McGrew v. City of Portland

CourtDistrict Court, D. Oregon
DecidedJanuary 29, 2024
Docket3:23-cv-01082
StatusUnknown

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

Bluebook
McGrew v. City of Portland, (D. Or. 2024).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF OREGON

JASON MCGREW, individually, No. 3:23-cv-01082-HZ

Plaintiff, OPINION & ORDER

v.

CITY OF PORTLAND, MULTNOMAH COUNTY, NOAH HARDING, in his individual capacity, JONATHAN IANOS, in his individual capacity, CHERYL NELSON, in her individual capacity, JOCELYN K. JOHNSON, in her individual capacity,

Defendants.

Louren Oliveros Oliveros Law, PLLC 50 Charles Lindbergh Blvd, Suite 205 Uniondale, NY 11553

Attorney for Plaintiff

Veronica R. Rodriguez Assistant County Attorney Multnomah County Attorney 501 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd., Suite 500 Portland, Oregon 97214

Attorneys for Defendants Multnomah County, Jocelyn Johnson, and Cheryl Nelson HERNÁNDEZ, District Judge: This matter comes before the Court on Multnomah County Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint, ECF 31. For the reasons that follow, the Court grants in part and denies in part Defendants’ Motion. BACKGROUND The following facts are taken from the First Amended Complaint (“FAC”) and the parties’ materials regarding the Motion to Dismiss. On January 8, 2021, Plaintiff Jason McGrew was placed on probation in Geary County, Kansas “pursuant to a plea agreement related to marijuana.” FAC ¶ 18. At some point Plaintiff’s

probation was transferred to Oregon and supervised by Multnomah County probation officers Jocelyn Johnson and Cheryl Nelson. “At all material times Plaintiff was in a relationship with . . . Hanna Hinkle.” FAC ¶ 20. On August 7, 2021, Plaintiff was at Hinkle’s apartment where he had an encounter with Portland Police Officers Ianos and Harding and was arrested on charges of interference with a peace officer, resisting arrest, coercion-domestic violence, and criminal mischief. Plaintiff “was booked into the Multnomah County jail,” held for four days, and released on August 11, 2021. FAC ¶ 43-44. Plaintiff alleges that on August 22, 2021, Johnson and Nelson modified the terms of Plaintiff’s probation to include a term that Plaintiff have “no offensive contact” with Hinkle.

FAC ¶ 54. On September 24, 2021, Plaintiff sent a tort claim notice to the City of Portland regarding his interactions with officers Ianos and Harding. On September 30, 2021, Johnson imposed a probation condition that Plaintiff “have no contact with Hinkle.” FAC ¶ 59. Plaintiff alleges that Johnson and Nelson submitted a Compact Violation Report to Kansas in which they reported “that Plaintiff violated conditions of his probation,” but “Plaintiff did not violate a condition of his probation. Rather, [they] imposed a new condition of release unrelated to Plaintiff’s conviction and . . . found that Plaintiff violated that unlawful condition of release1 and prepared the report to revoke Plaintiff’s probation.” FAC ¶ 59. Plaintiff alleges Johnson and Nelson

recommended “retaking by Kansas based on their unilateral finding of Plaintiff’s probation violation.” FAC ¶ 60. On October 6, 2021, Kansas received the Compact Violation Report and “decided to retake Plaintiff.” On that same day Johnson told Plaintiff that he was no longer being supervised in Oregon and he was required to report to Kansas by October 15, 2021. Plaintiff did not report to Kansas by October 15, 2021, and on November 4, 2021, Kansas issued an arrest warrant for Plaintiff. Ultimately, Plaintiff was arrested on October 5, 2022, and “confined on that arrest warrant” until his release on October 18, 2022.

On July 17, 2023, Plaintiff filed a complaint in Multnomah County Circuit Court against the City of Portland, Officers Harding and Ianos, the Interstate Commission for Adult Offender Supervision (“ICAOS”), Colette Peters, Nelson, and Johnson asserting claims for unconstitutional seizure, excessive force, and wrongful arrest against Harding and Ianos; negligence, assault, and battery against Ianos, Harding, and the City of Portland; unconstitutional

1 It is unclear whether Plaintiff alleges Johnson and Nelson reported that Plaintiff violated the condition allegedly added on August 22, 2021, or the condition allegedly added on September 30, 2021. It is not entirely clear, but it appears that Plaintiff alleges Johnson and Nelson based the Compact Violation Report on Plaintiff’s on August 7, 2021 contact with Hinkle. seizure and malicious prosecution against Peters, Nelson, and Johnson; and violation of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment against Peters, Nelson, and Johnson. On October 2, 2023, Plaintiff filed a First Amendment Complaint in which he no longer named Peters or the ICAOS as defendants and asserted claims for unconstitutional seizure, excessive force, and wrongful arrest against Harding and Ianos; negligence, assault, battery, and

false arrest against the City of Portland; intentional infliction of emotional distress (“IIED”) against Multnomah County; unconstitutional seizure and malicious prosecution against Nelson and Johnson; and violation of the due process clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments against Nelson and Johnson. On October 16, 2023, Defendants Multnomah County, Johnson, and Nelson filed a Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s claims against them. The Court took this matter under advisement on November 29, 2023. STANDARD A motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) tests the sufficiency

of the claims. Navarro v. Block, 250 F.3d 729, 732 (9th Cir. 2001). “When reviewing a dismissal pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), the Court accepts as true all facts alleged in the complaint and construes them “in the light most favorable to plaintiff.” Pino v. Cardone Cap., LLC, 55 F.4th 1253, 1257 (9th Cir. 2022)(quotation omitted). “Factual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level on the assumption that all the allegations in the complaint are true (even if doubtful in fact)[.]” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007)(citations and footnote omitted). “‘Threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action” do not suffice to state a claim.” Pino, 55 F.4th at 1257 (quoting Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009)). 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, 556 U.S. at 678. A plaintiff must “plead[] factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id. In other words, a complaint must state a plausible claim for relief and contain “well-pleaded facts” that “permit the court to infer

more than the mere possibility of misconduct[.]” Id. at 679. DISCUSSION Multnomah County Defendants move to dismiss Plaintiff’s claims against Nelson on the basis that Nelson did not have any involvement in Plaintiff’s supervision after August 10, 2021; and to dismiss Plaintiff’s claims for IIED, unconstitutional seizure/malicious prosecution, and violation of due process on the basis of failure to state a claim. I. Judicial Notice “In ruling on a 12(b)(6) motion, a court may generally consider only allegations contained in the pleadings, exhibits attached to the complaint, and matters properly subject to

judicial notice.” Swartz v. KPMG LLP, 476 F.3d 756, 763 (9th Cir. 2007)(citing Jacobson v. Schwarzenegger, 357 F. Supp. 2d 1198, 1204 (C.D. Cal. 2004)).

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McGrew v. City of Portland, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcgrew-v-city-of-portland-ord-2024.