Villarreal v. Bigsby

CourtDistrict Court, D. Nebraska
DecidedJanuary 11, 2021
Docket8:20-cv-00355
StatusUnknown

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

Bluebook
Villarreal v. Bigsby, (D. Neb. 2021).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEBRASKA

RUFINO J. VILLARREAL,

Plaintiff, 8:20CV355

vs. MEMORANDUM CHRIS BIGSBY, KEVIN BEATTIE, AND ORDER MICHAEL VANCE, SEWARD COUNTY SHERIFF, MARIA HATFIELD, and SEWARD COUNTY DETENTION CENTER,

Defendants.

Plaintiff, who is not a prisoner, has been given leave to proceed in forma pauperis. (Filing 5.) The court now conducts an initial review of Plaintiff’s claims to determine whether summary dismissal is appropriate under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2).

I. SUMMARY OF COMPLAINT Plaintiff—a “disabled, 63[-]year[-]old, United States Citizen of Mexican heritage” (Filing 1 at CM/ECF p. 9)—attempts to sue a Seward County deputy (Defendant Bigsby), sergeant (Beattie), sheriff (Vance), and detention-center director (Hatfield) in their individual capacities, as well as the Seward County Sheriff’s Office and the Seward County Detention Center for violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act and various constitutional provisions pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff requests $100,000 in damages.

Plaintiff alleges that Defendant Bigsby “racially profiled” him for “DWB (Driving While Brown)” while he was riding in a vehicle traveling on Interstate 80 on February 9, 2020. Plaintiff claims that Bigsby followed the vehicle in which Plaintiff was riding for miles, passed the vehicle and glared at its occupants twice, and blocked the vehicle behind a truck “with a precision[-]like tactic designed to entrap us into a highly questionable traffic stop.” (Id. at pp. 9, 15.)

While not entirely clear1, Plaintiff was apparently then placed in the Seward County Detention Center, where he did not receive medications prescribed for his “blood pressure, asthma, blood clots and other ailments” for four days until Plaintiff bailed out. (Id. at pp. 17, 23.) While being detained, Plaintiff claims he “tried to use two thin plastic mattresses because one was to[o] painful on my back” (on which he has had two surgeries), but he was admonished for attempting to “accommodate my disability.” (Id. at p. 18.) Plaintiff alleges that he “was discriminated against due to my race, disability and age.” (Id. at p. 23.)

Plaintiff also complains that he was again placed in the Seward County Detention Center on July 14, 2020, after a judge got angry about a “mixup on a[n] 8:45 a.m. video hearing.” (Id.) Plaintiff says “the County put me in a dirty holding cell with numerous hairs from previous detainees potentially exposing me to the virus.” (Id.)

II. STANDARDS ON INITIAL REVIEW The court is required to review in forma pauperis complaints to determine whether summary dismissal is appropriate. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e). The court must dismiss a complaint or any portion of it that states a frivolous or malicious claim, that fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or that seeks monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B).

Pro se plaintiffs must set forth enough factual allegations to “nudge[] their claims across the line from conceivable to plausible,” or “their complaint must be dismissed.”

1 Plaintiff’s 23-page Complaint is short on details regarding the incidents at issue and long on descriptions of his educational prowess, his opinions on race in America, his family history and their military service, and his professional accomplishments and downfalls. If Plaintiff chooses to file an amended complaint, he should focus on the incidents at issue and avoid including irrelevant material. 2 Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 569-70 (2007); see also Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (“A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.”).

“The essential function of a complaint under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is to give the opposing party ‘fair notice of the nature and basis or grounds for a claim, and a general indication of the type of litigation involved.’” Topchian v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., 760 F.3d 843, 848 (8th Cir. 2014) (quoting Hopkins v. Saunders, 199 F.3d 968, 973 (8th Cir. 1999)). However, “[a] pro se complaint must be liberally construed, and pro se litigants are held to a lesser pleading standard than other parties.” Topchian, 760 F.3d at 849 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).

III. DISCUSSION

A. Defendant Deficiencies

1. Defendants Beattie, Vance & Hatfield

Plaintiff names Kevin Beattie, Michael Vance, and Maria Hatfield in their individual capacities as Defendants in his Complaint. However, none of these parties is mentioned within Plaintiff’s factual allegations. A complaint that only lists a defendant’s name in the caption without alleging that the defendant was personally involved in the alleged misconduct fails to state a claim against that defendant. See Krych v. Hvass, 83 F. App’x 854, 855 (8th Cir. 2003) (citing Potter v. Clark, 497 F.2d 1206, 1207 (7th Cir. 1974) (holding that court properly dismissed a pro se complaint where the complaint did not allege that defendant committed a specific act and the complaint was silent as to defendant except for his name appearing in caption)); see also Jackson v. Nixon, 747 F.3d 537, 543 (8th Cir. 2014) (“To state a claim under § 1983, the plaintiff must plead that a government official has personally violated the plaintiff’s constitutional rights.” (citation omitted)).

3 Further, and as discussed in more detail below, Plaintiff’s ADA claim cannot be asserted against individuals, but should be asserted against Seward County itself. Baribeau v. City of Minneapolis, 596 F.3d 465, 484 (8th Cir. 2010) (Title II claim under ADA cannot be asserted against county employees in individual capacities; rather, claim must be made against county employees in official capacities, which is actually a suit against the county itself).

The court will give Plaintiff leave to correct these deficiencies in an amended complaint.

2. Defendants Seward County Sheriff’s Office & Detention Center

Plaintiff’s section 1983 claims may not be asserted against the Seward County Sheriff’s Office and the Seward County Detention Center because “it is well settled that municipal police departments, sheriff’s offices, and jails are not generally considered persons within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and thus not amenable to suit.” Ferrell v. Williams Cty. Sheriffs Office, No. 4:14-CV-131, 2014 WL 6453601, at *2 (D.N.D. Nov. 4, 2014); see also De La Garza v. Kandiyohi Cty. Jail, Corr. Inst., 18 F. App’x 436, 437 (8th Cir. 2001) (unpublished) (county jail and sheriff department not subject to suit under § 1983); Ketchum v. City of W. Memphis, Ark., 974 F.2d 81, 82 (8th Cir.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Bell v. Wolfish
441 U.S. 520 (Supreme Court, 1979)
Transamerica Mortgage Advisors, Inc. v. Lewis
444 U.S. 11 (Supreme Court, 1979)
Daniels v. Williams
474 U.S. 327 (Supreme Court, 1986)
County of Sacramento v. Lewis
523 U.S. 833 (Supreme Court, 1998)
Pennsylvania Department of Corrections v. Yeskey
524 U.S. 206 (Supreme Court, 1998)
United States v. Georgia
546 U.S. 151 (Supreme Court, 2006)
Brendlin v. California
551 U.S. 249 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly
550 U.S. 544 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Schaub v. VonWald
638 F.3d 905 (Eighth Circuit, 2011)
Alsbrook v. City Of Maumelle
184 F.3d 999 (Eighth Circuit, 1999)
Gibson v. Weber
433 F.3d 642 (Eighth Circuit, 2006)
Baribeau v. City of Minneapolis
596 F.3d 465 (Eighth Circuit, 2010)
Mason v. Correctional Medical Services, Inc.
559 F.3d 880 (Eighth Circuit, 2009)
Damron v. North Dakota Commissioner of Corrections
299 F. Supp. 2d 970 (D. North Dakota, 2004)
Robert Dinkins v. Correctional Medical Services
743 F.3d 633 (Eighth Circuit, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Villarreal v. Bigsby, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/villarreal-v-bigsby-ned-2021.