D'allo v. Modrijan

CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Washington
DecidedAugust 13, 2024
Docket3:24-cv-05325
StatusUnknown

This text of D'allo v. Modrijan (D'allo v. Modrijan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
D'allo v. Modrijan, (W.D. Wash. 2024).

Opinion

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4 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT TACOMA 7 TIMJAE A. D'ALLO, Case No. 3:24-cv-05325-TMC 8 Plaintiff, ORDER ON REPORT AND 9 RECOMMENDATION v. 10 STEPHANIE MODRIJAN et al., 11 Defendant. 12 13

14 I. INTRODUCTION 15 Pro se Plaintiff Timjae A. D’allo filed this case alleging that state employees supervising 16 his term of community custody with the Washington Department of Corrections violated his 17 constitutional rights. Dkt. 1-1. He also filed a motion to proceed in forma pauperis (“IFP”), 18 asking the Court to waive his filing fee. Dkt. 1. The IFP motion was referred to United States 19 Magistrate Judge David W. Christel, who issued a Report and Recommendation (“R&R”) 20 recommending that the proposed complaint be dismissed for failure to state a claim and the IFP 21 application denied. Dkt. 5. Mr. D’allo filed timely objections to Judge Christel’s R&R. Dkt. 6. 22 Because at least some of the defects in Mr. D’allo’s complaint could be cured by the allegation 23 of other facts, this Court ADOPTS the R&R in part and DECLINES to adopt it in part, 24 DISMISSES Mr. D’allo’s complaint, and GRANTS Mr. D’allo leave to file a proposed amended 1 complaint for his claims of excessive force and wrongful arrest for violations of community 2 custody. 3 II. BACKGROUND Mr. D’allo’s proposed complaint consists of three parts: (1) a handwritten complaint on 4 the Court’s form for pro se civil rights litigants, Dkt. 1-1; (2) an attachment with a narrative 5 description of Mr. D’allo’s claims, Dkt. 1-3 at 1–4; and (3) exhibits that Mr. D’allo contends 6 support the allegations in his complaint, Dkt. 1-3 at 5–105. 7 His complaint form identifies eight defendants he is suing in their individual capacities 8 under 42 U.S.C. § 1983: Probation Supervisor Stephanie Modrijan; Probation Officers Vanessa 9 MacBride, Courtney Durrah, Shelby Lago, Adam Peterson, Cole Madison, and Alberto Baena; 10 and Assistant Attorney General Michelle Young. Dkt. 1-1 at 2–6. He states that the federal 11 constitutional rights that form the basis of his claims are the First, Fourth, Eighth, and Fourteenth 12 Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Id. at 6. In the section of the complaint form that asks the 13 pro se litigant to “state as briefly as possible the facts of your case,” Mr. D’allo explains that the 14 events giving rise to his claim occurred at his Tacoma, Washington probation office, but 15 otherwise writes “please see attached & exhibits.” Dkt. 1-1 at 7. The complaint form provides 16 only four lines for a litigant to explain the facts underlying their claims, but it instructs that they 17 may “attach additional pages if needed,” which is what Mr. D’allo did. See id. 18 In his attached narrative complaint, which is four pages long and contains numbered 19 paragraphs, Mr. D’allo makes the following allegations: 20 21 • Defendants Modrijan, MacBride, and Young made false statements or submitted false documents in a case he filed against them in small claims court, which 22 Mr. D’allo contends violated Washington criminal statutes and the Washington administrative code, and which he claims led to “the dismissal of what was 23 considered a legitimate and not frivolous court action,” Dkt. 1-3 at ¶¶ 4–5, 7, 9; 24 1 • Defendant Modrijan “wrongfully incarcerated the plaintiff multiple times without a legal reason or a violation of any ratified conditions. Plaintiff was arrested and 2 held in jail for days for allegedly failing a polygraph examiner’s question.” Id. ¶ 6. 3 • Defendants Madison, Baena, Peterson, and Lago “collaboratively engaged in the 4 excessive force against the plaintiff. The plaintiff had blood in the face, a swollen eye, and permanent scarring.” Id. ¶ 10. 5 • Defendant Modrijan imposed “unratified probationary conditions” on plaintiff which Mr. D’allo alleges were not authorized by his state sentence. Id. ¶ 11. 6 • Defendant Modrijan “violated the plaintiff’s due process rights by ordering the 7 plaintiff’s detainment and confinement without notice for probable cause. The plaintiff was also deprived of his constitutional right to question his accuser or 8 even be notified of the reason for confinement.” Id. ¶ 13. 9 • Defendants Modrijan and MacBride violated his due process rights by forcing him to take a polygraph examination, denying him his regular heart and blood 10 pressure medication before the exam, and causing him to be wrongfully incarcerated after the exam. Id. ¶¶ 14–20. 11 • Defendants Modrijan and MacBride violated his Eighth Amendment rights by 12 ordering him to make a 528-mile, 11-hour round-trip drive to Benton County for a court appearance “without stopping for any reason, including food, gas, or 13 restroom stops.” Id. ¶ 23. 14 • Defendants Modrijan and MacBride violated his Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights by imposing “arbitrary probation conditions upon the plaintiff 15 that were unrelated to the plaintiff’s offense” and were not allowed by his sentence, and “incarcerating the plaintiff on those same illegal stipulations.” Id. 16 ¶ 23. 17 • Defendant Durrah violated Mr. D’allo’s First Amendment rights by issuing orders prohibiting him from attending church. Id. ¶ 26. 18 Most of Mr. D’allo’s allegations state the identity of each defendant who harmed him, 19 when the harm occurred, and why he believes it violated his constitutional rights. He then 20 attaches 100 pages of exhibits that he contends support his allegations, which he refers to by 21 number in the narrative portion of his complaint. Although some of his exhibits have poor image 22 quality and are difficult to discern, his complaint overall is coherent, easy to understand, and 23 gives fair notice of why he is suing each defendant. 24 1 On May 22, 2024, the Magistrate Judge recommended that Mr. D’allo’s complaint be 2 dismissed sua sponte for failure to state a claim and that the Court deny leave to amend. Dkt. 5. 3 The Magistrate Judge recommended this Court find that:

4 • Mr. D’allo’s complaint violates Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8’s requirement that a complaint contain “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the 5 pleader is entitled to relief,” Dkt. 5 at 3; 6 • Mr. D’allo failed to allege sufficient facts to support his claims, id.; 7 • Mr. D’allo should be denied leave to amend because he previously alleged similar claims in another lawsuit that was dismissed by this Court, id. at 4. 8 Mr. D’allo filed timely objections, arguing that the Magistrate Judge failed to consider 9 his allegations and exhibits related to his probation conditions, the order that he drive 528 miles 10 without stopping for gas or restroom breaks, his allegations of excessive force, and his 11 allegations of “perjury” committed by some defendants. Dkt. 6. 12 III. LEGAL STANDARDS 13 A. De Novo Review of R&R 14 When a Magistrate Judge makes proposed findings and recommendations, the District 15 Judge “shall make a de novo determination of those portions of the report or specified proposed 16 findings or recommendations to which objection is made. A judge of the court may accept, 17 reject, or modify, in whole or in part, the findings or recommendations made by the magistrate 18 judge.” 28 U.S.C. 636(b)(1)(C); see also Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 72(b)(3); United States 19 v. Reyna-Tapia, 328 F.3d 1114, 1121 (9th Cir. 2003). 20 B.

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D'allo v. Modrijan, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dallo-v-modrijan-wawd-2024.