Jamin Levi Montzingo v. City of Lakeland, et al.

District Court, M.D. Florida·Decided August 28, 2026·No. 8:26-cv-00031·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA TAMPA DIVISION

JAMIN LEVI MONTZINGO,

Plaintiff,

v. Case No: 8:26-cv-31-MSS-SPF

CITY OF LAKELAND, et al.,

Defendants.

ORDER THIS CAUSE comes before the Court for consideration of Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss, (Dkt. 11), and Plaintiff’s response thereto. (Dkt. 16) Also before the Court is Plaintiff’s Motion to Amend Complaint, (Dkt. 26), and Defendants’ response thereto. (Dkt. 28) Upon consideration of all relevant filings, case law, and being otherwise fully advised, the Court GRANTS Defendants’ Motion and GRANTS IN PART AND DENIES IN PART Plaintiff’s Motion. I. BACKGROUND This action arises out of an administrative proceeding in connection with a citation for a red-light violation. On January 7, 2026, Plaintiff Jamin Montzingo filed a complaint against the City of Lakeland; Josh Brown, the hearing officer; Emma Williams, the Clerk; Intersection Safety Program; and an unnamed police officer pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, asserting claims for municipal liability (Count I) and a violation of his due process rights (Count II). (Dkt. 1) In the Complaint, Plaintiff contends that the City of Lakeland relied on video and photographic materials generated and maintained by a private third-party vendor operating outside the State of Florida. (Id. at 2) He further contends that the City “failed to present a custodian of

records, eyewitnesses, or any witness with firsthand knowledge of the creation, custody, or reliability of the evidence.” (Id. at 2). Despite Plaintiff’s objections, the hearing officer issued a conclusory ruling without written findings of fact. After this happened, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant John Doe Police Officer # 254 entered Plaintiff’s personal space and made contact with him. As a result of these alleged

violations, Plaintiff seeks declaratory and injunctive relief prohibiting ongoing and future enforcement actions based on the challenged practices. With his Complaint, Plaintiff also filed a motion for temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction. (Dkt. 3) Plaintiff requested that the Court enter an order that enjoins “Defendant City of Lakeland, including its departments, programs,

agents, and contractors, from continuing any collection, enforcement, or penalty actions arising from red-light camera Notice of Violation No. 1242500179509, pending resolution of this action.” (Id. at 1) The Court denied the motion on procedural grounds, but also advised Plaintiff that based on the allegations, abstention appeared appropriate. (Dkt. 4)

Plaintiff then filed a second motion for temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that corrected the procedural errors. The Court denied this second motion on its merits, finding Plaintiff could not establish a likelihood of success on the merits given the likelihood that abstention was appropriate. (Dkt. 14) Undeterred, Plaintiff filed a third, nearly identical motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, (Dkts. 18–19), which Defendants moved to strike. (Dkt. 20)

Defendants now move to dismiss the Complaint, arguing that the claims against Defendants Brown and Williams are barred by absolute immunity and the claims against the remaining Defendants fail to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. Alternatively, Defendants request that the Court convert their motion to a motion for summary judgment. With their response, Defendants submitted a video

recording of Plaintiff’s hearing.1 (Dkt. 15) The video establishes that Plaintiff was provided with an extensive fulsome hearing. Defendant Brown provided Plaintiff ample opportunity to raise his evidentiary objections, which Plaintiff repeated multiple times. Defendant Brown informed Plaintiff that he was overruling his objections, but those objections were

preserved to the extent Plaintiff wished to appeal. At the hearing, the prosecuting officer testified that Plaintiff’s violation “was reviewed before being issued by myself, a sworn police officer, and that the camera was tested before and after this violation was issued and passed both, before and after.” (Id. at 12:55–13:10) At the end of the

1 The Court declines to convert Defendants’ motion into a motion for summary judgment. The Court may consider documents attached to a motion to dismiss that are central to a plaintiff’s claims and for which the authenticity cannot be disputed. Day v. Taylor, 400 F.3d 1272, 1276 (11th Cir. 2005). While Plaintiff’s response states that the exhibit is improper, Plaintiff does not support this objection with any argument. (Dkt. 16) The Court finds the exhibit central to Plaintiff’s claims and the authenticity of the document cannot be disputed; thus, the Court considers it principally to provide context for the challenges asserted in the complaint. hearing, Defendant Brown asked Plaintiff multiple times whether he had anything else to say. Only after Plaintiff failed to respond to this question did Defendant Brown terminate Plaintiff’s hearing. (Id. at 16:28–17:04) The video does not show any

physical contact between the prosecuting officer and Plaintiff. For the reasons explained below, the Court GRANTS Defendants’ motion to dismiss. While Defendants’ motion was pending, Plaintiff filed his motion for leave to

amend his complaint. (Dkt. 26) Plaintiff requests leave to amend his complaint to (1) add claim for damages under § 1983; (2) add specific factual allegations regarding the City’s policies that have caused the alleged violations; (3) add specific facts addressing the availability of state remedies; (4) remove Defendant Emma Williams and the “Intersection Safety Program” as named parties; and, (5) identify the private vendor

operating the Intersection Safety Program as a John Doe corporate defendant pending identification. (Dkt. 26) Because the deficiencies identified below are not addressed by Plaintiff’s proposed amended pleading, (Dkt. 26-1), the Court GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART Plaintiff’s motion. As discussed below, Plaintiff will be permitted to file an amended complaint, though not the proposed amended complaint

included with his motion. II. LEGAL STANDARD To survive a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), a complaint must meet an exceedingly low threshold of sufficiency. Quality Foods de Centro Am., S.A. v. Latin Am. Agribusiness Dev. Corp., S.A., 711 F.2d 989, 995 (11th Cir. 1983). A plaintiff must plead only enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face. Bell Atlantic Corp. v.

Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 560–64 (2007) (abrogating the “no set of facts” standard for evaluating a motion to dismiss established in Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45–46 (1957)). Although a complaint challenged by a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss does not need detailed factual allegations, a plaintiff is still obligated to provide the “grounds” for his entitlement to relief, and “a formulaic recitation of the elements of

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Jamin Levi Montzingo v. City of Lakeland, et al., (M.D. Fla. 2026).

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