Maldonado v. Baker County Sheriff's Office

CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedJanuary 13, 2021
Docket3:20-cv-00418
StatusUnknown

This text of Maldonado v. Baker County Sheriff's Office (Maldonado v. Baker County Sheriff's Office) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Maldonado v. Baker County Sheriff's Office, (M.D. Fla. 2021).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA JACKSONVILLE DIVISION

HAMZA MALDONADO,

Plaintiff,

v. Case No. 3:20-cv-418-J-39PDB

BAKER COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE, et al.,

Defendants. _______________________________

ORDER

I. Status Plaintiff, Hamza Maldonado, a federal inmate, is proceeding pro se on a complaint for the violation of civil rights (Doc. 1-1; Compl.), which he filed in state court. Defendants removed the action to this Court (Doc. 1) and filed a motion to dismiss the complaint (Doc. 4; Motion). Plaintiff filed three responses opposing the motion (Docs. 8-10). Additionally, Plaintiff moves the Court to remove adversary counsel (Doc. 26), to deny Defendants qualified immunity (Doc. 27), and for an extension of time and appointment of counsel (Docs. 31, 32). II. Plaintiff’s Motions Despite having been advised of his obligation to comply with the Court’s Local Rules and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, see Order (Doc. 6), Plaintiff’s motions are facially deficient because they do not include a memorandum of law. See M.D. Fla. R. 3.01(a) (“in a motion or other application

for an order, the movant shall include a concise statement of the precise relief requested, a statement of the basis for the request, and a memorandum of legal authority in support of the request.”).1 Additionally, Plaintiff improperly designates one motion (Doc. 31) as an emergency, and he twice asks for an

extension of time to respond to Defendants’ motion to dismiss (Docs. 31, 32), despite him having responded to the motion and being under no current deadline in this action. Plaintiff’s motions are due to be stricken for his non-compliance with the

Rules, and he should know that “[t]he unwarranted designation of a motion as an emergency motion may result in the imposition of sanctions.” See M.D. Fla. R. 3.01(e). III. Motion to Dismiss Standard

“To survive a motion to dismiss, 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); see also Lotierzo v. Woman’s World Med. Ctr., Inc., 278 F.3d 1180, 1182 (11th Cir. 2002). “A claim

has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the

1 In his motions, Plaintiff also reiterates some of the points he makes in opposition to Defendants’ motion to dismiss. court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. A plaintiff should allege enough

facts “to raise a reasonable expectation that discovery will reveal evidence” supporting the plaintiff’s claims. Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 556 (2007). Though detailed factual allegations are not required, Federal Rule of

Civil Procedure 8(a) demands “more than an unadorned, the-defendant- unlawfully-harmed-me accusation.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. As such, a plaintiff may not rely on “[t]hreadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements.” Gill as Next Friend of K.C.R. v.

Judd, 941 F.3d 504, 511 (11th Cir. 2019) (quoting Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678). Rather, the well-pled allegations must nudge the claim “across the line from conceivable to plausible.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570. In assessing the sufficiency of a complaint, all reasonable inferences should be drawn in favor

of the plaintiff. See Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. IV. Complaint Allegations Plaintiff filed his complaint in the Circuit Court of the Eighth Judicial Circuit, in and for Baker County, Florida, on March 26, 2020, and he obtained leave to proceed in forma pauperis in that court. At the time, Plaintiff was a detainee at the Baker County Detention Center.2

Plaintiff’s complaint is somewhat confusing because he includes extraneous facts and does not set forth his allegations plainly. However, the gravamen of his complaint is that Defendant Rhoden retaliated against him for exercising “his First Amendment rights by filing grievances.”3 See Compl.

at 10. According to Plaintiff, Defendant Rhoden denied him the use of the telephone on two days in March 2020; denied him extra time in the law library; denied him the ability to “seek remedy with a shift supervisor”; threatened him with physical harm; and discriminated against him by segregating black and

white inmates from going to the law library together. Id. at 7, 8. Plaintiff names the Detention Center as a Defendant because it employed Defendant Rhoden. Id. at 3. He names the Sheriff’s Office because it has “supervisory responsibility for the policies and procedures of the Baker

2 Plaintiff is now housed at Tallahassee Federal Correctional Institution.

3 Plaintiff also asserts Defendant Rhoden retaliated against him for having filed other lawsuits and because he is Muslim and African American. See Compl. at 4, 6. Plaintiff does not allege he sued Defendant Rhoden in any other civil actions and only says in passing that he believes Defendant Rhoden discriminated against him, so it appears these allegations are not relevant to his primary claim that Defendant Rhoden retaliated against him for engaging in protected speech. County Detention Center.” Id. As relief, Plaintiff seeks nominal, compensatory, and punitive damages. Id. at 11.

V. Analysis Defendants move to dismiss the claims against them for the following reasons: (1) Plaintiff is a three-strikes litigant and is, therefore, barred from proceeding in this Court under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA); (2)

the Sheriff’s Office and Detention Center are not legal entities subject to suit; (3) Defendant Rhoden is immune from suit in his official capacity; (4) Defendant Rhoden is entitled to qualified immunity in his individual capacity; and (5) Plaintiff’s complaint does not satisfy federal pleading standards. See

Motion at 2, 10-11, 13. In response, Plaintiff says the three-strikes bar under the PLRA does not apply to him because Defendants removed the case to this Court and paid the filing fee; the PLRA in general does not apply because when Plaintiff filed his

complaint, he was a “detainee,” not a “prisoner”; and the federal pleading standards do not apply because he initiated the action in state court. See Doc. 8 at 7, 8.4

4 Whether the three-strikes bar applies will be addressed below. However, the Court notes that the PLRA liberally defines “prisoner” as “any person incarcerated or detained in any facility who is accused of, convicted of, sentenced for, or adjudicated delinquent for, violations of criminal law . . . .” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(h). The Court agrees Plaintiff cannot be penalized for failing to A. Three Strikes Defendants argue this case should be dismissed outright because

Plaintiff, who is a self-proclaimed three-strikes litigant, has attempted to circumvent the PLRA’s three-strikes bar by filing his complaint in state court. See Motion at 7, 10. Plaintiff counters that the three-strikes bar does not apply because he did not file his complaint in federal court, nor has he moved to

proceed in forma pauperis in this Court, and Defendants paid the filing fee. See Doc. 8 at 8. The Court acknowledges and respects that a jurist of this Court recently dismissed another of Plaintiff’s cases that was removed from state court,

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Maldonado v. Baker County Sheriff's Office, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/maldonado-v-baker-county-sheriffs-office-flmd-2021.