Tovar Hernandez Jr. v. Washington County

CourtDistrict Court, D. Oregon
DecidedApril 15, 2022
Docket3:21-cv-01794
StatusUnknown

This text of Tovar Hernandez Jr. v. Washington County (Tovar Hernandez Jr. v. Washington County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tovar Hernandez Jr. v. Washington County, (D. Or. 2022).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF OREGON

JOSE ABEL TOVAR No. 3:21-cv-01794-HZ HERNANDEZ JR., an individual, OPINION & ORDER

Plaintiff,

v.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, NORTHERN OREGON CORRECTIONS, an intergovernmental corrections entity doing business as NORCOR, WASHINGTON COUNTY, and DOES 1-10,

Defendants.

Amy Edwards Jacob C. Goldberg Stoel Rives LLP 760 S.W. Ninth Ave., Suite 3000 Portland, OR 97205

Kelly K. Simon ACLU of Oregon P.O. Box 40585 Portland, OR 97240

Attorneys for Plaintiff Sarah Feldman U.S. Attorney's Office 1000 SW Third Avenue, Ste 600 Portland, OR 97204

Attorney for Defendant United States of America

Lauren E Nweze William E Stabler David C. Lewis Kraemer & Lewis P.O. Box 1469 Lake Oswego, OR 97035

Attorneys for Defendant NORCOR

Eamon P. McMahon Washington County Counsel 155 N First Ave, Suite 340, MS#24 Hillsboro, OR 97124

Attorney for Defendant Washington County

HERNÁNDEZ, District Judge: Plaintiff Jose Abel Tovar Hernandez Jr. brings claims for false arrest/false imprisonment, negligence per se, intentional or negligent infliction of emotional distress, and Fourth Amendment claims against the United State of America, Northern Oregon Corrections (NORCOR), Washington County, and Does 1-10. Defendant Washington County moves to dismiss all claims against it. For the reasons that follow, the Court grants in part and denies in part Defendant’s motion. BACKGROUND Plaintiff is a naturalized United States citizen who has lived in the U.S. since he was 10 months old. Compl. ¶¶ 16, 19, ECF 1. On March 7, 2020, Plaintiff was serving a sentence on a parole violation in Washington County Jail. Compl. ¶ 21. He is houseless and was picked up by law enforcement after stealing a pair of socks from a retail store. Id. On the morning of his release, officials of Defendant Washington County woke Plaintiff up and told him he “would be free to go.” Comp. ¶ 22. A deputy told Plaintiff that someone was there to pick him up. Compl. ¶ 23. When Plaintiff asked who it was, assuming it was his mother, the deputy responded, “you’ll see.” Id. 1 Defendant Washington County officials then removed Plaintiff’s handcuffs and

released him into the jail’s sally port, rather than through the normal exit. Compl. ¶¶ 22–23. Three U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (“ICE”) officers were waiting for Plaintiff in the sally port. Compl. ¶ 25. The officers asked his name and then arrested Plaintiff without verifying his immigration status. Id. Plaintiff repeatedly told the ICE officers that he was a U.S. citizen. Id. Plaintiff was then taken to NORCOR, a correctional facility in The Dalles, Oregon, and was held for over two days. Compl. ¶¶ 32–33. Plaintiff was released from NORCOR after an immigration attorney contacted ICE and informed them that he is a naturalized legal citizen. Compl. ¶ 38. Plaintiff alleges Defendant Washington County notified ICE officials of his

impending release and “released him to ICE custody according to a policy and practice of collaborating with ICE and relying on his racial profile, hispanic surname, and other information, which has been shown to be inaccurate.” Compl. ¶ 27. Plaintiff filed this action on December 10, 2021. Plaintiff brings claims for false arrest/false imprisonment against Defendant ICE under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) and against Defendants Washington County and NORCOR under the Oregon Tort Claims Act

1 Plaintiff alleges that his mother, her husband, and his brother-in-law were waiting for him at the entrance to the jail. ¶ 24. He alleges that after waiting for a long time, Defendant Washington County told them Plaintiff had been detained by ICE and that they needed to go to “a federal building in downtown Portland” to see him. Compl. ¶ 24. (OTCA). He brings claims for negligence per se against Defendant United States under the FTCA and against Defendants ICE, Washington County, and NORCOR under the OTCA. He brings claims for Intentional or Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress against Defendants ICE, Washington County, and NORCOR under the FTCA and the OTCA. He brings Fourth Amendment Bivens claims against Individual ICE Officers for unreasonable seizure. Finally, he

brings Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment Section 1983 claims against Defendants Washington County and NORCOR for unreasonable seizure and deprivation of due process. Defendant Washington County moves to dismiss all claims against it. Def. Mot., ECF 6. STANDARDS A motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) tests the sufficiency of the claims. Navarro v. Block, 250 F.3d 729, 732 (9th Cir. 2001). When evaluating the

sufficiency of a complaint’s factual allegations, the court must accept all material facts alleged in the complaint as true and construe them in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Wilson v. Hewlett-Packard Co., 668 F.3d 1136, 1140 (9th Cir. 2012). A motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) will be granted if a plaintiff alleges the “grounds” of his “entitlement to relief” with nothing “more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action[.]” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007). “Factual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level on the assumption that all the allegations in the complaint are true (even if doubtful in fact)[.]” Id. (citations and footnote omitted). To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint “must contain sufficient factual matter,

accepted as true, to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (internal quotation marks omitted). A plaintiff must “plead[] factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id. In other words, a complaint must state a plausible claim for relief and contain “well- pleaded facts” that “permit the court to infer more than the mere possibility of misconduct[.]” Id. at 679. DISCUSSION

Plaintiff brings five claims for relief against Defendant Washington County: (1) False Imprisonment/False Arrest; (2) Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress (IIED); (3) Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress (NIED); (4) § 1983 Fourth Amendment violation; and (5) Negligence Per Se. Defendant Washington County moves to dismiss all claims against it. Plaintiff plausibly alleges Defendant Washington County instigated and assisted in his detention in the sally port. The Court thus denies the motion to dismiss his claims for false imprisonment and IIED. The Court grants the motion to dismiss Plaintiff’s NIED and negligence per se claims because he has not shown that his relationship to Defendant supports a negligence claim based on a non-physical injury or that ORS 181A.820 can be used to establish negligence

per se liability. The Court also grants the motion to dismiss Plaintiff’s § 1983 claim, as he fails to establish a theory of liability under the Fourth Amendment on these facts. I. False Imprisonment Defendant Washington County moves to dismiss Plaintiff’s claim for false imprisonment arguing his claim did not accrue until Plaintiff left Defendant’s custody.

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