Jennifer Brick v. Gallatin County, et al.

CourtDistrict Court, D. Montana
DecidedDecember 1, 2025
Docket2:24-cv-00174
StatusUnknown

This text of Jennifer Brick v. Gallatin County, et al. (Jennifer Brick v. Gallatin County, et al.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Montana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jennifer Brick v. Gallatin County, et al., (D. Mont. 2025).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MONTANA BUTTE DIVISION

JENNIFER BRICK, Cause No. CV 2:24-00174-BMM

Plaintiff,

vs. ORDER

GALLATIN COUNTY, et al.,

Defendants.

INTRODUCTION Plaintiff Jennifer Brick (“Brick”), proceeding without counsel, filed a Fourth Amended Complaint alleging violations of her constitutional rights, RICO claims, state law claims, and other federal law claims against the City of Bozeman, Gallatin County, government entities of the State of Montana, the ankle monitor company responsible for her pretrial monitoring, and numerous individual defendants, including Montana state court judges, law enforcement officers, attorneys, and her former spouse (collectively “Defendants”). (Doc. 142.) Defendants moved to dismiss Brick’s claims. (Doc. 147; Doc. 168; Doc. 170; Doc. 172; Doc. 175; Doc. 177; Doc. 179.) The Court will grant Defendants’ motions to dismiss. 1 I. STATEMENT OF THE CASE A. Parties and Procedural Background

Brick filed a Complaint (Doc. 1), an Amended Complaint (Doc. 12), a Second Amended Complaint (Doc. 47), and a Third Amended Complaint. (Doc. 48.) Defendants moved to dismiss Brick’s Third Amended Complaint. (Doc. 32, Doc.

36, Doc. 38, Doc. 42, Doc. 54.) The Court granted Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss Brick’s Third Amended Complaint. (Doc. 137.) The Court allowed Brick to file a Fourth Amended Complaint (“FAC”). (Id. at 27.) The Court instructed Brick that her future pleadings must follow Fed. R. Civ. P. 8. (Id.) The Court further instructed

that Brick cannot “cite to non-existent cases to support Brick’s legal contentions.” (Id.) The Court warned that continued failure to comply with the Local Rules and Federal Rules of Civil Procedure by Brick would result in dismissal. (Id.)

Brick filed her FAC on July 31, 2025. (Doc. 142.) Brick moved the Court to allow her leave to file a Fifth Amended Complaint. (Doc. 146.) The Court denied Brick’s motion for leave to amend to file a Fifth Amended Complaint. (Doc. 161.) Brick filed a motion for the Court to reconsider the Court’s order denying leave to

amend. (Doc. 162.) Defendants opposed reconsideration of Court’s order denying Brick leave to amend. (Doc. 163; Doc. 164; Doc. 166; Doc. 167.) Defendants filed motions to dismiss Brick’s FAC. (Doc. 147; Doc. 168; Doc. 170; Doc. 172; Doc.

175; Doc. 177; Doc. 179.) 2 Defendant SCRAM Systems, Inc. (Doc. 147); Defendant Richard DuCharme (“DuCharme”) (Doc. 177); Defendants City of Bozeman, Officer Lindsay Shepherd,

Officer Marek Ziegler, Officer Anthony Taylor, and Officer Bryton Lutzka (Doc. 170); and Defendants Bekki McClean, Mollie Schultz, and the Honorable Karolina Tierney (Doc. 168) (collectively, “City Defendants”); Defendants Montana Court

Administrator’s Office, Montana Office of the State Public Defender, the Honorable Andrew Breuner, the Honorable Rienne McElyea, the Honorable Peter Ohman, the Honorable Mike McGrath, the Honorable Brenda Gilbert, Standing Master Magdalena Bowen, Michael Sinks, Henry Westesen, and Audrey Cromwell

(collectively “State Defendants”) (Doc. 172); Defendants Dodd Law Firm, Matt Dodd, and Dillon Post (“DLF Defendants”) (Doc. 175); and Defendants Gallatin County, Colter Metcalf, Bryan Adams, Madison Sharpe, Rick West, and Collin

Kiewatt (collectively “County Defendants”) (Doc. 179) filed motions to dismiss Brick’s claims contained in the FAC. B. Factual Background Brick’s claims arise from proceedings related to civil disputes over the divorce

and parenting plan with her former spouse, criminal proceedings against her in the Bozeman Municipal Court and the Eighteenth Judicial District Court, Gallatin County, Montana, and decisions by the Montana Supreme Court related to those

proceedings. (Doc. 142 at 3–7.) Brick alleges that Defendants conspired to violate 3 her civil and parental rights and initiate criminal proceedings against her in retaliation for testifying at the Montana State Legislature in favor of HB 322. (Doc.

142, ¶ 1-3.) Brick claims assert a conspiracy among Defendants to suppress Brick’s speech and to retaliate against her in the various court proceedings. (Id.) Brick alleged to incorporate by reference her Third Amended Complaint to

the FAC “to preserve the completeness of the factual record.” (Doc. 142 at 2, Exhibit D.) Brick’s Third Amended Complaint outlined the extensive factual background of Brick’s claims. Brick acknowledges that “the allegations in this Fourth Amended Complaint arise from the same nucleus of facts” as the Third Amended Complaint.

(Doc. 142 at 2.) The Court previously described, in depth, the facts of this case in its order on Defendants’ motions to dismiss Brick’s claims. (See Doc. 137 at 4-17.) The Court declines to reiterate the extensive factual background in this order.

II. LEGAL STANDARD Rule 8(a)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requires a complaint to contain “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” A complaint violates Rule 8 and must be dismissed when it is “needlessly

long . . . highly repetitious, or confused, or consist[s] of incomprehensible rambling.” Cafasso v. Gen. Dynamics C4 Sys., Inc., 637 F.3d 1047, 1059 (9th Cir. 2011) (internal quotations and citations omitted). A complaint must be plausible under

Rule 8(a)(2) to survive a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6). Navarro v. Block, 4 250 F.3d 729, 732 (9th Cir. 2001). A court accepts all facts alleged in the complaint as true when considering a

motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) and draws inferences in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Barker v. Riverside Cnty. Office of Educ., 584 F.3d 821, 824 (9th Cir. 2009). The court need not accept as true, however, a “legal

conclusion couched as a factual allegation.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007)). A complaint must “contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Ashcroft, 556 U.S. at 678 (quotations omitted).

A court must dismiss a complaint under Rule 12(b)(6) if the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Mendiondo v. Centinela Hospital Med. Ctr., 521 F.3d 1097, 1104 (9th Cir. 2008). A court may dismiss a complaint

“based on the lack of a cognizable legal theory or the absence of sufficient facts alleged under a cognizable legal theory.” Balistreri v. Pacifica Police Dep’t, 901 F.2d 696, 699 (9th Cir. 1988). A court must construe liberally the pleadings when a plaintiff represents themself. Draper v. Rosario, 836 F.3d 1072, 1080 (9th Cir.

2016). A plaintiff must assert allegations that are “more than labels and conclusions” at the pleading stage. Bell Atl. Corp v.

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