Outley v. Moir

District Court, D. Arizona·Decided May 21, 2021·No. 2:19-cv-00019·Unknown

Opinion

1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

9 Michael Dewayne Outley, Jr., No. CV-19-00019-PHX-JAT (JFM)

10 Plaintiff, ORDER

11 v.

12 Sylvia Moir, et al.,

13 Defendants. 14 15 Pending before the Court is a Report and Recommendation (“R&R”) (Doc. 79) from 16 Magistrate Judge Metcalf to which Plaintiff objected, (Doc. 85), and Defendants objected, 17 (Doc. 87). 18 I. BACKGROUND 19 On January 2, 2019, Plaintiff filed his original Complaint (Doc. 1). On screening 20 the original Complaint, the Court dismissed several Defendants for failure to state a claim 21 against them. (Doc. 5). Plaintiff filed the First Amended Complaint (Doc. 12), and on 22 screening, the Court found that Plaintiff adequately stated claims for excessive force, 23 failure to intervene, and denial of medical care. (Doc. 13). The Court further found that 24 Plaintiff failed to adequately state his other claims. (Id.). The Court then stayed the case on 25 September 24, 2019, (Doc. 23), and lifted the stay a year later, (Doc. 30). The remaining 26 Defendants then answered. (Doc. 32). 27 Plaintiff filed a Motion to Amend (Doc. 50) and lodged the Proposed Second 28 Amended Complaint (“PSAC”) (Doc. 51). On February 8, 2021, Magistrate Judge Metcalf 1 issued his R&R recommending that the Motion to Amend (Doc. 50) be granted and the 2 PSAC (Doc. 51) be filed. (Doc. 79 at 26). The R&R also recommended the Court dismiss 3 without prejudice the claims in Count 1 of the PSAC on equal protection, policy violations, 4 and denial of medical care except as to Defendant Gaughan, claims in Count 2 on equal 5 protection and invasion of privacy except as to Defendants Doe, Trow, and Moir, claims 6 in Count 3 under the Fourteenth Amendment, and all of Count 4. (Id. at 27). The R&R 7 additionally recommended that the defamation claims in Count 3 be dismissed with 8 prejudice and that the Defendants with adequately stated claims against them be ordered to 9 answer the Second Amended Complaint.1 (Id.). 10 Both Plaintiff and Defendants filed objections to the R&R. (Docs. 85, 87). 11 Defendants replied to Plaintiff’s objections (Doc. 89) and Plaintiff replied to Defendants’ 12 objections (Doc. 90). 13 II. LEGAL STANDARD 14 This Court “may accept, reject, or modify, in whole or in part, the findings or 15 recommendations made by the magistrate judge.” 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). It is “clear that 16 the district judge must review the magistrate judge’s findings and recommendations de 17 novo if objection is made, but not otherwise.” United States v. Reyna-Tapia, 328 F.3d 1114, 18 1121 (9th Cir. 2003) (en banc) (emphasis in original); Schmidt v. Johnstone, 263 F.Supp.2d 19 1219, 1226 (D. Ariz. 2003) (“Following Reyna-Tapia, this Court concludes that de novo 20 review of factual and legal issues is required if objections are made, ‘but not otherwise.’”); 21 Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Ctr. v. U.S. Bureau of Land Mgmt., 589 F.3d 1027, 1032 (9th 22 Cir. 2009) (the district court “must review de novo the portions of the [Magistrate Judge’s] 23 recommendations to which the parties object”). District courts are not required to conduct 24 1 The R&R ultimately recommends that Defendant Rowan, among others, be dismissed 25 without prejudice. (Doc. 79 at 27). The R&R also states, however, that Plaintiff has adequately stated a claim for failure to intervene against Defendant Rowan. (Id. at 11, 24). 26 The Court finds that the ultimate inclusion of Defendant Rowan on the list of Defendants to be dismissed was in error, and that the R&R does not recommend the dismissal of 27 Defendant Rowan. Further, the R&R states the claim against Defendant Rowan is “failure to intervene re vehicle pursuit.” (Id. at 2). Both parties agree that there was no vehicle 28 pursuit, so the claim is simply for failure to intervene in a use of excessive force. (See Docs. 87 at 2 n.1; 90 at 3 n.1). 1 “any review at all ... of any issue that is not the subject of an objection.” Thomas v. Arn, 2 474 U.S. 140, 149 (1985); see also 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1) (“[T]he court shall make a de 3 novo determination of those portions of the [report and recommendation] to which 4 objection is made.”). 5 III. DISCUSSION 6 Plaintiff and Defendants objected only to portions of the R&R. The Court will 7 address those specific objections but adopts the remainder of the R&R without review. 8 Plaintiff objects to the R&R’s determination that all of Count 4 be dismissed without 9 prejudice. (Doc. 85). Defendants object to the R&R’s findings that the PSAC sufficiently 10 alleges an excessive force claim against Defendant Blair and that the PSAC sufficiently 11 alleges a Due Process violation against Defendant Trow. (Doc. 87). The Court will analyze 12 each objection in turn. 13 a. Count 4, Deprivation of Property 14 Plaintiff objects to the R&R’s recommendation that all of Count 4, claiming a 15 deprivation of property in violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments and state law, 16 be dismissed without prejudice. (Doc. 85 at 1). Magistrate Judge Metcalf determined that 17 Plaintiff had not exhausted his state remedies, so the federal claims in Count 4 should be 18 dismissed, and that the Court should not exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the state 19 claims because they relate “to a separate timeline and series of events” from Plaintiff’s 20 other claims. (Doc. 79 at 22–24). Plaintiff asserts that he has exhausted his state remedies 21 through his criminal proceeding and was told his property claim was “now a civil issue,” 22 and that the Court should exercise supplemental jurisdiction over his state claims because 23 they relate to his claims arising from his arrest and prosecution. (Doc. 85 at 2–3). 24 Plaintiff argues that an officer of the Tempe Police Department violated his Fifth 25 Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment rights pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and violated 26 his rights under state law when the officer refused release Plaintiff’s personal property 27 without proof of ownership. (Doc. 51 at 19). At the time of Plaintiff’s arrest, the Tempe 28 Police Department seized Plaintiff’s property. (Doc. 51 at 19). Plaintiff states that, during 1 his criminal case, the Maricopa County Superior Court ordered the release of Plaintiff’s 2 property that was not evidence in the case. (Id.). Plaintiff argues that he was deprived of 3 his rights when his “private investigator” attempted to acquire his property but a Tempe 4 Police Department officer refused to release the property in violation of department policy. 5 (Id.). The Court will first examine Plaintiff’s federal claims. 6 1. Federal Claims 7 Section 1983 can provide a party with a due process claim for the deprivation of 8 property at the hands of state actors. See Ortiz v. Thomas, No. CV09-1048-PHX-MHMJRI, 9 2009 WL 1856629, at *3 (D. Ariz. June 29, 2009). If a state offers adequate post- 10 deprivation remedies, however, § 1983 does not provide a remedy until those adequate 11 state remedies are exhausted. Parratt v. Taylor, 451 U.S. 527, 543–44 (1981), overruled 12 on other grounds by Daniels v. Williams, 474 U.S. 327 (1986); Guillen v. Thompson, No. 13 CV08-1279-PHX-MHMLOA, 2008 WL 5331915, at *6 (D.

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