Ortiz v. Holmes

157 F. Supp. 3d 692, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5630, 2016 WL 199043
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedJanuary 18, 2016
DocketCASE NO. 4:15cv1085
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 157 F. Supp. 3d 692 (Ortiz v. Holmes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ortiz v. Holmes, 157 F. Supp. 3d 692, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5630, 2016 WL 199043 (N.D. Ohio 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

HONORABLE SARA LIOI, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Before the Court is the motion of defendants Dawn DiBenardi (“DiBenardi”) and Mahoning County Operators of the Ma-honing County Juvenile Justice Center (“MCOJJC”) (collectively “moving defendants”) for partial judgment on the pleadings, pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(c) (Doc.'No. 10 [“Mot.”]). Plaintiff Rayvenn Ortiz (“plaintiff’ or “Ortiz”) opposes the motion (Doc. No. 13 [“Opp’n”]), and moving defendants have filed a reply (Doc. No. 14 [“Reply”]). For the reasons that follow, the motion is converted to a Rule 12(b)(6) motion for partial dismissal and' is granted.

I. Background

The background facts set forth herein are either undisputed or taken from plaintiffs First Amended Complaint (“FAC”). (Doc. No. 6.) On June 5, 2013, plaintiff, then 15 years old, was adjudicated a delinquent child by the Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas — Juvenile Court Divi[694]*694sion, and was placed on probation. (FAC ¶¶ 5, 10-11.) DiBenardi, a probation officer employed by the Mahoning County Juvenile Court (“Juvenile Court”), was assigned to plaintiffs case.1 (Id. ¶¶ 7, 12.)

At all times relevant to the present dispute, defendant Sherod Holmes, Jr. (“Holmes”) was also employed by the Juvenile Court as a probation officer. (Id. ¶ 6.) It is alleged that Holmes used his position with the Juvenile Court to obtain confidential information about plaintiff that he used to “make contact with [plaintiff] in social settings.” (Id. ¶¶ 13-14.) “After making initial contact with” Ortiz, Holmes “deceived [Ortiz] on his age and position as a probation officer in order to engage in a sexual relationship with” her. (Id. ¶ 15.)

Upon enrolling for classes at Mahoning Valley High School, plaintiff “learned the true identity of’ Holmes and that “he was a probation officer with the Mahoning County Juvenile Justice Center.” (Id. ¶ 17.) Thereafter, Holmes frequented the high school, removed plaintiff from classes, and “transported her using a Mahoning County vehicle to engage in sexual relations at his personal residence.” (Id. ¶¶ 18-20.) Plaintiff alleges that DiBenardi knew of Holmes’s illicit sexual relationship with plaintiff, failed to report it to the proper authorities, and permitted Holmes to use her county vehicle to facilitate Holmes’s sexual misconduct with plaintiff. (Id- ¶¶ 21-23.)

On March 12, 2013, Holmes was found guilty by the Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas of two counts of gross sexual imposition, in violation of Ohio Rev. Code § 2907.05(A)(l)(c)(l), a fourth degree felony, and two counts of importuning, in violation of Ohio Rev. Code § 2907.07(B)(l)(f)(3), a fifth degree felony. (Id. ¶ 25.) He was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of two years and was required to register as a sex offender. (Id. ¶ 26.)

On May 29, 2015, plaintiff filed the present action against Holmes, DiBenardi, the Mahoning County Juvenile Justice Center (“Justice Center”), and various John Does. (Doc. No. 1 (Complaint [“Compl.”]).) Brought under the umbrella of 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and relying on asserted violations of the Eighth Amendment, the original complaint raised claims against Holmes for the sexual assaults, against DiBenardi for failing to protect Ortiz from the assaults, and against the Justice Center for failing to monitor, supervise, and train Holmes. The filing of the initial complaint was immediately followed by a motion to dismiss brought by DiBenardi and the Justice Center. (Doc. No. 4 (Motion to Dismiss [“MTD”]).) The motion challenged the applicability of the Eighth Amendment to the claims raised in the complaint, and the plausibility of a constitutional claim against DiBenardi for failure to protect Ortiz. The motion also raised several immunity arguments, claiming that the various defendants were entitled to quasi-judicial, qualified, and/or sovereign immunity.

In lieu of filing an opposition to the motion to dismiss, Ortiz filed the FAC against defendants Holmes, DiBenardi, MCOJJC, and the John Doe defendants, with the individual defendants sued in them official and individual capacities. (FAC ¶¶ 6-8.) It is unclear from the FAC whether MCOJJC represents the previously sued Justice Center, the Juvenile Court, or Mahoning County, itself. What is clear is that the claims are no longer dependent on the Eighth Amendment. Instead, plaintiffs § 1983 civil rights claims are now couched in terms of Fourteenth Amendment violations, and the factual allegations supporting the claims appear to have been fleshed out in greater detail. Notwithstanding these revisions, the [695]*695claims in the FAC still retain the essence of the constitutional claims raised in the initial pleadings.

The moving defendants acknowledge that the FAC cured certain deficiencies identified in the previously filed motion to dismiss but insist that it did not cure all of them. (Reply at 113.) Carrying over from the motion to dismiss, the moving defendants argue that DiBenardi and Holmes are entitled to sovereign immunity to the extent they are sued in their official capacities as employees of the Juvenile Court. They also argue that Mahoning County, to the extent it has been sued in this action, is not sui juris and must be dismissed.

II. Standard of Review

A. Conversion of Rule 12(c) Motion to a Rule 12(b)(6) Motion

Plaintiff suggests that the present Rule 12(c) motion is premature because not all of the defendants have filed an answer. Rule 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). Relying on cases that provide .that pleadings are not “closed” until all of the defendants have filed answers or otherwise responded to the complaint, plaintiff argues that the pleadings remain open because Holmes has not yet filed an answer or moved for summary judgment. (Opp’n at 102 (citing, among authority, Nationwide Children’s Hosp., Inc. v. D.W. Dickey & Son, Inc. Employee Health & Welfare Plan, No. 2:08-cv-1140, 2009 WL 5247486 (S.D.Ohio Dec. 31, 2009)).)

The Sixth Circuit has not directly addressed the issue of whether, when there are multiple defendants, a motion for judgment on the pleadings may be filed before all the defendants have answered the complaint so long as the moving defendants have answered. See Dunn-Mason v. JP Morgan Chase Bank Nat’l Ass’n, No. 11-cv-13419, 2013 WL 4084676, at *4 (E.D.Mich. Aug. 13, 2013). This Court, however, has recently had occasion to consider how a court should proceed under circumstances similar to those presented in this case.

In Prade v. City of Akron, No.

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Bluebook (online)
157 F. Supp. 3d 692, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5630, 2016 WL 199043, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ortiz-v-holmes-ohnd-2016.