White v. Social Security Administration

111 F. Supp. 3d 1041, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 82193, 2015 WL 3902789
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedJune 23, 2015
DocketCase No. 14-cv-05604-JST
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 111 F. Supp. 3d 1041 (White v. Social Security Administration) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
White v. Social Security Administration, 111 F. Supp. 3d 1041, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 82193, 2015 WL 3902789 (N.D. Cal. 2015).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS

JON S. TIGAR, United States District Judge

Before the Court is a motion to dismiss filed by Defendants the United States of America, the Social Security Administration (“SSA”), and Ryan Luis, ECF No. 15, and Defendants’ Request for Judicial Notice, ECF No. 15-1. For the reasons set forth below, the Court will grant the motion to dismiss and the request for judicial notice.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Factual Allegations

For the purposes of deciding this motion to dismiss, the Court accepts as true the following allegations from Plaintiffs’ complaint. ECF No. 1.

On April 5, 2013, Plaintiff Ms. Lisa White went to the SSA office in Walnut Creek, California, to apply for a new social security number for her adopted son, Plaintiff J.W. Compl. ¶ 10. She met with Defendant Ryan Luis, an employee of the Social Security Administration, who made photocopies of Ms. White’s driver’s license and J.W.’s adoption order and reissued birth certificate. Id. ¶¶ 11, 13. Luis also wrote down Ms. White’s social security number and Plaintiff Mr. Jodie White’s social security number and driver’s license number. Id. ¶ 15. He gave Ms. White a receipt of the meeting, and advised her to return to the SSA office in a few days to inquire about the status of her request. Id. ¶ 16.

When Ms. White returned to the SSA office on April 8, 2013, an SSA employee informed her that her request for a new social security number for J.W. had not been processed, and that SSA employees are not authorized to make copies of driver’s licenses, birth certificates, and other personal documents. Id. ¶¶ 17-18. Although Ms. White attempted to contact Luis by telephone to discuss her application during the days following their April 5, 2013, meeting, he did not respond to her calls. Id. ¶ 19. On April 9, 2013, Mr. White applied for a new social security number for J.W. at the Antioch SSA office. Id. ¶20. SSA employees did not copy Plaintiffs’ driver’s licenses, adoption documents, or birth certificates in order to process Mr. White’s request. Id.

Within one week of Ms. White’s April 5, 2013, visit to the SSA office,.a series of fraudulent, unauthorized transactions occurred under Plaintiffs’ names, including attempts to open several store accounts and credit cards. Id. ¶¶ 21-22. In or around April or May 2013, an unauthorized party attached a Social Security Disability Status to Ms. White’s social security number. Id. ¶ 30. In May and July 2013, the Mount Diablo Unified School District notified Mr. and Ms. White that J.W. had been approved for the free lunch program and registered as a foster child and/or welfare recipient. Id. ¶¶ 31-32. Finally, sometime during 2013, Mr. and Ms. White received notice that an unauthorized additional party had been added as a mortgagee to a rental property they own. Id. ¶ 33.

The identifying information used in these transactions is not readily available to the general public. Id. ¶ 23. A professional examination of the Plaintiffs’ personal computer indicated that it had not been hacked or otherwise compromised. Id. ¶ 27. Mr. and Ms. White reported the identity theft to the Pittsburg and Walnut Creek Police Departments on or about [1047]*1047April 20, 2013, and continued to communicate with law enforcement about the problem. Id. ¶¶ 25-26, 28-29, 34. During a May 22, 2013, meeting with F.B.I. Special Agent N. Doss and SSA Office of the Inspector General Special Agent Jared Ueda concerning her identity theft issue, Ms. White identified Luis in a photograph, and Doss indicated that Luis had multiple aliases and an alleged criminal background. Id. ¶29.

B. Procedural History

Plaintiffs filed their complaint against Defendants the United States of America, the Social Security Administration, and Ryan Luis on December 23, 2014. The complaint alleges the following causes of action: (1) negligent retention; (2) negligent supervision; (3) negligent hiring; (4) conversion; (5) fraud; (6) invasion of privacy; (7) negligence; (8) negligent infliction of emotional distress; (9) intentional infliction of emotional distress; and (10) respondeat superior. Id. ¶¶ 35-81. The complaint asserts that this Court has jurisdiction pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”), 28 U.S.C. sections 1346(b), 2671-80. Id. ¶ 1.

On April 1, 2015, Defendants filed the instant motion to dismiss the complaint and a request that the Court take judicial notice of certain SSA policy documents available on the SSA website. ECF Nos. 15, 15-1. Defendants also filed a certification pursuant to 28 U.S.C. section 2679(d) that Luis was acting within the scope of his employment with the SSA at all times material to the alleged incidents described in the complaint, which is signed by the Chief of the Civil Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California. ECF No. 15-2. Plaintiffs oppose the motion to dismiss and request for judicial notice, and object to two declarations filed by Defendants in connection with their reply brief. ECF Nos. 19, 20, 23, 24. The Court will first address Defendants’ request for judicial notice and Plaintiffs’ objections to the declarations, before turning to the motion to dismiss.

II. REQUEST FOR JUDICIAL NOTICE

Defendants request that the Court take judicial notice of five SSA policy documents available on the SSA website. ECF No. 15-1. Plaintiffs object that the “unverified website pages” are not proper subjects of judicial notice; that granting Defendants’ request would preclude Plaintiffs from producing evidence contrary to the policies stated on the website; and that these policies are not relevant in any event because the alleged misconduct occurred before their effective dates. ECF No. 20.

Pursuant to Rule 201(b) of the Federal Rules of Evidence, “[t]he court may judicially notice a fact that is not subject to reasonable dispute because it: (1) is generally known within the trial court’s territorial jurisdiction; or (2) can be accurately and readily determined from sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned.” The Court “must take judicial notice if a party requests it and the court is supplied with the necessary information.” Fed.R.Evid. 201(c).

The Court concludes that these documents are proper subjects of judicial notice and grants Defendants’ request. See Gustavson v. Mars, Inc., No. 13-cv-04537-LHK, 2014 WL 2604774, at *3 n. 1 (N.D.Cal. June 10, 2014) (granting request for judicial notice “because these documents are readily available on a government agency website”). The Court notes that this decision does not preclude Plaintiffs from presenting evidence suggesting that the SSA policies outlined in these documents are not followed, that the policies have changed or are in flux, or that [1048]

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111 F. Supp. 3d 1041, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 82193, 2015 WL 3902789, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/white-v-social-security-administration-cand-2015.