Bates v. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Dept.

District Court, D. Nevada·Decided August 20, 2024·No. 2:22-cv-00957·Unknown

Opinion

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA

3 * * *

4 JAMES E. BATES, Case No. 2:22-cv-00957-CDS-EJY

5 Plaintiff, ORDER

6 v. AND

7 LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN P.D., REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION 8 Defendant. Re: ECF No. 53

9 10 Pending before the Court is Plaintiff’s Motion for Leave to Amend (ECF No. 53), to which 11 Defendants responded (ECF No. 57) and Plaintiff replied (ECF No. 58). 12 I. Procedural Background 13 Plaintiff initiated this action on June 15, 2022 by filing a Civil Rights Complaint together 14 with an application to proceed in forma pauperis (“IFP”). ECF Nos. 1, 1-2. After receiving 15 Plaintiff’s complete IFP the Court screened Plaintiff’s Complaint under 28 U.S.C. § 1915 entering 16 an Order and Report and Recommendation. ECF No. 10. The Court allowed Plaintiff’s Fourth 17 Amendment claims against Detective M. O’Halloran and Sergeant S. Perry to proceed. Id. at 10. 18 The Court recommended claims against Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (“LVMPD”) 19 officers in their official capacities for money damages and Fifth Amendment claims against all 20 LVMPD officers be dismissed with prejudice. Id. at 11. The Court also recommended Plaintiff’s 21 Monell claim against the LVMPD, Fourth Amendment claims against all LVMPD officers except 22 against Perry and O’Halloran, and Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection claims against all 23 LVMPD officers in their individual capacities be dismissed without prejudice and with leave to 24 amend. Id. The Court gave Plaintiff through and including October 21, 2022 to file an amended 25 complaint. Id. On October 7, 2022, Plaintiff filed his Amended Complaint. ECF No. 16. This 26 Court’s recommendations were adopted by the District Judge on October 14, 2022. ECF No. 17. 27 Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint was screened on March 13, 2023. ECF No. 19. The Court 1 Fourth Amendment failure to provide medical care claim against O’Halloran to proceed. Id. at 10. 2 The Court recommended Plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment claim against LVMPD and Fourteenth 3 Amendment Due Process excessive force claim against all LVMPD officers be dismissed with 4 prejudice. Id. at 11. The Court further recommended Plaintiff’s Right to Privacy claim under Article 5 1, Section 18 of the Nevada Constitution against all Defendants be dismissed without prejudice but 6 without leave to amend. Id. at 12. Finally, the Court recommended Plaintiff be permitted to amend 7 the following claims one more time: a Fourth Amendment failure to intercede claim against various 8 LVMPD officers; a Fourteenth Amendment inadequate medical care and due process claim against 9 an unidentified NaphCare nurse; and a Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection against all LVMPD 10 Officers. Id. 11 Plaintiff filed a Second Amended Complaint on April 3, 2023. ECF No. 21. An Answer 12 was filed by O’Halloran and Perry on May 2, 2023. ECF No. 25. On July 6, 2023, the Court issued 13 its third screening order and recommendations (ECF No. 29) again allowing Plaintiff’s Fourth 14 Amendment excessive force claim against Perry and O’Halloran and Fourth Amendment failure to 15 provide medical care claim against O’Halloran to proceed. The Court recommended claims against 16 Clark County, all Defendants in their official capacities, and Fourteenth Amendment Due Process 17 excessive force claim against all LVMPD officers be dismissed with prejudice. Id. at 12. The Court 18 further recommended the following claims be dismissed without prejudice and without leave to 19 amend: the Fourth Amendment failure to provide medical care claim against Perry; the Fourth 20 Amendment excessive force failure to provide medical care and failure to intercede claims against 21 Detectives Alessio and Nahum; the Fourth Amendment failure to intercede claims against Sergeant 22 Ivie and Detectives Beckerle, Faller, Magsaysay, Cortez, Salgado, Moore, Hawkins, Stafford, 23 McGrill, Pappab, and Marin; the Fourteenth Amendment failure to provide medical care claim 24 against Nurse Strumillo; and the Fourteenth Amendment failure to provide medical care claim 25 against NaphCare. Id. at 12-13. The Court’s recommendations were adopted in full on January 12, 26 2024. ECF No. 36. It was at this point the claims asserted by Plaintiff, in his pro se capacity, 27 appeared to be finalized. 1 A discovery plan and scheduling order was entered by the Court on April 15, 2024. ECF 2 No. 39. Discovery in this matter does not close until October 14, 2024, and the last day to file a 3 motion to amend was July 16, 2024. Id. On June 14, 2024, Counsel for Plaintiff, Adam Breeden 4 made his appearance. ECF No. 47. On that same day Mr. Breeden timely filed his Motion for Leave 5 to Amend. ECF No. 53. 6 II. The Parties’ Arguments 7 Plaintiff, through his retained counsel, seeks to file a second (really third) amended complaint 8 to clean up Plaintiff’s prior pro se filings, add two defendants previously dismissed without 9 prejudice, add state law battery and negligence claims, and assert a claim under the Nevada 10 Constitution. ECF No. 53-1. Plaintiff says there are now a total of four defendants—all previously 11 named—and three new claims all of which should be allowed given the liberal amendment standard 12 established under Fed. R. Civ. P. 15. Plaintiff recognizes two of the new defendants were previously 13 dismissed without prejudice and without leave to amend; however, he argues the Court has the 14 inherent authority to modify its interlocutory orders. 15 Defendants argues (1) the Court entered orders dismissing two of the now named defendants 16 without leave to amend, (2) the amendment sought is unduly delayed, and (3) certain claims asserted 17 by Plaintiff are futile under Nevada’s claims notice statute (NRS 41.036(2)). Defendants also 18 contend they will suffer undue prejudice if Plaintiff is permitted to proceed against previously 19 dismissed defendants. 20 In reply, Plaintiff argues that discovery, coupled with the addition of counsel, has allowed 21 him to articulate all his claims more clearly and succinctly. Plaintiff points out that the Motion for 22 Leave to Amend is timely under the discovery plan and scheduling order and no request to extend 23 discovery or motion practice is made. Plaintiff avers that Nevada’s claims notice statute, while 24 applicable to LVMPD (albeit not a condition precedent to filing suit), is not applicable to the 25 individual defendant officers. Finally, Plaintiff takes issue with Defendants’ prejudice argument 26 asserting the proposed amended complaint, although adding causes of action, is based on facts 27 already well known to Defendants and the prior dismissals were without prejudice (albeit also 1 III. Discussion 2 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15 governs the amendment of pleadings. In relevant part, 3 Rule 15(a)(1) allows a party to “amend its pleading once as a matter of course … 21 days after 4 serving it.” If Rule 15(a)(1) does not apply, the party seeking to amend must obtain the opposing 5 party’s written consent or the Court’s leave to file the amended pleading. Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(2). 6 A motion for leave to amend brought under Rule 15(a)(2) should be granted freely “when justice so 7 requires.” If a party seeks court permission to file an amended pleading, the decision whether to 8 grant leave “lies within the sound discretion of” the court. DCD Programs, Ltd. v.

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