Klenk v. City of Etna

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedDecember 20, 2023
Docket2:22-cv-01366
StatusUnknown

This text of Klenk v. City of Etna (Klenk v. City of Etna) 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
Klenk v. City of Etna, (E.D. Cal. 2023).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 RYDER KLENK, No. 2:22-cv-01366-DAD-DMC 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT CITY OF ETNA’S MOTION TO DISMISS AND 14 CITY OF ETNA, et al., DENYING DEFENDANT MENDES’S MOTION TO DISMISS 15 Defendants. (Doc. Nos. 56, 57) 16

17 18 This matter came before the court on November 21, 2023 for a hearing on the motions to 19 dismiss filed by defendant City of Etna (“City”) and defendant Nathan Mendes. (Doc. Nos. 56, 20 57.) Attorneys James Cook and Brandon Yee appeared by video on behalf of plaintiff Ryder 21 Klenk, attorney Derick Konz appeared by video on behalf of the defendant City, and attorney 22 Amanda Moyer appeared by video on behalf of defendant Mendes. (Doc. No. 62.) For the 23 reasons explained below, the defendant City’s motion to dismiss will be granted without further 24 leave to amend and defendant Mendes’s motion to dismiss will be denied. 25 BACKGROUND 26 In his operative third amended complaint (“TAC”), plaintiff alleges as follows. On 27 September 3, 2021, plaintiff was attacked by two police dogs that were owned by the defendant 28 ///// 1 City and placed in the custody of defendant Mendes, who is employed by the defendant City as a 2 police officer and canine handler. (Doc. No. 52 at ¶¶ 5, 11, 13.) 3 Police dogs are typically used to locate hidden objects or people, but, according to 4 plaintiff, police dogs are increasingly used to forcibly subdue suspects. (Id. at ¶ 10.) These dogs 5 are usually of the Belgian Malinois breed, which are faster and more agile than German 6 shepherds or Rottweilers. (Id.) City of Etna Police Department policy requires police dogs to be 7 caged and supervised at all times because of their capacity and propensity for violence. (Id. at 8 ¶ 15.) The defendant City bought the two police dogs and placed them in the custody of 9 defendant Mendes. (Id. at ¶ 11.) 10 On September 3, 2021, the two police dogs owned by the defendant City escaped the 11 custody of defendant Mendes and mauled plaintiff, dragging him from a parking lot to a nearby 12 field. (Id. at ¶ 13–14.) Plaintiff’s roommate discovered plaintiff, severely injured, in that field. 13 (Id. at ¶ 14.) Defendant Mendes pursued the escaped dogs and used specialized verbal commands 14 and “physical tactics” to retrieve the animals. (Id. at ¶ 15.) Upon finding plaintiff and observing 15 plaintiff’s life-threatening injuries, defendant Mendes insisted that plaintiff’s roommate not call 16 emergency medical services, not talk to the police, and immediately take plaintiff and leave the 17 area. (Id. at ¶ 16, 21.) Despite knowing that plaintiff had just been severely injured by the police 18 dogs he was tasked with supervising, defendant Mendes then left the area without calling 19 emergency services or providing medical care to plaintiff himself. (Id. at ¶ 21.) 20 Plaintiff alleges that, prior to filing the complaint initiating this action, on January 24, 21 2022, he submitted a tort claim with the City’s clerks’ offices as required by California 22 Government Code § 910. (Id. at ¶ 7.) Plaintiff further alleges that on February 7, 2022, his tort 23 claim was rejected, and that he thus exhausted his administrative remedies. (Id.) 24 On August 1, 2022, plaintiff filed the initial complaint against the defendant City, 25 defendant Mendes, defendant Brett Letendre, and unnamed defendants Does 1–50. (Doc. No. 1.) 26 On October 10, 2022, plaintiff filed his first amended complaint, naming those same defendants. 27 (Doc. No. 15.) On October 18, 2022, plaintiff requested the voluntary dismissal of the defendant 28 City as a party from the suit; the court granted the request the next day. (Doc. Nos. 16, 17.) 1 Several months later, on March 2, 2023, plaintiff filed the second amended complaint (“SAC”), 2 again naming the same defendants, including re-naming the City of Etna as a defendant. (Doc. 3 No. 29.) On June 29, 2023, defendant Mendes filed a motion to dismiss the SAC, which the court 4 granted on August 15, 2023, with leave to amend. (Doc. Nos. 46, 51.) On August 28, 2023, 5 plaintiff filed the TAC, again naming defendants City of Etna and Mendes, along with Doe 6 defendants 1–50, but no longer naming defendant Letendre.1 (Doc. No. 52.) 7 In his TAC, plaintiff asserts the following four claims against both the defendant City and 8 defendant Mendes: (1) denial of medical care in violation of the Fourth Amendment under 42 9 U.S.C. § 1983; (2) negligence; (3) strict liability; and (4) intentional infliction of emotional 10 distress. (Id.) 11 On September 29, 2023, the defendant City filed its pending motion to dismiss all claims 12 brought against it, and on October 3, 2023, defendant Mendes filed his pending motion to dismiss 13 all claims brought against him. (Doc. Nos. 56, 57.) Plaintiff filed his oppositions to both motions 14 to dismiss on October 13, 2023. (Doc. Nos. 58, 59.) On October 23, 2023, both defendants filed 15 their replies thereto. (Doc. Nos. 60, 61.) 16 LEGAL STANDARD 17 The purpose of a motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) is to test the legal 18 sufficiency of the complaint. N. Star Int’l v. Ariz. Corp. Comm’n, 720 F.2d 578, 581 (9th Cir. 19 1983). “Dismissal can be based on the lack of a cognizable legal theory or the absence of 20 sufficient facts alleged under a cognizable legal theory.” Balistreri v. Pacifica Police Dep’t, 901 21 F.2d 696, 699 (9th Cir. 1990). A plaintiff is required to allege “enough facts to state a claim to 22 relief that is plausible on its face.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007). “A 23 claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw 24 the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Ashcroft v. 25 Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). 26

27 1 Because plaintiff no longer names Letendre as a defendant in the operative TAC, the court will dismiss defendant Letendre from this action and direct the Clerk of the Court to update the docket 28 to reflect that defendant Letendre has been terminated from this action. 1 In determining whether a complaint states a claim on which relief may be granted, the 2 court accepts as true the allegations in the complaint and construes the allegations in the light 3 most favorable to the plaintiff. Hishon v. King & Spalding, 467 U.S. 69, 73 (1984). However, 4 the court need not assume the truth of legal conclusions cast in the form of factual allegations. 5 U.S. ex rel. Chunie v. Ringrose, 788 F.2d 638, 643 n.2 (9th Cir. 1986). While Rule 8(a) does not 6 require detailed factual allegations, “it demands more than an unadorned, the-defendant- 7 unlawfully-harmed-me accusation.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. A pleading is insufficient if it offers 8 mere “labels and conclusions” or “a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action.” 9 Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555; see also Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 676 (“Threadbare recitals of the elements 10 of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice.”). It is 11 inappropriate to assume that the plaintiff “can prove facts that it has not alleged or that the 12 defendants have violated the . . . laws in ways that have not been alleged.” Associated Gen. 13 Contractors of Cal., Inc. v. Cal.

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Bluebook (online)
Klenk v. City of Etna, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/klenk-v-city-of-etna-caed-2023.