Kabir v. City of Elk Grove

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedJune 27, 2025
Docket2:22-cv-01661
StatusUnknown

This text of Kabir v. City of Elk Grove (Kabir v. City of Elk Grove) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kabir v. City of Elk Grove, (E.D. Cal. 2025).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 FARYAL KABIR, et al., No. 2:22-cv-01661-DJC-SCR 12 Plaintiffs, 13 v. ORDER

14 CITY OF ELK GROVE, et al.,

15 Defendants. 16

17 Plaintiffs Faryal Kabir and Ghesal Kabir filed this action against Defendants City 18 of Elk Grove and Bibbie Singh-Allen based on allegations that the seizure of Plaintiffs’ 19 dog “Zeus” violated Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights.1 Defendants have moved to 20 dismiss Plaintiffs’ First Amended Complaint (“FAC”) on the basis that it fails to allege 21 facts sufficient to establish the City is liable under Monell and because it does not 22 contain any allegation that Singh-Allen, the acting mayor of Elk Grove at the time of 23 the incident, engaged in any wrongful conduct. 24 For the reasons stated below, the Court grants Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss. 25 Plaintiff’s shall be granted leave to file an amended complaint. 26

27 1 Plaintiffs have filed a separate action against an animal control officer, Crystel Mocek, in her individual capacity based on the July 15, 2022 seizure of Zeus. Singh v. Mocek, 2:22-cv-01855-DJC-SCR. This 28 Order does not address any pending Motions in that action. 1 BACKGROUND 2 Plaintiffs allege that following an incident in which Zeus caused a “minor 3 superficial abrasion with no puncture wounds” to a stranger, a hearing was conducted 4 on June 8, 2022, to determine whether Zeus should be designated a dangerous 5 animal. (FAC (ECF No. 11) ¶ 9.) Ms. Kabir sought to attend the hearing to contest the 6 designation but was not heard after she was dropped from the Zoom connection.2 7 (Id.) On June 15, the administrative hearing officer signed an order designating Zeus 8 as a dangerous animal. (Id. ¶ 10.) The order stated Ms. Kabir had 30 days to comply 9 with restrictions placed on Ms. Kabir and Zeus. (Id. ¶¶ 9–10.) 10 On July 15, 2022, Elk Grove Animal Control arrived at Ms. Kabir’s home and 11 seized Zeus. (Id.) Plaintiffs allege that July 15, 2022, was the 30th day for Ms. Kabir to 12 comply with the imposed restrictions and that the seizure occurred before the 13 deadline to show compliance. (Id. ¶ 10.) Plaintiffs also allege that Ms. Kabir was in 14 fact in compliance with the requirements imposed after the June 8, 2022 hearing. (Id.) 15 A second post-seizure hearing was held on August 15, 2022. (Id. ¶ 12.) 16 Plaintiffs allege that during this hearing, the hearing officer “did not recognize that the 17 violation upon Ms. Kabir was premature when Ms. Kabir’s time to comply was not 18 ripe.” (Id.) Plaintiffs also allege that the hearing officer “made findings based on 19 hearsay over objection” and did not permit a second attorney to speak for Ms. Kabir. 20 (Id. ¶ 12–13) After the hearing, Ms. Kabir’s counsel submitted evidence of Ms. Kabir’s 21 compliance with the requirements imposed at the initial June 8, 2022 hearing, but this 22 evidence was not considered. (Id.) 23 On September 2, 2022, a final order was issued directing Zeus to be 24 euthanized which also stated that Zeus’ owner had a right to appeal the order and that 25 the standard on appeal would be de novo review of the order. (Id. ¶ 15.) Plaintiffs 26 2 This action was originally filed by Plaintiff Faryal Kabir alone. Plaintiff Ghesal Kabir later joined the 27 action as co-owner of Zeus. (ECF No. 23.) As the facts recited in the FAC concern only actions taken by Faryal Kabir, the Court’s discussion of the factual allegations refer to Plaintiff as “Ms. Kabir” simply for 28 purposes of clarity. 1 allege that based on ex parte communication between the hearing officer and an Elk 2 Grove Assistant City Attorney, the order was amended on September 6, 2022, to 3 change the standard of review on appeal. (Id. ¶¶ 15–16.) 4 District Judge Troy L. Nunley stayed the majority of this action on September 5 28, 2022, under the Younger abstention doctrine. (ECF No. 20.) The sole exception 6 to this stay was the Fourth Amendment portion of Plaintiff’s first cause of action, which 7 Judge Nunley permitted to proceed forward. (Id.) Judge Nunley instructed that the 8 stay was to remain in place “until the Court orders otherwise.” (Id.) No order has 9 issued lifting the stay so it remains in place as to all claims except the Fourth 10 Amendment portion of Plaintiff’s first cause of action. 11 Defendants have now filed a Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment 12 claims as to the First Cause of Action. Defendants argue that this cause of action fails 13 to allege sufficient facts to establish Monell liability against the City and that the FAC 14 fails to state a claim against Defendant Singh-Allen. Briefing is complete on the 15 Motion to Dismiss. (Mot. (ECF No. 22-1); Opp’n (ECF No. 31); Reply (ECF No. 37).) 16 The Court also addresses below Plaintiff’s “Motion for Correct Controlling Error” which 17 is currently pending before the Court. (ECF No. 31.) 18 MOTION TO DISMISS 19 I. Legal Standard 20 A party may move to dismiss for “failure to state a claim upon which relief can 21 be granted.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). The motion may be granted if the complaint 22 lacks a “cognizable legal theory” or if its factual allegations do not support a 23 cognizable legal theory. Godecke v. Kinetic Concepts, Inc., 937 F.3d 1201, 1208 (9th 24 Cir. 2019) (quoting Balistreri v. Pacifica Police Dep’t, 901 F.2d 696, 699 (9th Cir. 1988)). 25 The Court assumes all factual allegations are true and construes “them in the light 26 most favorable to the nonmoving party.” Steinle v. City and Cnty. of San Francisco, 27 919 F.3d 1154, 1160 (9th Cir. 2019) (quoting Parks Sch. of Bus., Inc. v. Symington, 51 28 F.3d 1480, 1484 (9th Cir. 1995)). If the complaint’s allegations do not “plausibly give 1 rise to an entitlement to relief,” the motion must be granted. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 2 U.S. 662, 679 (2009). 3 A complaint need contain only a “short and plain statement of the claim 4 showing that the pleader is entitled to relief,” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2), not “detailed 5 factual allegations,” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007). But this rule 6 demands more than unadorned accusations; “sufficient factual matter” must make the 7 claim at least plausible. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. In the same vein, conclusory or 8 formulaic recitations of elements do not alone suffice. Id. (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 9 555). This evaluation of plausibility is a context-specific task drawing on “judicial 10 experience and common sense.” Id. at 679. 11 II. Discussion 12 A. Sufficiency of Monell Allegations 13 Plaintiffs’ First Cause of Action seek to state a claim for damages under 42 14 U.S.C. § 1983 based in part on a violation of Plaintiff’s rights under the Fourth 15 Amendment. (FAC at 9–11.) This claim is brought against “[a]ll Defendants” which 16 includes the City of Elk Grove. 17 Under the Supreme Court's decision in Monell v. Department of Social Services, 18 436 U.S. 658 (1978), local governments may be held liable under section 1983 for 19 wrongs done by the local government itself.

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Bluebook (online)
Kabir v. City of Elk Grove, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kabir-v-city-of-elk-grove-caed-2025.