United States Tenth Circuit

In a civil rights suit brought under 42 U.S.C. section 1983 against the Oklahoma Tax Commission's Special Tax Enforcement Unit (OTC) personnel, arising from a tax fraud investigation and charges brought against plaintiff, summary judgment for all defendants is affirmed as: 1) a Fourth Amendment claim failed as there was probable cause for the warrant for plaintiff's arrest, with or without the inclusion of certain documents in an affidavit; 2) even if the documents would have vitiated probable cause, none of defendants' conduct rose to the level of recklessness; 3) a "class of one" equal protection claim failed as plaintiff did not provide compelling evidence of other similarly situated persons who were in fact treated differently; and 4) a First Amendment retaliation claim was not properly raised, but failed on the merits in any event.

Appellate Information

• Decided 10/30/2007
• Published 10/31/2007

Judges

• O'BRIEN, Circuit Judge., Before HENRY, ANDERSON and O'BRIEN, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Tenth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Carl Hughes, Kyle Goodwin and Jeb Joseph of Hughes & Goodwin, Oklahoma City, OK, for Plaintiff-Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Wellon B. Poe, Assistant Attorney General, Oklahoma Attorney General Litigation Section, Oklahoma City, OK, for Defendants-Appellees Hanson and Ashley., Stefan K. Doughty, Assistant Attorney General, Oklahoma Attorney General Litigation Section, Oklahoma City, OK, for Defendants-Appellees Baker and Ford.