(PS)Seneka v. County of Yolo

District Court, E.D. California·Decided January 21, 2021·No. 2:20-cv-01621·Unknown

Opinion

SHANA SENEKA, No. 2:20-cv-01621-TLN-CKD PS Plaintiff, v. ORDER AND FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS COUNTY OF YOLO, et al., Defendants. Plaintiff is proceeding pro se in this action and has paid the filing fee. (ECF No 1.) Currently before the court are four motions to dismiss plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint. (ECF Nos. 8, 10, 11, and 12.) For the reasons below, the court recommends granting the motions. This action arises from a custody dispute over plaintiff’s minor children. Plaintiff commenced this federal suit after a series of state administrative and judicial proceedings that began in 2018. In the 51-page First Amended Complaint, plaintiff names almost forty defendants and chronicles nearly every way in which she believes she was wronged throughout the juvenile dependency process. The large number of defendants sued, coupled with plaintiff’s failure to separate her causes of action into distinct sections, makes the First Amended Complaint difficult to navigate. It is unclear which claims plaintiff intends to assert against which defendants, and except in a few instances, it is unclear which wrongful acts are intended to support which claims. As the defendants observed, the “lack of segregated claims for relief greatly handicaps legal analysis.” (ECF No. 12 at 11.) Nevertheless, the court will endeavor to decipher the allegations and arguments to rule on the defendants’ motions to dismiss. At the outset, it is helpful to categorize the defendants into groups. Plaintiff has sued various agencies and individuals at the state, city, and county levels of government. At the state level, plaintiff has sued the State of California, California Health and Human Resources, California Department of Social Services, California Foster Care Ombudsperson, and the Attorney General of California (collectively, “State Defendants”). At the city and county level, plaintiff has sued Yolo County, the Yolo County Child Welfare Services (“CWS”), and the City of Woodland Police Department (collectively, “Municipal Defendants”), as well as numerous city and county employees: Marissa Green, April Godwin, Salaam Shabazz, Cate Giacopuzzi-Rotz, Rebekah Heinenberger, Amanda Ekman, Jennie Pettet, Cori Chapin, Alexandria Nelson, Breanna Kraft, Valerie Zeller, Karleen Jackowski, Meghan Morris, Erica Jimenez, Gina Shabazz, Christina Maciel, Josefina Elliott, Brenda Gage, Josette Fair, Gregory Elliott, Stephen Guthrie, Jeffrey Moe, Jen Magee, Gary Sandy, and Ken Hiatt (collectively, “City and County Officials”). Plaintiff has also sued the court-appointed attorneys who represented the parties during the juvenile dependency proceedings: plaintiff’s attorney, Whitney Kulp; plaintiff’s husband’s attorney, Ashley Mooney; and plaintiff’s minor children’s attorneys, Natalie Moore and Mikaela West (collectively, “Attorney Defendants”). Finally, plaintiff has sued her husband, Robin Seneka. The best map of the claims that plaintiff asserts is the caption of the First Amended Complaint. The caption refers to six asserted claims: (1) violations of civil rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983; (2) violations of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), 42 U.S.C. § 12132; (3) “Injunction for Removal of Civil Action” under 28 U.S.C. § 1446; (4) “Injunction for Removal of Civil Action” under 28 U.S.C. § 1443; (5) California Code of Civil Procedure § 397.5; and (6) “Injunction for Temporary and Preliminary Restraining Orders” under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65. The First Amended Complaint then proceeds with a 45-page section entitled “Statement of Claim,” in which plaintiff outlines the events that allegedly support her claims. To briefly summarize, plaintiff alleges that in July 2018, CWS began requesting an in-person interview with plaintiff’s minor children after plaintiff’s estranged mother and estranged adult daughter made “unsubstantiated and false claims” about plaintiff to CWS. (ECF No. 5 ¶ 47.) According to plaintiff, this initiated a campaign of harassment against her by CWS, which ultimately led to CWS obtaining and executing a warrant to “seize” the minors and remove them from plaintiff’s custody. Immediately following the “seizure,” a Woodland Police Department (“WPD”) officer detained plaintiff and drove her to the hospital to be temporarily committed and treated for experiencing a mental health emergency. Plaintiff was kept at the hospital for approximately two weeks while being treated. Thereafter, plaintiff’s ability to interact with her children was limited and supervised. The juvenile dependency proceedings went adversely to plaintiff, and the minors remained in the custody of their other family members. Plaintiff appealed the custody decisions and lost. Throughout the entire process, plaintiff alleges that numerous social workers and police officers violated her constitutional rights. In October of 2020, four groups of defendants filed motions to dismiss (ECF Nos. 8, 10, 11, 12). The motions were originally set for hearing on December 9, 2020. That date was subsequently continued to January 13, 2021 by agreement of the parties to allow plaintiff additional time to respond. (ECF Nos. 19.) Despite the continuance, plaintiff failed to respond to or otherwise oppose defendants’ motions. Thus, the court vacated the January 13, 2021 hearing and submitted the motions without oral argument. (ECF No. 26.) The court now considers the motions. The purpose of a motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) is to test the legal sufficiency of the complaint. N. Star Int'l v. Ariz. Corp. Comm'n, 720 F.2d 578, 581 (9th Cir. 1983). A dismissal may be warranted where there is “the lack of a cognizable legal theory or the absence of sufficient facts alleged under a cognizable legal theory.” Balistreri v. Pacifica Police Dep't, 901 F.2d 696, 699 (9th Cir. 1990). A plaintiff must allege “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007). A claim is plausible on its face “when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). In evaluating whether a complaint states a claim on which relief may be granted, the court accepts as true the allegations in the complaint and construes the allegations in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Hishon v. King & Spalding, 467 U.S. 69, 73 (1984); Love v. United States, 915 F.2d 1242, 1245 (9th Cir. 1989). However, the court will not assume the truth of legal conclusions cast in the form of factual allegations. United States ex rel. Chunie v. Ringrose, 788 F.2d 638, 643 n.2 (9th Cir. 1986). While Rule 8(a) does not require detailed factual allegations, “[t]hreadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 676. A complaint must do more than allege mere “labels and conclusions” or “a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555. In ruling on such a motion, the court is

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