Warren v. Sparks Police Department

District Court, D. Nevada·Decided November 21, 2024·No. 2:23-cv-00065·Unknown

Opinion

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA

3 ALLANNA WARREN, 4 Plaintiff, Case No.: 2:23-cv-00065-GMN-DJA 5 vs. AMENDED1 ORDER GRANTING 6 SPARKS POLICE DEPARTMENT, et al., MOTION TO DISMISS 7 Defendants. 8 Pending before the Court is the Motion to Dismiss, (ECF No. 234), filed by Defendant 9 Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (“LVMPD”). Plaintiff Allanna Warren did not file 10 11 a response and the deadline to do so has passed. Also pending before the Court are Plaintiff’s 12 Second Motion for Permanent Injunction, (ECF No. 248), and Third Motion for Permanent 13 Injunction, (ECF No. 312). LVMPD filed Responses, (ECF Nos. 254, 317). For the reasons 14 discussed below, the Court GRANTS LVMPD’s Motion to Dismiss, and DENIES as moot 15 Plaintiff’s Second and Third Motions for Permanent Injunction. 16 I. BACKGROUND 17 Plaintiff brings this action against LVMPD and 28 others2 asserting various federal and 18 state law claims, alleging that LVMPD is improperly surveilling and stalking her. (See 19 generally First Am. Compl.3 (“FAC”), ECF No. 1-1). At the time the lawsuit was filed, 20 Plaintiff was a forty-four-year-old African American woman, who suffers from asthma, 21 22 23 1 This Amended Order merely corrects a typographical error in the Conclusion where Motion to Dismiss, ECF No. 234, was incorrectly identified as ECF No. 284. The correct number for the Motion to Dismiss is ECF No. 24 234. 2 The case was originally brought against 29 LVMPDs. As of the date of this Order, four of the original 25 defendants have been terminated. 3 The operative complaint is the First Amended Complaint that was filed in the state court proceedings before this case was removed to federal court which was attached to the Petition for Removal, (ECF No. 1). 1 alopecia, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (“PTSD”), paranoia, and 2 hidradenitis suppurativa. (Id. ¶¶ 14–15). The alleged facts relevant to Plaintiff’s claims begin 3 when Plaintiff moved from Reno to Las Vegas. (Id. ¶¶ 17–18). 4 Plaintiff asserts U-Haul lost her property while moving. (FAC 9:28–10:1). Plaintiff 5 avers a U-Haul employee stated the lost property was confiscated by “local employees in both 6 cities [who] were actively working with the police in each city[.]” (Id. 10:1–5). Plaintiff 7 contends the unnamed U-Haul employee’s statement shows the Sparks Police Department and 8 LVMPD “collude[ed]” to “know[ingly] interfere[]” with her property.” (Id. ¶ 349(b)). Despite 9 LVMPD’s alleged wrongful confiscation of her property, Plaintiff states U-Haul paid her a 10 $5,000 settlement after “her late-delivered property was finally recovered.” (Id. 10:4–7). 11 Upon moving to Las Vegas, Plaintiff obtained employment. (Id. 8:22–24). While at 12 work, Plaintiff’s co-workers allegedly teased her by showing her a copy of her booking photo 13 taken by the Washoe County Jail and the Sparks Police Department when Plaintiff was 14 previously arrested. (Id. 8:22–9:9). The co-workers’ teasing was partially directed at Plaintiff’s 15 baldness in the photo, caused by her alopecia. (Id.). Plaintiff maintains her booking photo 16 cannot be found online, (Id. 9:10), but simultaneously acknowledges the County of Washoe’s 17 Sherriff’s Office stated her booking photo is a public record which could have been accessed on 18 the County of Washoe’s Sheriff’s Office website until her term of incarceration ended. (Id. 9:9– 19 16).

20 According to Plaintiff, the County of Washoe’s Sheriff’s Office stated that because her 21 period of incarceration ended, the only way her booking photo could be released would be 22 either at Plaintiff’s own request or in response to a request from the City of Sparks “and/or 23 Sparks Police Department.” (Id. 8:13–16). Plaintiff asserts it is “possible that 24 [LVMPD] . . . additionally had a hand in the booking photo getting released to [Plaintiff’s] new 25 employer[.]” (Id. 9:22–24). 1 Plaintiff generally asserts LVMPD improperly surveils her apartment by sending 2 officers to knock on her door, and has officers follow her whenever she leaves her apartment. 3 (Id. 9:14–10:7). Specifically, Plaintiff contends LVMPD sent officers to her apartment on at 4 least two occasions at the behest of her neighbors. (Id. 10:21–11:28). Plaintiff, based on 5 LVMPD’s response to these calls, “believes there is cooperation between SPARKS POLICE 6 DEPARTMENT and [LVMPD.]” (Id. 12:17–18). 7 Plaintiff further alleges LVMPD intercepts and improperly surveils her internet. She 8 asserts that since February 2022, she “has not been charged anything for internet connection.” 9 (Id. 10:25–28). Plaintiff avers she called T-Mobile regarding this discrepancy and was told by 10 an unnamed T-Mobile employee that her internet “was paid by a police account” before “the 11 line went dead.” (Id. 11:3–10). 12 The Court incorporates the procedural history of this case from LVMPD’s Motion to 13 Dismiss. (Mot. Dismiss (“MTD”) 6:6–7:18, ECF No. 284). Plaintiff’s First Amended 14 Complaint asserts claims against LVMPD for: (1) Unlawful Injury or Loss Suffered by a 15 Vulnerable Person, NRS § 41.1395; (2) Public Disclosure of a Private Fact; (3) Negligence and 16 Gross Negligence; (4) Defamation; (5) Public Records Violations, NRS 239 et seq.; (6) 17 Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress; (7) Civil Conspiracy; (8) Unlawful Discrimination, 18 Harassment, and Retaliation Based on Disability Americans with Disabilities Act and 19 Amendments Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12131 et seq. and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973,

20 29 U.S.C. § 794; (9) Violation of Plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment Rights—Unlawful Search and 21 Seizure; (10) Violation of Plaintiff’s Fourteenth Amendment Rights—Substantive and 22 Procedural Due Process; (11) Violation of Plaintiff’s Fourteenth Amendment Rights—Equal 23 Protection; (12) 42 U.S.C. § 1981 Impairment of Plaintiff’s Equal Rights Under Color of State 24 Law—Protection From Discrimination on the Basis of Race; and (13) 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510-2523 25 Violations of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986. (See generally FAC). 1 II. LEGAL STANDARD 2 Dismissal is appropriate under Rule 12(b)(6) where a pleader fails to state a claim upon 3 which relief can be granted. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (“Fed. R. Civ. P.”) 12(b)(6); Bell 4 Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007). A pleading must give fair notice of a legally 5 cognizable claim and the grounds on which it rests, and although a court must take all factual 6 allegations as true, legal conclusions couched as factual allegations are insufficient. Twombly, 7 550 U.S. at 555. Accordingly, Rule 12(b)(6) requires “more than labels and conclusions, and a 8 formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Id. “To survive a motion 9 to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim 10 to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting 11 Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570).

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