Taylor v. Hooven

District Court, S.D. Ohio·Decided April 15, 2025·No. 1:24-cv-00204·Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO WESTERN DIVISION

Brendon Taylor, et al., : Case No. 1:24-cv-204 : Plaintiffs, : Judge Susan J. Dlott : v. : Order Granting in Part Plaintiffs’ Motion : for Reconsideration and Amending in Jesse Lee Anthony Hooven, et al., : Part January 3, 2025 Dismissal Order : Defendants. :

This matter is before the Court on Plaintiffs’ Joint and Consolidated Motions for Reconsideration of the Court’s January 3, 2025 Order, or Alternatively, to Certify the Same as “Final” Under Rule 54(b). (Doc. 84.) Plaintiffs Brendon Taylor and Holly Hooven sued four sets of Defendants—(1) Jesse Hooven, a police officer for the City of Cincinnati; (2) the City of Cincinnati, Ohio; (3) Madison M. Paul, a former employee of Hamilton County, Ohio; and (4) the Hamilton County, Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services and the Hamilton County, Ohio Board of County Commissioners—alleging constitutional rights violations and state law torts. (Doc. 55.) Mr. Taylor and Ms. Hooven, who are engaged to each other, alleged that Ms. Hooven’s ex-husband, Officer Hooven, and Ms. Paul improperly accessed and disseminated confidential child welfare records about Mr. Taylor to interfere in their intimate relationship. In the January 3, 2025 Order (“Dismissal Order”), the Court dismissed Counts 1–4 (violations of civil rights), 6 (civil conspiracy), and 9 (abuse of process) against the City of Cincinnati and Officer Hooven. (Doc. 75.) Plaintiffs move the Court to reconsider the Order as to Counts 1–4 and 9 only. Alternatively, Plaintiffs move the Court to certify the Dismissal Order as final for purposes of appeal. The Court also inadvertently stated in the Dismissal Order that it was dismissing Count 3 (violation of substantive due process rights) against Ms. Paul. Plaintiffs ask the Court to clarify that the Court did not intend to dismiss the claim against Ms. Paul. For the reasons below, the Court will GRANT IN PART AND DENY IN PART Plaintiffs’ Joint and Consolidated Motions. I. MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION

Reconsideration of an interlocutory order is permissible under common law and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b). Rodriguez v. Tenn. Laborers Health & Welfare Fund, 89 F. App’x 949, 959 (6th Cir. 2004). Rule 54(b) states in relevant part that “any order or other decision, however designated, that adjudicates fewer than all the claims or the rights and liabilities of fewer than all the parties does not end the action as to any of the claims or parties and may be revised at any time before the entry of a judgment adjudicating all the claims and all the parties’ rights and liabilities.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b). Courts can reconsider interlocutory orders on the basis of “(1) an intervening change of controlling law; (2) new evidence available; or (3) a need to correct a clear error or prevent manifest injustice.” Rodriguez, 89 F. App’x at

959. A. Claims Against Officer Hooven 1. Counts 1 and 3 a. State Action Issue Plaintiffs alleged in Count 1 that Officer Hooven is liable to them for retaliation in violation of the First Amendment pursuant to 42 U.S.C § 1983, and they alleged in Count 3 that Officer Hooven is liable to Mr. Taylor for a Fourteenth Amendment substantive due process violation pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. (Doc. 55 at PageID 415–418, 420–422.) The Court dismissed these claims because it concluded as a matter of law that Plaintiffs had not alleged sufficient facts to plausibly establish that Officer Hooven acted under the color of state law for purposes of § 1983 liability. (Doc. 75 at PageID 690–691.) In the pending Motion for Reconsideration, Plaintiffs contend that the Court made a clear error of law by not construing the factual allegations and inferences from the First Amended Complaint in their favor on the color of state law issue.

“Section 1983 is generally not implicated unless a state actor’s conduct occurs in the course of performing an actual or apparent duty of his office, or unless the conduct is such that the actor could not have behaved as he did without the authority of his office.” Waters v. City of Morristown, Tenn., 242 F.3d 353, 359 (6th Cir. 2001). “Acts of police officers in the ambit of their personal, private pursuits fall outside of 42 U.S.C. § 1983.” Stengel v. Belcher, 522 F.2d 438, 441 (6th Cir. 1975). “While public officials can act on behalf of the State, they are also private citizens with their own constitutional rights.” Lindke v. Freed, 601 U.S. 187, 196 (2024). “The fact that a police officer is on or off duty, or in or out of uniform is not controlling. It is the nature of the act performed, not the clothing of the actor or even the status of being on duty, or

off duty, which determines whether the officer has acted under color of law.” Morris v. City of Detroit, Mich., 789 F. App’x 516, 518 (6th Cir. 2019) (internal quotation and citation omitted). Courts must look to whether the conduct that caused the deprivation of a right is “fairly attributable to the State[,]” in that it is “traceable to the State’s power or authority.” Lindke, 601 U.S. at 198. The Sixth Circuit recently affirmed a two-part test: When asking whether a challenged action qualified as state action, we described the “the controlling issue” as whether an official “possessed state authority” to take the action “and whether [the official] purported to act under that authority” on the specific occasion. Mackey v. Rising, 106 F.4th 552, 559 (6th Cir. 2024) (citations omitted). Courts must consider “the totality of the circumstances.” Morris, 789 F. App’x at 518. As to the first part of the test, § 1983 is implicated if the defendant “could not have behaved as he did without the authority of his office.” Waters, 242 F.3d at 359. “There can be no pretense of acting under color of state law if the challenged conduct is not related in some meaningful way either to the actor’s governmental status or to the performance of his duties.” Id. Whether a defendant acted under the color of state law is a question of law for the district court. Neuens v. City of Columbus, 303

F.3d 667, 670 (6th Cir. 2002). Plaintiffs argue that the Court clearly erred by not construing the factual allegations and inferences from the First Amended Complaint in their favor. The Court will start with Plaintiffs’ allegations that Officer Hooven acted under the color of state law when he tried to pressure school officials and parents into sharing information about Ms. Hooven and Mr. Taylor. (Doc. 55 at PageID 404, 416.) Upon reconsideration, the Court again concludes that Morris dictates the holding that Officer Hooven was not taking state action under the facts alleged. In Morris, the Sixth Circuit held that an on-duty police officer, wearing her badge and carrying her firearm, did not take state action when she initiated an altercation at the plaintiff’s house to try to collect a

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