Bergman v. Moto

Opinion

HONORABLE RICHARD A. JONES 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 9 AT SEATTLE 10 SIGNE BERGMAN, 11 . CASE NO. 22-cv-00161-RAJ Plaintiff, 12 ORDER GRANTING 3 v. PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO DISMISS 14 IVAN MOTO, 15 Defendants. 16 17 I. INTRODUCTION 18 This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiff's Motion to Dismiss. Dkt. #23. 19 || For the reasons below, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs Motion. 20 II. DISCUSSION 21 Plaintiff brings tort claims against Defendant for assault and battery. See Dkt. # 1. 22 || Defendant has counterclaimed for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional 23 || distress. Dkt. # 22. Specifically, Defendant alleges that Plaintiffs “extreme and 24 | outrageous conduct” consisting of falsely reporting sexual assault to the police inflicted 25 || emotional distress. Defendant also sues for defamation. Plaintiff moves for dismissal for 26 || failure to state a claim. 27 Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) permits a court to dismiss a complaint for failure to state a

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO DISMISS- 1

1 || claim. The rule requires the court to assume the truth of the complaint’s factual 2 || allegations and credit all reasonable inferences arising from those allegations. Sanders v. 3 || Brown, 504 F.3d 903, 910 (9th Cir. 2007). A court “need not accept as true conclusory 4 || allegations that are contradicted by documents referred to in the complaint.” Manzarek v. 5 || St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 519 F.3d 1025, 1031 (9th Cir. 2008). The plaintiff must 6 || point to factual allegations that “state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Bell 7 || Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 568 (2007). If the plaintiff succeeds, the complaint 8 || avoids dismissal if there is “any set of facts consistent with the allegations in the 9 | complaint” that would entitle the plaintiff to relief. Id. at 563; Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 10 || 662, 679 (2009). 11 A court typically cannot consider evidence beyond the four corners of the 12 | complaint, although it may rely on a document to which the complaint refers if the 13 || document is central to the party’s claims and its authenticity is not in question. Marder v. 14 || Lopez, 450 F.3d 445, 448 (9th Cir. 2006). A court may also consider evidence subject to 15 || judicial notice. United States v. Ritchie, 342 F.3d 903, 908 (9th Cir. 2003). 16 A. Defamation 17 The elements of a cause of action for defamation in Washington are (1) a false 18 || statement; (2) lack of privilege; (3) fault; and (4) damages. Herron v. KING Broadcasting 19 | Co., 112 Wash.2d 762, 768, 776 P.2d 98 (1989). Here, the allegations of defamation are 20 || largely conclusory, namely that Plaintiff made false statements that the Defendant abused 21 || and assaulted her to police. Dkt. # 22 at 7. 22 Under RCW 4.24.510, a person who communicates a complaint or information to 23 || any branch of government is immune from civil liability for claims based on the 24 || communication. Washington state and federal courts have affirmed that the statute 25 || provides immunity when persons report information to the police. DiBiasi v. Starbucks 26 || Corp., No. 10-35213, 414 Fed. Appx. 948 (Mem) (9th Cir. 2011) (employee complaint to 27 || police regarding customer behavior was a matter of concern to the police); Cornu-Labat

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1 | v. Merred, No. 13-35158, 580 Fed. Appx. 557 (Mem) (9th Cir. 2014) (call to law 2 || enforcement was protected from liability). 3 Further, even if Defendant had shown a defamation claim, he alleges only 4 || conclusory allegations related to his damages. He fails to provide any specific facts to 5 || show that any entity took adverse action against him because of the alleged false 6 || statement. As such, Plaintiff fails to allege facts sufficient to meet the damages element 7 || of a defamation claim. As requested, the Court permits leave to file a counterclaim for 8 || abuse of process. Dkt. # 25 at 5. 9 B. Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress 10 To prove outrage or intentional infliction of emotional distress, a complainant 11 || must establish the following elements: (1) extreme and outrageous conduct, (2) 12 || intentional or reckless infliction of emotional distress, and (3) the actual result of severe 13 || emotional distress to the plaintiff. Kloepfel v. Bokor, 149 Wn.2d 192, 195, 66 P.3d 630 14 | (2003). 15 The Court will also dismiss this claim. Washington courts have stated that seeking 16 || legal process, even with malicious intent, was not “so outrageous in character, [and] so 17 || extreme in degree, as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency,” and thus fails to 18 || claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Saldviar v. Momah, 145 Wash.App. 19 | 365, 390 (2008) (filing suit alleging sexual abuse by a physician, even under false 20 | pretenses, did not state claim for outrage). Accordingly, Defendant fails to state a claim 21 || for intentional infliction of emotional distress. 22 Il. CONCLUSION 23 For the reasons above, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff's Motion to Dismiss. 24 || Defendant may file a First Amended Counterclaim within fourteen (14) days of the entry 25 || of this Order. 26 27

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1 Dated this 13%, of June, 2023.

e Honorable Richard 4. Jones 5 United States District Judge 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO DISMISS- 4