Landor v. Lafayette Consolidated Gov't

126 F. Supp. 3d 761, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114654, 2015 WL 5089206
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Louisiana
DecidedAugust 27, 2015
DocketCivil Action No. 14-2620
StatusPublished

This text of 126 F. Supp. 3d 761 (Landor v. Lafayette Consolidated Gov't) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Landor v. Lafayette Consolidated Gov't, 126 F. Supp. 3d 761, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114654, 2015 WL 5089206 (W.D. La. 2015).

Opinion

RULING AND ORDER

REBECCA F. DOHERTY, District Judge.

Pending before this Court is a Report and Recommendation issued by the magistrate judge, in which the magistrate judge recommends the “Motions to Dismiss Pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6)” [Docs, 7, 16, and 22] filed by defendant Lafayette Consolidated Government (“LCG”) be granted on grounds the claims of the plaintiff are barred by res judicata, and- the instant case be dismissed. Plaintiff Andres M. Landor has filed an Objection to the Report and Recommendation [Doc. 35], and LCG has filed a Response [Doc. 36] to the Objection. For the following reasons, the Report of the magistrate judge is adopted by this Court.

This Court files' the instant ruling to clarify one point. In his Objection, Mr. Landor argues for the first time that one factor of the res judicata analysis is not satisfied in this matter, to wit, that there was no final judgment in Landor I at the time the plaintiff filed his claims in Landor II, and therefore, res judicata cannot bar his claims in Landor II. The plaintiffs argument is unpersuasive for several reasons. First, it is unclear to this Court whether the law requires that there be a final judgment on the first set of claims at the time the new claims are filed, or whether it suffices for the first-filed claims simply to have been adjudicated prior to the time the latter-filed claims are adjudicated.1 Regardless, this Court need not make that determination at this time, because the law is clear that a determination on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion that claims are dismissed with prejudice satisfies the requirement for a “final judgment” for res [764]*764judicata purposes. See, e.g., Stevens v. Bank of America, N.A., 587 Fed.Appx. 130, 133 (5th Cir.2014) (plaintiffs argued prior dismissal on 12(b)(6) motion was not a final judgment on the merits; Fifth Circuit disagreed, noting “a federal court’s 12(b)(6) dismissal with prejudice is a final judgment on the merits for res judicata purposes.”), citing Oreck Direct, LLC v. Dyson, Inc., 560 F.3d 398, 401 (5th Cir.2009) and Femandez-Montes v. Allied Pilots Ass’n, 987 F.2d 278, 284 n. 8 (5th Cir.1993). This Court notes a final Judgment dismissing all claims in Landor I was issued by this Court on September 17, 2014 [Doc. 67]. The claims in Landor II were filed by the plaintiff on September 1, 2014.

Considering the foregoing, after this Court’s de novo review of the issues presented, this Court ADOPTS the findings of the magistrate judge and concludes the instant lawsuit should be dismissed on grounds of res judicata. Consequently, the “Motions to Dismiss Pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6)” [Docs. 7, 16, and 22] are GRANTED, for the reasons' set forth by the magistrate judge in his Report and Recommendation and the additional reasons stated herein.

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

C. MICHAEL HILL, United States Magistrate Judge.

Pending before the undersigned for report and recommendation are the defendant’s Motions to Dismiss Pursuant to FRCP Rule 12(b)(6). [rec. docs. 7, 16 and 22]. The plaintiff, Andres M. Landor (“Landor”), has filed Opposition, [rec. docs. 12, 28]. By these Motions, the defendant, the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government (“LCG”) seeks dismissal of Landor’s Title VII lawsuit based on res judicata and, alternatively, for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6), FRCP.

For those reasons set out below, it is recommended that the Motions to Dismiss be granted and, accordingly, that this lawsuit be dismissed.

BACKGROUND

On September 28, 2013, Landor, an officer with the Lafayette City Police Department (“LPD”), and his wife filed a lawsuit in This Court pursuant to Title VI (42 U.S.C. § 2000d et seq.) and 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983 and 1985 against various defendants including Teurlings Catholic High School, Inc. (“Teurlings”), Principal Michael Boyer (“Boyer”), Vice-Principal Robert Baudier (“Baudier”), faculty sponsor of Teurlings’ JV cheer squad Tiffany Dugas (“Dugas”), Detective Stephen Bajat (“Bajat”) and the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government (“LCG”)1, arising out of an alleged cyberbullying episode utilizing a fake instagram account, involving their daughter, a black student and cheerleader at Teurlings, Docket No. 6:13-cv-2759, rec. doc. 1 (W.D.La.) (“Landor I”). In this Complaint, Landor and his wife alleged that Bajat had conspired with Teurlings and its agents and administrators to racially discriminate against their daughter by impeding and eventually terminating the investigation of alleged cy-berbullying by a white parent and her daughter, a student at Teurlings, to protect them from criminal prosecution.

On January 8, 2014, Landor and his wife filed a Supplemental Complaint.2 In the Supplemented Complaint, plaintiffs asserted that Bajat had filed a complaint with LPD Internal Affairs (“IA”) against [765]*765Landor alleging that he engaged in unprofessional conduct, to wit, making false statements about Bajat in the case. They further alleged that Landor was to be subjected to questioning by internal affairs in connection with the investigation of Ba-jat’s complaint, [rec. doc. 44],

On January 5, 2014, Landor and his wife filed a First Amended Complaint in which they made additional allegations detailing how Bajat allegedly acted in concert with Teurlings and its administrators to commit intentional racial discrimination, [rec. doc. 30].

On March 13, 2014, Landor and his wife' sought leave to file a Second Supplemented Complaint alleging claims against Lan-dor’s employer, the LPD through LCG, and Chief of Police Craft pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985 and Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978). [rec. doc. 48]. Following a March 18, 2014 hearing on the Motion before the undersigned, leave was granted. During the hearing, the Landors’ counsel, the same counsel who filed the instant Complaint, did not mention Landor’s pending EEOC charge and did not request a stay of the proceedings pending administrative exhaustion. Accordingly, because of the numerous previously filed Supplemental and Amending Complaints, the undersigned ordered that no additional amendments by the plaintiff would be allowed so that a Ruling on the pending Motions to Dismiss could be issued, [rec. doc. 57].

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Bluebook (online)
126 F. Supp. 3d 761, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114654, 2015 WL 5089206, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/landor-v-lafayette-consolidated-govt-lawd-2015.