St Clair v. Okanogan County Washington

District Court, E.D. Washington·Decided June 11, 2024·No. 2:23-cv-00280·Unknown

Opinion

1 2

3 4 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 6

7 CHRISTINA ST. CLAIR, an individual, NO. 2:23-CV-0280-TOR 8 Plaintiff, ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF’S 9 MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION v. 10 OKANOGAN COUNTY, 11 WASHINGTON, a municipal corporation; and ISAIAH 12 HOLLOWAY, an individual and employee of the OKANOGAN 13 COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE,

14 Defendants. 15 BEFORE THE COURT is Plaintiff’s Motion for Reconsideration (ECF No. 16 29). This matter was submitted for consideration without oral argument. The 17 Court has reviewed the record and files herein and is fully informed. For the 18 reasons discussed below, Plaintiff’s Motion for Reconsideration (ECF No. 29) is 19 DENIED. 20 1 BACKGROUND 2 Plaintiff requests the Court either reverse its dismissal of her claims against

3 Defendant Isaiah Holloway and Defendant Okanogan County, or alternatively alter 4 the judgment and grant her leave to amend. The Court incorporates the facts from 5 its motion to dismiss (ECF No. 27 at 2–6) but notes the addition of the admission

6 by Defendant Holloway that he engaged in a sexual relationship with Plaintiff, 7 which he previously denied in a separate matter under penalty of perjury. ECF No. 8 22 at 8, ¶ 28. Plaintiff asserts that reconsideration and/or reversal is warranted 9 because the Court erred in its analysis of Defendant Holloway’s action with respect

10 to both establishing a pattern or policy and for purposes of discrete acts and in 11 discussion of the deliberate indifference of the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office 12 (“OCSO”) in the form of failure to supervise and reprimand. ECF No. 29 at 2.

13 Further, she requests amendment to show OCSO acted as a final policymaker and 14 seeks clarification on the status of the dismissal of state law claims. Id. at 14, 18. 15 Defendants have each responded, opposing the disruption of the Court’s dismissal 16 of Plaintiff’s claims. ECF Nos. 34 and 35.

17 DISCUSSION 18 I. Standard of Review 19 Plaintiff brings this motion for reconsideration under Federal Rule of Civil

20 Procedure 59(e). ECF No. 29 at 5. Defendants contend that the proper standard is 1 analysis under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(6). ECF Nos. 34 at 5 and 35 2 at 2–3. Generally, a motion for reconsideration of a judgment may be reviewed

3 under either Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e) (motion to alter or amend a 4 judgment) or Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b) (relief from judgment). Sch. 5 Dist. No. 1J v. ACandS, Inc., 5 F.3d 1255, 1262 (9th Cir. 1993).

6 Rule 59(e) authorizes motions “to alter or amend a judgment,” provided 7 such motions are filed within twenty-eight days of the judgment. The purpose of 8 Rule 59(e) is to examine matters within a decision on the merits and allow a 9 district court to rectify mistakes close in time to rendering a judgment. White v.

10 N.H. Dep't of Emp. Sec., 455 U.S. 445, 450–51 (1982). In general, 11 “[r]econsideration is appropriate if the district court (1) is presented with newly 12 discovered evidence, (2) committed clear error or the initial decision was

13 manifestly unjust, or (3) if there is an intervening change in controlling law.” Sch. 14 Dist. No. 1J, 5 F.3d 1255 at 1263; United Nat. Ins. Co. v. Spectrum Worldwide, 15 Inc., 555 F.3d 772, 780 (9th Cir. 2009) (citation omitted); see also Turner v. 16 Burlington N. Santa Fe R. Co., 338 F.3d 1058, 1063 (9th Cir. 2003).

17 In contrast, Rule 60(b) allows a party to seek relief from a final judgment 18 beyond the twenty-eight-day limit of Rule 59(e). However, Rule 60(b) has six 19 particularized grounds for relief, providing that “a court may relieve a party . . .

20 from a final judgment, order, or proceeding for the following reasons: (1) mistake, 1 inadvertence surprise, or excusable neglect; (2) newly discovered evidence []; (3) 2 fraud []; (4) a judgment is void; (5) a judgment has been satisfied, released, or

3 discharged or (6) any other reason that justifies relief.” Specifically, Rule 60(b)(6) 4 has been deemed the “extraordinary circumstances” remedy, to be used sparingly 5 and only in situations which would prevent manifest injustice. United States v.

6 Alpine Land & Reservoir Co., 984 F.2d 1047, 1049 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 510 7 U.S. 813 (1993); United States v. Sparks, 685 F.2d 1128, 1130 (9th Cir. 1982). 8 The Court granted Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss on February 12, 2024. 9 ECF No. 27. Plaintiff filed this Motion for Reconsideration on March 11, 2024,

10 exactly twenty-eight days after the Court rendered judgment, making her claim 11 timely under Rule 59(e). Further, reconsideration of a final judgment, such as a 12 grant of a motion to dismiss, is properly considered under Rule 59(e). See

13 Zimmerman v. City of Oakland, 255 F.3d 734, 740 (9th Cir. 2001); Van Derheydt 14 v. Cnty. of Placer, 32 F. App'x 221, 223 (9th Cir. 2002); Takemoto v. Richmond 15 Assocs., 956 F.2d 275 (9th Cir. 1992). Plaintiff brings this Rule 59(e) motion on a 16 theory of newly discovered evidence and legal error or manifest injustice. ECF

17 No. 29 at 5–6. 18 However, a district court does not abuse its discretion when it disregards 19 legal arguments made for the first time on a motion to alter or amend a judgment.

20 United Nat. Ins. Co., 555 F.3d at 780 (internal citations omitted); Carroll v. 1 Nakatani, 342 F.3d 934, 945 (9th Cir. 2003) (“A Rule 59(e) motion may not be 2 used to raise arguments or present evidence for the first time when they could

3 reasonably have been raised earlier in the litigation.”); Taylor v. Knapp, 871 F.2d 4 803, 805 (9th Cir. 1989); see also City of Fresno v. United States, 709 F.Supp.2d 5 888, 916 (E.D. Cal. 2010) (“A party seeking reconsideration must show more than

6 a disagreement with the Court’s decision, and recapitulation of the cases and 7 arguments considered by the court before rendering its original decision fails to 8 carry the moving party’s burden.”). As a rule, courts should be loathe to revisit 9 prior decisions in the absence of extraordinary circumstances such as where the

10 initial decision was “clearly erroneous and would work a manifest injustice.” 11 Christianson v. Colt Indus. Operating Corp., 486 U.S. 800, 817 (1988). This 12 principle is embodied in the law of the case doctrine, under which “a court is

13 generally precluded from reconsidering an issue that has already been decided by 14 the same court, or a higher court in the identical case.” United States v. Alexander, 15 106 F.3d 874, 876 (9th Cir. 1997) (quoting Thomas v. Bible, 983 F.2d 152, 154 16 (9th Cir. 1993)). Therefore, whether to grant a motion for reconsideration is within

17 the sound discretion of the court. Navajo Nation v. Confederated Tribes and 18 Bands of the Yakima Nation, 331 F.3d 1041, 1046 (9th Cir. 2003).

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