Nguyen v. City of Vancouver

• Court: District Court, W.D. Washington
• Decided: May 16, 2022
• Docket: 3:22-cv-05077
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

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4 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 7 HAI NGUYEN, CASE NO. 3:22-cv-05077-JHC 8 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT 9 VANCOUVER POLICE DEPARTMENT’S v. MOTION TO DISMISS FOR FAILURE TO 10 STATE A CLAIM CITY OF VANCOUVER, VANCOUVER 11 POLICE DEPARTMENT, and JOHN DOE, Vancouver Police Officer, 12

Defendants. 13

14 THIS MATTER comes before the Court on Defendant Vancouver Police Department’s 15 Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim. The Court has considered the pleadings filed in 16 support of the motion and the file herein. The motion is unopposed. 17 As argued by the Vancouver Police Department, under Washington law and prior decisions 18 of this Court, “municipal police departments and bureaus are generally not considered ‘persons’ 19 within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. § 1983.” United States v. Kama, 394 F.3d 1236, 1240 (9th Cir. 20 2005) (Ferguson, J., concurring); see also Bradford v. City of Seattle, 557 F. Supp. 2d 1189, 1207 21 (W.D. Wash. 2008) (holding that the Seattle Police Department is not a legal entity capable of being 22 sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983) (citing Nolan v. Snohomish County, 59 Wn. App. 876, 883 (1990)). 23 24 1 This Court has reached that conclusion with respect to the Vancouver Police Department. See, 2 e.g., Lang v. Washington, No. C20-5057 BHS, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 216660, at *4—-5 (W.D. 3 Wash. Nov. 18, 2020) (“VPD is not a legal entity capable of being sued.”); Burgess v. Vancouver

4 _ || Police Dep't, No. 3:15-CV-05844-BHS-DWC, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 169065, at *7-8 (W.D. 5 Wash. Dec. 16, 2015) (“Because Plaintiff may not pursue actions against ... municipal 6 departments, Plaintiff fails to state a cause of action against Defendant[] ... Vancouver Police

7 || Department.”); Runnels v. City of Vancouver, No. C10-5913BHS, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45377, 8 at *28-29 (W.D. Wash. Apr. 27, 2011) (“[B]ecause current Washington case law indicates that a

g police department is not a legal entity with the capacity to be sued, Defendants are entitled to

10 summary judgment of [plaintiffs] claims against VPD”). The Court agrees with these decisions.

1 Accordingly, Defendant Vancouver Police Department cannot be sued under § 1983.

12 ORDER 13 Therefore, it is hereby ORDERED that the Defendant Vancouver Police Department’s 14 || Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim is GRANTED. Defendant Vancouver Police 15 Department is HEREBY DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE as a defendant in this lawsuit. 16 DATED this 16" day of May, 2022 17 18 19 Cok 4. Chan 20 John H. Chun United States District Judge 21 22 23 24 ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT VANCOUVER POLICE DEPARTMENT'S MOTION TO DISMISS