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Khoury v. Miami-Dade Cty. Sch. Bd.

Khoury v. Miami-Dade Cty. Sch. Bd.

United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

July 7, 2021, Decided

No. 18-11430

Opinion

 [*1121]  MARTIN, Circuit Judge:

Susan Khoury appeals the District Court's grant of summary judgment to the Miami-Dade County School Board and Officer Gregory Williams on her 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claims. All of Ms. Khoury's claims relate to an incident involving Officer Williams—a School Board Police Officer—who characterized [**2]  Khoury as being a danger to herself or others, detained her, and committed her for an involuntary mental health examination under Florida's Baker Act, Fla. Stat. § 394.463. After careful review, and with the benefit of oral argument, we reverse the District Court's order granting summary judgment to Officer Williams on Ms. Khoury's false arrest and First Amendment retaliation claims, and remand for further proceedings. We affirm the court's order granting summary judgment to the School Board.

I. BACKGROUND

A. THE 2015 INCIDENT

Ms. Khoury lives near the Glades Middle School baseball field in Miami-Dade County, Florida. For several years, she complained to the School Board about cars she believed were parked illegally around the baseball field because the gates to the field were left open. The use of the field became a nuisance to Ms. Khoury and several of her neighbors because of the noise, lights, and problems caused by the influx of people (including an increase in burglaries). Ms. Khoury and 62 of her neighbors notified the School Board of their concerns about these problems and, in response, the School Board agreed to close the gates adjacent to the neighborhood in an attempt to redirect people to use the facility's [**3]  parking lot, which is farther away from the residents' homes. However, when the problems continued, Ms. Khoury began taking photos and videos of cars that she believed were illegally parked near the field so she could show the School Board that the problem had not been resolved.

On the night of January 29, 2015, Ms. Khoury began taking photographs of the open, unlocked gate and what she believed were two illegally parked cars. A parent of one of the ball players, Doris Zubilliaga, was sitting in one of the cars and thought Ms. Khoury was filming her. Ms. Khoury and Ms. Zubilliaga had a verbal confrontation, which led Zubilliaga to call the police.  [*1122]  About 20 minutes later, Officer Williams arrived on the scene. Officer Williams is a Miami-Dade Public School police officer. The Miami-Dade Public School Police Department is a law enforcement entity separate from the Miami-Dade Police Department and has its own jurisdiction.

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4 F.4th 1118 *; 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 20070 **; 29 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C 6

SUSAN KHOURY, Plaintiff - Appellant, versus THE MIAMI-DADE COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD, GREGORY WILLIAMS, Defendants - Appellees.

Prior History:  [**1] Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. D.C. Docket No. 1:16-cv-20680-RNS.

Khoury v. Miami-Dade Cty. Sch. Bd., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48844, 2018 WL 1472473 (S.D. Fla., Mar. 26, 2018)

CORE TERMS

district court, detain, probable cause, arrest, filming, false arrest, quotation, custom, marks, grant summary judgment, excessive force, pushed, rights, qualified immunity, retaliation claim, discovery, mental health, retaliation, street, grant of summary judgment, summary judgment, credibility, recording, parked, scene, magistrate judge, baseball field, depositions, retaliatory, unredacted

Civil Procedure, Appeals, Standards of Review, De Novo Review, Judgments, Summary Judgment, Entitlement as Matter of Law, Summary Judgment Review, Standards of Review, Entitlement as Matter of Law, Genuine Disputes, Legal Entitlement, Appropriateness, Evidence, Inferences & Presumptions, Inferences, Trials, Jury Trials, Province of Court & Jury, Abuse of Discretion, Civil Rights Law, Protection of Rights, Immunity From Liability, Defenses, Torts, Public Entity Liability, Immunities, Qualified Immunity, Local Officials, Individual Capacity, Defenses, Demurrers & Objections, Affirmative Defenses, Immunity, Public Health & Welfare Law, Mental Health Services, Commitment, Involuntary Commitment of Adults, Burdens of Proof, Constitutional Law, Fundamental Freedoms, Freedom of Speech, Public Employees, Burdens of Proof, Allocation, Scope, Scope, Law Enforcement Officials, Excessive Force, Customs & Policies, Education Law, Civil Liability, Civil Rights Act of 1871, Section 1983 Actions, Educational Institutions, Knowledge, Deliberate Indifference, Reviewability of Lower Court Decisions, Preservation for Review, Judicial Officers, Magistrates, Duties & Powers, Pretrial Referrals, Objections, Referrals