Martin v. Stites

31 F. Supp. 2d 926, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19300, 1998 WL 853043
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedNovember 16, 1998
DocketCiv.A. 98-2226-GTV
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 31 F. Supp. 2d 926 (Martin v. Stites) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Martin v. Stites, 31 F. Supp. 2d 926, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19300, 1998 WL 853043 (D. Kan. 1998).

Opinion

*928 MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

VANBEBBER, Chief Judge.

Plaintiffs Jimmie L. Martin d/b/a J & L Services, Eddie M. Haynes d/b/a Twilite Recovery Service, Morse’s Auto Salvage and Tow Service, Inc., Leslie L. Morse, Sr., John W. Morse, and Robert L. Morse claim that defendants Sheriff Marvin V. Stites, Linn County Commissioners Martin J. Read, Harold J. Mooney, Jr., and Charles Trask, and Dean Shoenhals d/b/a Northside Auto violated 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and federal antitrust laws, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1 & 2, when they conspired to restrain trade in the tow truck referral market in Linn County, Kansas. The case is before the court on defendants Stites, Read, Mooney, and Trask’s motion to dismiss (Doc. 8) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted under Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). For the reasons set forth below, defendants’ motion is granted in part and denied in part as follows:

1. the motion is granted as to plaintiffs’ antitrust claims (Count I) seeking damages from defendants Stites, Read, Mooney, and Trask in their individual and official capacities;
2. the motion is denied as to plaintiffs’ antitrust claims (Count I) seeking in-junctive relief;
3. the motion is denied as to plaintiffs’ § 1983 claims (Counts II, III, and V); and
4. the motion is granted as to plaintiffs’ § 1983 claims for punitive damages against defendants in their official capacities.

I. Factual Background

The relevant allegations of plaintiffs’ complaint are as follows. During a regular session of the Linn County Board of County Commissioners on December 22, 1997, the defendant board members and Sheriff Stites adjourned to a private executive session to create a towing policy for Linn County that would restrain trade in the tow tiuck referral market to the benefit of the attendees of the meeting and defendant Schoenhals. The new policy also benefitted Schoenhals in exchange for his provision of free or discounted tow service to the county.

As a result of this executive session, the county counselor announced that, under the new policy, the county would only use tow services that had filed an application for county tows and that had been approved by the board of county commissioners. Once a company filed an application and received approval from the board, Sheriff Stites required the company to meet specific criteria to be eligible for tow calls in Linn County. Sheriff Stites required that tow operators be able to respond within forty-five minutes of any call, to receive such calls by telephone, and to be available for a designated three-day rotation. Under this rotation system, each company, during its rotation period, would be called by the sheriffs department upon the discovery of a vehicle in need of towing unless customer preference or an emergency situation dictated otherwise. Plaintiffs and defendant Schoenhals were qualified under the above criteria and, therefore, should have received equal “non-preference” towing calls. In practice, however, most non-preference calls and emergency and service calls from Linn County deputies were and are directed to Schoenhals by order of Sheriff Stites.

The county commissioners and Sheriff Stites held a second private executive session on February 9, 1998. As a result of this session, the board reported that the provision of towing services in Linn County was to be divided into western and eastern service areas. Towing service for the west side of the county was to be supplied by Morse Auto Salvage. Service on the east side of the county was to be divided on a rotational basis between Twilite Recovery Service, owned by plaintiffs Martin and Haynes, and Northside Auto, owned by defendant Schoenhals. Approximately 80 percent of all wrecker calls are for service in the eastern half of the county. Of this 80 percent, most calls are sent by the Sheriffs department to Schoen-hals.

Plaintiffs also contend that defendants have manipulated the towing policy in order to direct all “large wrecker” service calls to Schoenhals. Large wrecker service, because *929 it involves towing large interstate transport vehicles, is often more lucrative than smaller vehicle tows. Plaintiff Morse owned a large wrecker service, and although he did not own a large wrecker, he had access to one through a Lawrence, Kansas affiliate. Plaintiffs Martin and Haynes were also prepared to provide large wrecker service, but did not own their own large wrecker. On March 2, 1998, plaintiff Morse asked the board to approve an application for a county towing service permit for an out-of-county tow company that owned a large wrecker. Such a permit would have allowed Morse to affiliate with this out-of-town company and to compete in the Linn County large wrecker service market. The board refused to approve the application, stating that only local tow trucks were to be used under the new policy, and informed Morse that challenges to the towing policy should be directed to Sheriff Stites.

As a result of the above events, plaintiffs have spoken critically about Sheriff Stites and the county commissioners and refused to support them politically. Due to these actions, defendants retaliated against plaintiffs by effectively removing plaintiffs from the Linn County tow referral list and by blocking plaintiffs’ entry into the large wrecker service market.

II. Legal Standards

In ruling on a motion to dismiss, the court accepts the veracity of all well-pleaded facts in the plaintiffs’ complaint and views both the facts and all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs. Zinermon v. Burch, 494 U.S. 113, 118, 110 S.Ct. 975, 108 L.Ed.2d 100 (1990); Swanson v. Bixler, 750 F.2d 810, 813 (10th Cir.1984). The pleadings must be construed liberally. Gas-A-Car, Inc. v. American Petrofina, Inc., 484 F.2d 1102 (10th Cir.1973); see Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a), (f). The issue in reviewing the sufficiency of a complaint is not whether the plaintiffs ultimately will prevail, but whether the plaintiffs will be allowed to offer evidence to bolster the claims. Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974). “The court may not dismiss a case for failure to state a claim unless it appears beyond a doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claims which would entitle him to relief.” Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct.

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Related

Martin v. Stites
203 F. Supp. 2d 1237 (D. Kansas, 2002)

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Bluebook (online)
31 F. Supp. 2d 926, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19300, 1998 WL 853043, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/martin-v-stites-ksd-1998.