Davis v. Sarles

• Decision Date: 29 September 2015
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 14–1389 (RJL)
• Parties: Judy Davis et al., Plaintiffs, v. Richard Sarles et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

134 F.Supp.3d 223

Judy Davis et al., Plaintiffs,

v.Richard Sarles et al., Defendants.

Civil Action No. 14–1389 (RJL)

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

Signed September 29, 2015

Judy Davis, Washington, DC, pro se.

Zuri Davis, Washington, DC, pro se.

Solomon Davis, Washington, DC, pro se.

Tavares Davis, Washington, DC, pro se.

Janice Lynn Cole, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Caliandra Burstein, Christina E. Cobb, Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, Rhonda Lisa Campbell, U.S. Attorney's Office, Daniel Kevin Dorsey, Law Office of Daniel

MEMORANDUM OPINION

RICHARD J. LEON

, United States District Judge

Plaintiff Judy Davis is the mother of co-plaintiffs Zuri, Tavares, and Solomon Davis. Proceeding pro se, plaintiffs bring this suit alleging violations of their civil rights against the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority ("WMATA"); Richard Sarles in his official capacity as Chief Executive of WMATA; several WMATA transit police officers in their official capacities;¹ the Metropolitan Police Department ("MPD"); MPD Chief Cathy Lanier in her official capacity; former United States Attorney for the District of Columbia Ronald Machen in his individual capacity; and attorney Daniel K. Dorsey in his individual capacity.² See generally Compl. [Dkt. # 1]. This case is before the Court on five separate motions to dismiss.³ Having carefully considered the parties' pleadings, the relevant case law, and the entire record herein, for the reasons stated below, defendants' motions to dismiss are hereby GRANTED.

BACKGROUND

This case arises from Solomon Davis' ("Mr.Davis") June 2013 encounter with WMATA transit police officers that resulted in his arrest and ensuing searches of his residence. For the purposes of the motions to dismiss, the Court takes all plaintiff's factual allegations as true. On June 14, 2013, Mr. Davis was riding his bike home when he was rear-ended twice by "transit officer Patrick Brandon/Brandon Patrick driving a WMATA police cruiser." Compl. Section IV, ¶ 1. The impact knocked Mr. Davis off of the bike "and over a fence." Id. Meanwhile, "several blocks away[,] ... a suspect snatched a phone and fled on foot," but "the transit police were not then in ‘hot pursuit’ when they assaulted Solomon Davis." Id. ¶ 2. Plaintiff further states that the victim informed the transit officers and two MPD officers called to the scene that Mr. Davis was not the suspect, but he was nevertheless "left ... in the clutches of the transit officers, who [ ] reported that they found a gun and [ ] placed Solomon under ‘arrest.’ " Id. ¶ 3–4. The officers then placed Mr. Davis in handcuffs, took him to the hospital "to tend to [his] injuries," and finally to the MPD's 5th District Headquarters. Id. ¶ 4. Eventually, Mr. Davis was charged with armed robbery and held at the D.C. jail for four days. Id. ¶ 6. According to plaintiff, the charge was reduced to felony possession of a gun "based exclusively on the ‘charge’ made by the defendant transit officers." Id.

On June 27, 2013, defendant Colin Dorrity obtained a warrant to search plaintiffs' home for guns.⁴ Id. ¶¶ 7, 11. Thereafter, "approximately a dozen transit officers dressed as a military assault team, kicked or rammed the metal front door out of its frame and burst in with guns drawn, screaming obscene orders as they pointed the guns into the [plaintiffs'] faces." Id. ¶ 14. The plaintiffs were ordered to get down on the ground, handcuffed, and placed on their couch "as the transit officers ransacked their home in a search ‘for guns' and finding none." Id.

Defendant Dorsey was Mr. Davis' court-appointed counsel who allegedly limited his representation "to convincing Solomon [ ] to plead guilty." Id. ¶ 8. On April 21, 2014, Mr. Davis' trial date, the U.S. Attorney's Office dismissed the case without prejudice. See id. ¶¶ 15–17. Plaintiff contends that the next day, defendant Herbert Nichols obtained a warrant to search plaintiffs' home for drugs. Id. ¶ 17. Later that day, the search warrant was executed in the same manner as before. See id. ¶ 18. "The transit officers allegedly found to [sic] small bags of marijuana" and took Mr. Davis and Tavares Davis to the MPD's 5th District station "where both were processed as ‘criminal defendants' even though neither had been arrested by an MPD officer." Id. ¶ 19. The U.S. Attorney decided not to prosecute these charges and dismissed the case. Id. ¶ 20.

Based on these alleged facts, plaintiffs filed suit in this Court on August 14, 2014, asserting claims against defendants for "willfully engaging in and carrying forth a conspiracy that subjected them to numerous violations of their civil, constitution, and Human rights within a general scheme of continued racial segregation and oppression otherwise known as ‘Jim Crow.’ " Compl. 3. Plaintiffs seek declaratory relief along with compensatory and punitive damages. Id. Defendants move to dismiss under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and (b)(6)

.

LEGAL STANDARDS

A. Rule 12(b)(1)

Federal district courts are courts of limited jurisdiction and "possess only that power authorized by Constitution and statute." Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co., 511 U.S. 375, 377, 114 S.Ct. 1673, 128 L.Ed.2d 391 (1994)

. On a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(1) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, "[t]he plaintiff bears the burden of establishing both the court's statutory jurisdiction and the government's waiver of its sovereign immunity." American Road & Transp. Builders Ass'n v. Envtl. Prot. Agency, 865 F.Supp.2d 72, 80 (D.D.C.2012). Because subject matter jurisdiction implicates the court's power to hear a claim, a Court has "an affirmative obligation to ensure that it is acting within the scope of its jurisdictional authority." Grand Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police v. Ashcroft, 185 F.Supp.2d 9, 13 (D.D.C.2001). Accordingly, when deciding a Rule 12(b)(1) motion for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, a court may give closer scrutiny to a plaintiff's factual allegations than it does when evaluating a Rule 12(b)(6) motion for failure to state a claim. Id. at 13–14.

B. Rule 12(b)(6)

A motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6)

challenges the adequacy of a complaint on its face, testing whether a plaintiff has properly stated a claim. A complaint must be sufficient "to give the defendant fair notice of what the ... claim is and the grounds upon which it rests." Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) (internal quotation marks omitted). Although a complaint does not need detailed factual allegations, a plaintiff's obligation to provide the grounds of his entitlement to relief "requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do." Id. The facts alleged "must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level." Id.

In deciding a Rule 12(b)(6)

motion, the court must construe pro se filings liberally, Richardson v. United States, 193 F.3d 545, 548 (D.C.Cir.1999), but even a pro se complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to state a claim for relief that is "plausible on its face," Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955. Further, although factual allegations are presumed to be true for purposes of deciding the motion, this presumption does not apply to legal conclusions.

Ash croft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009)

.

DISCUSSION

Defendants have filed a total of five separate motions to dismiss in this case, contending, inter alia, that this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over certain of plaintiffs' claims and that plaintiff has failed to state a claim for which relief can be granted. I take each of these motions in turn.

A. WMATA Defendants' Motion to Dismiss

The crux of plaintiffs' complaint is that the WMATA transit police lacked policing authority to engage in the alleged conduct and engaged in a conspiracy to deprive plaintiffs of their rights in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 241

, 242. See generally Compl. Defendants Richard Sarles, Colin Dorrity, Erin Cooper, Joseph Lewis, Brandon Patrick and WMATA ("WMATA defendants") move to dismiss on various grounds, including that they are immune from suit. See generally Mem. of P. & A. in Supp. of Defendants' Mot. to Dismiss [Dkt. # 11] ("WMATA Defendants' Mem."). I agree.

The Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution immunizes a State from suit in federal court, unless immunity is waived. It provides in pertinent part: "[t]he judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State." U.S. Const. Amend. XI

. It is well-established that the amendment applies to suits brought by citizens against their own States as well. Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 662–63, 94 S.Ct. 1347, 39 L.Ed.2d 662 (1974).

"WMATA was created by a compact enacted by the Congress and to which the Commonwealth of Virginia, the State of Maryland and the District of Columbia are signatories." Jones v. Washington Metro. Area Transit Auth., 205 F.3d 428, 432 (D.C.Cir.2000)

. Our Circuit has "consistently recognized that in signing the WMATA Compact, Virginia and Maryland each conferred its immunity upon WMATA, which therefore enjoys, to the same extent as each state, immunity from suit in federal court based on its performance of governmental functions." Id. Because the operation of a police force is a quintessential government function, when the WMATA transit police are involved, WMATA's function is governmental in nature. See Morris v. Washington Metro. Area Transit Auth., 781 F.2d 218, 220 (D.C.Cir.1986) ; see also Beebe v. Washington Metro. Area Transit Auth., 129 F.3d 1283, 1287 (D.C.Cir.1997) (specifying law enforcement as "a ‘quintessential’ governmental function" that "falls within the scope of...