Lambert v. City of Onalaska, Texas

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Texas
DecidedJuly 18, 2025
Docket9:23-cv-00067
StatusUnknown

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

Bluebook
Lambert v. City of Onalaska, Texas, (E.D. Tex. 2025).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS LUFKIN DIVISION

AMBERLEY LAMBERT, § § Plaintiff, § § v. § CIVIL ACTION NO. 9:23-CV-00067-MJT § CITY OF ONALASKA, TEXAS, and § TAMMIE HEETH, § § Defendants. §

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION, OVERRULING PLAINTIFF’S OBJECTIONS, AND ADOPTING THE REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION OF THE UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

The District Court referred this case to the Honorable Christine L. Stetson, United States Magistrate Judge, to conduct all pretrial proceedings, to enter findings of fact and recommend disposition on case-dispositive matters, and to determine non-dispositive matters. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1); E.D. TEX. LOC. R. CV-72. On June 9, 2025, the magistrate judge issued an Order [Dkt. 54] striking the uncited-to evidentiary materials in Lambert’s appendix [Dkt. 51-1] to her response [Dkt. 51] to Defendants City of Onalaska, Texas’s, and Tammie Heeth’S Motion for Summary Judgment [Dkt. 40] from the summary judgment record. Later that day, the magistrate judge issued a Report and Recommendation [Dkt. 55] advising the Court to grant Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment [Dkt. 40] and dismiss Plaintiff Amberley Lambert’s claims with prejudice. On June 16, 2025, Lambert filed timely objections [Dkt. 57] to the Report and Recommendation [Dkt. 55], accompanied by the pending Unopposed Motion for Leave to Exceed Page Limit [Dkt. 56]. Defendants filed a timely response [Dkt. 58] to Lambert’s objections. I. Plaintiff Amberley Lambert’s Unopposed Motion for Leave to Exceed Page Limit [Dkt. 57] is Granted

Because the report at issue “spans 33 pages and addresses multiple complex constitutional and federal law issues,” “plus a separate evidentiary order,” Lambert requests a 5-page extension to the customary 8-page limit on objections. [Dkt. 56 at 1–3]. Defendants do not oppose Lambert’s request. [Dkt. 58 at 1]. The Court seconds Lambert’s reasoning and GRANTS the Unopposed Motion for Leave to Exceed Page Limit [Dkt. 57]. II. Plaintiff Amberley Lambert’s Objection [Dkt. 57 at 1–2] to the Order Striking Uncited-to Evidentiary Materials in Plaintiff’s Appendix to Response [Dkt. 54] is Denied

Lambert objects that the magistrate judge committed clear error when she struck Exhibit 6—Lambert’s attached selections of Officer Heeth’s testimony from a subsequent criminal proceeding—from the summary judgment record. [Dkt. 57 at 1–2]. According to Lambert, she cited to this material evidence in her response [Dkt. 51] to Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment [Dkt. 40] and asks that it “be preserved and considered as part of the summary judgment record.” [Dkt. 57 at 2]. Defendants join in Lambert’s request. [Dkt. 58 at 1]. The citations which Lambert claims were erroneously struck are A-147, A-170, and A-172 to A-174. [Dkt. 57 at 2]. The challenged Order did not strike this material but rather inadvertently grouped it with the unstruck Exhibit 5 material. See [Dkt. 54 at 3 (not striking A-146 to A-149 and A-169 to A-175)]. What the Court is presented with is merely a cosmetic error that does not require rectification. Lambert’s objection is denied. III. The Unobjected-to Findings of Facts and Conclusions of Law of the Report and Recommendation [Dkt. 55] are Adopted

No party objected to the magistrate judge’s findings that Lambert’s claims against both Defendants are not barred by the applicable statutes of limitations. [Dkts. 55 at 11–15; 57–58]. The Court has received and considered the Report and Recommendation of the United States Magistrate Judge [Dkt. 55] pursuant to such referral, along with the record, pleadings, and all available evidence. After careful consideration, the Court finds that the above unobjected-to findings of fact and conclusions of law of the United States Magistrate Judge are correct. Accordingly, the above unobjected-to findings of fact and conclusions of law in the Report and

Recommendation of the United States Magistrate Judge are adopted. Plaintiff Amberley Lambert’s claims against Defendants City of Onalaska, Texas, and Tammie Heeth are not time- barred. IV. Plaintiff Amberley Lambert’s Objections [Dkt. 57 at 2–12] to the Report and Recommendation [Dkt. 55] are Overruled

A party who timely files specific, written objections to a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation is entitled to a de novo determination of findings or recommendations to which the party specifically objects. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(C); FED. R. CIV. P. 72(b)(2)–(3). To be specific, an objection must identify the specific finding or recommendation to which objection is made, state the basis for the objection, and specify the place in the magistrate judge’s report and recommendation where the disputed determination is found. An objection that merely incorporates by reference or refers to the briefing before the magistrate judge is not specific. “Frivolous, conclusive or general objections need not be considered by the district court.” Nettles v. Wainwright, 677 F.2d 404, 410 n.8 (5th Cir. 1982) (en banc), overruled on other grounds by Douglass v. United Servs. Auto. Ass’n, 79 F.3d 1412 (5th Cir. 1996) (en banc). 1. The Magistrate Judge Did Not Erroneously Apply the Summary Judgment Standard by Resolving Genuine Disputes of Material Fact

On a more substantive note, Lambert objects that the magistrate judge misapplied the summary judgement standard by resolving genuine disputes of material facts as to: (1) the precise sequence of events constituting the interaction between Lambert and Officer Heeth; and (2) whether Lambert subjectively understood Officer Heeth’s hand signal to stop and turn around. [Dkt. 57 at 3–8]. First, the magistrate judge determined that the summary judgment evidence did not support Lambert’s contention that her “testimony create[d] a dispute about whether she violated traffic directions” because “she stopped her vehicle when Officer Heeth signaled her, and

it was only after Officer Heeth struck her vehicle that the car began to move forward.” [Dkts. 51 at 18; 55 at 20–23]. As accurately summarized by the magistrate judge, the summary judgment evidence established the following: About five minutes after the 7:45 a.m. tardy bell, Officer Heeth was enforcing Onalaska Elementary School’s drop-off policy when she observed Lambert impermissibly driving her car down FM 356 South towards the school’s back entrance. [Dkt. 40- 2 at 13; Stanton Body Camera Footage 2 at 01:08–01:44]. The policy did not permit Lambert to use this route to drop her children off at that time, so Officer Heeth “raised [her] left hand up with [her] palm towards” Lambert and motioned with her index finger for Lambert “to make a ‘U’

motion … to turn around.” [Dkt. 40-2 at 13.] Lambert “stopped for a few seconds,” but then “proceeded to drive towards [Officer Heeth],” who had “started walking towards the vehicle.” Id. As a result, the car’s “bumper guard struck [Officer Heeth’s] left breast.” Id. Critically, Lambert testified that she agreed with “[Officer Heeth’s] testi[mony] that [she] kind of stopped in the middle of the roadway for – [a] second or two. [Officer Heeth] then start[ed] approaching, and then [Lambert] started up again.” [Dkt. 51-1, Ex. 5 at 17:7–11]. Lambert additionally testified that “when [Officer Heeth] hit [her] vehicle,” the car was “still moving.” [Dkt. 40-3 at 111:2–4 (emphasis added)].

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Lambert v. City of Onalaska, Texas, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lambert-v-city-of-onalaska-texas-txed-2025.