DeChenne v. City of Spokane

• Court: District Court, E.D. Washington
• Decided: April 11, 2025
• Docket: 2:25-cv-00050
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 FILED IN THE U.S. DISTRICT COURT 2 EASTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON Apr 11, 2025 3 SEAN F. MCAVOY, CLERK 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 9

10 LOGAN D. DECHENNE, NO. 2:25-CV-0050-TOR 11 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ 12 v. MOTIONS TO DISMISS

13 CITY OF SPOKANE, TAMI M. CHAVEZ, AND CONNOR 14 TANGEMAN,

15 Defendants. 16

17 BEFORE THE COURT are Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss. ECF Nos. 4 18 and 6. This matter was submitted for consideration without oral argument. The 19 Court has reviewed the record and files herein and is fully informed. For the 20 reasons discussed below, Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss are GRANTED. 1 BACKGROUND 2 Plaintiff’s Complaint alleges violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for seizing

3 Plaintiff’s Glock 19 pistol, violation of Plaintiff’s Second Amendment right to bear 4 arms, and denying him a hearing or opportunity to contest the seizure. See ECF 5 No. 1.

6 Defendants seek dismissal because the Spokane County Superior Court 7 Commissioner Chavez signed an order for the seizure of Plaintiff’s firearm as part 8 of a Temporary Protection Order and Hearing Notice and an Order to Surrender 9 and Prohibit Weapons against Plaintiff.

10 DISCUSSION 11 Defendants move to dismiss Plaintiff’s complaint for failure to state a claim 12 pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). A motion to dismiss for failure to state a

13 claim “tests the legal sufficiency” of the plaintiff’s claims. Navarro v. Block, 250 14 F.3d 729, 732 (9th Cir. 2001). To withstand dismissal, a complaint must contain 15 “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Bell Atl. Corp. 16 v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007). “A claim has facial plausibility when the

17 plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable 18 inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Ashcroft v. 19 Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (citation omitted). This requires the plaintiff to

20 provide “more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the 1 elements.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555. While a plaintiff need not establish a 2 probability of success on the merits, he or she must demonstrate “more than a sheer

3 possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. 4 When analyzing whether a claim has been stated, the Court may consider the 5 “complaint, materials incorporated into the complaint by reference, and matters of

6 which the court may take judicial notice.” Metzler Inv. GMBH v. Corinthian 7 Colleges, Inc., 540 F.3d 1049, 1061 (9th Cir. 2008) (citing Tellabs, Inc. v. Makor 8 Issues & Rights, Ltd., 551 U.S. 308, 322 (2007)). A complaint must contain “a 9 short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.”

10 Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). A plaintiff’s “allegations of material fact are taken as true 11 and construed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff[,]” however “conclusory 12 allegations of law and unwarranted inferences are insufficient to defeat a motion to

13 dismiss for failure to state a claim.” In re Stac Elecs. Sec. Litig., 89 F.3d 1399, 14 1403 (9th Cir. 1996) (citation and brackets omitted). 15 In assessing whether Rule 8(a)(2) has been satisfied, a court must first 16 identify the elements of the plaintiff’s claim(s) and then determine whether those

17 elements could be proven on the facts pled. The court may disregard allegations 18 that are contradicted by matters properly subject to judicial notice or by exhibit. 19 Sprewell v. Golden State Warriors, 266 F.3d 979, 988 (9th Cir. 2001). The court

20 1 may also disregard conclusory allegations and arguments which are not supported 2 by reasonable deductions and inferences. Id.

3 The Court “does not require detailed factual allegations, but it demands 4 more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation.” Iqbal, 5 556 U.S. at 662. “To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain

6 sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible 7 on its face.’” Id. at 678 (citation omitted). A claim may be dismissed only if “it 8 appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his 9 claim which would entitle him to relief.” Navarro, 250 F.3d at 732.

10 Commissioner Chavez issued a Temporary Protection Order and an Order to 11 Surrender and Prohibit Weapons against Plaintiff. Commissioner Chavez has 12 absolute judicial immunity for performing her role as a judge. Taggart v. State,

13 118 Wn.2d 195, 203 (1992); Pierson v. Ray, 386 U.S. 547 (1967). 14 Officer Tangeman’s conduct did not violate Plaintiff’s constitutional rights. 15 Officer Tangeman role in this matter arose from his mandatory duty to take 16 Plaintiff’s firearm pursuant to the Order of the Spokane County Superior Court,

17 and therefore he is entitled to quasi-judicial immunity from Plaintiff’s claims. 18 Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 201 (2001); Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223, 236 19 (2009). The City of Spokane only operated through Commissioner Chavez and

20 Officer Tangeman who are both immune from suit. So, the City of Spokane is also immune from this suit. 3|| ACCORDINGLY, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED: 4 Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss, ECF Nos. 4 and 6, are GRANTED. 5 This case is DISMISSED with Prejudice. 6 The District Court Executive is directed to enter this Order, furnish copies to 7\| counsel, enter Judgment for Defendants, and CLOSE the file. 8 DATED April 11, 2025. | tm 0: Sa gp TO, 0 ee 10 On KES THOMAS O. RICE <> United States District Judge 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20