Aguilera v. City of Colorado Springs

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedNovember 18, 2020
Docket19-1398
StatusUnpublished

This text of Aguilera v. City of Colorado Springs (Aguilera v. City of Colorado Springs) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Aguilera v. City of Colorado Springs, (10th Cir. 2020).

Opinion

FILED United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT November 18, 2020 _________________________________ Christopher M. Wolpert Clerk of Court CANDACE AGUILERA,

Plaintiff - Appellant,

v. No. 19-1398 (D.C. No. 1:18-CV-02125-KMT) CITY OF COLORADO SPRINGS, a (D. Colo.) municipality; DANIELLE MCCLARIN, in her official and individual capacity; ANGIE NEIVES, in her official and individual capacity; ROGER VARGASON, in his official and individual capacity; BRETT LACEY, in his official and individual capacity; ROBERT MITCHELL, in his official and individual capacity,

Defendants - Appellees. _________________________________

ORDER AND JUDGMENT* _________________________________

Before TYMKOVICH, Chief Judge, HOLMES and MORITZ, Circuit Judges. _________________________________

* After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously to honor the parties’ request for a decision on the briefs without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(f); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore submitted without oral argument. This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1. Candace Aguilera appeals pro se from the district court’s order dismissing her

civil-rights complaint and denying her leave to amend. Exercising jurisdiction under

28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

In her seventy-page first amended complaint, Aguilera alleges the following. On

the morning of July 10, 2017, Colorado Springs Police Officer Roger Vargason and Fire

Marshalls Danielle McClarin and Angie Nieves confronted her outside of

“GreenFaithMinistry,” a “non-denominational spiritual/religious establishment” and

retailer of “religious goods.” R. at 116, 131. Aguilera is the “Property manager,

Volunteer, High Priestess (second minster [sic] in command), member, etc. who leases

two rooms at the Establishment.” Id. at 120.1

Fire Marshall McClarin explained they wanted inside to “check the occupancy of

the building.” Id. at 120. Aguilera refused, telling them, “If you want in the building you

will have to contact Reverend Baker, I will not let you in.” Id. Fire Marshall McClarin

responded, “If you do not let us in, nobody will be allowed in.” Id. at 121. While Fire

Marshall McClarin attempted to call Reverend Baker, Aguilera apparently went inside

and locked the entry door.

A few minutes later, Officer Vargason pulled forcefully on the door, telling the

“GreenFaithMinistry members and volunteers [inside] to ‘[o]pen the door.’” Id. at 127.

1 Security camera photos included in the amended complaint indicate that GreenFaithMinistry is in a business/strip-mall type location, with other structures located nearby across an alleyway or street. Aguilera does not indicate the purpose for which she leases the rooms inside GreenFaithMinistry. 2 When Aguilera came to the door, Officer Vargason warned her that “[i]f [she] d[id] not

open th[e] door, [she] w[ould] be in trouble.” Id. at 128. He again tried to pull open the

door. Aguilera said, “this is private property do you have a warrant?” Id. Officer

Vargason replied, “Oh now I am talking to Rob Corry (Marijuana lawyer out of

Denver).” Id. at 128. Officer Vargason continued pulling, stating, “[W]e know you have

an illegal grow in there.” Id. Officer Vargason’s final “order to . . . Aguilera was to

‘Praise the Lord.’” Id. at 129.

The officers remained at GreenFaithMinistry for forty-five minutes. During that

time, several other GreenFaithMinistry members arrived. Fire Marshall Nieves asked

one such member “[i]f marijuana [wa]s being consumed inside the building.” Id. at 134.

Those members felt “intimidated,” so they “turn[ed] around and le[ft].” Id. at 126.

Before the officers finally left, Officer Vargason used a cell phone to take “pictures of

Members[’] license plates, including the vehicle that . . . Aguil[e]r[a] drives.” Id. at 133.

Aguilera filed this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 pro se lawsuit in August 2018.2 She alleges

in confusing fashion that the defendants violated her “absolute natural rights and the

constitutions which expressively mandates [sic] its compliance and restricts any

opposition by any government and anything below it without contest via absolute natural

rights, Art. 6, Clause 2 Supremacy Clause, Constitutions, Free Exercise Clause, etc.” Id.

2 In addition to suing the City of Colorado Springs and the officers who confronted her on July 10, 2017, Aguilera also sued two individuals not present that day—Brett Lacey and Robert Mitchell. They allegedly “worked in concert” as the “Head Fire Marshall” and El Paso County Sheriff’s Lieutenant, respectively, to violate Aguilera’s rights. Id. at 117-18; see also id. at 256.

3 at 158. Further, she alleges that the defendants’ actions caused her and “four other

church members/volunteers[ ] [to] vacate their place of worship,” id. at 123-24, and that

the City of Colorado Springs “targeted non-denominational GreenFaithMinistry to insure

[that] monetary contributions for police and the fire dep[ar]t[ment] services continue

from neighboring [Christian] religious establishments.” Id. at 115-16. She seeks

declaratory, injunctive, and monetary relief.

The defendants moved to dismiss, asserting qualified immunity. The district court

granted the motions and dismissed all of Aguilera’s claims. Doing so, it construed

Aguilera’s complaint as advancing claims under (1) the First Amendment for violations

of the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses, and (2) the Fourth Amendment for

unlawful search and seizure.3

To the extent Aguilera asserted her claims on behalf of GreenFaithMinistry and

other members, the district court concluded she lacked standing. As for her

Establishment Clause claim, the district court determined it failed the three-part test of

Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602, 612-13 (1971). Her Free Exercise claim failed, the

district court said, because she did not allege that any defendant burdened her ability to

exercise a religious belief. Regarding her search-and-seizure claim, the district court

determined there were no allegations the defendants actually conducted a search, and

there was no seizure of property because the defendants did not meaningfully interfere

3 We conclude that the district court accurately distilled the nature of Aguilera’s first amended complaint. 4 with her possessory interests.4 Finally, the district court denied Aguilera’s motion for

leave to amend the complaint because she failed to comply with the meet-and-confer

requirements of the local rules.

DISCUSSION I. Standards of Review

We review de novo the district court’s grant of a motion to dismiss on the grounds

of standing, Comm. to Save the Rio Hondo v. Lucero, 102 F.3d 445, 447 (10th Cir. 1996),

and qualified immunity, Weise v. Casper,

Related

Aetna Life Insurance v. Haworth
300 U.S. 227 (Supreme Court, 1937)
Abington School Dist. v. Schempp
374 U.S. 203 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Lemon v. Kurtzman
403 U.S. 602 (Supreme Court, 1971)
Oliver v. United States
466 U.S. 170 (Supreme Court, 1984)
New York v. Class
475 U.S. 106 (Supreme Court, 1986)
New York v. Burger
482 U.S. 691 (Supreme Court, 1987)
Summers v. Earth Island Institute
555 U.S. 488 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Bauchman v. West High School
132 F.3d 542 (Tenth Circuit, 1997)
Trigalet v. City of Tulsa
239 F.3d 1150 (Tenth Circuit, 2001)
Hayes v. Whitman
264 F.3d 1017 (Tenth Circuit, 2001)
United States v. Angevine
281 F.3d 1130 (Tenth Circuit, 2002)
O'Connor v. Washburn University
416 F.3d 1216 (Tenth Circuit, 2005)
Garrett v. Selby Connor Maddux & Janer
425 F.3d 836 (Tenth Circuit, 2005)
Moss v. Kopp
559 F.3d 1155 (Tenth Circuit, 2009)
Weise v. Casper
593 F.3d 1163 (Tenth Circuit, 2010)
Cohen v. Longshore
621 F.3d 1311 (Tenth Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Charles Thomas Walraven
892 F.2d 972 (Tenth Circuit, 1989)
Keith v. Koerner
707 F.3d 1185 (Tenth Circuit, 2013)
United States v. Shuck
713 F.3d 563 (Tenth Circuit, 2013)

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