Carrillo v. Pima Community College District

CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedMarch 11, 2025
Docket4:25-cv-00034
StatusUnknown

This text of Carrillo v. Pima Community College District (Carrillo v. Pima Community College District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carrillo v. Pima Community College District, (D. Ariz. 2025).

Opinion

1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 8 9 Carlos Mejorado Carrillo, ) 10 ) Plaintiff, ) 11 ) No. CIV 25-034-TUC-CKJ vs. ) 12 ) ORDER Pima Community College District, ) 13 ) Defendant. ) 14 ) 15 Pending before the Court is the Motion for Leave to File First Amended Complaint 16 ("FAC") (Doc. 8) filed by Plaintiff Carlos Mejorado Carrillo "(Carrillo") on February 18, 17 2025. As the Court granted Carrillo leave to amend his Complaint in its February 14, 2025, 18 Order, the Court will grant the motion. Carrillo has also filed a Notice of Judicial Action 19 Request (Doc. 13) on February 24, 2025. 20 21 I. Notice of Judicial Action Request (Doc. 13) 22 Carrillo asserts Defendant Pima Community College District ("PCCD") has waived 23 service of summons, with an April 22, 2025, deadline to respond to the Complaint. Carrillo 24 requests the Court issue an expedited ruling to: 25 • Clarify which complaint is controlling and prevent unnecessary filings. 26 • Avoid overlapping litigation issues between the original complaint and the amended complaint. 27 • Ensure judicial economy by allowing the parties to proceed under the 28 operative pleading. 1 Notice (Doc. 13, p. 2). 2 The Court's February 14, 2025, dismissed Carrillo's Complaint and claims. As the 3 Complaint and claims were dismissed, it has no further bearing in this case. Further, the 4 Court must also determine if the Amended Complaint "(i) is frivolous or malicious; (ii) fails 5 to state a claim on which relief may be granted; or (iii) seeks monetary relief against a 6 defendant who is immune from such relief." 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B). In other words, 7 the Amended Complaint has no effect in this case until the Court completes its screening 8 of the Amended Complaint. The Court will screen Carrillo's Amended Complaint herein. 9 As the Court previously discussed the requirements of a complaint and to state a claim upon 10 which relief can be granted, the Court will not repeat those principles herein. See Feb. 14, 11 2025 Order. 12 13 II. Carrillo's Amended Complaint 14 The Amended Complaint ("Am. Comp.") alleges a police report contained 15 misleading and graphic allegations from a Title IX investigation that implied Carrillo was 16 still under criminal scrutiny, despite the case having been dismissed. PCCD provided a 17 copy of this police report to Northland Pioneer College ("NPC") on June 7, 2023. Carrillo 18 alleged PCC knew the information "was outdated, false, and harmful, yet failed to issue any 19 correction." Am. Comp. (Doc. 8, ECF p. 9 of 13). 20 On July 16, 2024, Highland Community College ("HCC") alerted Carrillo of a 21 Facebook post that falsely stated Carrillo was terminated for Title IX sexual harassment of 22 students and staff.1 The Am. Comp. states, "While the Facebook post did not mention rape 23 allegations, subpoenaed evidence later confirmed that the complainant's father . . . was 24 falsely spreading statements that [Carrillo] had raped his daughter and another woman and 25 26 1Although not stated in the Am. Complaint, it appears Carrillo was employed by HCC from July 1, 2024, through August 29, 2024. Application for IFP (Doc. 2, p. 2); see also 27 HCC May 16, 2024, Announcement, https://highlandcc.edu/pages/whats-new/hcc-hires- 28 drcarlos- mejorado-carrillo-as-vice-president-for-academic-affairs (last access 3/5/2025). 1 had been arrested." Id. Carrillo alleges this "defamatory campaign was directly fueled by 2 [PCCD's] release of misleading records and its refusal to intervene." Id. 3 The Am. Comp. alleges a PCCD employee and a complainant used a personal gmail 4 account to share confidential Title IX records with her father.2 The father used the records 5 to spread false allegations, including claims of sexual misconduct and fabricated arrest 6 records, against Carrillo. 7 Carrillo alleges PCCD was aware of the unauthorized disclosures but took no action 8 to prevent or mitigate their impact. In response to Carrillo's repeatedly requests of PCCD 9 to correct the record and prevent further defamation, PCCD responded such information was 10 public record and refused to take corrective action. 11 Carrillo's Am. Comp. asserts claims of Title IX Retaliation, First Amendment 12 Retaliation, Civil Right Retaliation and Contract Interference pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1981, 13 and violations of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act ("FERPA"). 14 Carrillo seeks compensatory and punitive damages and an injunction ordering PCCD 15 to correct false records. 16 17 III. Retaliation under Title IX (20 U.S.C. § 1681) 18 The Court previously advised Carrillo that, to state a "claim of retaliation under Title 19 IX, a plaintiff must allege that (1) the plaintiff participated in a protected activity, (2) the 20 plaintiff suffered an adverse action, and (3) there was a causal link between the protected 21 activity and the adverse action. Grabowski v. Arizona Bd. of Regents, 69 F.4th 1110, 1121 22 (9th Cir. 2023), citing Emeldi v. Univ. of Or., 673 F.3d 1218, 1223 (9th Cir. 2012), as 23 amended, 698 F.3d 715, 725-26 (9th Cir. 2012). 24 The Court recognizes the Am. Comp. alleges Carrillo's career and professional 25 reputation were severely damaged. The Court declines to address whether this is a sufficient 26 adverse action without possible future briefing between the parties should Carrillo's claims 27 28 2The implication is the employee was the Title IX complainant. 1 be actionable. For purposes of this Order, the Court accepts the implication Carrillo 2 suffered an adverse action as to Carrillo's retaliation claims. See e.g. Ollier v. Sweetwater 3 Union High Sch. Dist., 768 F.3d 843, 868 (9th Cir. 2014) ("the adverse action element is 4 present when 'a reasonable [person] would have found the challenged action materially 5 adverse . . .'"), citations omitted. 6 However, Carrillo has again not alleged any facts as to in what type of protected 7 activity he participated or a causal link to any adverse action. The Court finds Carrillo has 8 failed to state a Title IX Retaliation claim upon which relief may be granted. The Court will 9 dismiss this claim with leave to amend. 10 11 IV. First Amendment Retaliation 12 To state a First Amendment retaliation claim, a plaintiff must allege he "was engaged 13 in constitutionally protected activity," defendant's actions caused plaintiff "to suffer an 14 injury that would chill a person of ordinary firmness from continuing to engage in that 15 activity," and "defendant's adverse action was substantially motivated as a response to 16 plaintiff's exercise of constitutionally protected conduct." Knapps v. City of Oakland, 647 17 F. Supp. 2d 1129, 1160–61 (N.D. Cal. 2009), amended in part, No. C 05-02935 MEJ, 2009 18 WL 10736653 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 8, 2009), quoting Mendocino Environmental Center v. 19 Mendocino County, 192 F.3d 1283, 1300–01 (9th Cir.1999). 20 Again, Carrillo has not alleged any facts as to in what type of protected activity he 21 participated or a causal link to any adverse action. The Court finds Carrillo has failed to 22 state a First Amendment Retaliation claim upon which relief may be granted. The Court 23 will dismiss this claim with leave to amend.

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Bluebook (online)
Carrillo v. Pima Community College District, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carrillo-v-pima-community-college-district-azd-2025.