Bryan v. City of Dallas

188 F. Supp. 3d 611, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66396, 2016 WL 2937524
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedMay 20, 2016
DocketCIVIL ACTION NO. 3:15-CV-2616-B
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 188 F. Supp. 3d 611 (Bryan v. City of Dallas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bryan v. City of Dallas, 188 F. Supp. 3d 611, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66396, 2016 WL 2937524 (N.D. Tex. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

JANE J. BOYLE, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Before the Court is Defendant City of Dallas’s Rule 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 12). For the following reasons, the Court GRANTS Defendants motion and DISMISSES the claims in Plaintiffs’ First Amended Complaint (Doc. 10) without prejudice.

I.

BACKGROUND1

This is a civil rights case brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, where Plaintiffs Lynda Bryan and Virgil Gunter seek damages from Defendant City of Dallas (the City) for allegedly depriving them of their constitutional rights.

According to Plaintiffs, on August 10, 2013, Lynda Bryan (Bryan) and her grandfather, Virgil Gunter (Gunter), were violently attacked in the South Dallas/Fair Park neighborhood of Dallas, Texas.- Doc. 10, Am. Compl. ¶ 6. At 2:06:12 p.m., Gun-ter called 911 and spoke with Priscilla Guerra, who, according to Plaintiffs, could hear yelling and crying in the background. Id. ¶ 7.. Gunter and Guerra spoke for three minutes, until the call ended at 2:09:40 p.m. Id. At some point thereafter, Bryan [614]*614and “the ‘mail man’ ” made additional calls to 911, and operators told each that help was on the way. Id. ¶¶7, 9d. The City failed to dispatch emergency assistance until 2:18:13 p.m., however, about twelve minutes after Gunter’s initial call. Id. Plaintiffs allege that this was not a prompt response, given that 911 generally responds to critical calls within six minutes but here took twelve before even dispatching assistance.2 Id. ¶ 9a. They say this tardiness caused them to suffer further harm. Id. ¶ 8.

Plaintiffs now sue the City of Dallas, alleging it is subject to municipal liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (section 1983) for: (1) violating then* constitutional rights to due process and equal protection based on race, gender, and socioeconomic status, id. ¶¶ 10a, 16; (2) violating their constitutional right to equal protection based upon their membership in a “class of one,” id. ¶ 16, and (3) failing to adequately train and supervise its employees. Id. ¶¶ 10b, 16.

The City has moved to dismiss each of Plaintiffs’ claims, arguing that (la) their section 1983 due process claim fails because Plaintiffs failed to allege a “special relationship” with the City, as required by law, and that (lb) their section 1983 equal protection based on race, gender, and socioeconomic status claim fails because they failed to plead facts demonstrating an official municipal policy existed and, even if they had, they failed to plead facts demonstrating the policy “was the ‘moving force’ and actual cause of a deprivation of their constitutional right to equal protection,” Doc. 12, Mot. to Dismiss 7-8, 11; (2) their section 1983 “class of one” claim should be dismissed because they failed to plead facts demonstrating the personal animus required in police discrimination cases was present, id. at 17-18; and (3) their section 1983 failure to train claim should be dismissed because their allegations are con-clusory and insufficient to support an inference of liability. Id. at 18-19.

Plaintiffs have since responded to Defendant’s motion. Doc. 15, Pis.’ Resp. The time for the City’s reply having passed, the Court now reviews the Motion.

II.

LEGAL STANDARD

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) authorizes a court to dismiss a plaintiffs complaint for “failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). In considering a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, “[t]he court accepts all well-pleaded facts as true, viewing them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff.” In re Katrina Canal Breaches Litig., 495 F.3d 191, 205 (5th Cir. 2007) (quoting Martin K. Eby Constr. Co. v. Dall. Area Rapid Transit, 369 F.3d 464, 467 (5th Cir. 2004)). The Court will “not look beyond the face of the pleadings to determine whether relief should be granted based on the alleged facts.” Spivey v. Robertson, 197 F.3d 772, 774 (5th Cir. 1999).

To survive a motion to dismiss, a plaintiff must plead “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). “Threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plain[615]*615tiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id. “The plausibility standard is not akin to a ‘probability requirement,’ but it asks for more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully.” Id. When well-pleaded facts fail to achieve this plausibility standard, “the complaint has alleged—but it has not shown—that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Id. at 679, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (internal quotation marks and alterations omitted).

III.

ANALYSIS

Plaintiffs allege that the City is subject to municipal liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for: (la) violating their constitutional right to due process by “fail[ing] to provide constitutionally adequate protection and assistance to [them] during their pleas for assistance,” Doc. 10, Am. Compl. ¶ 10, and (lb) violating their constitutional right to equal protection based on race, gender, and socioeconomic status by maintaining a policy, practice, and custom to delay and/or fail to provide assistance to victims who suffered domestic violence, are racial minorities, and/or were attacked in socioeconomically deprived areas, id. ¶¶ 10a, 16; (2) violating their constitutional right to equal protection based upon their membership in a “class of one,” id. ¶ 16; and (3) failing to adequately train and supervise its employees by “failing] to properly train or discipline [them] regarding responding to [911] calls and conducting an investigation of calls.” Id. IflflOb, 16. Plaintiffs allege all of these failures caused the City to fail to promptly dispatch emergency assistance, which in turn caused them to suffer further harm at the hands of their attacker. Id. ¶ 8. Accordingly, Plaintiffs seek to hold the City liable under section 1983 on all three of the above claims.

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Bluebook (online)
188 F. Supp. 3d 611, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66396, 2016 WL 2937524, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bryan-v-city-of-dallas-txnd-2016.