Lareños En Defensa Del Patrimonio Historico, Inc. v. Municipality of Lares

882 F. Supp. 2d 286, 2012 WL 3161854
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedAugust 6, 2012
DocketCivil No. 11-1880(FAB)
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 882 F. Supp. 2d 286 (Lareños En Defensa Del Patrimonio Historico, Inc. v. Municipality of Lares) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lareños En Defensa Del Patrimonio Historico, Inc. v. Municipality of Lares, 882 F. Supp. 2d 286, 2012 WL 3161854 (prd 2012).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER1

FRANCISCO A. BESOSA, District Judge.

Before the Court is a Report & Recommendation (“R & R”) issued by Magistrate Judge Velez-Rive on June 29, 2012. (Docket No. 32.) The R & R recommends that defendant Roberto Pagan-Centeno’s (“Pagan”) motion to dismiss all of plaintiffs’ 2 claims pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) be DENIED. (Docket No. 9.) Defendant filed objections to the R & R on July 30, 2012. (Docket No. 36.) After reviewing the R & R, the Court ADOPTS the R & R IN PART. Defendant Pagan’s motion to dismiss is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.

1. Background

A. Factual History

Plaintiffs filed a complaint on September 6, 2011, against defendant Roberto Pagan Centeno (“defendant”) in his personal and official capacity as the Mayor of Lares, and against the Municipality of Lares (collectively, “defendants”). (Docket No. 1 at ¶¶ 11-12.) Plaintiffs seek damages and injunctive relief pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for defendants’ alleged violations of plaintiffs’ First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Id. at p. 1. Plaintiffs also allege that the defendants violated Sections 1, 4, 6 and 7 of Article II of the Puerto Rico Constitution, and Article 1802 of the Civil Code, P.R.Laws Ann. tit. 31 sec. 5141. Id. at ¶ 1.

The Court declines to rehash the entire factual record, and highlights only the relevant facts. Simply put, plaintiffs opposed defendant Pagan’s plan to change Lares’s motto from “La Ciudad del Grito” (“City of the Uprising”), a historical reference to the September 23, 1868 revolt against the Kingdom of Spain, to “Lares, Ciudad de los Cielos Abiertos” (“Lares, the City of Open Skies”). Id. at ¶¶ 6-8, 12. Plaintiffs began “expressing their opposition” to the proposed change, and their complaint focuses on two specific incidents that they allege were the result of defendant’s actions.

First, plaintiffs attempted to express their opinion in a public square, Plaza de la Revolución (“Revolution Square”), during a march on September 12, 2010. Id. at ¶¶ 20-21. Revolution Square is “a traditional place of public expression,” and has been used by citizens “for decades” to express “all sorts of political, social, [and] religious” views. Id. at ¶21. Plaintiffs’ [289]*289request to use Revolution Square was denied, allegedly because another group had requested to use the square on that day. Id. at ¶¶ 24, 26. That reason was apparently “false,” however, because “no other group or persons held an activity at [Revolution] [S]quare” on September 12, 2010. Id. at ¶¶27, 29. Plaintiffs aver “upon [their] information and belief’ (1) that “they were denied the use of [Revolution] [S]quare pursuant to” defendant Pagan’s instructions, and (2) that Lares “does not have a set of rules and regulations ... regarding the use of the public squares and public locations of the Municipality.” Id. at ¶¶ 28, 31.

Second, plaintiffs attempted to “express their support” of the original Lares motto by riding a float in a parade held on November 28, 2010. Id. at ¶¶ 38-39. Plaintiffs’ request to ride in the parade was denied, allegedly because all floats needed to be “prepared with decorations and motives [sic] of the upcoming Christmas Season.” Id. at ¶ 41. Plaintiffs attempted to comply by adding poinsettias3 (a traditional Christmas flower decoration) to their float, but were denied permission again. Id. at ¶¶ 42-43. Plaintiffs nonetheless attempted to enter the parade but Lares police agents immediately arrived, surrounded the float and “restricted the liberty of the drivers of the parade and of other participant Plaintiffs impeding their movement and restricting their liberty.” Id. at ¶¶ 47-49. Plaintiffs again aver upon their “information and belief’ (1) that the actions of the police “were acts undertaken upon the express or tacit instructions” of defendant Pagan, and (2) that Lares does not have “any policies, rules, or regulations, nor legally valid criteria to determine who can ... participate in parades sponsored by the municipality.” Id. at ¶ 45, 57.

B. Procedural Background

Defendant Pagan, in his personal capacity, filed a motion to dismiss plaintiffs’ complaint pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) on October 31, 2011, for plaintiffs’ failure to state a claim entitling them to relief. (Docket No. 9 at ¶ 2.) Defendant also raises the affirmative defense of qualified immunity. Id. Plaintiffs filed an opposition on February 23, 2012. (Docket No. 22.) Magistrate Judge Velez-Rive’s R & R focused solely on plaintiffs’ First Amendment complaint, and recommends denying defendant’s motion to dismiss because: (1) plaintiffs had met the 12(b)(6) pleading threshold, and (2) defendant is not entitled to qualified immunity because a reasonable person in defendant’s position would have known that his actions violated clearly established law. Id. at pp. 19-20, 22. The R & R did not. addrqss plaintiffs’ Fifth Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment or Commonwealth claims. The Court granted the defendant Pagan’s motion for an extension of time in which to file objections, (Docket No. 34), and defendant Pagan filed objections to the R & R on July 30, 2012. (Docket No. 36.)

Defendant Pagan raises a number of objections to the R & R. First, he contends that the R & R improperly “took into consideration matters outside the pleadings,” because of the procedural posture of the case. (Docket No. 36 at ¶ 5.) Defendant Pagan also objects to plaintiffs’ use of “upon their information and belief,” stating that “this is not enough to establish the element of causation required in Section 1983.” Id. at ¶ 7. Defendant Pagan noted that the R '& R declined to address plaintiffs’ Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment claims, and re-stated his request for qualified immunity because he “is immune from [290]*290suit when performing this judicial or quasi judicial function.” Id. at ¶¶ 9-10.

II. Legal Standards
A. Referral pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)

A district court may refer a case to a magistrate judge for a report and recommendation. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B) (2012); Fed.R.Civ.P. 72(b); Loe. Rule 72(b). Any party adversely affected by the report and recommendation may file written objections within fourteen days of being served with the magistrate judge’s report. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1) (2012); Loe. Rule 72(d). A party that files a timely objection is entitled to a de novo determination of “those portions of the report or specified proposed findings or recommendations to which specific objection is made.” Sylva v. Culebra Dive Shop, 389 F.Supp.2d 189, 191-92 (D.P.R.2005) (citing

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Bluebook (online)
882 F. Supp. 2d 286, 2012 WL 3161854, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/larenos-en-defensa-del-patrimonio-historico-inc-v-municipality-of-lares-prd-2012.