Meyer v. Coffey

231 F. Supp. 3d 137, 2017 WL 412401, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13315
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedJanuary 31, 2017
DocketCIVIL ACTION NO. 3:15-CV-2935-B
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 231 F. Supp. 3d 137 (Meyer v. Coffey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Meyer v. Coffey, 231 F. Supp. 3d 137, 2017 WL 412401, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13315 (N.D. Tex. 2017).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

JANE J. BOYLE, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Before the Court is Defendant City of Maypearl’s (Maypearl) Rule 12(c) Motion [142]*142for Judgment on the Pleadings. Doc. 20. For the reasons that follow, the Court GRANTS Maypearl’s Motion but also GRANTS Plaintiff leave to replead.

I.

BACKGROUND1

This is a civil rights case. “Plaintiff Mallory Meyer, individually and as the alleged representative of the Estate of James Meyer, seeks monetary damages from Defendants asserting that Mr. Meyer committed suicide because of alleged ‘police retaliation, harassment, and intimidation.’ ” Doc. 20, Def. Maypearl’s Rule 12(c) Mot. for J. on Pleads. 3 [hereinafter Maypearl’s Mot. J. on Pleads.] (quoting Doc. 18, Pl.’s Am. Compl. 1).

James Meyer bought and moved into a home in Maypearl, Texas, in April 2013. Doc. 18, Pl.’s Am. Compl. ¶¶ 5, 8. Soon after, he met Shannon Bachman, May-pearl’s then police chief. Id. ¶ 5. Around that time, Meyer’s daughters told him that Maypearl police officer Kevin Coffey was engaging in “inappropriate contact with local teenage, girls.” Id. That concerned Meyer, who relayed his concerns to Bach-man. Id. Meyer waited for something to come of the news but no “immediate action” was taken. Id.

Then on May 18, 2013, Coffey — who was at that time a sergeant with the Maypearl Police Department — entered Meyer’s home and arrested him on an outstanding warrant for traffic violations. Id. ¶ 9. Plaintiff claims that Coffey entered “Meyer’s home without cause or consent and began interrogating him” before the arrest. Id. And after the arrest, Plaintiff continues, Coffey “tightly handcuffed” Meyer’s hands behind his back despite Meyer’s plea for his hands to be placed in front. Id. Meyer was “recovering from an auto accident and his arm was in a sling,” so Coffey’s actions allegedly caused “intense pain and injury to Meyer’s injured shoulder, arm, and wrists.” Id. And that, Plaintiff maintains, was just the beginning. See id. ¶¶ 9-10.

In particular, Plaintiff claims that from the May 18, 2013, arrest until his death on June 13, 2015, “Meyer was the subject of excessive force, harassment, and intimidation” by Coffey, who by then was May-pearl’s chief of police. Id. ¶ 10. Plaintiff asserts that Coffey made death threats and threats to frame Meyer for criminal acts, illegally spied on Meyer, permitted and participated in constant drive-bys, stalked Meyer and his family, sent police to Meyer’s home, followed Meyer and his family throughout Maypearl, and directed other law enforcement officers to follow Meyer’s family and use pretextual traffic stops to question them. Id. Coffey did all of this, Plaintiff says, to retaliate against Meyer for addressing his “improper sexual conduct with high school girls.” Id. ¶ 11.

Coffey’s actions took a toll on Meyer, according to Plaintiff, and he suffered “anxiety, mental anguish, physical pain and suffering” as a result. Id. ¶ 12. Meyer’s suffering was so severe, Plaintiff avers, that he committed “suicide to escape the harassment by Chief Coffey” on June 13, 2015. Id. ¶¶ 10, 14.

Plaintiff filed suit against Coffey and Maypearl in September 2015. Doc. 1, PL’s Orig. Compl. Both defendants filed an Answer in response. See Docs. 8, Coffey’s Answer to PL’s Orig. Compl; 9, May-pearl’s Answer to Pl.’s Orig. Compl. Plaintiff followed with her Amended Complaint (Doc. 18). Maypearl answered; Coffey did [143]*143not. See Doc. 19, Maypearl’s Answer to Pl.’s Am. Compl. Maypearl then filed its Rule 12(c) Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings. Doc. 20.

Rather than respond to Maypearl’s Motion, Plaintiff moved to dismiss her own claims without prejudice. Doc. 27, Pl.’s Mot. Dismiss. Essentially, the parties agree that Plaintiffs claims should be dismissed but disagree as to whether that dismissal should be with or without prejudice. See id.; Docs. 28, Maypearl’s Resp. to Pl.’s Mot. Dismiss; 31, Coffey’s Resp. to PL’s Mot. Dismiss. The Court denied Plaintiffs Motion because it was procedurally defective. See Doc. 34, Order. That leaves only Maypearl’s to be decided. As referenced, Plaintiff failed to respond. Maypearl’s Rule 12(c) Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings (Doc. 20) is ripe for the Court’s review.

II.

LEGAL STANDARD

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c) provides that “[ajfter the pleadings are closed — but early enough not to delay trial — a party may move for judgment on the pleadings.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(c); see also Fed. R. Civ. P. 7(a); 5C Charles Alan Wright et al., Federal Practice & Procedure § 1367 (internal footnotes omitted) (“Rule 7(a) provides that the pleadings are closed upon the filing of a complaint and an answer (absent a court-ordered reply), unless a counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party claim is interposed, in which event the filing of a reply to a counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party answer normally will mark the close of the pleadings.”). The pleadings in this case are closed and Maypearl timely moved for judgment on the pleadings. See Docs. 8, Coffey’s Answer to Pl.’s Orig. Compl; 9, Maypearl’s Answer to Pl.’s Orig. Compl.; 20, Maypearl’s Mot. J. on Pleads. Thus, the Court may properly consider Maypearl’s Rule 12(c) challenge.

A motion for judgment on the pleadings “is designed to dispose of cases where the material facts are not in dispute and a judgment on the merits can be rendered by looking to the substance of the pleadings and any judicially noticed facts.” Hebert Abstract Co. v. Touchstone Props., Ltd., 914 F.2d 74, 76 (5th Cir. 1990). The standard for evaluating a Rule 12(c) motion is the same as the standard for evaluating a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. Doe v. Myspace, Inc., 528 F.3d 413, 418 (5th Cir. 2008). The Court may look to “allegations in the complaint and to those documents attached to a defendant’s motion to dismiss to the extent that those documents are referred to in the complaint and are central to the claims.” Cox v. Cent. Insurex Agency, Inc., No. 3:11-cv-2267-B, 2012 WL 253882, at *2 (N.D. Tex. Jan. 26, 2012) (citing Causey v. Sewell Cadillac-Chevrolet, Inc., 394 F.3d 285, 288 (5th Cir. 2004)).

Under Rule 8(a)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a complaint must contain “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). Rule 12(b)(6) authorizes a court to dismiss a plaintiffs complaint for “failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” Fed. R. Civ. P.

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231 F. Supp. 3d 137, 2017 WL 412401, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13315, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/meyer-v-coffey-txnd-2017.