James v. Woods, Civil Action No. 14–216.
| Decision Date | 09 May 2014 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. 14–216. |
| Citation | 21 F.Supp.3d 644 |
| Parties | Mark C. JAMES v. Sam WOODS, Stephanie Welborn, et al. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Louisiana |
Andrew T. Lilly, Lilly, PLLC, David Wallace Oestreicher, II, David W. Oestreicher, II, Attorney at Law, New Orleans, LA, for Mark C. James.
Roger Anthony Javier, J. McCaleb Bilbro, Javier Law Firm, Brian Arthur Gilbert, Koeppel Traylor, LLC, Mark E. Young, Lauren B. Dietzen, Plauche, Maselli, Parkerson, LLP, New Orleans, LA, Claude David Vasser, Jr., Vasser & Vasser, Baton Rouge, LA, Michael S. Futrell, Connick & Connick, LLC, Metairie, LA, for Sam Woods, Stephanie Welborn, et al.
The following motion is before the Court: Motion to Dismiss (Rec. Doc. 20) filed by defendants Sam Woods and Stephanie Welborn. Plaintiff Mark C. James opposes the motion. The motion, noticed for submission on April 23, 2014, is before the Court on the briefs without oral argument.
The movants seek dismissal of all claims pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) on the ground that Plaintiff does not state a “plausible” claim for relief. For the reasons that follow, the motion is
GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART.
Plaintiff Mark C. James alleges that defendants Sam Woods and Stephanie Welborn instigated his eventual prosecution for aggravated incest solely for the purpose of gaining leverage in an ongoing custody dispute. (Rec. Doc. 9, FAC ¶¶ 1 & 2). James is suing defendants Woods and Welborn for malicious prosecution and intentional infliction of emotional distress under Louisiana law. James is also asserting a claim for alienation of affection under Mississippi law. James is a citizen of Louisiana. Woods and Welborn are citizens of Mississippi.1
Sam Woods and Ms. Tracy James divorced in 2005, and the two are the parents of JW and AGW. Woods and Tracy shared custody but the children lived with Tracy. (FAC ¶ 38). Mark James met and began to date Tracy in 2006 when she was going through a custody dispute with Woods. (Id. ¶ 36). James and Tracy married in May 2007. Woods later married Stephanie Welborn.
According to Mark James, when Woods learned that Tracy would move the children from Hattiesburg to Slidell, he immediately and unsuccessfully moved the court for modification of the extant custody agreement. (FAC ¶¶ 39, 41, 44). After the trial, Sam was overheard saying “I am going to get that son of a [expletive] Mark James if it's the last thing I do.” (Id. 42).
In May or June 2008 Woods started taking AGW to the Office of Child Protective Services in St. Tammany Parish. (FAC ¶ 45). According to the eventual allegations, James either looked under or put his fingers under AGW's diapers, which the eight-year old wore because of a bedwetting problem. (Id. ¶ 47). Woods and Welborn allegedly contacted numerous other agencies and experts when they could not get the cooperation that they sought. James contends that Woods and Welborn never mentioned anything about abuse during the summer of 2008 and never objected when AGW stayed at James' home. (FAC ¶¶ 54–59). AGW's allegations were at various times changed or recanted completely. (Id. ¶ 69).
Woods nonetheless met with a detective of the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office on October 14, 2008, to initiate a criminal complaint against James for his touching AGW. (FAC ¶ 86). James contends that Woods and Welborn repeatedly contacted the Sherrif's Office in order to point them to the various counselors to which they had been sending AGW. (Id. ¶ 87). James alleges that Woods and Welborn “painted a picture of the onset of bedwetting and ‘yeast infections ’ for the Sheriff's Office as coinciding with AGW's move to Slidell and time with [him].” (FAC ¶ 88). James contends that in doing so Woods and Welborn “purposefully withheld clear medical documentation which showed AGW's history of bedwetting and urinary tract infections, a history which far predated Mark's ever even meeting Tracy or her children. ” (Id. ¶ 89) (emphasis in original).
On November 18, 2008, the New Orleans Police Department Fugitive Division arrested James at his place of employment. (FAC ¶ 96). Nearly five years later James was tried for two days in St. Tammany Parish on a single count of aggravated incest. He was found not guilty in February 2013, after the jury had deliberated for one hour. (Id. ¶¶ 99, 110, 111). Between the time of his arrest in 2008 and his trial in 2013, James lost his job of 27 years and he alleges that he was virtually unemployable notwithstanding his previously spotless criminal record. (FAC ¶ 102). Woods ultimately prevailed in his custody battle. (Id. ¶ 113). Tracy divorced James in September 2013. (Id. ¶ 117).
James filed the instant action against Woods, Welborn, and other defendants on January 28, 2014. Vis à vis Woods and Welborn, James asserts claims for malicious prosecution and intentional infliction of emotional distress under Louisiana law, and a claim for alienation of affection under Mississippi law. James seeks to recover punitive damages and attorney's fees under Mississippi law.
Woods and Welborn argue that James does not state a claim for malicious prosecution because he cannot establish causation, i.e., that their conduct was the sole cause of his criminal prosecution. Defendants point out that they had no involvement in the prosecutorial decision-making process, and that James was prosecuted following a criminal investigation. Defendants argue that the independent investigation broke the causal chain of events.
Woods and Welborn also argue that they are entitled to immunity under article 611 of the Louisiana Children's Code.
Defendants argue that issues of causation and immunity also bar James' intentional infliction of emotional distress claim. Further, they contend that the conduct alleged is not of the extreme and outrageous nature required to support a cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Woods and Welborn argue that Erie and the appropriate application of conflict-of-laws preclude application of the Mississippi alienation of affection law to a Louisiana marriage.
Finally, Defendants argue that dismissal of the substantive causes of action on the foregoing bases negates the possibility of applying the Mississippi remedies of punitive damages and attorney fees to James' Louisiana causes of action.
In the context of a motion to dismiss the Court must accept all factual allegations in the complaint as true and draw all reasonable inferences in the plaintiff's favor. Lormand v. U.S. Unwired, Inc., 565 F.3d 228, 232 (5th Cir.2009) (citing Tellabs, Inc. v. Makor Issues & Rights, Ltd., 551 U.S. 308, 127 S.Ct. 2499, 168 L.Ed.2d 179 (2007) ; Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974) ; Lovick v. Ritemoney, Ltd., 378 F.3d 433, 437 (5th Cir.2004) ). However, the foregoing tenet is inapplicable to legal conclusions. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). Threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice. Id. (citing Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) ).
The central issue in a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss is whether, in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, the complaint states a valid claim for relief. Gentilello v. Rege, 627 F.3d 540, 544 (5th Cir.2010) (quoting Doe v. MySpace, Inc., 528 F.3d 413, 418 (5th Cir.2008) ). To avoid dismissal, a plaintiff must plead sufficient facts to “state a claim for relief that is plausible on its face.” Id. (quoting Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1949 ). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id. The Court does not accept as true “conclusory allegations, unwarranted factual inferences, or legal conclusions.” Id. (quoting Plotkin v. IP Axess, Inc., 407 F.3d 690, 696 (5th Cir.2005) ). Legal conclusions must be supported by factual allegations. Id. (quoting Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1950 ).
A claim for malicious prosecution comprises the following elements: 1) the commencement or continuance of an original criminal or civil judicial proceeding; 2) its legal causation by the present defendant in the original proceeding; 3) its bona fide termination in favor of the present plaintiff; 4) the absence of probable cause for such proceeding; 5) the presence of malice therein; and 6) damage conforming to legal standards resulting to the plaintiff. Jones v. Soileau, 448 So.2d 1268, 1271 (La.1984) (citing Eusant v. Unity Indus. Life Ins., 195 La. 347, 196 So. 554, 556 (1940) ; Hibernia Nat'l Bank v. Bolleter, 390 So.2d 842, 843 (La.1980) ). The crucial determination regarding the probable cause element is whether the defendant had an honest and reasonable belief in the guilt of the plaintiff at the time he pressed charges. Jones, 448 So.2d at 1272.
Defendants' arguments regarding causation lack merit in the context of a Rule 12(b)(6) motion. If Defendants' arguments regarding intervening cause were correct as a matter of law, then there would be no cause of action under Louisiana law for malicious prosecution. In the criminal context, a malicious prosecution claim requires the initiation of criminal proceedings, which may or may not include a full trial, that terminated favorably for the plaintiff. Investigations by law enforcement and findings of probable cause by grand juries are typically part of that process. Thus, the mere fact that law enforcement investigated Woods' and Welborn's allegations, and that a district attorney obtained a grand jury indictment, is not sufficient in and of itself to deprive James of a cause of action.
What Defendants' arguments fail to recognize is the concept of fault upon which liability for...
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