Zhang v. United States of American

CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Washington
DecidedJanuary 29, 2021
Docket2:19-cv-01211
StatusUnknown

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

Bluebook
Zhang v. United States of American, (W.D. Wash. 2021).

Opinion

7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE 8 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 9

10 HUIFANG ZHANG, et. al, 11 CASE NO. C19-1211-RSM Plaintiffs, 12 V. ORDER GRANTING UNITED STATES’ 13 PARTIAL MOTION TO DISMISS UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, et. al, 14 15 Defendants.

16 17 I. INTRODUCTION 18 This matter comes before the Court on Defendants’ Partial Motion to Dismiss, Dkt. #23. 19 The Court finds oral argument unnecessary to resolve the underlying issues. Having reviewed 20 Defendants’ Motion, Plaintiffs’ Response, Defendants’ Reply, and the remainder of the record, 21 the Court GRANTS Defendants’ Partial Motion to Dismiss and ORDERS Plaintiffs’ claims, 22 23 Counts 3-8, DISMISSED with prejudice. 24 II. BACKGROUND 25 Given its previous orders on this matter, see Dkt. #17, the Court need not set forth the 26 complete facts of this case. Pro se Plaintiffs Shunichi Takahashi and Huifang Zhang bring this 27 action on behalf of themselves and their minor children, I.G. and D.G., against the United States 28 of America, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”), the U.S. Customs and Border 1 2 Protection (“CBP”), and Kevin K. McAleenan in his official capacity as both Acting Secretary 3 of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border 4 Protection (“the Government”). Mr. Takahashi is a Japanese citizen and I.G. and D.G. are U.S. 5 citizens. At the time of the alleged incident, I.G. and D.G. were a year and seven months old and 6 seven months old, respectively. Dkt. #21 at 1-2. Ms. Zhang was a U.S. permanent resident at 7 8 the time and became a U.S. citizen the following year. Id. at 4. 9 This action arises from an incident on September 29, 2015 between Plaintiffs and CBP 10 officers at the border checkpoint in Blaine, Washington. Dkt. #21 at 2. Plaintiffs were traveling 11 to the United States from Canada when CBP Officer Paul Carter initiated a secondary inspection 12 13 of Mr. Takahashi, who was attempting to enter under the Visa Waiver Program (“VWP”). While 14 Mr. Takahashi was detained for seven hours by border patrol agents, Ms. Zhang was detained 15 with the couple’s two minor children while CBP officers refused to return their passports. Id. at 16 4-5. Officer Carter allegedly engaged in fraudulent and malicious questioning of Mr. Takahashi 17 and coerced him into signing a sworn statement. Id. at 6-8. As a result of the detention, Plaintiffs 18 19 claim that they suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety disorder and that both 20 children have experienced behavior regression. Id. at 4, 9. CBP also revoked Mr. Takahashi’s 21 VWP status. Id. at 7. 22 Plaintiffs filed this action against the Government on August 6, 2019. Dkt. #1. The 23 Government moved to dismiss all claims except for those brought under the Federal Tort Claims 24 25 Act (“FTCA”) by Ms. Zhang, I.G. and D.G. Dkt. #8. The Court granted the Government’s 26 motion to dismiss except as to Mr. Takahashi’s negligence claim under the FTCA. Dkt. #17 at 27 22. The Court granted Plaintiffs leave to amend those claims dismissed without prejudice: 28 Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) claims as to Ms. Zhang, D.G. and I.G., Fifth Amendment 1 2 claims, racial discrimination claims under the Constitution and the Immigration and Nationality 3 Act (“INA”), and negligent supervision under the FTCA. Id. at 22-23. It dismissed the remaining 4 claims with prejudice and without leave to amend. 5 Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint on July 17, 2020 alleging claims under the FTCA 6 (Counts 1-2), denial of due process under the Fifth Amendment (Counts 3-4), requesting a 7 8 declaration that the Court vacate CBP’s determination of inadmissibility under the VWP (Count 9 5), retaliation under the First Amendment (Count 6), racial discrimination (Count 7), and 10 common law expungement (Count 8). Dkt. #21. Plaintiffs seek $1,500,000 in damages for Mr. 11 Takahashi, $500,000 in damages each for Ms. Zhang, I.G. and D.G., and injunctive relief in the 12 13 form of vacating and dismissing Mr. Takahashi’s charge of inadmissibility and expunging all 14 inaccurate information on his record. Id. at 14-15. Plaintiffs also seek declaratory relief in the 15 form of a declaration that the CBP officers violated the law. Id. The Government moves to 16 dismiss all claims except for those brought under the FTCA. Dkt. #23. 17 III. DISCUSSION 18 19 A. Legal Standards 20 i. Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction under 12(b)(1) 21 Federal courts are tribunals of limited jurisdiction and may only hear cases authorized by 22 the Constitution or a statutory grant. Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of America, 511 U.S. 23 375, 377 (1994). The burden of establishing subject-matter jurisdiction rests upon the party 24 25 seeking to invoke federal jurisdiction. Id. Once it is determined that a federal court lacks 26 subject-matter jurisdiction, the court has no choice but to dismiss the suit. Arbaugh v. Y & H 27 28 Corp., 546 U.S. 500, 514 (2006); Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(h)(3) (“If the court determines at any time 1 2 that it lacks subject-matter jurisdiction, the court must dismiss the action.”). 3 As a general rule, the United States may not be sued unless it has waived its sovereign 4 immunity. Bramwell v. U.S. Bureau of Prisons, 348 F.3d 804, 806 (9th Cir. 2003). Accordingly, 5 unless the United States consents to be sued, the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over 6 claims against the federal government. United States v. Sherwood, 312 U.S. 584, 586 (1941); 7 8 see also Consejo de Desarrollo Economico de Mexicali, A.C. v. United States, 482 F.3d 1157, 9 1173 (9th Cir. 2007) (“A court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over a claim against the United 10 States if it has not consented to be sued on that claim.”) (internal citations omitted). The doctrine 11 of sovereign immunity applies to federal agencies and to federal employees acting within their 12 13 official capacities. Hodge v. Dalton 107 F.3d 705, 707 (9th Cir.1997) (citing S. Delta Water 14 Agency v. U.S., Dep’t of Interior, 767 F.2d 531, 536 (9th Cir.1985)). The federal government’s 15 waiver of sovereign immunity “must be unequivocally expressed in statutory text, and will not 16 be implied.” Lane v. Pena, 518 U.S. 187, 192 (1996) (internal citations omitted). Any limitations 17 and conditions upon the waiver must be strictly observed, Hodge, 107 F.3d at 707, and the Court 18 19 must construe any ambiguities in the scope of such waiver in favor of immunity. Lane, 518 U.S. 20 at 192 (citing United States v. Williams, 514 U.S. 527, 531 (1995)). 21 ii. Motion to Dismiss under 12(b)(6) 22 In making a 12(b)(6) assessment, the court accepts all facts alleged in the complaint as 23 true and makes all inferences in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Baker v. 24 25 Riverside County Office of Educ., 584 F.3d 821, 824 (9th Cir. 2009) (internal citations omitted). 26 However, the court is not required to accept as true a “legal conclusion couched as a factual 27 allegation.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v.

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Zhang v. United States of American, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zhang-v-united-states-of-american-wawd-2021.