D.H. ex rel. Dawson v. Clayton County School District

904 F. Supp. 2d 1301, 2012 WL 5834744, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 165180
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedNovember 16, 2012
DocketCivil Action No. 1:12-CV-00478-AT
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 904 F. Supp. 2d 1301 (D.H. ex rel. Dawson v. Clayton County School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
D.H. ex rel. Dawson v. Clayton County School District, 904 F. Supp. 2d 1301, 2012 WL 5834744, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 165180 (N.D. Ga. 2012).

Opinion

ORDER

AMY TOTENBERG, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on Defendants Clayton County School District (“CCSD” or “the District”) and Kemuel Kimbrough’s motions to dismiss [Doc. 23, 17]. Plaintiff files this suit seeking relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging the Defendants violated his constitutional rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. Plaintiff also files suit for violations of his constitutional rights under the Constitution of Georgia. See Ga. Const, art I, § 1, paras. 13,17; Id. art I, § 1, para. 1. Defendants move for dismissal, arguing that Plaintiff has failed to plead facts sufficient to support his asserted claims against them.

I. STANDARD FOR MOTION TO DISMISS

This Court may dismiss a pleading for “failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). A pleading fails to state a claim if it does not contain allegations that support recovery under any recognizable legal theory. 5 Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice & Procedure § 1216 (3d ed. 2002); see also Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). In considering a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, the Court construes the pleading in the nonmovant’s favor and accepts the allegations [1304]*1304of facts therein as true. See Duke v. Cleland, 5 F.3d 1399, 1402 (11th Cir.1993). The pleader need not have provided “detailed factual allegations” to survive dismissal, but the “obligation to provide the ‘grounds’ of his ‘entitle[ment] to relief requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). In essence, the pleading “must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ ” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955).

II. BACKGROUND1

This case involves the constitutionality of a strip search conducted by school officials on a seventh grade boy in the presence of other students as well as adults. On February 8, 2011, school officials at Eddie White Academy suspected three students (R.C., D.V., and T.D.) of possessing marijuana on campus and strip searched each one. (Compl. ¶ 7.) When they found no contraband, R.C. falsely told School Resource Officer Redding that the plaintiff, D.H., and another student had marijuana. (Id. ¶ 8.)

After strip searching the other student, the school officials called D.H. into the vice principal’s office, where School Resource Officer Redding, Vice Principal McDowell, and the three original suspected students were present. (Id. ¶ 9.) The school officials searched D.H.’s pockets and book bag, but did not find any marijuana. (Id. ¶ 10.) Mr. Collier then recanted his accusation that D.H. had marijuana, but Officer Redding continued the search anyway. (Id. ¶¶ 11,12.)

Vice Principal McDowell and Officer Redding proceeded with the strip search of D.H. (Id. ¶ 15.) They refused D.H.’s request that they conduct the strip search privately in the bathroom away from the other students. The school also did not contact D.H.’s family before conducting the strip search. (Id. ¶¶ 13, 14.) Plaintiff was required to take off all of his clothes— leaving him completely nude in front of Vice Principal McDowell, Officer Redding, and the other three students. (Id. ¶ 15.) School officials found no contraband. (Id.)

Before this incident, CCSD had conducted strip searches later found to be unconstitutional. (Id. ¶ 20.) Specifically, in Thomas ex rel. Thomas v. Roberts, 261 F.3d 1160 (11th Cir.2001), vacated 536 U.S. 953, 953, 122 S.Ct. 2653, 153 L.Ed.2d 829 (2002), reinstated 323 F.3d 950, 952 (11th Cir.2003), a group of schoolchildren sued CCSD, alleging they were subjected to unconstitutional strip searches. Id. at 1162. The Eleventh Circuit in Thomas affirmed the district court’s holding that the searches were indeed unconstitutional. Id. at 1163. Since that time, CCSD officials and Police Chief Kimbrough allegedly failed to develop any new policies or procedures that instruct school officials on the kinds of searches they may conduct, (id. ¶¶ 22, 24-26), and failed to implement any training of staff on constitutional requirements for conducting searches. (Id.)

III. ANALYSIS

A. Defendant Clayton County School District’s Motion to Dismiss

CCSD argues that Plaintiffs claims against it should be dismissed for failure to allege facts sufficient to support a constitu[1305]*1305tional cause of action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. CCSD argues that Plaintiff has not pled sufficient facts to establish the school district’s liability for failure to train its officials to conduct searches in conformity with students’ constitutional rights.2 (Def. CCSD’s Mot. Dismiss at 7.) Similarly, they argue that Plaintiff fails to allege facts sufficient to establish liability against the District based on a final decision-maker analysis. (Id. at 11.). Consequently, CCSD urges the Court to decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Plaintiffs remaining state claims. (Id. at 15.)

Plaintiff argues that he has pled sufficient facts to establish CCSD’s liability. Plaintiff contends that the District and Chief Kimbrough failed to provide training to employees with responsibilities for conducting searches within the school, and strip searches in particular, consistent with constitutional requirements, although they were aware that these employees would regularly face situations requiring student searches and that strip searches would violate students’ constitutional rights absent extraordinary circumstances. (Compl., ¶¶ 12, 24-26; Reply Br. at 5-11.) Further, Plaintiff argues that CCSD is liable because of the acts of Chief Kimbrough as a final decision-maker (Compl. ¶ 25). It also argues that Vice Principal McDowell acted as the final decision-maker on behalf of the District in determining to conduct the strip search as he maintained total discretion in executing the search and did not contravene any district policies in allowing the search to go forward. (Reply Br. at 12.)

1. Theory of Liability for Failure to Train

In order to give rise to liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983

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Related

Williams ex rel. Williams v. Fulton County School District
181 F. Supp. 3d 1089 (N.D. Georgia, 2016)
D.H. v. Clayton County School District
52 F. Supp. 3d 1261 (N.D. Georgia, 2014)

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Bluebook (online)
904 F. Supp. 2d 1301, 2012 WL 5834744, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 165180, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dh-ex-rel-dawson-v-clayton-county-school-district-gand-2012.