Appeals court revives part of civil rights lawsuit surrounding Suburban snowbound during DAPL protest

BISMARCK — An Arizona couple who lost a federal lawsuit over a vehicle that was rented during the Dakota Access Pipeline protests in south-central North Dakota have had part of their case revived.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently sent part of Michael and Jessica Wood’s case back to U.S. District Court in Bismarck, reopening the door for the couple to pursue monetary damages from a Bismarck rental franchisee and two of its employees. Trial has been scheduled for Nov. 18.

Michael Wood Jr., of Glendale, Arizona, a former U.S. Marine and Baltimore police officer, rented a Suburban from Hertz in 2016 when he came to Bismarck as part of an effort to bring hundreds of military veterans to a DAPL protest camp. The goal was to support opposition by tribes and environmentalists to the oil pipeline being routed near the Standing Rock Reservation and under its Missouri River drinking water supply.

The vehicle became snowbound in a blizzard and wasn’t returned to the rental company. The dispute that followed between Wood and Hertz resulted in Wood being charged in January 2017 with felony theft. Wood and his wife, Jessica, were detained at the U.S. border in California when returning from a Mexico vacation in August 2019, though they were not arrested.

Prosecutors in March 2020 dropped the theft charge, but Wood and his wife sued in March 2021, alleging Hertz Corp. officials falsely accused him of stealing the Suburban in retaliation for his social media criticism of the company’s service or his support of the pipeline protest. The defendants disputed the retaliation allegation.

U.S. District Judge Dan Traynor later in 2021 dismissed the City of Bismarck and two police officers as defendants in the civil rights lawsuit, along with two Hertz employees in Oklahoma. The Woods voluntarily dropped Hertz as a defendant after the company declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid the coronavirus pandemic. That left Bismarck franchisee Overland West Inc. and two of its employees — Alexandria Huber and John Kaelberer — as the only remaining defendants in the suit that sought unspecified monetary damages.

Traynor about a year ago ruled against the Woods on all of their claims — malicious prosecution, negligence, breach of contract, infliction of emotional distress, and negligent training and supervision. The Woods appealed.

A three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit recently upheld Traynor’s ruling that Overland did not breach its rental contract with the Woods. But the panel ruled that the Woods had presented enough evidence to possibly convince a jury of their claims of malicious prosecution, negligence, and negligent training and supervision.

The judges concluded “the Woods presented sufficient evidence that Kaelberer lacked probable cause to believe that Wood had stolen the vehicle when he contacted police,” and that “further, a jury could infer malice based on Kaelberer’s testimony that he filed the police report to collect a debt, and testimony that Overland employees were aware of Wood’s negative tweet and considered it harassing and threatening.”

The judges also said there was enough evidence that a jury might conclude Overland employees’ efforts to reach out to Wood before contacting police were insufficient, and that Overland failed to properly train its employees regarding the filing of stolen vehicle reports.

The Woods’ attorney, Roberto Alejandro, said, “We agree with the 8th Circuit’s decision and now turn our attention to preparing for trial.”

Defendants attorney Joel Flom did not respond to a Bismarck Tribune request for comment before being withdrawn from the case. The defendants’ new attorney, Bradley Beehler, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.