Reiner v. Dandurand

33 F. Supp. 3d 1018, 2014 WL 3519062, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96453
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedJuly 16, 2014
DocketCause No. 2:13-CV-352-PRC
StatusPublished
Cited by54 cases

This text of 33 F. Supp. 3d 1018 (Reiner v. Dandurand) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reiner v. Dandurand, 33 F. Supp. 3d 1018, 2014 WL 3519062, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96453 (N.D. Ind. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

PAUL R. CHERRY, United States Magistrate Judge.

This matter is before the Court on Defendants’ F.R.C.P. 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss [DE 6], filed on October 18, 2013.

I. Procedural Background

On August 29, 2013, Plaintiffs James E. Reiner and Dana Reiner filed an eleven-count Complaint against Defendants Anthony Dandurand, Travis Thomas, and the Town of Hebron in the Porter County, Indiana, Superior Court, based on a January 30, 2012 traffic stop. The Complaint alleges federal claims against Officers Dandurand and Thomas for illegal seizure of person (Count I), excessive force (Count II), and false arrest (Count III), all in violation of the United States Constitution pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Against Officers Dandurand and Thomas as well as against the Town of Hebron based on a theory respondeat superior liability, the Complaint alleges Indiana state law tort claims of assault (Count IV), battery (Count V), false arrest (Count VI), false imprisonment (Count VII), excessive use of force (Count VIII), malicious prosecu[1023]*1023tion (Count IX), intentional infliction of emotional distress (Count X), and civil conspiracy (Count XI).

On September BO, 2013, Defendants removed this,case to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. On October 18, 2013, they filed this Motion to Dismiss. This matter became fully briefed on November 27, 2013, and the Court was advised on December 6, 2013, that the parties had filed forms of consent to have this case assigned to a United States Magistrate Judge to conduct all further proceedings and to order the entry of a final judgment in this case. This Court thus has jurisdiction to decide this case pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(c).

II. Standard of Review

A motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) tests the sufficiency of the complaint and not the merits of the suit. See Gibson v. City of Chi, 910 F.2d 1510, 1520 (7th Cir.1990). In ruling on such a motion, the Court accepts as true all of the well-pleaded facts alleged by the plaintiffs and all reasonable inferences that can be drawn therefrom. See Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555-56, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007); see also Tamayo v. Blagojevich, 526 F.3d 1074, 1082 (7th Cir.2008).

To survive a 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, the complaint must first comply with Rule 8(a) by providing “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief,” Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a)(2), such that the defendant is given “fair notice of what the ... claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955 (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957)); see also Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 677-78, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). Second, the “complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ ” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955); see also Tamayo, 526 F.3d at 1082. The Supreme Court explained that the “plaintiffs obligation to provide the grounds of his entitlement to relief requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955 (quotation marks and brackets omitted); see also Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678-79, 129 S.Ct. 1937; Brooks v. Ross, 578 F.3d 574, 581 (7th Cir.2009). Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for relief requires the Court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679, 129 S.Ct. 1937.

III. Plaintiffs Factual Allegations

The facts, as alleged by Plaintiffs, are as follows. Plaintiff Dana Reiner (Dana) went into labor shortly after midnight on January 31, 2012. She and her husband, Plaintiff James Reiner (James), got in their 1994 Lincoln Town Car at about 1:50 a.m. and left their Demotte, Indiana, home for St. Anthony’s Hospital in Crown Point, Indiana, with James driving. They drove north along U.S. 231 and soon arrived at the intersection of U.S. 231 and S.R. 2. At the intersection, Plaintiffs saw a police officer in a marked squad car, facing east, pulled over behind another car. James stopped and drove carefully through the intersection, turning left onto S.R. 2. While he was going through the intersection he made eye contact with the officer.

After driving for about a mile, James noticed the officer perform a u-turn and start following them. Immediately after noticing this, James made a call to a 9-1-1 dispatcher; to ask for a police escort to the [1024]*1024hospital. They drove on with James obeying all applicable traffic laws. The squad ear then pulled behind them and activated its flashing emergency lights. Dana was worried that, if they were pulled over, she might end up giving birth to their baby in a remote area, without the benefit of medical assistance. Instead of pulling over, James turned on his hazard blinkers and continued to drive. He remained on the phone with the 9-1-1 dispatcher, attempting to communicate to the police why he wasn’t pulling over. After driving about a mile, he decided to get off the phone, pull over, explain things to the officer, and ask for an escort to the hospital.

James pulled over onto the right shoulder of S.R: 2. As soon as Plaintiffs’ vehicle came to a stop, Dana saw laser-beam dots darting around the inside of their car. James saw the silhouette of an officer approaching the car with his gun drawn. The Lincoln’s driver-side window didn’t work, so — with both hands raised — he opened the door and rolled out onto the pavement. As he got out, Dana told him to stop because, seeing the laser beams, she was afraid he would be shot. Neither James nor Dana could understand the officer (Defendant Officer Anthony Dandu-rand), since he had left his siren on. James yelled to Officer Dandurand that his wife was in labor and that he needed to get her to the hospital. Officer Dandu-rand — who was pointing his gun at James — yelled back: “I will shoot you, you piece of shit! Get on the ground!”

Officer Dandurand, still with gun drawn, approached James and put his knee on the back of James’s neck, shoving his face onto the pavement. He handcuffed James, and — though James was physically submissive — yelled at him to “stop resisting, stop resisting.”

Shortly after James was handcuffed, a second officer (Defendant Officer Travis Thomas) arrived, also with gun drawn.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
33 F. Supp. 3d 1018, 2014 WL 3519062, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96453, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reiner-v-dandurand-innd-2014.