Hatfill v. Gonzales

519 F. Supp. 2d 13, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18558, 2007 WL 842967
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedMarch 16, 2007
DocketCivil Action 03-1793 (RBW)
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 519 F. Supp. 2d 13 (Hatfill v. Gonzales) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hatfill v. Gonzales, 519 F. Supp. 2d 13, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18558, 2007 WL 842967 (D.D.C. 2007).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

REGGIE B. WALTON, District Judge.

Currently before this Court is the Individual Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss the Plaintiffs First Amended Complaint (“Defs.’ Mot.”) pursuant to Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim on which relief may be granted. 2 Additionally, defendant Tracy Henke also moves to dismiss the claims against her pursuant to Rule 12(b)(5) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure on the ground of insufficiency of service of process. For the reasons set forth below, the defendants’ motion will be granted. 3

I. Factual Background

The background facts that form the basis for this case are set forth in detail in this Court’s prior Memorandum Opinion that resolved the Individual Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss the initial complaint, and will only be repeated here to the extent necessary to resolve the pending motion. See Hatfill v. Ashcroft, 404 F.Supp.2d 104, 106-109 (D.D.C.2005).

This action was filed by Dr. Steven J. Hatfill (“Dr.Hatfill”) against the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) and several named and unnamed federal officials. Dr. Hatfill’s initial four count complaint alleged violations of the First and Fifth Amendments of the United States Constitution, the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a, et. seq., (1999) and a DOJ regulation, 28 C.F.R. § 50.2. The individual defendants, former Attorney General John Ashcroft, Van A. Harp, Timothy Beres and Daryl Darnell earlier moved to dismiss Counts I, II, and IV of the complaint on the ground that Dr. Hatfill had *18 failed to state claims against them upon which relief could be granted. This Court issued a Memorandum Opinion and Order on September 16, 2005, granting in part and denying in part the individual defendants’ motion to dismiss. See Hatfill, 404 F.Supp.2d at 121. Specifically, the Court granted in part the individual defendants’ motion with respect to Counts I, and granted the motion entirely with respect to Counts II and IV. The consequence of the Court’s ruling as to Count I was that having adequately pled a Fifth Amendment violation against the individual defendants, the plaintiffs demand for declaratory and injunctive relief survived their motion to dismiss but that his Bivens 4 , component of this claim was dismissed because those allegations had to be pursued under the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552. Id. at 116. Dr. Hatfill has now filed his First Amended Complaint, again alleging in Counts I and II identical violations of his Fifth and First Amendment rights of the United States Constitution against the individual defendants in both their personal and official capacities. Amended Complaint (“Amd.Compl.”) at 55-57. 5 Dr. Hat-fill has also added Tracy Henke to Count I and II as a defendant in both her personal and official capacities. Amd. Compl. at 5. And, in Count III of the First Amended Complaint Dr. Hatfill alleges violations of the Privacy Act by both the DOJ and the FBI. Id. at 57-58. Although this Court in its prior opinion dismissed the components Dr. Hatfill’s two claims brought against the individual defendants for the alleged violations of his Fifth and First Amendment rights pursuant to Bivens, he has nonetheless included those components of the claims again in his First Amended Complaint “for the purpose of preserving the claims for appeal if any of his damages remain uncompensated after the trial of this matter.” Amd. Compl. at 56-57.

II. Standard of Review

As noted above, all of the individual defendants have moved to dismiss Dr. Hatfill’s First Amended Complaint in its entirety pursuant to Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Defs.’ Mot. at 1, and defendant Henke has also moved for dismissal pursuant to Rule 12(b)(5). Id. The Bivens component of the claims alleging violations of Dr. Hatfill’s First and Fifth Amendment rights that ware previously dismissed are again dismissed for the same reasons stated in the Court’s September 16, 2005, Memorandum Opinion. See Hatfill, 404 F.Supp.2d at 116-117, 119. And the same result befalls the Bivens component of these claims asserted against defendant Henke. 6 Thus, the remainder of this opinion will focus on the sustainability of Dr. Hatfill’s claims for declaratory and injunc-tive relief sought against the individual defendants in their personal capacities.

Rule 12(b)(6)

To survive a motion to dismiss, made pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), a corn- *19 plaint need only provide “ ‘a short and plain statement of the claim’ that will give the defendant fair notice of what the plaintiffs claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.” Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957) (citing Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a)). And, when reviewing such a motion, the court must accept as true all the factual allegations contained in the complaint. Leatherman v. Tarrant County Narcotics Intelligence & Coordination Unit, 507 U.S. 163, 164, 113 S.Ct. 1160, 122 L.Ed.2d 517 (1993). A motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) tests not whether a plaintiff will ultimately prevail on the merits, but only whether the plaintiff has properly stated a claim for which he is entitled to relief. Woodruff v. DiMario, 197 F.R.D. 191, 193 (D.D.C.2000). Thus, a complaint should not be dismissed for failure to state a claim unless “it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief.” Conley, 355 U.S. at 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99.

III. Analysis

The individual defendants move to dismiss Hatfill’s First Amended Complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim on which relief may be granted “to the extent that the plaintiff seeks relief

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Courthouse News Service v. Dempson
District of Columbia, 2024
Groce v. Rodriguez
District of Columbia, 2024
Chambers v. Cruz
D. Nebraska, 2020
Simpson v. Federal Bureau of Prison
District of Columbia, 2020
Corsi v. Mueller
District of Columbia, 2019
Cayuga Nation v. Zinke
District of Columbia, 2018
Nation v. Zinke
302 F. Supp. 3d 352 (D.C. Circuit, 2018)
Gillpatrick v. Sabatka-Rine
297 Neb. 880 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 2017)
Patel v. Bureau of Prisons
125 F. Supp. 3d 44 (District of Columbia, 2015)
Davidson v. United States Department of State
113 F. Supp. 3d 183 (District of Columbia, 2015)
Beg Investments, LLC v. Alberti
34 F. Supp. 3d 68 (District of Columbia, 2014)
Abou-Hussein v. Mabus
953 F. Supp. 2d 251 (District of Columbia, 2013)
Leyland v. Edwards
797 F. Supp. 2d 7 (District of Columbia, 2011)
County Board v. U.S. Department of Transportation
705 F. Supp. 2d 25 (District of Columbia, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
519 F. Supp. 2d 13, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18558, 2007 WL 842967, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hatfill-v-gonzales-dcd-2007.