Redick v. Sonora Police Department

District Court, E.D. California·Decided October 12, 2021·No. 1:21-cv-00287·Unknown

Opinion

8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10

11 STANLEY E. REDICK, III, Case No. 1:21-cv-00287-NONE-SAB

12 Plaintiff, FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS RECOMMENDING DISMISSING 13 v. COMPLAINT FOR FAILURE TO STATE A CLAIM AND DISMISSING ACTION FOR 14 SONORA POLICE DEPARTMENT, et al., FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH COURT ORDER AND FAILURE TO PROSECUTE 15 Defendants. (ECF Nos. 11, 13) 16 OBJECTIONS DUE WITHIN THIRTY 17 DAYS

18 19 I. 20 INTRODUCTION 21 Stanley E. Redick, III (“Plaintiff”), proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis, filed this 22 action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The matter was referred to a United States magistrate judge 23 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B) and Local Rule 302. 24 Following screening orders issued on March 17, 2021 and May 14, 2021, Plaintiff filed a 25 second amended complaint on May 26, 2021. (ECF No. 11.) On August 10, 2021, the Court 26 issued a screening order finding that Plaintiff had failed to state any cognizable claims in his 27 second amended complaint, and granted Plaintiff thirty (30) days in which to file a third amended complaint. (ECF No. 13.) More than thirty (30) days have passed and Plaintiff has 1 neither filed an amended complaint nor otherwise responded to the Court’s August 10, 2021 2 order.1 For the reasons discussed herein, it is recommended that Plaintiff’s second amended 3 complaint be dismissed for failure to state a cognizable claim, and this action be dismissed for 4 failure to comply with the Court’s order, and failure to prosecute. 5 II. 6 SCREENING REQUIREMENT 7 Notwithstanding any filing fee, the court shall dismiss a case if at any time the Court 8 determines that the complaint “(i) is frivolous or malicious; (ii) fails to state a claim on which 9 relief may be granted; or (iii) seeks monetary relief against a defendant who is immune from 10 such relief.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2); see Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1129 (9th Cir. 2000) 11 (section 1915(e) applies to all in forma pauperis complaints, not just those filed by prisoners); 12 Calhoun v. Stahl, 254 F.3d 845 (9th Cir. 2001) (dismissal required of in forma pauperis 13 proceedings which seek monetary relief from immune defendants); Cato v. United States, 70 14 F.3d 1103, 1106 (9th Cir. 1995) (district court has discretion to dismiss in forma pauperis 15 complaint under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)); Barren v. Harrington, 152 F.3d 1193 (9th Cir. 1998) 16 (affirming sua sponte dismissal for failure to state a claim). The Court exercised its discretion to 17 screen the plaintiff’s complaint in this action to determine if it “(i) is frivolous or malicious; (ii) 18 fails to state a claim on which relief may be granted; or (iii) seeks monetary relief against a 19 defendant who is immune from such relief.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2). 20 In determining whether a complaint fails to state a claim, the Court uses the same 21 pleading standard used under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a). A complaint must contain “a 22 short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief. . . .” Fed. R. 23 Civ. P. 8(a)(2). Detailed factual allegations are not required, but “[t]hreadbare recitals of the 24 elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice.” 25 Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (citing Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 26 544, 555 (2007)).

27 1 During this period, Plaintiff did file a notice of intent to proceed on Plaintiff's claim against Lowe's Home Centers, LLC, in the related action, Redick v. Lowes Home Centers, LLC, Case No. 21-cv-00358-NONE-SAB, ECF Nos. 22, 1 In reviewing the pro se complaint, the Court is to liberally construe the pleadings and 2 accept as true all factual allegations contained in the complaint. Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 3 94 (2007). Although a court must accept as true all factual allegations contained in a complaint, 4 a court need not accept a plaintiff’s legal conclusions as true. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. “[A] 5 complaint [that] pleads facts that are ‘merely consistent with’ a defendant’s liability . . . ‘stops 6 short of the line between possibility and plausibility of entitlement to relief.’ ” Id. (quoting 7 Twombly, 550 U.S. at 557). Therefore, the complaint must contain sufficient factual content for 8 the court to draw the reasonable conclusion that the defendant is liable for the misconduct 9 alleged. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. 10 III. 11 COMPLAINT ALLEGATIONS 12 Plaintiff’s second amended complaint was essentially filed in the form of three separate 13 complaints. Each “sub-complaint” has its own caption page and signature block. However, the 14 second sub-complaint’s signature block did not contain Plaintiff’s signature, while the other two 15 did. (Pl.’s Second Am. Compl. (“SAC”) 4, 10, 15, ECF No. 11.) 16 The first sub-complaint names the Sonora Police Department, an Officer Malon, and an 17 Officer Bowly as defendants (the “Police Department Defendants”). (Id. at 1-4.) The second 18 sub-complaint names the Tuolumne County District Attorney’s Office, Laura Kreig, and Eric 19 Hovetter as defendants (the “District Attorney Defendants”). (Id. at 5-10.) Against the Police 20 Department Defendants and the District Attorney Defendants named in the first two sections, 21 Plaintiff brings the same claims, entitled as follows: (1) mistaken identity; (2) malicious false 22 accusations establishing probable cause; (3) misconduct; (4) gross negligence; (5) intentional 23 infliction of emotional distress; and (6) abuse of process. (Id. at 1, 5.) 24 The third section of the filing names the Tuolumne County Jail, and Booking Officer 25 King C1560 as defendants (the “Jail Defendants”). (Id. at 11.) Against the Jail Defendants, 26 Plaintiff brings claims entitled as: (1) misconduct; (2) gross negligence; (3) intentional infliction 27 of emotional distress; and (4) abuse of process. (Id.) 1 three sub-complaints, Plaintiff also requests Defendants be held accountable for violations under 2 the Bane Act, California Civil Code Section 52.1. (Id. at 3, 6-7, 12.) 3 Plaintiff seeks thirty-three million dollars in damages. Each sub-complaint appears to 4 seek this amount against each group of defendants. However, each sub-complaint contains 5 largely identical allegations against an unspecified defendant or unspecified defendants. 6 The Court shall now summarize the common and distinct aspects of each sub-complaint 7 below. Plaintiff’s first sub-complaint consists of five paragraphs that are each reproduced and in 8 their entirety in the second sub-complaint. Paragraphs 4 and 5 from the first sub-complaint are 9 also reproduced verbatim in Plaintiff’s third sub-complaint. 10 A. The First Sub-Complaint Naming the Police Department Defendants 11 Plaintiff seeks 33 million dollars against “the Defendant, for the [d]amages they caused 12 with their mistaken identity using [Plaintiff’s] information and photos, without [Plaintiff’s] 13 consent on local news (Tuolumne County Incident Feed), police reports and media and falsely 14 stating [Plaintiff] committed crimes at Lowe’s Home Centers LLC, Sonora Ca. on” November 3, 15 2018, and November 10, 2018. (Id.

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