MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Plaintiff, Herman M. McMurry, has filed a fourteen count amended complaint against defendants: Michael Sheahan, individually and in his official capacity as Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois; Aurelia Pucinski, individually and in her official capacity as Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois; The City of Chicago; J.W. Fairman, Jr., individually and in his official capacity as the Executive Director of the Department of Corrections and Cook County Jail; and Chicago Police Officer E. Foley, individually and in his official capacity. Plaintiff alleges federаl civil rights violations, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, as well as violations of state common law.
Plaintiff alleges he was attacked and homosexually raped while awaiting court ordered release from Cook County jail after having been unlawfully arrested on an invalid warrant. Counts I and II are brought against Sheahan in his individual and official capacity, respectively, as Sheriff of Cook County for his failure to properly maintain a computer system to process quashed and recalled orders, resulting in plaintiff’s unlawful arrest. Counts III and IV are brought against Pucinski in her official capacity as Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County for maintaining a policy and/or practice of not entering quash and recall orders, which resulted in plaintiffs unlawful arrest, and for a failure to provide access to files and computer records, which resulted in plaintiffs incarceration for
Counts VI and VII are brought against defendant Fairman individually and in his official capacity as Executive Director of the Cook County Department of Corrections for failing to protect plaintiff from attack. Count VIII is brought against the City for maintaining a practice of failing to properly train and supervise its employees with regard to investigating warrants, despite its knowledge that quash and recall orders are not being processed. Counts X and XI are brought against all defendants under section 1983 for false arrest and imprisonment, alleging violations of plaintiffs Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights under the Constitution.
Counts X and XI, XII, XIII and XIV are state law claims for negligent and intentional false imprisonment against all defendants in both their official and individual capacities. The court’s jurisdiction is invoked pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331 and the doctrine of supplemental jurisdiction as codified in 28 U.S.C. § 1367. All defendants have moved to dismiss the amended complaint. For the reasons set forth below, the motions are denied in part and granted in part.
FACTS
According to the complaint, which the court accepts as true for the purposes of 12(b)(6), on Friday July 1, 1994, at or about 9:20 p.m., Foley stopped plaintiff for a routine traffic violation. Following procedure, Foley, checked his computer system and found that there was an outstanding warrant for plaintiffs arrest. Plaintiff had, however, already appeared in court and the warrant had been quashed. Plaintiff alleges that he told Foley that any and all warrants for his arrest had been quashed and that he had the receipts at home proving that he had made restitution and could produce those receipts. Foley refused to listen, and arrested plaintiff on the warrant. According to plaintiff, and it is undisputed by defendants, the warrant was, as plaintiff had tried to explain, no longer valid. It was, however, still active on the sheriffs computer and/or the LEADS 1 system.
According to the complaint, defendants use various law enforcement computer networks that list outstanding warrants. Since 1982, the Sheriff of Cook County has used a computer called SPWA to track active warrants. After a warrant issues from or is recalled by a court in Cook County, the Clerk of the Circuit Court puts a copy into a Sheriffs basket at the Clerk’s office. An employee of the Sheriffs office periodically picks up these papers so that warrant clerks can enter them into SPWA. The Clerk’s office keeps a computer database of felony warrants and every month sends the Sheriff a list of non-traffic warrants and reeall orders so the Sheriff can update his computer records. Although only the Sheriffs office has dirеct access to SPWA, other law enforcement agencies often ask for information by telephone or teletype, and the Sheriff obliges.
LEADS is a database that is supposed to include all active warrants in the state. Its purpose is to enable law enforcement agencies to access and post information about arrest warrants, which are supposed to be validated and purged on a regular schedule. Any officer who stops a motorist or questions a passerby can check with LEADS or SPWA to determine if there is an outstanding warrant for that person. Plaintiff alleges that the system is a total failure and cannot be relied upon.
Despite plaintiff’s protestation that the computer system was incorrect, Foley arrested and incarcerated plaintiff on Friday July 1, 1994. After spending the weekend in jail, plaintiff was first allowed to appear before a judge on July 5, 1994. At that time, Judge L. Green determined that the warrant had in fact been quashed and ordered plaintiffs release. Plaintiff, however, was not immediatеly released. Instead, he was returned to
MOTION TO DISMISS
All defendants have moved to dismiss the complaint. A motion to dismiss pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.Pro. 12(b)(6) is not a test of the merits of the claim, but rather a test of whether the plaintiff has properly stated a claim.
Scheuer v. Rhodes,
DISCUSSION
FEDERAL CLAIMS
Defendants Pucinski and Sheahan in Their Individual Capacity
Counts II, V, XI, and XII assert liаbility against Pucinski and Sheahan in their individual capacity, for violation of federal law pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for their participation in the failure to input the judicial quash and recall orders in the respective computer systems resulting in plaintiffs unconstitutional arrest. Individual capacity lawsuits seek to impose personal liability on government officials for actions taken under color of state law.
Townsend v. Fairman,
No. 95 C 0882,
Plaintiff alleges that both Sheahan and Pucinski unquestionably knew of the deficiencies in their system and yet did nothing to correct them. Plaintiff alleges that Sheahan and Pucinski were both on actual notice of the foreseeable results of their possibly deficient policies and practices due to the prior lawsuits filed against each of them in this district court.
3
Plaintiff alleges that Pucinski specifically had knowledge of the deficiency in thеse policies because her predecessor was a named party in
Murray v. City of Chicago,
Although Sheаhan and Pucinski deny personal involvement in the wrongful arrest of plaintiff, they are the persons responsible for setting the policies and mandating the procedures in their respective offices. Plaintiff has alleged sufficiently that these defendants knew of the many problems which plague both the sheriffs computer and the LEADS system. Plaintiff further alleges that defendants chose to ignore those problems and conduct business as usual. A more straightforward direct allegation of a supervisor turning a blind eye would be difficult to find.
Finally, Puсinski and Sheahan claim that they are entitled to a defense of qualified immunity. Qualified immunity shields state actors from damages resulting from liability for constitutional violations if their conduct does not violate “clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person should have known.”
Harlow v. Fitzgerald,
Defendant Fairman in His Individual Capacity
Counts VII, IX, and XII assert liability against Fairman individually for violation of federal law pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff alleges that Fairman failed in his duty to make certain that plaintiff remained healthy, safe and free from criminal assaults while incarcerated after his judicial release. As noted above, in order to assert individual liability against Fairman, plaintiff must allege that Fairman not only had personal knowledge of excessive risk of harm to the detаinee, but that he also chose to disregard that risk.
Farmer v. Brennan,
Defendants Sheahan And Fairman in Their Official Capacities
Counts I, VI, IX, and XII allege liability against Sheahan and Fairman in their official capacities. A suit against a government officer in his offiсial capacity is actually a suit against the government entity for which the officer works.
Kentucky v. Graham,
It is not necessary, however, for an “actual” policy to exist in order to establish liability. In the absence of a formal policy, if the plaintiff can establish á
Monell
“custom or practice,” he can prove liability.
Hvorcik,
In the instant case, plaintiff has sufficiently alleged policies and customs of the Sheriff of ignoring deficiencies in their systems which resulted in unlawful arrest. This amounts to a “deliberate indifference” of plaintiffs rights.
See Hvorcik,
In fulfilling the causation prong of
Monell,
plaintiff claims that his constitutional rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments have been violated as a result of these inadequate policies. When a person is held without a legal basis, a deprivation of the individual’s liberty is involved.
See Powe v. City of Chicago,
Sheahan and Fairman allegе, however, that plaintiff has established no nexus between being detained for a lengthy period of time, and the brutal attack which he suffered. This court disagrees. Reading the complaint liberally, plaintiff alleges that because he was improperly arrested before his ordered release, he should not have been detained in general population under the same conditions as properly detained pretrial detainees. Therein lies the nexus between the alleged assault and the prolongеd detention that defendants are lacking.. Plaintiff has sufficiently stated facts that would establish that there was a policy or custom which was established or followed by Sheahan and Fairman, and that this policy may have violated plaintiffs constitutional rights.
Because plaintiff has sufficiently alleged a claim against defendants Sheahan and Fair-man in their official capacities, their motions to dismiss counts I, VI, IX, and XII are denied.
Defendant Pucinski in her Official Capacity
Counts III, TV, IX, and XII assert liability against Pucinski in her official capacity. Pucinski cannot be held liable in her official capacity under section 1983 because the state is not a “person” to whom section 1983 was meant to apply and therefore cannot be sued.
Will v. Michigan Department of State Police,
Since the clerk of a circuit court is defined by Illinois law as being an employee of the state and functions as such in that she is an employee of the state judiciary not limitеd by county personnel rules, a damages suit against Pucinski in her official capacity must be considered a suit against the state. Ill. Const. Art. 6, § 18(b);
Ruehman v. Village of Palos Park,
No. 91 C 8355,
Officer Foley in His Official Capacity
Foley has moved to dismiss all official capacity claims against him, citing
Flores v. City of Chicago,
The City and Foley Under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment
Counts IX and XII of plaintiffs complaint, although titled false imprisonment and false arrest, assert claims for violations of plaintiffs Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The City and Foley argue, however, that plaintiff does not state a Fourth Amendment claim, but instead plaintiffs claim falls only under Fourteenth Amendment jurisprudence. The City and Foley rely on the Seventh Circuit’s opinion in
Patton v. Przybylski,
The City and Foley assert that plaintiff was lawfully arrested for a traffic violation and, therefore, under
Patton
only the Fourteеnth Amendment is implicated. The City and Foley are wrong. Although plaintiff was originally stopped for an alleged traffic violation, plaintiff alleges that Foley explicitly stated,!*) plaintiff that he was being arrested because the computer indicated an open warrant that, in fact, had previously been quashed or recalled. It was then that Foley violated plaintiffs Fourth Amendment rights by arresting him on that invalid warrant. Plaintiff additionally alleges that the city vio
Foley asserts, however, that his arrest of plaintiff was proper because the warrant was facially valid, relying on
Mitchell v. Aluisi,
Nor is Foley entitled to qualified immunity. As previously stated, Foley’s actions in relying on a inaccurate computer system were not objectively reasonable in light of clearly established law. Qualified Immunity shields state actors from liability for constitutional violations if their conduct does not violate “clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person should have known.”
Williams v. Anderson,
The City asserts that plaintiff fails to state a federal civil rights claim against them because he fails to allege either a constitutional violation or a policy, practice, or custom. Because plaintiff has sufficiently stated a constitutional deprivation of his Fourth Amendment rights, plaintiff can contest the City’s policy and/or practice regarding supervision and training of officers in post-arrest investigation to verify the validity of а warrant. The City’s failure to train its officers to check for such errors would make the City liable to plaintiff for this violation of his Fourth Amendment rights. The City has had actual knowledge since 1980 that the warrant computer systems at issue are not reliable.
See Murray,
STATE CLAIMS
Fairman, Foley, the City, Sheahan and Pucinski for False Arrest/Imprisonment
Counts X, XI, XIII, and XIV are state law claims alleging both wrongful arrеst and incarceration. A person who has
Sheahan, Fairman, Foley, and the City assert that the false arrestyimprisonment claims are barred by the Illinois Tort Immunity Act, 745 ILCS 10/2-101 et seq. (“the Act”). Under the Act, a рublic employee is “not liable for his act or omission in the execution or enforcement of any law unless such an act or omission constitutes willful and wanton conduct.”
Hvorcik,
CONCLUSION
Accordingly, for the foregoing reasons, Sheahan’s motion to dismiss any and all counts is denied. Pucinski’s motion to dismiss is granted as to Counts III, IV, and the official capacity claims within Counts IX and XII, and denied as to Counts V, X, XI, XIII, XIV, and the individual capacity claims within Counts IX and XII. Fairman’s motion to dismiss is denied as to Counts VI, X, XI, XIII, XIV, and the official capacity claims within Counts IX and XII, and granted at to Count VII and the individual capacity claims within Counts IX and XII. Foley’s motion to dismiss all claims against him in his official capacity is granted, but denied as to those claims charged against him in his individual capacity. The City’s motion is denied as to all Counts directed against it.
Plaintiff is directed to file an amended complaint on or before June 3, 1996, consistent with this opinion, setting forth the remaining claims against each defendant, and labeling each count corresponding to the statutory, constitutional or legal theory asserted. Defendants shall file their answers on or before June 24, 1996. The status report currently set for May 21, 1996, shall remain in effect.
Notes
. The principle statewide computer network is known by the acronym LEADS and is managed by the Illinois state police.
. It is not clear to this court why petitioner was placed in general population at Cook County Jail. According to § 701.70 of the Illinois Administrative Rules, those awaiting sentencing should be separated from those in pre-trial, and non-criminal offenders shall be kept separated from persons charged with criminal offenses. Additionally, the rule strongly recommends that misdemeanants be housed separately from felons.
. See, for example,
Ruehman v. Sheahan,
. Hunter v. Sheahan, case no. 94 C 2631 filed 4/29/94; Huyser v. Sheahan, case no. 94 C 3132 filed 5/20/94; Simpson et at. v. Sheahan, case no. 94 C 5375 filed 9/1/94; Jordan v. Sheahan, case no. 5443 filed 9/6/94; Grant v. Sheahan, case no. 94 C 6164 filed 10/12/94; Newell v. Sheahan, case no. 94 C 6163 filed on 10/12/94; Watson v. Sheahan, case no. 94 C 6891 filed on 11/18/94; Rahman v. Sheahan, case no. 94 C 6892 filed 11/18/94; Sutton v. Sheahan, case no. 94 C 6893 filed on 11/18/94.
