Johnson v. Paragon Systems, Inc.

272 F. Supp. 3d 1
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedSeptember 27, 2017
DocketCivil Action No. 2015-1851
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 272 F. Supp. 3d 1 (Johnson v. Paragon Systems, Inc.) 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
Johnson v. Paragon Systems, Inc., 272 F. Supp. 3d 1 (D.D.C. 2017).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Emmet G. Sullivan, United States District Judge

Pending before the Court is defendant Paragon Systems, Inc.’s (“Paragon”) motion for summary judgment. For the reasons articulated below, the Court GRANTS Paragon’s motion.

I. Background

On October 24, 2012, plaintiff Dennis Johnson arrived at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) facility and entered the building with a loaded handgun in his briefcase. Am. Compl. ¶ 10, ECF No. 12. As a retired federal law enforcement officer, Mr. Johnson asserts that he is entitled to carry a firearm on federal property at any time. Id. ¶ 10.

Nonetheless — perhaps because Mr. Johnson inadvertently entered the ICE facility through the visitors’ entrance and not the employees’ entrance — Mr. Johnson was immediately detained by security guards allegedly employed by Paragon. Id. ¶¶ 10-13. According to Mr. Johnson, even though he promptly displayed his law-enforcement badge to the security guards, and even though the security guards were allegedly notified that Mr. Johnson was entitled to bring his weapon into the building, the security guards “handcuffed Plaintiff for over two hours.” Id. ¶¶ 13-15.

Mr. Johnson further alleges that Christopher Adams — a Federal Protective Service employee who supposedly supervised “either a Paragon Systems employee or MVM employee” — threatened to initiate criminal proceedings, against Mr. Johnson “for entering the ICE facility with a loaded handgun.” Id. ¶¶ 16-17. Mr. Adams purportedly continued to threaten Mr. Johnson with legal action for a period of over two months. Id.

Based on these allegations, Mr. Johnson filed suit on October 31,2015 against Paragon. See Compl., ECF No. 1. In that complaint, Mr. Johnson asserted four causes of action: (1) a “civil rights violation”; (2) assault and battery; (3) intentional infliction of emotional distress; and (4) common-law negligence. Id. ¶¶ 18-35. On July 1, 2016, the Court granted Paragon’s partial motion to dismiss, dismissing Mr. Johnson’s claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress after concluding that Mr¡ -Johnson had failed to sufficiently allege that his injury resulted from “extreme and outrageous conduct.” See Johnson v. Paragon Sys., Inc., 195 F.Supp.3d 96 (D.D.C. 2016).

' Following' the dismissal, Mr. Johnson filed an amended complaint adding MVM Inc., Federal Protective Services, and Christopher Adams as co-defendants. See Am. Compl, ECF No. 12 (filed October 21, 2016). Paragon timely answered the complaint and, on January 13, 2017, filed this motion for summary judgment. See Def.’s Mot. Summ. J. (“Def.’s Mot.”), ECF No. 18. In support of its motion, Paragon states that, at the time of Mr. Johnson’s encounter with the security guards at the ICE facility, it “did not have a contract to provide security services” at the site. See Def.’s Statement of Undisputed Material Facts (“SUMF”) ¶¶ 2-3, ECF No. 18-1. To that end, Paragon maintains that none of its employees, agents, or representatives were “involved, in any way, with the alleged occurrence” described in Mr, Johnson’s amended complaint, Id. ¶¶ 10-14.

At his deposition, Mr. Johnson essentially conceded as much, testifying that he had no knowledge with respect to Paragon’s involvement in the incident at the ICE facility;

Q: Do you have any understanding of what role Paragon Systems; Inc. played in regard to the incident?
A: I do not.
Q: Do you have an understanding [as to] why they were named as a Defendant in this case?
A: I don’t,

Deposition of Dennis Johnson 70:12-18, Def.’s Mot. Ex. 4, ECF No. 18-2. Later, Mr. Johnson testified:

Q: Do you have any information, other than what you might have learned from your attorney, ‘‘to support a belief that Paragon Systems had a contract to provide security at the location where the incident occurred?
A: I don’t.

Id. 71:19-72:2.

Paragon asserts that Mr. Johnson’s testimony, along with other record evidence, makes clear that Mr.-Johnson “has mistakenly and improperly included Paragon as a party-defendant in this litigation.” See Def.’s Mem. in Supp. of Mot. for,Summ. J. (“Def.’s Mem.”) at 7, Indeed, Paragon avers that it did not provide. any security services for the ICE facility until October 2013- — nearly a year after the alleged incident, .SUMF ¶¶ 4-5, 10-14. Furthermore, Paragon states that it has no relationship, contractual or otherwise, with any of the other defendants in this litigation. Id. ¶¶ 6-' 9.

On March 9, 2017, the .Court issued a Minute Order directing Mr. Johnson to file a response to Paragon’s summary judgment motion by no later than March 23, 2017, cautioning Mr. Johnson that, if he failed to respond by that date, the “Court may consider the facts provided in defendant’s motion as undisputed for purposes of summary judgment.” See Minute Order, Mar. 9, 2017. To date, Mr. Johnson, who is represented by counsel, has not responded to Paragon’s motion.

II. Legal Standard

Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56, summary judgment should be granted “if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a); Waterhouse v. District of Columbia, 298 F.3d 989, 991 (D.C. Cir. 2002). The moving party must identify “those portions of the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, which it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986) (internal quotation marks omitted).

Once the moving party has met its burden, the non-moving party must come forward with specific facts that would present a genuine issue for trial. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). A genuine dispute exists if “the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Any inferences drawn on the facts must be-viewed in the light most - favorable to the nonmoving party. See Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348.

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

Related

Johnson v. Paragon Systems, Inc.
District of Columbia, 2018
Johnson v. Paragon Sys., Inc.
305 F. Supp. 3d 139 (D.C. Circuit, 2018)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
272 F. Supp. 3d 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johnson-v-paragon-systems-inc-dcd-2017.