Eden v. Home Depot USA

District Court, D. Arizona·Decided April 20, 2021·No. 2:21-cv-00333·Unknown

Opinion

1 WO JL 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 8 9 Casey Daniel Eden, No. CV 21-00333-PHX-MTL (ESW) 10 Plaintiff, 11 v. ORDER 12 Home Depot USA, et al., 13 Defendants.

14 15 Plaintiff Casey Daniel Eden, who is confined in a Maricopa County Jail, has filed a 16 pro se civil rights Complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Doc. 1) and paid the filing and 17 administrative fees. The Court will dismiss the Complaint and this action. 18 I. Statutory Screening of Prisoner Complaints 19 The Court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief 20 against a governmental entity or an officer or an employee of a governmental entity. 28 21 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). The Court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if a plaintiff 22 has raised claims that are legally frivolous or malicious, that fail to state a claim upon which 23 relief may be granted, or that seek monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from 24 such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1)–(2). 25 A pleading must contain a “short and plain statement of the claim showing that the 26 pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2) (emphasis added). While Rule 8 does 27 not demand detailed factual allegations, “it demands more than an unadorned, the- 28 defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 1 (2009). “Threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere 2 conclusory statements, do not suffice.” Id. 3 “[A] complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a 4 claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Id. (quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 5 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). A claim is plausible “when the plaintiff pleads factual content 6 that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the 7 misconduct alleged.” Id. “Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for 8 relief [is] . . . a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial 9 experience and common sense.” Id. at 679. Thus, although a plaintiff’s specific factual 10 allegations may be consistent with a constitutional claim, a court must assess whether there 11 are other “more likely explanations” for a defendant’s conduct. Id. at 681. 12 But as the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has instructed, courts 13 must “continue to construe pro se filings liberally.” Hebbe v. Pliler, 627 F.3d 338, 342 14 (9th Cir. 2010). A “complaint [filed by a pro se prisoner] ‘must be held to less stringent 15 standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers.’” Id. (quoting Erickson v. Pardus, 551 16 U.S. 89, 94 (2007) (per curiam)). 17 If the Court determines that a pleading could be cured by the allegation of other 18 facts, a pro se litigant is entitled to an opportunity to amend a complaint before dismissal 19 of the action. See Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1127-29 (9th Cir. 2000) (en banc). 20 Plaintiff’s Complaint will be dismissed for failure to state a claim, without leave to amend 21 because the defects cannot be corrected. 22 II. Discussion of Complaint 23 In his Complaint, Plaintiff sues Home Depot USA and Peter Buckles. Plaintiff 24 asserts claims of false arrest, false imprisonment, violation of his right to privacy, and 25 defamation. He seeks monetary relief.1 26

27 1 Plaintiff is awaiting trial in Maricopa County Superior Court on several charges, including a charge of a dangerous drug violation, with a crime date of February 1, 2020. 28 Seehttp://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/docket/CriminalCourtCases/caseInfo.asp?cas eNumber=CR2020-104914 (last accessed Apr. 15, 2021). 1 A. Plaintiff’s Allegations 2 On February 1, 2020, Defendant Buckles called 9-1-1 and “falsely reported a 3 misdemeanor,” knowing his report to be false. Defendant Buckles “summoned police 4 officers to, in essence, arrest a shoplifter.” Defendant Home Depot employs Defendant 5 Buckles to detect shoplifters and protect Home Depot’s assets. Defendant Buckles told 6 officers upon their arrival that he had observed Plaintiff conceal a pair of work gloves in 7 the inside breast pocket of his coat, which, according to Plaintiff, was a “d[e]liberate and 8 complete lie.” Plaintiff asserts he “never gave anyone reason to believe” he had concealed 9 any store merchandise on his person. Defendant Buckles told the officers that he wanted 10 Plaintiff to be arrested and prosecuted for shoplifting. Defendant Buckles led the police to 11 Plaintiff and “caused the police to illegally arrest [him].” Based solely on Defendant 12 Buckles’s word and without any evidence, investigation, or probable cause, the police 13 placed Plaintiff “under a de facto arrest.” 14 The officers “compelled” Plaintiff to go with them to a back room in the Home 15 Depot store. Plaintiff was illegally confined, without probable cause and against his will, 16 and confronted by two police officers, who stood in the only doorway to “block any attempt 17 at escape.” To this point, Plaintiff had continuously asked why he was being harassed and 18 what was going on, but “[n]obody would answer any of [his] questions.” Once inside the 19 back room, the officers told Plaintiff that Defendant Buckles had summoned them and told 20 them that he had seen Plaintiff conceal a pair of work gloves in the inside pocket of his 21 coat. Plaintiff’s coat did not have inside pockets. He immediately took off his coat and 22 handed it to the officers to search. Plaintiff also lifted up his shirt and turned all the way 23 around, ran his fingers all the way around the inside of his waistband, and stretched his 24 pockets across his thighs to show there were no “significant lumps or bulges” in his pockets 25 that could be mistaken for store merchandise. According to Plaintiff, this immediately and 26 unquestionably dissipated any reasonable suspicion or probable cause and dispelled any 27 notion that he had shoplifted. Plaintiff asserts that at this point, he had the absolute right 28 to be released without further delay, and Defendant Buckles and the officers had absolutely 1 no authority to continue this “illegal seizure.” Plaintiff asked if he could leave, and the 2 officer told him, “No” and to sit down. 3 Instead of releasing Plaintiff, the officer “started conducting an illegal custodial 4 interrogation.” The officer asked Plaintiff for his name and date of birth. Plaintiff 5 answered the officer, and the officer “then began a new and completely unrelated 6 investigation” into whether Plaintiff had any outstanding warrants for his arrest. Plaintiff’s 7 name apparently “matched up” with another individual in Kansas who had a warrant for 8 his arrest. The officers formally arrested Plaintiff, although Plaintiff told them that there 9 must be some kind of mistake or mix-up. The officers refused to verify Plaintiff’s identity 10 or “investigate this in any way even though they knew they were supposed to.” 11 Plaintiff was booked into jail and remained for 30 days while Kansas notified 12 Arizona that he was not the person named in the warrant. Plaintiff claims “[t]his was all a 13 direct result of” Defendant Buckles calling 9-1-1 to falsely report a crime that never 14 occurred.

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Eden v. Home Depot USA, (D. Ariz. 2021).

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