Mills v. City of Roanoke

518 F. Supp. 2d 815, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76082, 2007 WL 2966564
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Virginia
DecidedOctober 12, 2007
DocketCivil Action 7:07CV00220
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 518 F. Supp. 2d 815 (Mills v. City of Roanoke) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mills v. City of Roanoke, 518 F. Supp. 2d 815, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76082, 2007 WL 2966564 (W.D. Va. 2007).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

GLEN E. CONRAD, District Judge.

Jean Mills, the Personal Representative of the Estate of Connie Mills, filed this civil rights action against the City of Roanoke and two officers with the Roanoke City Police Department (“RCPD”), Tracy Huff and Bobby Harman. The case is presently before the court on the defendants’ motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. For the following reasons, the court will grant the defendants’ motion.

Background

The following facts, which are taken from the plaintiffs complaint, are accepted as true for purposes of the defendants’ motion to dismiss. See Estate Constr. Co. v. Miller & Smith Holding Co., 14 F.3d 213, 217-218 (4th Cir.1994).

On July 29, 2005, Michael Holmes, a convicted felon, shot and killed Connie Mills at her home in the City of Roanoke. Approximately two months prior to this incident, Tracy Huff, while on duty as an officer with the RCPD, observed Holmes sleeping in an automobile while holding a firearm wrapped in a shirt. Holmes initially fled from Huff, but later turned himself in to the RCPD. 1

The plaintiff alleges that at all times relevant to the instant complaint, the RCPD maintained and enforced a policy of not arresting or charging felons found in possession of a firearm. Instead, the RCPD referred such cases to federal authorities for prosecution. 2 The plaintiff alleges that, pursuant to this policy, Bobby Harman directed Huff not to arrest or charge Holmes with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Thus, from the date that Huff observed Holmes in possession of a firearm through July 29, 2005, the date that Connie Mills was shot and killed, the defendants did not arrest or charge Holmes.

The plaintiff alleges that had the RCPD arrested, obtained a warrant for, or sought an indictment for Holmes, he would have been arrested and either incarcerated or placed on pretrial monitoring as of July 29, 2005. The plaintiff further alleges that as a direct and proximate result of the RCPD policy and the actions of the defendants, Holmes remained free and without legal restraint, and thereafter shot and killed Connie Mills. Additionally, the plaintiff alleges that the risk of harm was reasonably foreseeable to the defendants.

The plaintiff, Connie Mills’ mother, filed this action against the defendants on April 26, 2007. In Count I, the plaintiff asserts a substantive due process claim against the defendants. In Count II, the plaintiff asserts an equal protection claim against the defendants. In Count III, 'the plaintiff asserts a state law claim for nonfeasance against the City of Roanoke.

Discussion

The defendants have moved to dismiss the plaintiffs claims under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. “The purpose of a Rule 12(b)(6) motion is to test the sufficiency of a complaint”; such motion “does not resolve contests surrounding the facts, the merits of a claim, or the applicability of defenses.” *818 Edwards v. City of Goldsboro, 178 F.3d 231, 243 (4th Cir.1999) (internal citations omitted). When reviewing a claim pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), the court must accept all of the allegations in the complaint as true and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff. Id. at 244.

Although “a complaint attacked by a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss does not need detailed factual allegations, a plaintiffs obligation to provide the grounds of his entitlement to relief requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, — U.S. -, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 1964-1965, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). Instead, assuming the factual allegations in the complaint are true, they “must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Id.

I. Substantive Due Process Claim

The plaintiff first asserts that the defendants violated Connie Mills’ “substantive due process right to life” under the Fourteenth Amendment. (Compl. at 5.) To support her substantive due process claim, the plaintiff alleges that the defendants had a duty to enforce the laws, preserve the peace, and protect the citizens of the City of Roanoke, and that a foreseeable consequence of the defendants’ decision not to arrest or charge Holmes was that he would use a firearm to commit additional criminal acts. The plaintiff further alleges that had the defendants arrested or charged Holmes, Mills would not have been killed.

In moving to dismiss the plaintiffs substantive due process claim, the defendants argue that the claim is foreclosed by the United States Supreme Court’s decisions in DeShaney v. Winnebago County Dept. of Social Services, 489 U.S. 189, 109 S.Ct. 998, 103 L.Ed.2d 249 (1989) and Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales, 545 U.S. 748, 125 S.Ct. 2796, 162 L.Ed.2d 658 (2005).

In DeShaney, the petitioner was a child who was beaten and permanently injured by his father, with whom the child lived. DeShaney, 489 U.S. at 191, 109 S.Ct. 998. The respondents were social workers and other local officials who received complaints that the child was being abused by his father, but did not act to remove the child from his father’s custody. Id. The petitioner filed suit against the respondents, alleging that their failure to act deprived him of his liberty in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Id. The Supreme Court disagreed, holding “[a]s a general matter,” that “a State’s failure to protect an individual against private violence simply does not constitute a violation of the Due Process Clause.” Id. at 197, 109 S.Ct. 998. In reaching this decision, the Supreme Court emphasized that “nothing in the language of the Due Process Clause itself requires the State to protect the life, liberty, and property of its citizens against invasion by private actors.” Id. at 195,109 S.Ct. 998. “Its purpose was to protect people from the State, not to ensure that the State protected them from each other.” Id.

Approximately twenty-five years later, the Supreme Court decided the case of Town of Castle Rock, which involved a procedural due process claim arising from the murder of three children by their father. Town of Castle Rock, 545 U.S. at 754, 125 S.Ct. 2796.

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518 F. Supp. 2d 815, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76082, 2007 WL 2966564, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mills-v-city-of-roanoke-vawd-2007.