Rodriquez et al v. Phoenix, City of et al
Filing
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ORDER Denying Maricopa County's Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 14 ). Signed by Judge James A Teilborg on 5/7/2012.(KMG)
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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA
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Refugio Rodriguez; Josephine Rodriguez,
Plaintiffs,
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ORDER
v.
Officer Tedesco; et al.,
Defendants.
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No. CV11-1992-PHX-JAT
Currently pending before the Court is Defendant Maricopa County’s Motion to
Dismiss. (Doc. 14.) The Court now rules on the Motion.
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I.
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The following are the facts from the Complaint that the Court presumes true for
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purposes of resolving the Motion. At approximately 1:00 a.m. on May 27, 2010, Phoenix
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Police Officers Tedesco, Mills, and Neidenbach came into contact with Plaintiff Refugio
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Rodriguez in the parking lot of a church located at 51st Avenue and Virginia Avenue in
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Phoenix, Arizona. The police officers warned Plaintiff not to run. Plaintiff alleges he
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could not have run from the officers because of the paralysis on the whole left side of his
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body as a result of polio.
BACKGROUND
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Upon apprehending Plaintiff, the officers slammed Plaintiff onto the concrete
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driveway and continued to assault him. The officers used their Tasers on Plaintiff several
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times. At least one officer also hit him on the head with a flashlight.
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The officers allegedly only stopped their beating after Plaintiff’s wife, Josephine
Rodriguez, and his two children arrived on the scene.
The officers did not allow
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Plaintiff’s wife and kids to speak with him. They placed Plaintiff in a patrol car and took
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him away.
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At the precinct, the officers took photographs of Plaintiff’s bruises and other
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injuries. Plaintiffs contend that, other than his handicap, Mr. Rodriguez had no injuries
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prior to the beating from the police.
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Plaintiff arrived at the Maricopa County 4th Avenue Jail intake at approximately
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2:00 a.m. Upon his arrival, a Maricopa County Correctional Health Services Intake
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Nurse told Plaintiff that he needed to go to the nearest hospital emergency room because
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of his injuries. A few minutes later, the same nurse told Plaintiff that she would lose her
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job if she sent Plaintiff to the emergency room.
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A female staff member at the 4th Avenue Jail told Plaintiff that his release on bail
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would be expedited so he could go to the emergency room. Plaintiff was released on bail
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at approximately 6:00 a.m., and his wife immediately took him to the emergency room at
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St. Joseph’s hospital. An emergency room doctor told Plaintiff that he could have died
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because a blood clot near his brain was beginning to develop.
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Plaintiffs filed this suit in Arizona state court on May 26, 2011. The Complaint
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contains claims for: Assault and Battery (Count One); Negligence Per Se (Count Two);
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Willful or Wanton Negligence (Count Three); Intentional or Reckless Infliction of
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Emotional Distress (Count Four); and Civil Rights (Count Five). Defendant City of
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Phoenix removed to this Court on October 13, 2011.
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On October 27, 2011, the County Defendants moved to dismiss Maricopa County
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Correctional Health Services because it is a non-jural entity and Tom Tegeler for failure
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to serve. (Doc. 8.) On November 15, 2011, the parties stipulated to dismissal with
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prejudice of “Defendants Correctional Health Services and Tom Tegeler only.” (Doc. 9.)
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Pursuant to that Stipulation, the Court dismissed Defendants Tom Tegeler and
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Maricopa County Correctional Health Services with prejudice. (Doc. 10.) In that same
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Order, the Court also dismissed the John and Jane Doe Defendants for failure to
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substitute the real names of the Does or to seek limited discovery to ascertain the names.
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The Order did not say that that the dismissal of the Does was with prejudice, and the
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Court now clarifies that the dismissal of the Does was without prejudice.
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Maricopa County filed the pending Motion to Dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of
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Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) on December 23, 2011. (Doc. 14.) Maricopa County argues
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that the Court must dismiss all claims against the County.
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II. LEGAL STANDARD
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The Court may dismiss a complaint for failure to state a claim under Federal Rule
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of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for two reasons: 1) lack of a cognizable legal theory and 2)
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insufficient facts alleged under a cognizable legal theory. Balistreri v. Pacifica Police
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Dep’t, 901 F.2d 696, 699 (9th Cir. 1990).
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To survive a 12(b)(6) motion for failure to state a claim, a complaint must meet
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the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2). Rule 8(a)(2) requires a
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“short and plaint statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief,” so
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that the defendant has “fair notice of what the . . . claim is and the grounds upon which it
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rests.” Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007)(quoting Conley v.
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Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47 (1957)).
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Although a complaint attacked for failure to state a claim does not need detailed
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factual allegations, the pleader’s obligation to provide the grounds for relief requires
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“more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause
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of action will not do.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555 (internal citations omitted). The factual
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allegations of the complaint must be sufficient to raise a right to relief above a
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speculative level. Id. Rule 8(a)(2) “requires a ‘showing,’ rather than a blanket assertion,
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of entitlement to relief. Without some factual allegation in the complaint, it is hard to see
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how a claimant could satisfy the requirement of providing not only ‘fair notice’ of the
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nature of the claim, but also ‘grounds’ on which the claim rests.” Id. (citing 5 C. Wright
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& A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure §1202, pp. 94-95 (3d ed. 2004)).
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Rule 8’s pleading standard demands more than “an unadorned, the defendant-
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unlawfully-harmed-me accusation.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009)(citing
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Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555). A complaint that offers nothing more than naked assertions
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will not suffice. To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient
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factual matter, which, if accepted as true, states a claim to relief that is “plausible on its
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face.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. Facial plausibility exists if the pleader pleads factual
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content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable
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for the misconduct alleged. Id. Plausibility does not equal “probability,” but plausibility
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requires more than a sheer possibility that a defendant acted unlawfully. Id. “Where a
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complaint pleads facts that are ‘merely consistent’ with a defendant’s liability, it ‘stops
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short of the line between possibility and plausibility of entitlement to relief.’” Id. (citing
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Twombly, 550 U.S. at 557).
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In deciding a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), a court must construe the
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facts alleged in the complaint in the light most favorable to the drafter of the complaint
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and the court must accept all well-pleaded factual allegations as true. See Shwarz v.
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United States, 234 F.3d 428, 435 (9th Cir. 2000). Nonetheless, courts do not have to
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accept as true a legal conclusion couched as a factual allegation. Papasan v. Allain, 478
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U.S. 265, 286 (1986).
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III.
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The Complaint contains four state law claims and a §1983 claim for civil rights
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ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION
violations. The Court will address the state law claims and the §1983 claim separately.
A.
§1983 Claim
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The County argues that the Court must dismiss the civil rights claim against the
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County because a municipality cannot be held liable for a §1983 claim solely on the basis
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of respondeat superior.
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against local governments, parties cannot rely solely on respondeat superior liability.
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Hernandez v. County of Tulare, 666 F.3d 631, 636 (9th Cir. 2012).
The County correctly asserts that when alleging §1983 claims
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To succeed on a §1983 claim against a municipality, a plaintiff must demonstrate
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that the municipality had a “deliberate policy, custom, or practice that was the moving
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force behind the constitutional violation . . ..” Id. (internal citations omitted). A plaintiff
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also may prove municipal liability by showing that the person who committed the
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constitutional violation was a policy maker or that a policy maker ratified the decision of
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a subordinate. Ulrich v. City & County of San Francisco, 308 F.3d 968, 984-85 (9th Cir.
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2002).
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In the Complaint, Plaintiffs allege that Correctional Health Services deprived Mr.
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Rodriguez of his rights by: “Implementing, maintaining and tolerating policies, practices
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and customs which contributed to the illegal actions of Jane Doe (1), as summarized
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above . . ., [f]ailing to adequately train or supervise Defendant Jane Doe, [and]
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[i]nstructing Jane Doe (1) to violate Plaintiff Refugio’s constitutional rights by denying
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him immediate emergency medical care.” (Doc. 1-1, Compl., ¶76.) Maricopa County is
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responsible for providing health care at county jails, A.R.S. §§11-251(8), 11-291(A), and
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Correctional Health Services is an administrative arm of Maricopa County. Barrett v.
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Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, 2010 WL 46786, *7 (D. Ariz. January 4,
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2010)(“Health care in the jail is the responsibility of the County, and CHS is an
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administrative agency of Maricopa County created to carry out that statutory duty.”).
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The Court therefore will treat Plaintiffs’ allegations against dismissed Correctional
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Health Services as allegations against Maricopa County.
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The only argument the County makes regarding the §1983 claim is that the County
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cannot be held liable under a respondeat superior theory. The County does not even
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mention in its Motion the custom, policy, and failure to train allegations that Plaintiffs
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made against Correctional Health Services. Because the County does not challenge the
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sufficiency of those allegations, the Court will not undertake a sua sponte review of their
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sufficiency.1
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Plaintiffs do not rely solely on respondeat superior to state a §1983 claim against
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the County. They make policy, practice, custom, and failure to train allegations, the
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Post-Twombly and Iqbal, a plaintiff can no longer simply recite the elements of a
§1983 municipal liability claim. Hernandez v. County of Tulare, 666 F.3d 631, 637 (9th
Cir. 2012). A plaintiff instead must allege underlying facts sufficient to give fair notice
and to enable the opposing party to defend.
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sufficiency of which the County has not challenged. The Court therefore denies the
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motion to dismiss the §1983 claim against the County.
B.
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State Law Claims
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The County makes two arguments regarding its vicarious liability for the state law
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claims. The County first argues that the only vicarious liability allegations were against
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Correctional Health Services, which has been dismissed, and that there were no
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allegations against the County. This argument fails because, as explained above, the
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Court will treat allegations made against Correctional Health Services, an administrative
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arm of the County, as allegations against the County.
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Second, the County argues that it cannot be vicariously liable for the state law
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claims because the Court dismissed all of the individual Doe Defendants. The County
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correctly argues that a judgment on the merits, including a dismissal with prejudice, for
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an employee prohibits a case for vicarious liability against the employer. Law v. Verde
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Valley Med. Ctr., 170 P.3d 701, 705 (Ariz. Ct. App. 2007).
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But there is no judgment on the merits for the Doe Defendants here. The dismissal
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of the Does was without prejudice. The County does not argue that a dismissal without
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prejudice of Plaintiffs’ claims against the Does constitutes adjudication on the merits and
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precludes an action against their employer based solely on the doctrine of vicarious
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liability.
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prejudice, which did not occur, the Court will deny the motion to dismiss the state law
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claims against the County. The County can make arguments regarding vicarious liability
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in a motion for summary judgment or at another proper stage in the proceedings if it
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chooses.
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Because the County’s argument relies on the dismissal of the Does with
C.
Punitive Damages
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The County argues that Plaintiffs’ request for punitive damages must be denied
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because §1983 does not authorize punitive damages against local governments like the
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County. While that may be true, the Plaintiffs also have state law claims against the
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County, for which punitive damages may be available.
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The Court therefore will deny
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the County’s motion to dismiss Plaintiffs’ plea for punitive damages.
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Accordingly,
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IT IS ORDERED Denying Maricopa County’s Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 14.)
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Dated this 7th day of May, 2012.
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