Ken Demsey v. Nancy Demsey

488 F. App'x 1
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedApril 18, 2012
Docket10-3769
StatusUnpublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 488 F. App'x 1 (Ken Demsey v. Nancy Demsey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ken Demsey v. Nancy Demsey, 488 F. App'x 1 (6th Cir. 2012).

Opinions

MAYS, District Judge.

Plaintiff-Appellant Kenneth Demsey (“Ken Demsey”) appeals the order of the district court dismissing his complaint against Nancy Demsey (“Nancy Demsey”). In the complaint, Ken Demsey seeks relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for personal injury, humiliation, and mental and emotional distress. Ken Demsey was arrested on May 11, 2005, after his sister, Nancy Dem-sey, called the Parma City Police Department in response to a domestic dispute. Ken Demsey later pled no contest to criminal charges. He filed two successive suits against his sister in Ohio state court alleging, inter alia, abuse of process and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Both were dismissed voluntarily, and Ken Demsey filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, alleging violation of § 1983. That suit was dismissed sua sponte by the district court because Ken Demsey did not perfect service within 120 days. He then filed the present suit, his fourth. The district court dismissed under the “double dismissal rule,” which provides that two voluntary dismissals of a case by a plaintiff consti[2]*2tute a dismissal on the merits. Ken Dem-sey contends that the district court erred in applying the double dismissal rule. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 41(a)(1)(B) and Ohio R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1).

I. BACKGROUND

On May 11, 2005, Nancy Demsey called the Parma City Police Department in response to a domestic dispute with her brother, Ken Demsey. (Compl. in Demsey TV ¶ 1, ECF No. 1.)1 As a result, Ken Demsey was arrested and filed his first suit against Nancy Demsey, Demsey I, in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, Case No. CV-6-602999, on October 2, 2006. Ken Demsey alleged two state law claims, abuse of process and negligent/intentional infliction of emotional distress. (Compl. in Demsey I, ECF No. 18-2.) Ken Demsey voluntarily dismissed Demsey I without prejudice on July 6, 2007. (Journal Entry in Demsey I, ECF No. 18-3.)

On November 13, 2007, Ken Demsey refiled his complaint in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, No. CV-07-641553, Demsey II. (Compl. in Demsey II, ECF No. 18-5.) Ken Demsey alleged the same two state law claims, abuse of process and negligent/intentional infliction of emotional distress. (Id. 3-4.) He voluntarily dismissed Demsey II on May 27, 2008. (Journal Entry in Demsey II, ECF No. 18-6.)

On June 30, 2008, Ken Demsey filed a third complaint, based on the same transaction or occurrence, in the Northern District of Ohio, case number 1:08-CV-01571, Demsey III. (Compl. in Demsey III, ECF No. 18-7.) Like his complaints in state court, it alleged that he was falsely arrested and suffered physical injury, humiliation, and emotional distress. (Compare Compl. in Demsey III ¶¶ 1-5 with Compl. in Demsey I ¶ 1-5.) Unlike Ken Demsey’s state court proceedings, in Demsey III he sought damages against Nancy Demsey under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3). (Compl. in Demsey III ¶ 7.) The complaint alleged that Ken Demsey was damaged “by the actions of [Nancy Demsey] in conspiracy and in conjunction with the Parma City Police.” (Id. ¶ 6.) On December 23, 2008, the district court sua sponte dismissed Demsey III pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(m), because Ken Demsey had failed to serve Nancy Demsey within 120 days of filing his third complaint. (Order in Demsey III, ECF No. 18-8.)

On March 6, 2009, Ken Demsey filed Demsey IV. (Compl. in Demsey IV.) He alleges that Nancy Demsey “deliberately and without probable cause made a groundless and fraudulent complaint against the Plaintiff in the Municipal Court of Parma, Ohio,” (Compl. in Demsey IV ¶ 1), that she “caused the Parma City Police Department to send police officers to the address of [Ken Demsey] in order to arrest [him],” (Id. ¶ 2), and that he was “damaged by the actions of [Nancy Demsey] in conspiracy with and in conjunction with the Parma City Police.” (Id. ¶ 6.) The district court dismissed his complaint on May 20, 2010. (Order in Demsey IV, ECF No. 26.) The district court found that Demsey TV “involves the same parties as Demsey I and Demsey II,” the same incident, and claims that could have been asserted in state court. The district court concluded that there had been a judgment on the merits in Demsey II and that Ken Demsey was precluded from bringing suit [3]*3by the double dismissal rule. (Id. 11.) Ken Demsey now appeals.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review a district court’s decision to grant a motion to dismiss de novo. Jones v. City of Cincinnati, 521 F.3d 555, 559 (6th Cir.2008). We must “accept as true all non-conclusory allegations in the complaint and determine whether they state a plausible claim for relief.” Delay v. Rosenthal Collins Grp., LLC, 585 F.3d 1003, 1005 (6th Cir.2009). Because it is a question of law, we also review ‘“de novo a district court’s application of res judicata.’ ” Buck v. Thomas M. Cooley Law Sch., 597 F.3d 812, 816 (6th Cir.2010) (quoting Bragg v. Flint Bd. of Educ., 570 F.3d 775, 776 (6th Cir.2009)).

III. ANALYSIS

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1)(B) provides that:

Unless the notice or stipulation states otherwise, the dismissal is without prejudice. But if the plaintiff previously dismissed any federal-or state-court action based on or including the same claim, a notice of dismissal operates as an adjudication on the merits.

“[A] voluntary dismissal under Fed. R.Civ.P. 41(a) has the effect of a judgment with prejudice when ... it is the second suit based on the same transaction.” Anderson v. Aon Corp., 614 F.3d 361, 365 (7th Cir.2010); accord Randall v. Merrill Lynch, 820 F.2d 1317, 1318-19 (D.C.Cir.1987); Tate v. Riverboat Servs., 305 F.Supp.2d 916, 924 (N.D.Ind.2004). “Because of the ease with which a voluntary dismissal may be secured, courts have held that the two-dismissal rule was ‘practically necessary to prevent an unreasonable use of dismissals.’ ” Loubier v. Modern Acoustics, 178 F.R.D. 17, 20 (D.Conn.1998) (quoting Engelhardt v. Bell & Howell Co.,

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Bluebook (online)
488 F. App'x 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ken-demsey-v-nancy-demsey-ca6-2012.