Ralph Cooper v. Kevin Bennett

MEMORANDUM

Ralph Stanley Cooper brought suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Oregon state trooper Kevin Bennett for alleged constitutional violations arising out of a traffic stop. Cooper claims that Bennett unlawfully detained him and his traveling companions in violation of the Fourth Amendment, unlawfully searched and seized the rental car they occupied in violation of the Fourth Amendment, and stopped him and his companions on the basis of their race in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and 42 U.S.C. § 1981 . The district court granted partial summary judgment to Bennett on Cooper’s second, third, and fourth claims, and, two days into a jury trial on the first claim, dismissed the action with prejudice under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) as a sanction for Cooper’s unauthorized contact with a juror. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

We conclude that the district court acted within its discretion in dismissing the action with prejudice. Under an abuse-of-discretion standard, we “will not disturb the trial court’s dismissal without a ‘definite and firm conviction that the court below committed a clear error of judgment in the conclusion it…