Tanksley v. Rose

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedDecember 9, 2019
Docket3:19-cv-00229
StatusUnknown

This text of Tanksley v. Rose (Tanksley v. Rose) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tanksley v. Rose, (E.D. Va. 2019).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA Richmond Division KARL ANTHONY TANKSLEY, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) Vv. ) Civil Action No. 3:19cv229-HEH ) MAYOR C. BRUCE ROSE, et al., ) ) Defendants. ) MEMORANDUM OPINION (Granting Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss) This matter is currently before the Court on Defendants’—Mayor C. Bruce Rose, Chief of Police Thomas Hopkins, Eric S. Kearney, the City of Wilson, and the Wilson Police Department!—Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 18), filed on May 21, 2019. Plaintiff Karl A. Tanksley (“Plaintiff”), who proceeds pro se, filed this suit against fifteen defendants, stating eleven counts, of which nine are relevant here. (Compl., ECF No. 1.) The Wilson Defendants now seek to dismiss each of the nine claims pending against them on several bases, namely Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(2) and 12(b)(6).” All parties have filed memoranda supporting their respective positions. (ECF Nos. 18, 19, 40, 47.) The Court will dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal

' The five Defendants relevant here are collectively referred to in this Memorandum Opinion as the “Wilson Defendants” or “Defendants.” 2 Defendants’ Motion also raises defenses pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(3) and 12(b)(5). The Court restricts its findings to Defendants’ assertions that personal jurisdiction is lacking under 12(b)(2) and Plaintiff fails to state a claim under 12(b)(6). Thus, to the extent Defendants seek to invoke these defenses—improper venue and insufficient service of process— at a future date, they have not been waived by Defendants and remain preserved.

contentions are adequately presented in the materials before it, and oral argument would not aid in the decisional process. See E.D. Va. Local Civ. R. 7(J). For the reasons that follow, the Court will grant Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss. I. BACKGROUND In April 2013, Wilson County police officers pursued a missing person’s report, filed on April 3, 2013, with the Northampton County Sheriff's Office. (Defs.’ Mem. Supp. 2, ECF No. 19.) Their investigation led them to the body of Mr. Kirk Alan Lilly, whose last known address was 1390 Old Emporia Road, Gaston, North Carolina 27832. (Id. at 3.) This address is Plaintiff’s residence. (Compl. | 17; Defs.” Mem. Supp. 3.) Based upon this information, the officers applied for and obtained a search warrant for Plaintiff's home. (Defs.? Mem. Supp. 3.) On April 9, 2013, pursuant to the search warrant, Officer Eric S. Kearney, Special Agent Justin D. Godwin, and other members of the Wilson Police Department searched Plaintiffs home. (Compl. § 17; Defs.’ Mem. Supp. 3.) Following this search, warrants

were issued for Plaintiff's arrest, stating charges for “Murder, Concealment of Death, Robbery with a Dangerous Weapon, Trafficking in Heroin/Possess, Trafficking in Heroin/Transport, and Larceny of a Motor Vehicle.” (Defs.’ Mem. Supp. 3.) On May 8, 2013, Plaintiff was arrested on these charges, and on May 9, 2013, Plaintiff was extradited from Virginia to North Carolina. (Compl. 20, 24; Defs.” Mem. Supp. 3.) Plaintiff was subsequently booked and held at the Wilson County Jail in North Carolina. (Compl. #4 35, 30.) On February 3, 2015, Plaintiff was released on bail. (/d. at 749.) Throughout this process, Plaintiff maintained his innocence. (/d. at { 23.)

Ultimately, each of the charges brought against Plaintiff was dismissed. (Defs.’ Mem. Supp. 4.) Following their dismissal, this lawsuit ensued, in which Plaintiff brings claims against the Wilson Defendants for false imprisonment, false arrest, negligence, assault and battery, kidnapping, bribery, breach of duty, conspiracy against rights, and violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The Wilson Defendants now seek to dismiss these claims. II. STANDARD OF REVIEW A motion made pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(2) challenges the court’s exercise of personal jurisdiction over a defendant. “When a court’s personal jurisdiction is properly challenged . . . the jurisdictional question thereby raised is one for the judge, with the burden on the plaintiff ultimately to prove grounds for jurisdiction by a preponderance of the evidence.” Mylan Labs., Inc. v. Akzo, N.V., 2 F.3d 56, 60 (4th Cir. 1993) (citations omitted). “If the existence of jurisdiction turns on disputed factual questions the court may resolve the challenge on the basis of a separate evidentiary hearing.” Combs v. Bakker, 886 F.2d 673, 676 (4th Cir. 1989). When, as here, the court is asked to decide personal jurisdiction without an evidentiary hearing, it may do so based solely on the motion papers, supporting legal memoranda, and the relevant allegations of the complaint. Mylan Labs, 2 F.3d at 60. If the court proceeds in this fashion, “the plaintiff need prove only a prima facie case of personal jurisdiction,” with the court

drawing “all reasonable inferences arising from the proof, and resolv[ing] all factual disputes, in the plaintiff's favor.” Jd. (internal citations omitted).° If Plaintiff makes the requisite showing, Defendant then bears the burden of presenting a “compelling case” that, for other reasons, the exercise of jurisdiction would be so unfair as to violate Due Process. Burger King v. Rudzewicz, 471 U.S. 462, 477-78 (1985).4 Thus, “for a district court to assert personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant, two conditions must be satisfied: (1) the exercise of jurisdiction must be authorized under the state’s long-arm statute; and (2) the exercise of jurisdiction must

comport with the due process requirements of the Fourteenth Amendment.” Carefirst of Mad.,, Inc. v. Carefirst Pregnancy Ctrs., Inc., 334 F.3d 390, 396 (4th Cir. 2003). The Virginia Supreme Court has interpreted Virginia’s long-arm statute, Va. Code

§ 8.01-328.1(A), to confer jurisdiction “over nonresidents who engage in some purposeful activity in Virginia, to the extent permissible under the Due Process Clause of

the Constitution of the United States.” Nan Ya Plastics Corp. U.S.A. v. DeSantis, 377

S.E.2d 388, 391 (Va. 1989). Thus, according to the United States Court of Appeals for

3“If g plaintiff makes a prima facie showing, this does not settle the issue, as the plaintiff must eventually prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the assertion of personal jurisdiction over the defendant is proper either at the trial or at an evidentiary hearing.” Jones v. Boto Co., 498 F. Supp. 2d 822, 825 n.5 (E.D. Va. 2007) (citing New Wellington Fin. Corp. v. Flagship Resort Dev. Corp., 416 F.3d 290, 294 n.5 (4th Cir. 2005). 4 In the context of Due Process analysis, courts have distinguished between the exercise of general and of specific jurisdiction. See ESAB Grp., Inc. v. Centricut, Inc., 126 F.3d 617, 624 (4th Cir.1997). Here, Defendant’s alleged contacts with the Commonwealth form the basis for the suit, and thus, this Court considers whether these contacts establish specific jurisdiction. Carefirst of Md., Inc. v. Carefirst Pregnancy Ctrs., 334 F.3d 390, 397 (4th Cir. 2003).

the Fourth Circuit, the statutory and constitutional inquiries merge, and the reviewing court is not required “to go through the normal two-step formula for determining the existence of personal jurisdiction.” Owens-Illinois, Inc. v. Rapid Am. Corp.

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Bluebook (online)
Tanksley v. Rose, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tanksley-v-rose-vaed-2019.