Montoya ex rel. S.M. v. Española Public School District Board of Education

904 F. Supp. 2d 1173, 2012 WL 5521979
District Court, D. New Mexico·Decided November 7, 2012·No. No. CV 10-651 WPJ/LFG·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART SCHOOL DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS

WILLIAM P. JOHNSON, District Judge.

THIS MATTER comes before the Court upon a Motion to Dismiss the Third Amended Complaint Filed by Plaintiff C.G., filed April 20, 2012 (Doc. 241) by Defendants Española Public School District Board of Education, Dorothy Sanchez, Devanna Ortega, Lewis Johnson, and Dennis Gallegos (“School Defendants”). Having reviewed the parties’ briefs and applicable law, I find that the School Defendants’ motion is granted in part with regard to Plaintiff C.G.’s § 1983 substantive due process claim in Count 7. The motion is denied in part with regard to Plaintiffs negligence claim in Count 3. The Court defers ruling on whether Plaintiffs claims in Count 5 (the New Mexico State Constitution) and Count 12 (municipal liability) should be dismissed.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs in this case are students who were enrolled at either Española Valley High School or Carlos Vigil Middle School in northern-central New Mexico. The Third Amended Complaint (Doc. 196), brought by the students’ parents, seeks class certification pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(2), and alleges negligence, third-party beneficiary claims of breach of contract and breach of implied contract, and violations of various rights under the New Mexico and United States Constitutions. Plaintiffs allege that the school administration is apathetic about school safety, Defendants have created a dangerous environment for students, and they have taken little or no action to prevent attacks on students by other students.

[1176] Defendants have filed numerous motions to dismiss in this case, each one directed against the different Plaintiffs. The current list of pending motions represents the third round of motions to dismiss, resulting from the Court’s denial without prejudice of previously filed motions. The Court’s disposition of those motions allowed them to be re-filed subject to Plaintiffs’ clarification of the claims asserted in the complaint. See Docs. 125 & 206. The Third Amended Complaint (Doc. 196) was filed on October 26, 2011. That complaint includes as an attachment a chart of all claims asserted by the various Plaintiffs against the various Defendants. Doc. 196— 1 (“Claims Chart”).

The Court has made certain rulings in this case which are not affected by the refiling of motions. For example, the Court has dismissed Plaintiffs’ breach of contract claims based on third-party beneficiary status. See Docs. 265 (see also Doc. 124) & 268. The Court also ruled that the Big Ross security guards are not “state actors” for purposes of § 1983, dismissing § 1983 claims asserted by Plaintiffs against those Defendants. See Docs. 324 & 325.

DISCUSSION

In the instant motion, the School Defendants move for dismissal of Plaintiff C.G.’s claims for Fourteenth Amendment Substantive Due Process violations along with § 1983 liability under Monell;1 and claims for injunctive relief under the New Mexico Constitution for substantive due process violations. Specifically, they move for dismissal on Count 3 which, according to the Claims Chart, asserts negligence based on the New Mexico Tort Claims Act; Count 5, which alleges a violation of substantive due process under the New Mexico State Constitution, Art II, § 18 and seeks only declaratory and injunctive relief; Count 7, which alleges violations of substantive due process under the federal constitution and Count 12, which seeks municipal liability under Monell.

The Third Amended Complaint (“TAC”) alleges that C.G. was attacked by another student at Carlos Vigil Middle School. Plaintiff was taken to the school nurse and then to the emergency room and suffered undefined physical injuries and emotional distress. TAC ¶ 123. The attacker was identified, suspended for 25 days, and returned to school four days before the suspension period ended.

I. Legal Standard

School Defendants have raised the defense of qualified immunity. Qualified immunity shields government officials performing discretionary functions from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known. Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982). Once a defendant pleads qualified immunity, the burden shifts to the plaintiff to show both that the defendant’s alleged conduct violated the law and that that law was clearly established when the alleged violation occurred. Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987). A right is clearly established “if [t]he contours of the right are sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates that right.” Id. The challenged action need not have been previously declared unlawful, but its unlawful[1177] ness must be evident in light of preexisting law. Beedle v. Wilson, 422 F.3d 1059 (10th Cir.2005). This is generally accomplished when there is controlling authority on point or when the clearly established weight of authority from other courts supports plaintiffs interpretation of the law. Id.

The Court applies the same standard in evaluating the merits of a motion to dismiss in qualified immunity cases as to dismissal motions generally: a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to state a claim for relief that is plausible on its face. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). A court must accept as true all well pleaded facts, as distinguished from conclusory allegations, and those facts must be viewed in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Shero v. City of Grove, Okl., 510 F.3d 1196, 1200 (10th Cir.2007) (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955). The complaint must plead sufficient facts, taken as true, to provide plausible grounds that discovery will reveal evidence to support the plaintiffs allegations. Id.

II. Plaintiffs Rule 56(d) Affidavit

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Montoya ex rel. S.M. v. Española Public School District Board of Education, 904 F. Supp. 2d 1173, 2012 WL 5521979 (D.N.M. 2012).

904 F. Supp. 2d 1173 (Montoya ex rel. S.M. v. Española Public School District Board of Education) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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