MCMASTER v. WHITTINGTON et al

Filing 72

ORDER granting Defendant IMPD's 17 Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim. (See Order). Signed by Judge Sarah Evans Barker on 3/18/2019. (MAC)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA
INDIANAPOLIS DIVISION
RIAN M MCMASTER,

)
)
Plaintiff,
)
)
v.
)
)
INDIANAPOLIS METROPOLITAN POLICE )
DEPARTMENT,
)
MICHAEL PRICE Indianapolis Metropolitan )
Police Officer,
)
DUSTIN GREATHOUSE Indianapolis Police )
Officer,
)
CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS,
)
)
Defendants.
)

No. 1:18-cv-00337-SEB-DML

ORDER ON MOTION TO DISMISS (DKT. 17)
Plaintiff sued Defendants in Marion Superior Court under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for
constitutional and state-law torts. Defendants removed the action to this Court. Now
before the Court is a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, Fed. R. Civ. P.
12(b)(6), filed by Defendant Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) on the
grounds that it is not a suable entity under state law. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 17(b).
As we have explained before,
Under Indiana law, a municipal police department is neither
established as a separate legal entity nor granted the capacity
to sue or be sued. Martin v. Fort Wayne Police Dept., 2011
WL 781383, at *6 (N.D. Ind. February 28, 2011). “Because a
city’s police department ‘is merely a vehicle through which
the city government fulfills its policy functions,’ it is not a
proper defendant in a civil rights suit under § 1983.” Mason v.
City of Indianapolis, 2007 WL 2700193, at *8 (S.D. Ind.
Sept. 11, 2007) (quoting Jones v. Bowman, 694 F. Supp. 538,
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544 (N.D. Ind. 1988)); see also Martin, 2011 WL 781383, at
*6 (finding that a police department is a division or arm of the
municipality and therefore not a suable entity under Section
1983).
Branson v. Newburgh Police Dep’t, 849 F. Supp. 2d 802, 808 (S.D. Ind. 2011) (Young,
J.)
Accordingly, IMPD, an Indiana municipal police department, is not a suable
entity. IMPD’s motion to dismiss is therefore GRANTED.
IT IS SO ORDERED.

Date:

3/18/2019

_______________________________
SARAH EVANS BARKER, JUDGE
United States District Court
Southern District of Indiana

Distribution:
Samuel L. Bolinger
[e-mail]
Rosemary L. Borek
STEPHENSON MOROW & SEMLER
[e-mail]
Traci Marie Cosby
OFFICE OF CORPORATION COUNSEL
[e-mail]
Andrew R. Duncan
RUCKELSHAUS KAUTZMAN BLACKWELL BEMIS, LLP
[e-mail]
Anne Celeste Harrigan
OFFICE OF CORPORATION COUNSEL
[e-mail]

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John F. Kautzman
RUCKELSHAUS KAUTZMAN BLACKWELL BEMIS, LLP
[e-mail]
Edward J. Merchant
RUCKELSHAUS KAUTZMAN BLACKWELL BEMIS, LLP
[e-mail]
Brian Lee Park
STEPHENSON, MORROW & SEMLER
[e-mail]
Laura Sue Reed
RILEY BENNETT & EGLOFF LLP
[e-mail]
James S. Stephenson
STEPHENSON MOROW & SEMLER
[e-mail]

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