversity and federal constitutional rights	No diversity exists; but federal question jurisdiction exists via § 1983 for colorable federal claims	Court has federal-question jurisdiction over asserted federal claims and may exercise supplemental jurisdiction over related state claims
Preclusion / res judicata for March 26, 2014 claims	Claims based on March 26, 2014 trespass are repeated here	State-court judgment precludes claims that were or could have been litigated there	Claims accruing on March 26, 2014 are precluded by res judicata (state judgment)
§ 1983 liability for violations of Indiana law	State-law torts (trespass, theft, extortion) also constitute § 1983 violations	§ 1983 does not create rights based on state law; it vindicates federal rights only	Grant: § 1983 cannot be used to enforce violations of Indiana law; those § 1983 claims fail
Fourth Amendment claim for Aug./Sept. 2015 inspections	Defendants conducted searches/seizures of plaintiff's property	Defendants remained on public right-of-way and did not enter plaintiff's property	Grant: No factual predicate for Fourth Amendment violation; summary judgment for defendants

Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. 242 (summary-judgment standard for material facts)
Scott v. Harris, 550 U.S. 372 (genuine dispute test where video contradicts nonmoving party)
Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317 (summary judgment burden-shifting framework)
Smith v. Lamz, 321 F.3d 680 (failure to respond to summary-judgment materials results in admissions)
Waldridge v. American Hoechst Corp., 24 F.3d 918 (consequences of nonresponse to summary judgment)
Koszola v. Board of Education of City of Chicago, 385 F.3d 1104 (resolving summary judgment on movant's statement of facts)
Hart Steel Co. v. R.R. Supply Co., 244 U.S. 294 (policy supporting finality of judgments)
Federated Dep't Stores, Inc. v. Moitie, 452 U.S. 394 (public interest in res judicata)
Parklane Hosiery Co. v. Shore, 439 U.S. 322 (doctrine of res judicata/claim preclusion)
Albright v. Oliver, 510 U.S. 266 (§ 1983 vindicates federal rights, not state-law wrongs)
Scott v. Edinburg, 346 F.3d 752 (§ 1983 protects constitutional, not state-law, violations)
Carnegie-Mellon Univ. v. Cohill, 484 U.S. 343 (declining supplemental jurisdiction after federal claims dismissed)
Williams v. Rodriguez, 509 F.3d 392 (factors for retaining or declining supplemental jurisdiction)
Penobscot Nation v. Georgia-Pacific Corp., 254 F.3d 317 (colorable federal claim confers subject-matter jurisdiction)
Jackson v. City of Joliet, 715 F.2d 1200 (use of § 1983 for state actors acting under color of state law)