Lacroix v. CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA

District Court, S.D. Florida·Decided August 26, 2025·No. 1:25-cv-20683·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

CASE NO. 25-CV-20683-RAR

ADAM LACROIX,

Plaintiff,

v.

CITY OF MIAMI, et al.,

Defendants. _______________________________________/

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO DISMISS

THIS CAUSE comes before the Court on Defendants’ Joint Motion to Dismiss (“Motion”), [ECF No. 15], filed on March 28, 2025. Plaintiff filed a Response, [ECF No. 22], on April 11, 2025, and Defendants filed a Joint Reply, [ECF No. 25], on April 23, 2025. The Court having carefully considered the relevant submissions and applicable law, it is hereby ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that the Motion is GRANTED as set forth herein. BACKGROUND Plaintiff Adam LaCroix brings this action against Defendants City of Miami (“City”) and Officer Jenevieve Sadler (“Officer Sadler”) challenging the application of the City’s Code of Ordinances § 54-6.3 Special Events (“City Code”) against Plaintiff on two separate occasions. See Compl. ¶¶ 1–2, 49–88. Plaintiff is a Christian who has a “religious mandate to go to [p]ublic [s]paces in the City” and share his “religious, political and social speech message” with people in the City. Id. ¶¶ 30–32. On two instances, Plaintiff was standing and “peacefully sharing his message” in a nonticketed location in Bayfront Park, which at both times was being rented out to the Ultra Music Festival. Id. ¶¶ 49–54, 74–78. During the first incident, which occurred on March 26, 2023, a City officer approached Plaintiff and told him that he “was prohibited from being at that location during the Ultra Music Festival.” Id. ¶ 55. Plaintiff requested to speak with a supervisor, and Officer Sadler appeared in response to Plaintiff’s request. See id. ¶¶ 57–58. Officer Sadler confirmed that the location was “rented out” for the Ultra Music Festival. Id. ¶ 59. When Plaintiff asked “what would happen if he did not leave the location[,]” Officer Sadler told him that he would be “arrested for trespassing.” Id. ¶¶ 65–66. During the second incident, which occurred on March 23, 2024, the officer who

approached Plaintiff told him that he needed to have a permit from the City “[w]henever [he] set up, and [had] a spot like this.” Compl. ¶ 80. Plaintiff asked the officer multiple times what ordinance he was breaking by “hold[ing] up a sign in a public area.” Id. ¶¶ 83–87. The officer replied, “We’ll be back.” Id. ¶ 87. Plaintiff has allegedly experienced similar treatment from the City’s officers in the past while located in a non-ticketed area of the Ultra Music Festival. On March 24, 2018, Plaintiff was also standing in a nonticketed area of Bayfront Park during the Ultra Music Festival sharing his religious message. See id. ¶¶ 90–95. A City officer approached him and told him that the Ultra Music Festival had a permit for the area. Id. When Plaintiff asked whether he was breaking the law by standing where he was standing, the officer told him that he was. Id. ¶ 97. When Plaintiff

asked for clarification on what law he was breaking, the officer told him, “[Y]ou gotta go” and “Get out.” Id. ¶¶ 100–101. The officer further stated that Plaintiff would be arrested if he did not leave the area. See id. ¶ 102. Plaintiff brings claims against the City and Officer Sadler, alleging that they violated his constitutional rights to freedom of speech and free exercise of his religion as well as the Florida Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“FRFRA”), Fla. Stat §§ 761.01–761.061. See Compl. ¶¶ 128–90. Defendants move to dismiss the Complaint on the grounds that it (1) is a shotgun pleading and (2) fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. See generally Mot. LEGAL STANDARD To survive a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), “a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). When reviewing a motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), a court must accept as true all

factual allegations contained in the complaint, and the plaintiff receives the benefit of all favorable inferences that can be drawn from the facts alleged. See Chaparro v. Carnival Corp., 693 F.3d 1333, 1337 (11th Cir. 2012); Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. A dismissal for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6) is a “judgment on the merits” and is “presumed to operate as a dismissal with prejudice unless the district court specifies otherwise.” Eiber Radiology, Inc. v. Toshiba Am. Med. Sys., Inc., 673 F. App’x 925, 929 (11th Cir. 2016) (citing Semtek Int’l Inc. v. Lockheed Martin Corp., 531 U.S. 497, 505 (2001)). To withstand a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, the complaint must “state a claim for relief that is plausible on its face.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570. “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the

defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. Although the complaint need not make detailed factual allegations, “it demands more than an unadorned, the defendant unlawfully-harmed-me accusation.” Id. at 678. A complaint is insufficient if it only “offers ‘labels and conclusions’ or ‘a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action,’” or if it “tenders ‘naked assertions’ devoid of ‘further factual enhancement.’” Id. (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 557). Further, the facts alleged in the complaint must be sufficient to cross “the line between possibility and plausibility of entitlement to relief.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 557. In determining whether a plaintiff has met this burden, “[f]actual allegations that are merely consistent with a defendant’s liability fall short of being facially plausible.” Doe v. Samford Univ., 29 F.4th 675, 685 (11th Cir. 2022) (quoting Chaparro, 693 F.3d at 1337). And “courts may infer from the factual allegations in the complaint obvious alternative explanations, which suggest lawful conduct rather than the unlawful conduct the plaintiff would ask the court to infer.” Am. Dental Ass’n v. Cigna

Corp., 605 F.3d 1283, 1290 (11th Cir. 2010) (citation modified); see also Twombly, 550 U.S. at 554 (finding that allegations do not plausibly allege wrongdoing when they are “consistent with [liability], but just as much in line with a wide swath of” lawful conduct). ANALYSIS I. Counts I, II, and III—Shotgun Pleading Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) requires that a pleading contain a “short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” The complaint must “give the defendant fair notice of what the claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555 (citation omitted). Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 10(b) further requires that a pleading “state its claims or defenses in numbered paragraphs, each limited as far as practicable to

a single set of circumstances.” “Complaints that violate either Rule 8(a)(2) or Rule 10(b), or both, are often disparagingly referred to as ‘shotgun pleadings.’” Weiland v. Palm Beach Cnty. Sheriff’s Off., 792 F.3d 1313, 1320 (11th Cir. 2015).

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