Michael H. RYU v. Daniel N. WHITTEN, et al.
No. 16-1421
United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.
Argued: March 23, 2017. Decided: April 6, 2017.
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Julia Bougie Judkins, BANCROFT, MCGAVIN, HORVATH & JUDKINS, P.C., Fairfax, Virginia, for Appellee.
ON BRIEF: Victor M. Glasberg, VICTOR M. GLASBERG & ASSOCIATES, Alexandria, Virginia, for Appellant.
Before MOTZ, THACKER, and HARRIS, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed in part and vacated and remanded in part by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Michael H. Ryu brought this action raising federal and state law claims against Daniel Whitten, the Assistant County Attorney for Warren County, Virginia. The district court granted summary judgment to Whitten. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the grant of summary judgment on Ryu‘s federal claims, vacate the judgment on the state law claims, and remand to the district court to dismiss Ryu‘s state law claims without prejudice.
Ryu, a Virginia attorney, is the registered agent (but not an officer) for CS Property, Inc. Whitten‘s responsibilities as assistant county attorney include instituting collection proceedings on behalf of the county treasurer. In June 2013, Whitten obtained a default judgment against CS Property on a claim for delinquent taxes and fees.
In January 2014, Whitten issued a Summons to Answer Interrogatories in connection with the default judgment in the delinquency action. The summons identified “Michael Hyunkweon Ryu, Reg Agent” as the “Respondent (*) Same as Defendant.” The summons commanded that the respondent appear in court on April 2, 2014 to answer the County‘s “questions concerning property and assets of Judgment Debtor(s) which are held or controlled by the Respondent.” It also contained a warning that failure to appear might make the respondent subject to arrest. Ryu was personally served with the summons. He forwarded it to an officer of CS Property. But neither he nor anyone else appeared in court to respond to the summons.
If a person summoned to answer interrogatories fails to appear, Virginia law allows the court to issue a capias, or bench warrant, for that person‘s arrest.
Six weeks later, police officers arrested Ryu at his law office and took him to a detention center where he was processed. Ryu was released on an unsecured bond with directions to appear for a hearing the next day. After Ryu informed Whitten that he was only a registered agent and thus not a proper person to respond to the County‘s interrogatories, Whitten moved to dismiss the capias, and the judge dismissed it.
Ryu filed this action against Whitten, alleging a claim pursuant to
II.
Whitten moved for summary judgment on all claims and Ryu filed a cross-motion for partial summary judgment on his constitutional claims. The district court granted Whitten summary judgment.
The court held that Whitten was entitled to qualified immunity on all claims—federal and state—asserted against him in his individual capacity. The court explained that “[t]he relevant factual inquiry here is whether a reasonable assistant county attorney could have believed that his conduct was lawful.” The court held that Ryu had provided no evidence that Whitten had acted unreasonably and “no evidence to
We review de novo the district court‘s grant of summary judgment. Henry v. Purnell, 652 F.3d 524, 531 (4th Cir. 2011) (en banc). A court may grant summary judgment if, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, there are no genuine disputes of material fact and the moving party demonstrates entitlement to judgment as a matter of law. Id.
III.
A court assesses the reasonableness of an arrest warrant by determining whether, given the information available to the official at the time, he had a reasonable belief that the individual to be arrested had committed an offense. See Michigan v. DeFillippo, 443 U.S. 31, 37, 99 S.Ct. 2627, 61 L.Ed.2d 343 (1979).
Ryu argues that Whitten violated his Fourth Amendment rights by arresting him, only a registered agent, for a corporation‘s failure to discharge its obligations. Whitten responds that, although Ryu might not have been the proper person to request to answer interrogatories—and therefore the Summons to Answer Interrogatories might have been voidable—Ryu was obligated to appear as requested after receiving service. Whitten contends that once Ryu failed to appear, there was probable cause to request the capias. He argues that Ryu was not arrested because he was the registered agent of a corporation that failed to appear, but rather because he failed to appear when individually summoned. We agree.
Although Virginia law allows creditors to summon only officers of a corporation to answer interrogatories posed to the corporation,
And it is clear from the face of the summons that it required Ryu to appear in court. He is the only individual listed on the summons and he is identified as the “Respondent (*) Same as Defendant.” Once Ryu failed to appear as ordered, Whitten had probable cause to request his arrest.
Accordingly, because there was no Fourth Amendment violation, both Ryu‘s Fourth Amendment claim against Whitten in his individual capacity and his Monell claim against Warren County fail. See City of Los Angeles v. Heller, 475 U.S. 796, 799, 106 S.Ct. 1571, 89 L.Ed.2d 806 (1986) (explaining that there can be no municipal liability absent an underlying constitutional injury at the hands of an individual official).
IV.
As to Ryu‘s state law claims, because we affirm the grant of summary judgment on all of Ryu‘s federal claims, no reason exists to exercise supplemental ju-
V.
For the forgoing reasons, we affirm the judgment of the district court as to Ryu‘s federal claims, vacate the judgment as to the state law claims, and remand to the district court to dismiss the state law claims without prejudice.
AFFIRMED IN PART AND VACATED AND REMANDED IN PART