Pino v. Weidl

CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedJuly 13, 2020
Docket2:20-cv-02044
StatusUnknown

This text of Pino v. Weidl (Pino v. Weidl) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pino v. Weidl, (D. Kan. 2020).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF KANSAS

ORLANDO CALVO PINO,

Plaintiff,

v. Case No. 20-2044-JAR-GEB

MATTHEW R. WEIDL, et al.,

Defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER Plaintiff Orlando Calvo Pino brings this civil rights action against Defendants Matthew R. Weidl, Kenneth M. McGovern, Gregory C. Burns, and the City of Lawrence, Kansas. Plaintiff alleges individual-capacity claims against Officer Weidl and official capacity claims against the remaining Defendants. This matter is before the Court on Sheriff McGovern’s Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 9) for lack of jurisdiction due to sovereign immunity or, in the alternative, for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. The motion is fully briefed, and the Court is prepared to rule.1 As described more fully below, the Court grants Sheriff McGovern’s motion to dismiss under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). I. Background The following facts are alleged in the First Amended Complaint (“FAC”) and assumed to be true for purposes of deciding this motion. On February 2, 2018, shortly before 2:00 a.m., Plaintiff was driving his vehicle west on I-70 when he passed Defendant Matthew Weidl, a police officer employed by the City of Lawrence, Kansas (“the City”), who was on patrol and

1 Plaintiff filed the First Amended Complaint after Defendant’s motion, dropping his claim for punitive damages. See Doc. 13. The parties to the motion agree that Sheriff McGovern’s remaining arguments addressing sovereign immunity and failure to state a claim also apply to the First Amended Complaint. See Doc. 18-1. traveling in the same direction. Once past the officer’s vehicle, Plaintiff signaled and moved into Officer Weidl’s lane before Weidl considered the lane change to be safe. Officer Weidl followed Plaintiff for two miles, then initiated a traffic stop. Upon approaching Plaintiff’s vehicle, Officer Weidl observed a small puppy in the front passenger seat, a large bag of dog food in the back of the vehicle, and a saddle and cowboy hat in

the rear of the hatchback. Plaintiff, a Spanish speaker who knew little English, provided his Colorado driver’s license and rental documentation. When confronted with this language barrier, Officer Weidl asked Plaintiff back to his patrol car so that they could call an interpreter. Plaintiff agreed, joined Weidl in the patrol car, and an interpreter promptly joined them by phone. Approximately seven minutes passed while Officer Weidl, the interpreter, and Plaintiff traded basic information. Officer Weidl eventually instructed the interpreter to explain that Plaintiff would be given only a written warning, and that his assistance was only needed to get basic information correct. However, Officer Weidl then spent roughly ten more minutes questioning Plaintiff in detail about

his travel from Colorado to New York, when he left New York, where he stopped between New York and Kansas, where he had slept while traveling and whether he had family in the United States—in short, all questions that had nothing to do with the information needed to prepare and issue a written warning.2 Officer Weidl ultimately returned Plaintiff’s information, but as Plaintiff was walking back to his car, Officer Weidl re-engaged him by asking if he would stay for further questions and if Weidl could search his vehicle. Plaintiff gave permission, and Officer Weidl—eventually joined by Officer Henderson—searched the vehicle. The officers observed a satchel hanging

2 Doc. 13 ¶ 25. from the driver’s seat that contained a pistol and notebook with numbers. When Henderson searched behind the driver’s and passenger’s seats, he found currency in the bag of dog food. Officer Weidl gave Miranda warnings to Plaintiff and Plaintiff agreed to speak with him, informing the officers that the money was from the sale of horses some days before. Officer Weidl ultimately arrested Plaintiff and took him to the Investigations and Training Center in

Lawrence for further processing and assistance. Plaintiff was charged with Unlawful Acts Involving Proceeds Derived from Violations of K.S.A. 21-5701 through 21-5717, a drug severity level 4 felony. Plaintiff obtained defense counsel and eventually moved to suppress all evidence obtained after Officer Weidl announced his intent to give Plaintiff only a warning. A Douglas County District Court granted the motion, finding Officer Weidl lacked reasonable suspicion to prolong the traffic stop. II. Standards A. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1)

Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1) provides for dismissal of a claim where the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction. Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction and, as such, must have a statutory or constitutional basis to exercise jurisdiction.3 A court lacking jurisdiction must dismiss the claim, regardless of the stage of the proceeding, when it becomes apparent that jurisdiction is lacking.4 The party who seeks to invoke federal jurisdiction bears the burden of

3 Montoya v. Chao, 296 F.3d 952, 955 (10th Cir. 2002); see United States v. Hardage, 58 F.3d 569, 574 (10th Cir. 1995) (“Federal courts have limited jurisdiction, and they are not omnipotent. They draw their jurisdiction from the powers specifically granted by Congress, and the Constitution, Article III, Section 2, Clause 1.” (internal citations omitted)). 4 Laughlin v. Kmart Corp., 50 F.3d 871, 873 (10th Cir. 1995). establishing that such jurisdiction is proper.5 Mere conclusory allegations of jurisdiction are not enough.6 A motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) generally takes one of two forms: either a facial challenge or a factual challenge.7 A facial challenge attacks the sufficiency of the allegations in the complaint, while a factual challenge goes beyond the

complaint to attack “the facts upon which subject matter jurisdiction is based.”8 In reviewing a facial challenge, the Court accepts the complaint’s allegations as true, whereas in a factual challenge the Court “has wide discretion to allow affidavits, other documents, and a limited evidentiary hearing to resolve jurisdictional facts.”9 B. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) To survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, a complaint must present factual allegations, assumed to be true, that “raise a right to relief above the speculative level” and must contain “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.”10 Under this standard, “the complaint must give the court reason to believe that this plaintiff has a reasonable likelihood of mustering factual support for these claims.”11 The plausibility standard does not

5 Montoya, 296 F.3d at 955. 6 United States ex rel. Hafter, D.O. v. Spectrum Emergency Care, Inc., 190 F.3d 1156, 1160 (10th Cir. 1999). 7 Stuart v. Colo. Interstate Gas Co., 271 F.3d 1121, 1125 (10th Cir. 2001) (citing Holt v. United States, 46 F.3d 1000, 1002 (10th Cir. 1995)). 8 Id. 9 Id.

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Pino v. Weidl, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pino-v-weidl-ksd-2020.