Spriggs v. City of San Diego

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedFebruary 12, 2025
Docket3:24-cv-01006
StatusUnknown

This text of Spriggs v. City of San Diego (Spriggs v. City of San Diego) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Spriggs v. City of San Diego, (S.D. Cal. 2025).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 RAYMOND SPRIGGS, Case No.: 24-CV-1006 W (KSC)

12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND 13 v. DENYING IN PART DEFENANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS SECOND 14 CITY OF SAN DIEGO; OFFICER AMENDED COMPLAINT [DOC. 15] CAMERON WATSON; and DOES 1 15 through 50, 16 Defendants. 17 18 19 Pending before the Court is Defendant’s, City of San Diego (the “City”), Motion to 20 Dismiss Plaintiff’s, Raymond Spriggs, Second Amended Complaint (“SAC”). (Mtn. 21 [Doc. 15].) The Court decides the matter on the papers submitted and without oral 22 argument. See CivLR 7.1(d)(1). For the reasons provided below, the Court GRANTS 23 IN PART and DENIES IN PART the Motion to Dismiss. 24 25 I. BACKGROUND 26 On January 9, 2022, Mr. Raymond Spriggs, a Black man over 50 years-old, alleges 27 he was sitting in a car in a parking lot waiting for his cousin to return from the store. 28 (SAC [Doc. 14] at 3, ¶ 8.) While waiting, Mr. Spriggs observed Officer Cameron Watson 1 and other officers staring at him, making him feel uneasy. (Id. at ¶ 10.) When his cousin 2 returned, the two began driving away only to be immediately stopped by the officers who 3 had been previously staring at Mr. Spriggs. (Id. at ¶ 11.) 4 Asserting that “illegally tinted windows” prompted the stop, the officers demanded 5 to see Mr. Spriggs’s identification. The SAC asserts that the windows were not illegally 6 tinted. (Id.) At first, Mr. Spriggs refused to produce identification because he was a 7 passenger. (Id.) However, one officer peered into the vehicle and claimed to see 8 marijuana, which Mr. Spriggs asserts was untrue. (Id.) The officers arrested Mr. Spriggs 9 and began searching the car. (Id.) Although he was arrested, no citation was issued for 10 the allegedly illegally tinted windows and no charges were brought against Mr. Spriggs 11 based on that incident. (Id.) 12 Then, in March 2023, Mr. Spriggs was pulled over again for allegedly illegally 13 tinted windows. (Id. at 4, ¶ 12.) The SAC again asserts that the windows were not 14 illegally tinted. (Id.) The officers asked for Mr. Spriggs’s identification, which he 15 provided. (Id.) However, the officers claimed they needed to perform a “safety” search 16 of the vehicle. (Id.) Remembering the prior incident with police where he was detained 17 and arrested, Mr. Spriggs alleges that he consented to the search out of fear of retaliation. 18 (Id.) The officers conducted the search but did not find anything unlawful inside the car. 19 (Id.) When the search turned up fruitless, the officers let Mr. Spriggs leave without 20 revisiting the tinted windows issue. (Id.) 21 Since these two encounters with the police, Mr. Spriggs claims that on various 22 occasions he has seen San Diego Police Department (SDPD) officers parked outside and 23 staring at his home. (Id. at ¶ 13.) Mr. Spriggs believes that by patrolling and staring at 24 his home, the officers are trying to intimidate him. (Id.) As a result of these incidents 25 and the prior traffic stops, Mr. Spriggs claims that he has suffered economic and 26 emotional injuries, including severe emotional distress, anxiety, stress, anger, trouble 27 sleeping, mistrust of police, and humiliation. (Id. at ¶ 14.) 28 1 In response, on March 11, 2024, Mr. Spriggs brought various civil rights and tort 2 claims against the City and various officers in the San Diego Superior Court. (Complaint 3 [Doc. 1-2].) The City then filed a Notice of Removal to have the action heard in the 4 United States District Court for the Southern District of California. (Notice of Removal 5 [Doc. 1].) The Complaint was amended [Doc. 3], but this Court granted the City’s 6 Motion to Dismiss the FAC with leave to amend [Doc. 13]. Mr. Spriggs then filed the 7 Second Amended Complaint [Doc. 14], and the City has moved to dismiss [Doc. 15]. 8 9 II. LEGAL STANDARD 10 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) allows a defendant to file a motion to 11 dismiss for failing “to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 12 12(b)(6) (“Rule 12”). A motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) tests the complaint’s 13 sufficiency. See N. Star Int’l v. Ariz. Corp. Comm’n., 720 F.2d 578, 581 (9th Cir. 1983). 14 A complaint may be dismissed as a matter of law either for lack of a cognizable legal 15 theory or for insufficient facts under a cognizable theory. Robertson v. Dean Witter 16 Reynolds, Inc., 749 F.2d 530, 534 (9th Cir. 1984). Additionally, in evaluating the 17 motion, the Court must assume the truth of all factual allegations and must “construe 18 them in light most favorable to the nonmoving party.” Gompper v. VISX, Inc., 298 F.3d 19 893, 895 (9th Cir. 2002). 20 To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain “a short and plain 21 statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 22 8(a)(2) (“Rule 8”). The Supreme Court has interpreted this rule to mean that “[f]actual 23 allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Bell Atl. 24 Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 554, 555 (2007). The allegations in the complaint must 25 “contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to state a claim to relief that is 26 plausible on its face.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (citations omitted). 27 While well-pled allegations in the complaint are assumed true, a court is not required to 28 accept legal conclusions couched as facts, unwarranted deductions, or unreasonable 1 inferences. Papasan v. Allain, 478 U.S. 265, 286 (1986); Sprewell v. Golden State 2 Warriors, 266 F.3d 979, 988 (9th Cir. 2001). 3 4 III. SECTION 1983 CLAIMS (CLAIMS 1 AND 2) 5 Mr. Spriggs has brought a False Arrest and False Imprisonment claim against Officer 6 Watson and other DOE officers based on the two alleged traffic stops. (SAC at 8–9, ¶¶ 19– 7 30.) Specifically, Mr. Spriggs asserts the traffic stops were unconstitutional searches and 8 seizures under the Fourth Amendment. (Id. at 8, ¶¶ 21–22; 9, ¶¶ 29.) In response, the City 9 has moved to dismiss these claims arguing that because Mr. Spriggs does not allege that 10 he owned the car, he lacks Fourth Amendment standing to contest “the illegal search of his 11 vehicle.” (Mtn. [Doc. 15] at 7: 17–24.) Therefore, Mr. Spriggs has failed to state a claim 12 that the traffic stops were unconstitutional. However, as explained below, the Supreme 13 Court has held that a passenger is seized during a traffic stop and has standing to challenge 14 the reasonableness of the stop. Therefore, Mr. Spriggs has standing to challenge the initial 15 traffic stop under the Fourth Amendment. 16 17 i. FOURTH AMENDMENT 18 The Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures by the 19 government. U.S. Const. amend. IV. “The Fourth Amendment ‘applies to all seizures of 20 the person, including seizures that involve only a brief detention short of traditional 21 arrest.’” United States v. Montero-Camargo, 208 F.3d 1122, 1129 (9th Cir. 2000) 22 (quoting United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U.S.

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Spriggs v. City of San Diego, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spriggs-v-city-of-san-diego-casd-2025.