Watts v. City of Hollywood

146 F. Supp. 3d 1254, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 159784, 2015 WL 7709671
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedNovember 17, 2015
DocketCASE NO. 15-61123-CIV-ALTONAGA/O’Sullivan
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 146 F. Supp. 3d 1254 (Watts v. City of Hollywood) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Watts v. City of Hollywood, 146 F. Supp. 3d 1254, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 159784, 2015 WL 7709671 (S.D. Fla. 2015).

Opinion

ORDER

CECILIA M. ALTONAGA,'DISTRICT JUDGE

THIS CAUSE came before the Court upon Defendant, City of Hollywood’s (the “City[’s]”) Motion to Dismiss ... (“Motion”) [ECF No. 13], filed August 18, 2015. On September 9, 2015, Plaintiff, Donna Jane Watts (“Plaintiff’ or “Watts”) filed a Response ... (“Response”) [ECF No. 31], to which the City filed a Reply ... (“Reply”) [ECF No. 36] on September 18,2015. The Court has carefully considered the parties’ written • submissions, the Complaint [ECF No. 1], and applicable law.

I. BACKGROUND1

This case stems from an incident that took place on October 11,- 2011,'during which Plaintiff, a Trooper with the Florida Highway Patrol (“FHP”), pulled over and cited an off-duty City of Miami-police officer, Officer Fausto Lopez (“Lopez”), for reckless driving. (See Compl. ¶ 9). Plaintiff had observed Lopez driving erratically and at a speed of 120 miles per hour in a 70 mile per hour zone. (See id.): For more than seven minutes, “Lopez failed or refused to pull over in compliance with the siren and flashing lights” on Plaintiffs patrol car. (Id.).

Plaintiffs citation of Lopez was highly publicized throughout the State, “and many law enforcement officials publicly [1258]*1258and personally took umbrage for Trooper Watts’s law enforcement action against Officer Lopez.” (Id. ¶ 10). Within a month of Plaintiffs citation of Lopez, “numerous threats were posted online, purportedly by law enforcement officers,” directed at both Trooper Watts and other members of the FHP; FHP officers “began being pulled over without cause by other law enforcement officers;” and Plaintiff was threatened if a situation occurred where back-up was needed by her or other FHP officers, law enforcement back-up would not be provided, “thereby putting her health, safety, and life at much greater risk than otherwise.” (Id. ¶ 11). In addition, Plaintiff received hang-up telephone calls on her unlisted home and cellular phones, as well as pizza deliveries she never ordered (see id. ¶ 12); was subjected to abuse and threats on law enforcement websites (see id.); and “observed numerous marked police and suspicious vehicles stopped at or very near her house for no apparent legitimate reason” (id.).

Plaintiff owned one or more vehicles registered with the State of Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (“DHSMV”) and held a Florida driver’s license issued by the DHSMV. (See id. ¶ 6). To obtain her driver’s license and register her vehicles, Plaintiff was required to, and did, provide the DHSMV with personal information. (See id. ¶ 7). Plaintiffs personal information was entered into a computer database of motor vehicle records maintained and administered by the DHSMV, which includes records pertaining to motor vehicle operators’ permits; motor vehicle titles and registrations; color photographs; social security numbers; places and dates of birth; and prior and current home and mailing addresses. (See id. ¶ 8). The DHSMV and Florida Department of Law Enforcement made Plaintiffs personal information available to law enforcement personnel throughout Florida through the Driver and Vehicle Information Database (“DAVID”) system. (See id.).

On January 19, 2012, in response to the threats and harassment, Plaintiff contacted the DHSMV inquiring whether law enforcement officers were viewing her private information. (See id. ¶ 14). On April 3, 2012, after counsel for Plaintiff contacted the DHSMV to inquire about the delay in providing the requested information, the DHSMV gave Plaintiff some of the reports from the DAVID system. (See id.). Plaintiff learned “between October 2011 and January 19, 2012, well over 88 law enforcement officers from 25 different agencies had viewed her private driver’s license information more than 200 times.” (Id. ¶ 15).

Plaintiff alleges the City “(actually or constructively) knowingly allowed and facilitated at least four instances of obtaining, disclosing, and/or using Trooper Watts’s personal information from a motor vehicle record on the DAVID system, for a purpose not permitted under the DPPA [Driver’s Privacy Protection Act].” (Id. ¶ 16 (alterations added)). “On at least one occasion, Defendant Keith Wadsworth,” an employee with the City, “knowingly obtained, disclosed, and/or used Trooper Watts’s personal information from a motor vehicle record on the DAVID system, for a purpose not permitted under the DPPA.” (Id. ¶ 17; see also id. ¶ 5). At no time did Plaintiff “provide her consent for anyone to obtain, disclose, or use ... her private information for anything but legitimate law enforcement business.” (Id. ¶20 (alteration added)).

In December 2012, Plaintiff originally filed a single case against over 100 defendants, including the City and Wadsworth. See Watts v. City of Palm Beach Gardens, et al., Case No. 12-CV-81406-DMM. In [1259]*1259May 2014, the court dismissed the action without prejudice as to all defendants except for the Town of Juno Beach. (See id.' Order on Mots, to Dismiss [ECF No. 658]). Plaintiff thereafter filed separate actions against the remaining defendants, several of which are concurrently proceeding in this District. See Watts v. City of Miami, et al., Case No. 15-cv-21271-RNS; Watts v. Village of Biscayne Park, et al., Case No. 15-cv-21291-KMW; Watts v. City of Miami Beach, et al., Case No. 15-cv-21292-RNS; Watts v. Broward Cnty. Sheriff, et al., Case No. 15-cv-61112-WJZ; and Watts v. City of Port St. Lucie, et al., Case No. 15-cv-14192-RLR.

On May 28, 2015, Plaintiff filed her Complaint against the City and Wads-worth in his individual capacity (see Compl. ¶ 5), pursuing the following causes of action: Count I against the City and Wads-worth for violation of the Driver’s Privacy' Protection Act (“DPPA”), 18 U.S.C. sections 2721 et seq. (see id. 1); Counts II and III against the City and Wadsworth, respectively, for unlawful searches and breaches of privacy, brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. section 1983 (see id. 5, 7); Count TV against the City and Wadsworth for common law invasion of privacy (see id. 8); Count V against the City for common law negligent supervision (see id. 9); and Count VI against the City for negligent training (see id. 10).2

II. LEGAL STANDARD'

“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, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). Although this pleading standard “does not require ‘detailed factual allegations,’ ... it demands more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation.” Id. (alteration added) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955).

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146 F. Supp. 3d 1254, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 159784, 2015 WL 7709671, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/watts-v-city-of-hollywood-flsd-2015.