Dimas v. County of Quay, NM

730 F. Supp. 373, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1314, 1990 WL 10305
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Mexico
DecidedJanuary 25, 1990
DocketCiv. 88-0924 JP
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 730 F. Supp. 373 (Dimas v. County of Quay, NM) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Mexico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dimas v. County of Quay, NM, 730 F. Supp. 373, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1314, 1990 WL 10305 (D.N.M. 1990).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

PARKER, District Judge.

The subjects of this Opinion and Order are defendants’ Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings brought pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c) and plaintiff’s Motion to Disqualify Defendant’s Counsel. On February 7, 1989, I entered an Order stating that I would treat defendant’s motion for judgment on the pleadings as one for summary judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56. In my February 7th Order, I permitted the parties to conduct limited discovery on the issues pertaining to the motion for summary judgment. Having considered the motions, the memo-randa, and exhibits submitted in conjunction therewith, and having consulted the applicable authorities, I find that defendants’ motion should be granted and plaintiff’s motion should be denied.

This is a civil case arising from the rape of plaintiff by a prisoner two days after he was placed on a work-release program by the defendants. Counts I, II, IV, and V allege that the defendants were negligent with regard to their official duties and caused plaintiff’s injuries. Count III alleges that defendants breached their duty to warn plaintiff and the general public of the prisoner’s allegedly mistaken release and dangerous propensities. Counts VI and VII, based on 42 U.S.C. § 1983, allege a violation of plaintiff’s substantive due process rights and the deprivation of her liberty rights without due process of law. Defendants have moved for summary judgment only on counts VI and VII.

I. Summary Judgment on Counts VI and VII

Summary judgment is an integral part of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure which are intended to “ ‘secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action.’ ” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 327, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2554, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986) (quoting Fed.R. Civ.P. 1). A motion for summary judgment is proper only when “there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). “Where the record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the non-moving party, there is no ‘genuine issue for trial.’ ” Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1356, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986).

For purposes of this analysis, I will take the Plaintiff’s statement of material facts as true. I will assume: that the prisoner, Darrell Ferguson, at the time of his release, had a criminal history consisting of commercial burglary, larceny, residential burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm, assault, battery, and possession of stolen property; that Ferguson had at one time been a fugitive from Roswell, New Mexico, and was con *375 sidered an escape risk; that Defendant Snedeker, the sheriff of Quay County who placed Ferguson on the work release program, never ran a criminal background check on Ferguson prior to granting him a work-release furlough; that before placing Ferguson on furlough, Sheriff Snedeker failed to obtain the necessary approval of Judge Frost, who had sentenced Ferguson to confinement in the Quay County jail; that Sheriff Snedeker placed Ferguson on furlough without any statutory authority and in violation of his own policy of placing only misdemeanor prisoners on the work-release program; that Sheriff Snedeker authorized Ferguson to go to Amarillo, Texas on May 29, 1987; that Ferguson used and dealt drugs while on furlough; and that Ferguson had a previous social relationship with the plaintiff.

However, none of these facts form the basis of a suit against the defendants under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. To state a claim under § 1983, the plaintiff must establish that a person acting under color of state law deprived her of a constitutionally-protected right. Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 150, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 1604, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970). To fulfill the state action requirement, plaintiff attempts to draw a direct line from the state officials’ actions to Darrell Ferguson’s reprehensible criminal conduct in raping plaintiff. Obviously, there is a causal connection between the release of the prisoner by defendants and plaintiff’s injuries. One can state that “but for” defendants’ release of the prisoner, the plaintiff would not have received her injuries on May 31, 1987 because Darrell Ferguson would have been in jail and unable to reach her. However, the United States Supreme Court has stated, “[although a § 1983 claim has been described as ‘a species of tort liability,’ ... it is perfectly clear that not every injury in which a state official has played some part is actionable under that statute.” Martinez v. California, 444 U.S. 277, 285, 100 S.Ct. 553, 559, .62 L.Ed.2d 481, rehearing denied, 445 U.S. 920, 100 S.Ct. 1285, 63 L.Ed.2d 606 (1980). The United States Supreme Court has expressed an unwillingness to find state action where the injuries were at the hand of a third party. See Martinez, supra; DeShaney v. Winnebago County Dept. of Social Services, — U.S. -, 109 S.Ct. 998, 103 L.Ed.2d 249 (1989).

A) THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT CASES

In Martinez, a fifteen year old girl was murdered by a man who had been paroled from prison five months earlier. Id. 444 U.S. at 279-280, 100 S.Ct. at 556. The defendants in Martinez were the state officials responsible for the decision to parole the murderer. Id. at 279, 100 S.Ct. at 556. The Supreme Court found that the state officials had not deprived the victim of life without due process of law. Id. at 285, 100 S.Ct. at 559. “Although the decision to release Thomas from prison was action by the State, the action of Thomas five months later cannot be fairly characterized as state action.” Id. at 284-285, 100 S.Ct. at 559. The Court stated, “[h]e was in no sense an agent of the parole board.... Further, the parole board was not aware that appellants’ decedent, as distinguished from the public at large, faced any special danger.” Id. at 285, 100 S.Ct. at 559.

The Supreme Court recently expanded on the Martinez decision in DeShaney. Petitioner in DeShaney,

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Bluebook (online)
730 F. Supp. 373, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1314, 1990 WL 10305, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dimas-v-county-of-quay-nm-nmd-1990.