Doe v. Hagee

473 F. Supp. 2d 989, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5905, 2007 WL 127990
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedJanuary 12, 2007
DocketC 06-1777 MHP
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 473 F. Supp. 2d 989 (Doe v. Hagee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Doe v. Hagee, 473 F. Supp. 2d 989, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5905, 2007 WL 127990 (N.D. Cal. 2007).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

Re: Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss

PATEL, District Judge.

On March 8, 2006 plaintiffs Jane Doe and Mary Roe filed a complaint for injunc-tive relief and damages against defendants General Michael Hagee, Commandant of the United States Marine Corps; the United States Marine Corps; Donald Winter, Secretary of the Navy; Department of the Navy; Sergeant Brian Fukushima and Staff Sergeant Joseph Dunzweiler alleging that defendants violated plaintiffs’ right to bodily integrity under the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Plaintiffs also allege claims sounding in tort under the Federal Tort Claims Act. On July 21, 2006 plaintiffs filed an amended complaint and have subsequently filed a second amended complaint. 1 Now before the court is defendants’ motion to dismiss under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1), for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, and Rule 12(b) (6), for failure to state a claim, or in the alternative, under Rule 12(e), for a more definite statement and Rule 12(b)(5) for insufficient service of process. Having considered the parties’ arguments and submissions, and for the reasons set forth below, the court enters the following memorandum and order.

BACKGROUND

At the time of the incidents giving rise to this litigation, plaintiffs Jane Doe and Mary Roe were seventeen-year-old high school students seeking to enlist in the Marine Corps. In Fall 2004 Doe, a resident of Ukiah, California, went to the Santa Rosa recruiting office to inquire about becoming a Marine. A staff member in the Santa Rosa office referred her to defendant Joseph Dunzweiler in the Ukiah office. In late fall of 2004 Doe met with Dunzweiler at the Ukiah recruiting office. Plaintiffs allege that Dunzweiler cultivated an inappropriate, intimate relationship with Doe after this initial meeting. According to plaintiffs’ allegations, Dunzweiler pursued a sexual relationship with Doe by asking her on dates, sending her sexual emails and telling her that he would eventually get her alone. Doe contends Dunz- *993 weiler repeatedly insisted that she have sex with him, telling her on multiple occasions that she must have sex with him in order to join the Marine Corps. In January 2005 Dunzweiler took Doe into the back room of the Ukiah recruiting office and had sex with her. Doe alleges that she did not want to have sex with Dunz-weiler but did so because she believed she had to comply to join the Marines. In February 2005 Doe and a friend who is not named in this action went to the recruiting office and had dinner with Dunzweiler and another Marine. After dinner, Doe, her friend and Dunzweiler returned to the office. Dunzweiler instructed Doe’s friend to type up some papers, then called Doe into the restroom where he again allegedly coerced Doe into sexual intercourse. As a result of these two sexual encounters, Doe claims she acquired a sexually transmitted disease.

Approximately two weeks after the second alleged sexual assault, Dunzweiler communicated to Doe that she had to sleep at the Ukiah recruiting office before attending a recruiting function the next day in Santa Rosa. When Doe refused, Dunz-weiler instructed her that if she wanted to be a Marine, she needed to report to the recruiting office by midnight and sleep there. Doe went to the office with a friend who is not named in this action and plaintiff Roe. Other Marine Corps members, including defendant Fukushima, were also in attendance. According to Doe, Dunz-weiler insisted that she sleep with him in his sleeping bag; when she refused, he berated her. Doe claims that Dunzweiler pressured her into having intercourse with him again.

Doe alleges that other Marines present were aware of Dunzweiler’s intentions and his previous sexual encounters with Doe. Furthermore, while Dunzweiler was having sex with Doe, defendant Fukushima and another Marine allegedly were having sex with other high school female recruits at the recruiting office. Plaintiff Roe alleges that when she arrived at the “sleepover,” she was in an extremely intoxicated state and vomited on herself soon after arriving. Roe further claims that Fuku-shima forcibly raped her and that her intoxicated condition prevented her from resisting. Roe claims that other Marines were also present while she was being raped and were aware of what was occurring. Roe further claims that the other officers present were aware of Fukushi-ma’s alleged history of sexual misconduct with recruits at the Ukiah recruiting office and other locations.

Based on these allegations, plaintiffs seek injunctive relief to prevent defendants Hagee, Winter, the United States Marine Corps and the Department of the Navy from violating plaintiffs’ constitutional rights in the future. Plaintiffs also seek to require those defendants to properly train and supervise U.S. Marine Corps recruiters and servicemembers. Plaintiffs claim they seek to enlist in the Marines and participate in further recruitment activities and therefore need the protection of an injunction. Plaintiffs also seek monetary damages for pain and suffering, compensation of medical expenses, lost career and employment opportunities and attorney’s fees and costs.

Defendants filed a motion to dismiss plaintiffs’ claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Jurisdiction is improper over plaintiffs’ claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”), 28 U.S.C. sections 2671-80, on the basis that the United States is the only proper defendant in an FTCA action. They also argue that plaintiffs have failed to execute proper service of process. Defendants contend that the plaintiffs’ claims under the Administrative Procedures Act (“APA”), 5 U.S.C. section 701 are moot because the defendants Fu- *994 kushima and Dunzweiler have been discharged and no longer present a threat to plaintiffs and because plaintiffs have not sought to enlist in the Marines or participate in any further recruitment activities.

Defendants also assert that plaintiffs have failed to state actionable claims under the FTCA and the APA. They claim that plaintiffs’ FTCA claims are barred by the intentional tort exclusion of the FTCA. Finally, defendants allege that plaintiffs cannot sue federal defendants for injunc-tive relief under the APA because plaintiffs have not challenged a final agency action and have failed to show they lack an adequate legal remedy.

LEGAL STANDARD

I.Motion to Dismiss 12(b)(1), Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction

A motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b) (1) tests the subject matter jurisdiction of the court. See, e.g., Savage v. Glendale Union High Sch., 343 F.3d 1036, 1039-40 (9th Cir. 2003), cert. denied, 541 U.S. 1009, 124 S.Ct. 2067, 158 L.Ed.2d 618 (2004). The plaintiff bears the burden of establishing the propriety of the court’s jurisdiction. Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am.,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
473 F. Supp. 2d 989, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5905, 2007 WL 127990, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/doe-v-hagee-cand-2007.