Nelson v. Lott

Decision Date24 July 2018
Docket NumberCivil Action No. 5:18-CV-0059-CLS
Parties Dorothy NELSON, who sues individually, and, as Administrator Ad Litem of the Estate of Randy Nelson, deceased, Plaintiff, v. Gregg LOTT, et al., Defendants.
CourtU.S. District Court — Northern District of Alabama

Devon M. Jacob, Jacob Litigation, Mechanicsburg, PA, Martin E. Weinberg, Martin Weinberg, PC, Shannon, AL, for Plaintiff.

David J. Canupp, Lauren A. Smith, Lanier Ford Shaver & Payne P.C., Huntsville, AL, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

C. Lynwood Smith, Jr., United States District Judge

Randy Nelson died as a result of his encounter with two Athens, Alabama police officers in the Emergency Room of the Athens-Limestone County Hospital on February 3, 2016. The Second Amended Complaint filed by Dorothy Nelson, the mother and Administrator Ad Litem of Randy Nelson's estate, alleged eight claims against four defendants: i.e. , (1) a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Athens Police Officers Gregg Lott and Dusty Meadows for the use of excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution (Count I); (2) a separate § 1983 claim against Officer Dusty Meadows for failing to intervene when Officer Gregg Lott used his Taser to subdue Randy Nelson (Count II); (3) a municipal liability claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the City of Athens, Alabama ("the City"), for failing to properly train Officers Lott and Meadows (Count III); (4) a claim against the City for violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), 42 U.S.C. § 12131 et seq. (Count IV); (5) a claim against the City for violation of the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. § 794 (Count V); (6) a claim against the Huntsville Hospital Health System, doing business as the Athens-Limestone County Hospital ("the hospital"), for violation of the ADA (Count VI); (7) a claim against the hospital for violation of the Rehabilitation Act (Count VII); and (8) a claim against all defendants under Alabama Code § 6-5-410 (1975) for the wrongful death of Randy Nelson (Count VIII).1 All claims against the City and hospital in Counts III through VIII were dismissed with prejudice on June 4, 2018, in accordance with the parties' stipulation.2 Thus, the only claims that remain pending are those against Officers Gregg Lott and Dusty Meadows in Counts I, II, and VIII.

The case currently is before the court on the motion of defendants Lott and Meadows to dismiss all remaining claims for failure to state claims upon which relief can be granted.3 Following consideration of the pleadings, briefs of counsel,4 evidentiary materials referenced in the complaint,5 and a transcript of the audio portions of the video recording produced by the body camera attached to the uniform of Officer Dusty Meadows,6 this court concludes that the motion should be granted.

I. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b) permits a party to move to dismiss a complaint for, among other reasons, "failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted." Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). That rule must be read together with Rule 8(a), which requires that "[a] pleading that states a claim for relief must contain ... a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief...." Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2) (alteration and ellipses supplied). While that pleading standard does not require "detailed factual allegations," Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly , 550 U.S. 544, 550, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007), it does demand "more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation." Ashcroft v. Iqbal , 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (citations omitted). The Supreme Court also observed in Iqbal that a pleading which offers only

"labels and conclusions" or "a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do." [ Twombly , 550 U.S., at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955 ]. Nor does a complaint suffice if it tenders "naked assertion[s]" devoid of "further factual enhancement." Id. , at 557, 127 S.Ct. 1955.
To survive a motion to dismiss [founded upon Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted], a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to "state a claim for relief that is plausible on its face." Id. , at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955. 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. , at 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955. The plausibility standard is not akin to a "probability requirement," but it asks for more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully. Ibid. Where a complaint pleads facts that are "merely consistent with" a defendant's liability, it "stops short of the line between possibility and plausibility of ‘entitlement to relief.’ " Id. , at 557, 127 S.Ct. 1955 (brackets omitted).
Two working principles underlie our decision in Twombly . First , the tenet that a court must accept as true all of the allegations contained in a complaint is inapplicable to legal conclusions. Threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice. Id. , at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955 (Although for the purposes of a motion to dismiss we must take all of the factual allegations in the complaint as true, we "are not bound to accept as true a legal conclusion couched as a factual allegation" (internal quotation marks omitted) ). Rule 8 marks a notable and generous departure from the hyper-technical, code-pleading regime of a prior era, but it does not unlock the doors of discovery for a plaintiff armed with nothing more than conclusions. Second , only a complaint that states a plausible claim for relief survives a motion to dismiss. Id. , at 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955. Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for relief will, as the Court of Appeals observed, be a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense. [Iqbal v. Hasty, ] 490 F.3d [143] at 157-158 [ (2d Cir. 2007) ]. But where the well-pleaded facts do not permit the court to infer more than the mere possibility of misconduct, the complaint has alleged — but it has not "show[n]""that the pleader is entitled to relief." Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 8(a)(2).
In keeping with these principles a court considering a motion to dismiss can choose to begin by identifying pleadings that, because they are no more than conclusions, are not entitled to the assumption of truth. While legal conclusions can provide the framework of a complaint, they must be supported by factual allegations. When there are well-pleaded factual allegations, a court should assume their veracity and then determine whether they plausibly give rise to an entitlement to relief.

Iqbal , 556 U.S. at 678-79, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (emphasis and first and third alterations supplied, all other alterations in original). In addition, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(d) states that:

If, on a motion under Rule 12(b)(6) or 12(c), matters outside the pleadings are presented to and not excluded by the court, the motion must be treated as one for summary judgment under Rule 56. All parties must be given a reasonable opportunity to present all the material that is pertinent to the motion.

Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(d). Thus, courts normally "do not consider anything beyond the face of the complaint and documents attached thereto when analyzing a motion to dismiss." Financial Security Assurance, Inc. v. Stephens, Inc. , 500 F.3d 1276, 1284 (11th Cir. 2007) (emphasis supplied) (citing Brooks v. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Florida, Inc. , 116 F.3d 1364, 1368 (11th Cir. 1997) ).

Here, however, the parties' briefs reference two evidentiary items that are not attached to the complaint: i.e. , doc. no. 25 (the video recording of the incident produced by the "bodycam" attached to Officer Meadows's uniform); and, doc. no. 50 (the February 9, 2016 Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences Report of Autopsy (hereafter, "Medical Examiner's Report ") ). Even though neither of those evidentiary items are attached to plaintiff's Second Amended Complaint, both are clearly referred to therein.7 And, at least with regard to the bodycam video, the failure to actually attach a copy to the complaint appears to have been merely a clerical omission. Accordingly, the court will rely upon both the bodycam video and the autopsy report, in addition to the allegations of plaintiffs Second Amended Complaint, when determining the relevant facts.

II. ALLEGATIONS OF THE SECOND AMENDED COMPLAINT AND EVIDENTIARY MATERIALS REFERENCED THEREIN

Dorothy Nelson ("plaintiff") is the mother of Randy Nelson ("Nelson") and Administrator Ad Litem of his estate.8 On the date of the events leading to this action, Nelson was a large,9 forty-nine-year-old man who "was known to suffer from chronic mental illness, having been previously diagnosed with schizophrenia

and bipolar disorder, and having been approved to receive social security disability [benefits as a result of his mental conditions]."10

The Second Amended Complaint alleges that plaintiff drove her son to the Athens-Limestone Hospital ("hospital") on February 3, 2016, for the purpose of receiving treatment for "anorexic with extremely poor oral intake."11 The Medical Examiner recorded that Nelson's "behavioral problems" had begun four days earlier.12

This 49-year-old male was taken to the Athens-Limestone Emergency Department (ED) on February 3, 2016, at 0850 hours with behavioral problems. His mother denied the presence of a fever, cough

, or other complaint. The onset of his behavioral problems was 4 days prior to his presentation at the ED. According to medical records, the patient was unable to care for himself, control himself, and had unclear thinking with associated agitation. The decedent

had been
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  • W.Va. State Police v. J.H., 19-0741
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    • 26 Marzo 2021
    ...similar issues regarding when it was appropriate to include a video recording in considering a motion to dismiss. In Nelson v. Lott, 330 F. Supp. 3d 1314 (N.D. Ala. 2018), the court found that it was appropriate to consider two items, a video recording of the incident and an autopsy report,......
  • W. Va. State Police v. J.H.
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    ...similar issues regarding when it was appropriate to include a video recording in considering a motion to dismiss. In Nelson v. Lott , 330 F. Supp. 3d 1314 (N.D. Ala. 2018), the court found that it was appropriate to consider two items, a video recording of the incident and an autopsy report......
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