Scales v. Talladega Cnty. Dept. of Human Res.
| Decision Date | 27 August 2012 |
| Docket Number | Case No.: 1:12-CV-922-VEH |
| Parties | LATASHA SCALES, Plaintiff, v. TALLADEGA COUNTY DEPT. OF HUMAN RESOURCES, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Alabama |
Before the court are the following motions: the Motion To Dismiss filed by Defendant City of Talladega (Doc. 9); the Motion To Dismiss filed by Defendant John McCoy (Doc. 11); the Motion To Dismiss filed by Defendant Citizens Baptist Medical Center (Doc. 16); the Motion To Dismiss filed by Defendants Jacob Argo, Steven D. Giddens, Christina Kilgore, and the Talladega County District Attorneys Office (Doc. 19); the Motion To Dismiss filed by Talladega County Department of Human Resources (Doc. 23); the Motion To Dismiss filed by Defendant Tony Hamlin (Doc. 61); the Motion To Dismiss filed by Defendant Andy Carden (Doc. 63); and the Motion To Dismiss and/or in the Alternative, Motion for a More DefiniteStatement filed by Jeanne Rasco (Doc. 74) (collectively, the "Motions To Dismiss"). The pro se Plaintiff has filed "notices" and responses1 in objection to the Motions To Dismiss, which are located at docket numbers 24, 25, 32, 33, 41, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89 and 95.
Defendants Shelly Barnhart and the Talladega County Juvenile Court have also filed Motions To Dismiss (Doc. 107, Doc. 101).2 Plaintiff has not yet responded to these motions. Defendant Dale Price has filed a motion styled as a Motion to Dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction or, in the alternative, for failure to state a claim (Doc. 106). Because Defendant Price has already answered Plaintiff's complaint (Doc. 91), his motion is actually a Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(c) & 12(h)(2)(B). The court will treat it as such. Plaintiff has not yet responded to Price's motion. However, because the Motions of the Juvenile Court, Barnhart, and Price raise the same or similar issues as the other Motions to Dismiss, this order also disposes of their motions.
The court has studied the Complaint (Doc. 1) and carefully considered all filings of record and the applicable law. For the reasons that follow, the court findsthat certain of Plaintiff's claims are due to be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction and for failure to state a cognizable cause of action. Additionally, as to any claims not so due to be dismissed, the Motions To Dismiss are due to be granted in part to the extent that they seek a more definite statement as to any remaining claims. Accordingly, Plaintiff will be required to replead her Complaint, consistent with the instructions set out below.
On March 22, 2012, Plaintiff Latasha Scales ("Ms. Scales" or "Plaintiff") filed a General Complaint Form for Pro Se Litigants (Doc. 1) (the "Complaint") against the Talladega County Department of Human Resources ("Talladega County DHR" or the "DHR"), the Talladega County Juvenile Court, the Talladega County District Attorney's Office, the City of Talladega, and Citizens Baptist Medical Center. In addition, she sued the following individual defendants: Andy Carden, John Elston, Tony Hamlin, Jeanne Rasco, Shelly Barnhardt, Dale Price, George Sims, Jacob Argo, Steven D. Giddens, Christina Kilgore, John McCoy, and Morris Shaw.3 Most, but not all, of the Defendants have been properly served and have entered an appearance in the lawsuit to date.4 As is their right under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure,see Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b), those Defendants who have appeared have filed motions to dismiss asserting various defenses that are proper for the court to consider at this early juncture, including subject matter jurisdiction and statute of limitations defenses.
To assess the matters raised in the Motions To Dismiss,5 the court must first reach a general understanding of Ms. Scales's Complaint, based on the facts presented therein, and then parse out her claims against each Defendant.
Factually, the gravamen of the Complaint appears to center upon Ms. Scales's loss of custody over her children through various state court proceedings. The Complaint identifies two daughters, ages 5 and 10. (Doc. 1 at 4). Ms. Scales alleges that her children were removed from their schools7 by Defendant John McCoy on or about March 24, 2008, and taken to the Talladega County District Attorney's Office. (Id.) There, the ten-year-old daughter was questioned by Defendants Steven D.Giddens, his assistant Jacob Argo, and Christine Kilgore, and ultimately put on the witness stand "to testify against [Ms. Scales]'s husband, in an assault trial that did not involve that child." (Id.) The Complaint alleges that both children were allowed to leave with their parents when the trial concluded that day.
Ms. Scales also alleges that, on the same day as her husband's trial, she was "picked-up, at work, by a Talladega County Sheriff's Deputy and taken to the Talladega County District Attorney's Office, where [she] was hauled-off into a backroom and guarded by Sheriff's Deputies, and per the order of Giddens, was not allowed to leave the room." (Id.) Ms. Scales was "ordered to remain in the building and not to remain in the courtroom," after the presiding state court judge (who is not a defendant to this lawsuit) informed her that she would not give testimony as a witness in the trial.8
Ms. Scales's husband apparently was convicted of the charges addressed at the trial. (See id.) ("On, or about, March 25, 2008, after plaintiff's husband's conviction . . . ."). On the day following the trial, Ms. Scales alleges that the Talladega County DHR, acting through fictitious parties A through G, "surrounded and banged on thebackdoor, windows, and exterior walls" of her home, advising Ms. Scales "that they were there to take [her] children, if [she] did not sign a document that they had." (Id. at 4-5.) The document is alleged to be a HIPAA agreement, pursuant to which Defendants "Argo and Kilgore, under the supervision of Giddens, obtained and produced [Ms. Scales]'s medical record and info at the trial of [her] husband, and more so, to remove [her] children from [her] home." (Id. at 5.)
Ms. Scales further alleges that on March 26, 2008, Defendant George Sims, a "now 'retired' judge" in Talladega County, "signed a Pick-Up Order, directing [Ms. Scales]'s children to be removed from [her] custody." (Id.) Defendant John Elston, who is otherwise unidentified, is alleged to have "signed a petition stating that he feared [Ms. Scales] would retaliate against the testifying child." (Id.) Ms. Scales alleges that Defendant McCoy followed her in her car, along with other police cruisers, and escorted her to her mother-in-law's apartment, where McCoy (pursuant to the "Pick-Up Order") took custody of the children. (Id.)
On March 27, 2008, Ms. Scales alleges that she appeared at a hearing before Judge Sims, who gave Talladega County DHR temporary custody of her children, despite the fact that the children's grandmother (Ms. Scales's mother) was present and "pleading for the placement of the children with herself." (Id.)
Ms. Scales also describes a hearing in the Talladega County Juvenile Court onor about April 14, 2008, which addressed the placement of her children. Ms. Scales alleges that she and her husband retained Defendant Morris Shaw (an attorney) to represent them; that the court appointed a guardian ad litem; and that Defendant Jeanne Rasco represented the Talladega County DHR. At that hearing, Ms. Scales alleges that "Rasco entered and/or produced [her] medical information and/or records to the Court, without consent to obtain or possess such records." (Id.) Ms. Scales further alleges that her counsel, Shaw, "did not question the authority of the possession of [Ms. Scales]'s medical records/info, nor did Shaw question the jurisdiction of the court, or lack of establishing it for the record." (Id.) Moreover, Ms. Scales alleges that Shaw "dropped the ball" on a motion to withdraw. (Id.)
Ms. Scales alleges that her children are "currently in the custody of [Talladega County DHR]" and that she has "attended numerous ISP meetings and Court hearings which included defendant, Tony Hamlin, as counsel for [the DHR] and defendant Shelly Barnhardt as guardian ad litem." (Id.) She also states that the DHR has "initiated a proceeding seeking to terminate [her] parental rights," and that the now-presiding state court judge has "appointed defendant Dale Price to represent [Ms. Scales] on the parental rights issue." (Id. at 5-6.)
As to Defendant Citizens Baptist Medical Center, Ms. Scales alleges that it "allowed [her] medical records to be acquired without [her] permission" on or aboutMarch 24, 2008. (Id. at 6.)
The Complaint further identifies Defendant Andy Carden as the case worker assigned to Ms. Scales's children. (Id.) Ms. Scales asserts that Carden has filed "many false reports" and has made "misrepresent[ations] to the court" concerning Ms. Scales's visitation with her children, among other things. (Id.)
Ms. Scales alleges that the Defendants, acting together, have conspired "to violate [her] Constitutional Right and the failure to prevent such violation, inter alia." (Id.) More specifically, she contends that Defendants McCoy, Giddens, Argo, and Kilgore "conspired to violate [Ms. Scales]'s right to family integrity, right to due process, equal protection of the laws, and unreasonable seizures, by drafting and presenting a fraudulent document, in attempts to have another person, principal Clark, commit an illegal act, of holding a minor obligated to adhere to a subpoena." (Id.) She also alleges that Giddens, Argo, and Kilgore "had the opportunity to prevent the situation, but failed to . . . correct the illegal actions of McCoy . . . that placed [her] child on the stand as a state's witness." (Id.)
Ms. Scales then alleges that the Talladega County DHR conspired (with...
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