Rollins v. City of Albert Lea

79 F. Supp. 3d 946, 2014 WL 7534658
CourtDistrict Court, D. Minnesota
DecidedDecember 17, 2014
DocketCase No. 14-cv-299 (SRN/HB)
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 79 F. Supp. 3d 946 (Rollins v. City of Albert Lea) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rollins v. City of Albert Lea, 79 F. Supp. 3d 946, 2014 WL 7534658 (mnd 2014).

Opinion

AMENDED MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

SUSAN RICHARD NELSON, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

This matter is before the Court on the following motions: (1) Defendant Henne-pin County’s Motion to Dismiss and/or to Sever [Doc. No. 19]; (2) Defendants City of Albert Lea, City of Anoka, City of Blaine, City of Breezy Point, City of Brooklyn Part, City of Champlin, City of Coon Rapids, City of Elk River, City of [951]*951Howard Lake, City of Maplewood, City of Minnetonka, City of Mora, City of North St. Paul, City of Ramsey, City of Rogers, and City of Roseville’s Motion to Dismiss and/or Sever [Doc. No. 25]; (S) Defendant Ramsey County’s Motion to Dismiss or for Severance [Doc. No. 31]; (4) Defendant City of St. Paul’s Motion to Dismiss or Alternatively to Sever [Doc. No. 36]; Defendant Dakota County’s Motion to Dismiss [Doc. No. 46]; (5) Defendant Anoka County’s Motion to Dismiss [Doc. No. 60]; (6) Defendants Sherburne and Washington Counties’ Motion to Dismiss and/or to Sever [Doe. No. 73]; and (7) Defendants Commissioner Ramona Dohman and Commissioner Michael Campion’s Motion to Dismiss [Doc. No. 79], For the reasons set forth below, the Court denies in part and grants in part these motions.

II. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Summer Michelle Rollins (“Plaintiff’ or “Rollins”) filed this action on January 31, 2014 against the municipal, county, and individual Defendants listed above. (See Compl. [Doc. No. 1].) In Count I of her Complaint, Plaintiff asserts a claim under the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (“DPPA”), 18 U.S.C. § 2721 et seq., against all Defendants. (Id. ¶¶ 311— 33.) In Count II, Plaintiff brings a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against all individual Defendants, including Jane and John Does. (Id. ¶¶ 334-51.) In Count III, Plaintiff states an additional claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against all entity Defendants and supervisor Defendants, including John and Jane Entity Does. (Id. ¶¶ 352-74.) In Count Plaintiff asserts a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim against the Commissioner Defendants and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (“DPS”) Does. (Id. ¶¶ 375-92.) Finally, in Count V, Plaintiff brings a claim for common law invasion of privacy against all Defendants. (Id. ¶¶ 393-98.) Plaintiffs claims are centered on allegations that law enforcement personnel viewed her private driver’s license information in the Minnesota Department of Vehicle Services (“DVS”) driver’s license database and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (“BCA”) database without a legitimate purpose. (See id. ¶¶ 1, 6, 56-291.) Specifically, Plaintiff alleges that law enforcement personnel may have accessed her personal information because Rollins has a tenuous relationship with family members who work or worked for the DPS and various police forces. (Id. ¶¶ 47-52.) Plaintiffs mother works for the DPS. (Id. ¶ 47.) Rollins and her mother have allegedly had a “tenuous relationship since ... [Rollins’ mother] kicked Rollins out of the house at age 15.” (Id. ¶49.) Plaintiffs uncle, Ken Rollins, was a police office in Elk River and Mora, and is currently an officer in Howard Lake. (Id. ¶ 48.) Rollins’ “other family members” have also served, or continue to serve, as law enforcement officers within the state of Minnesota. (Id.) Plaintiff alleges that her mother and uncle “dislike” Plaintiff because they disapproved of Plaintiffs divorce. (Id. ¶ 50.) Although Plaintiff does not communicate with either her mother or her uncle (id. ¶ 54), Rollins believes that they, and other family members, as well as those government employees who associate with these family members, “have been obtaining, using, or disclosing [Rollins’] information for ... [illegitimate purposes]” (id. ¶ 55).

In 2013, Plaintiff contacted Kim Jacobson at the DPS and requested an audit of the number of times her name whs run on the DVS and BCS databases. (Id. ¶¶ 249-53.) On August 7, 2013, Rollins alleges that she learned from the DPS that officers from various departments and agencies accessed her driver’s license information 574 times since 2003. (Id. ¶¶ 251-53; [952]*952see Ex. A; Ex.- B [Doe. No. 1-1].) The chart below itemizes the number of look-ups allegedly made by each Defendant for a purpose not permitted under the DPPA:

_Entity_Number of times accessed

Hennepin County_9 (Compl. ¶ 109 [Doc. No. 11.)

City of Albert Lea_ 1 (id. ¶ 69.)_

City of Anoka_3 (id. ¶ 77.)_

City of Blaine_Kid ¶ 81.)_

City of Breezy Point _57 (id. ¶ 85.)_

City of Brooklyn Park_1 (id. ¶ 89.)_

City of Champlin_1 (id. ¶ 93.)_

City of Coon Rapids_7 (id. ¶ 97.)_

City of Elk River_7 (id. ¶ 105.)_

City of Howard Lake_26 (id. ¶ 113.)_

City of Maplewood _125 (id. ¶ 117.)_

City of Minnetonka_N/A (id. ¶ 121)1_

City of Mora_8 (id. ¶ 125.)_

City of North St. Paul_48 (id. ¶ 129.)_

City of Ramsey_25 (id ¶ 133.)_

City of Rogers_- 10 (id ¶ 141.)_

City of Roseville_12 (id ¶ 145.)_

City of St. Paul_12 (id ¶ 153.)_~

Dakota County_2 (id. ¶ 101.)_

Anoka County_95 (id. ¶ 73.)_

Sherburne County_30 (id. ¶ 149.)_

Washington County_24 (id. ¶ 157.)_

Ramsey County_5 (id. ¶ 137.)

Plaintiff alleges that the searches detailed above were not based on any legitimate law-enforcement, governmental, judicial, or litigation-related purpose. (Compl. ¶¶74, 255 [Doc. No. 1].) Rather, Rollins claims that these inquiries were a result of governmental employees’ curiosity about, or romantic attraction to, Rollins. (Id. 1f 255.) In fact, before filing suit, Plaintiff requested Entity Defendants “to provide her with any permissible reason it or its employees, agents, and officers had in looking up her information,” but Defendants allegedly “never provided any legitimate permissible reason.” (Id. ¶ 258.)

Plaintiff describes the driver’s license information at issue. She alleges that individual Defendants viewed the following private information: “home address, color photograph or image, date of birth, eye color, height, weight, driver’s identification number, and upon information and belief, [953]*953medical and social security information.” (Id. ¶ 164.) The Court held oral argument on all of the aforementioned motions on June 19, 2014 [Doc. No. 94].2

III. DISCUSSION

A. Standard of Review

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Bluebook (online)
79 F. Supp. 3d 946, 2014 WL 7534658, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rollins-v-city-of-albert-lea-mnd-2014.