Shelley v. County of San Joaquin

996 F. Supp. 2d 921, 2014 WL 533168, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15844
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedFebruary 7, 2014
DocketNo. 2:13-cv-00266-MCE-DAD
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 996 F. Supp. 2d 921 (Shelley v. County of San Joaquin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shelley v. County of San Joaquin, 996 F. Supp. 2d 921, 2014 WL 533168, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15844 (E.D. Cal. 2014).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

MORRISON C. ENGLAND, JR., Chief Judge.

Through this action, Plaintiffs Joan Shelley, Michelle Loftis and Sandra Hoyo-patubbi (collectively “Plaintiffs”) seek to recover damages from municipal defendants, the County of San Joaquin and San Joaquin County Sheriff Steve Moore (collectively “Defendants”), for violation of the U.S. Constitution. This case concerns the exhumation of the body of Plaintiffs’ deceased relative, Jo Ann Hobson, by the San Joaquin County Sheriffs Department. Plaintiffs allege the Sheriffs Department exhumed Ms. Hobson’s body in an unconstitutional manner, and sue, asserting violations of the Fourteenth Amendment under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. First Am. Compl. (“FAC”), Aug. 6, 2013, ECF No. 14.

Presently before the Court is Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (“Motion”) Plaintiffs’ First Amended Complaint (“FAC”), for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).2 Mot. to Dismiss FAC, Aug. 27, 2013, ECF No. 15-2. Plaintiffs oppose the motion, Opp’n, Oct. 31, 2013, ECF No. 10, and Defendants have filed a reply, Reply, Nov. 27, 2013, ECF No. 23. The Court heard oral argument on Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss on January 9, 2014: Mark Berry appeared for Defendants, and Mark Connely appeared for Plaintiffs. For the following reasons, Defendants’ Motion is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.

BACKGROUND3

Jo Ann Hobson went missing at age fifteen in 1985, and it was suspected she was a murder victim of Loren Herzog and Wesley Shermantine, commonly referred to as the “Speed Freak Killers.” In 2012, the San Joaquin Sheriffs Department received information from Shermantine that Hobson’s body, along with the bodies of other victims, was located at the bottom of an abandoned well. The Sheriffs Department proceeded to the well site to exhume the bodies.

Plaintiffs allege Defendants “ordered the well to be rapidly and completely dug up with a back hoe.” FAC ¶ 11, ECF No. 14. “Defendants ordered the digging with the back hoe to continue after bones were discovered.” Id. “Thereafter, in the presence of Joan Shelley, and with invited television and news organizations observing, Defendants ... caused the skeletal remains of Jo Ann Hobson ... to be chewed up, pulverized, destroyed, crushed and [924]*924commingled with other unknown murder victims .Id.

Moreover, Plaintiffs allege Defendants “held the skeletal remains of Jo Ann Hob-son and would not release them to Plaintiffs for burial or disposition” until several months later, when “Defendants turned over the chopped up and purported remains of Jo Ann Hobson, by sending them to the mortuary for cremation.” Id. ¶ 12.

“Out of concern that the remains ... might not be those of her daughter, Plaintiff Joan Shelley” had the “remains photographed and evaluated by Erick Bartelink, Ph.D., professor of forensic anthropology at Chico State University.” Id. Dr. Bar-telink’s review “revealed that at least three, and perhaps more individuals were contained in the body bag of bones Defendants had released for cremation. At least one of these bones [was] identified by DNA evidence as belonging to Kimberly Billy and not to Jo Ann Hobson.” Id. “Further, the forensic evaluation ... documented that not all of Jo Ann Hobson’s remains [were] turned over,” which leads Plaintiffs to “believe that within the remains that Defendants] passed off as belonging to Kimberly Billy, are the missing remains of [Plaintiffs’] daughter and sister Jo Ann Hobson.” Id.

Plaintiffs allege that, as a result of Defendants actions, they suffered “extreme shock, horror, distress and permanent psychological] injury and harm.” Id. ¶ 11.

In a prior order, this Court granted Defendants’ motion to dismiss Plaintiffs’ damages claims against Sheriff Moore in his individual capacity with prejudice. This Court held Sheriff Moore was entitled to qualified immunity because Plaintiffs’ asserted constitutionally protected property interest in the remains of their relative was not “ ‘clearly established’ such that a ‘reasonable officer’ would have believed Plaintiffs were entitled to constitutional due process.” Mem. & Order, 954 F.Supp.2d at 1008. This Court also dismissed, with leave to amend, Plaintiffs’ state law claims for failing to plead compliance with the California Tort Claims Act, and Plaintiffs’ Monell claims against the County of San Joaquin and Sheriff Moore in his official capacity for failing to allege their injuries were the result of a policy, custom, or practice of mishandling human remains. Id. at 1009-10.

Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint within the prescribed time in which they added allegations that Sheriff Moore was acting in his capacity as a policymaker. See FAC ¶ 14, ECF No. 14. Plaintiffs did not allege compliance with the California Tort Claims Act and therefore appear to have abandoned the state law claims for negligence and emotional distress.

STANDARD

On a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6), all allegations of material fact must be accepted as true and construed in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Cahill v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 80 F.3d 336, 337-38 (9th Cir.1996). Rule 8(a)(2) “requires only ‘a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief,’ in order to ‘give the defendant a fair notice of what the ... claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.’ ” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957)). A complaint attacked by a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss does not require detailed factual allegations. Id. However, “a plaintiffs obligations 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.” Id. (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). A court is not required to accept as true a “legal conclu[925]*925sion couched as a factual allegation.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1987, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955). “Factual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955 (citing 5 Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1216 (3d ed. 2004) (stating that the pleading must contain something more than a “statement of facts that merely creates a suspicion [of] a legally cognizable right of action.”)).

Furthermore, “Rule 8(a)(2) ... requires a ‘showing,’ rather than a blanket assertion, of entitlement to relief.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556 n. 3, 127 S.Ct. 1955 (citations and internal quotation marks omitted).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
996 F. Supp. 2d 921, 2014 WL 533168, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15844, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shelley-v-county-of-san-joaquin-caed-2014.