Jones v. City of North Platte et al

Filing 18

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER - Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii,) this matter is dismissed without prejudice because Plaintiff has failed to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. A separate judgment will be entered in accordance with this Memorandum and Order. Ordered by Senior Judge Richard G. Kopf. (Copy mailed to pro se party) (AOA)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEBRASKA
MARLIN E. JONES,
Plaintiff,
v.
CITY OF NORTH PLATTE, MIKE
SWAIN, Chief of Police, JIM ADY,
Police Officer, and MONTE
MCNEIL, Police Officer,
Defendants.

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8:11CV130

MEMORANDUM
AND ORDER

This matter is before the court on its own motion. On August 8, 2011, this
court conducted an initial review of Plaintiff’s Complaint and found that Plaintiff
failed to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. (Filing No. 7.) Specifically,
the court was “unable to determine from the face of the Complaint which, if any,
federally cognizable civil rights Plaintiff alleges to have been deprived.” (Id. at
CM/ECF p. 3.) In addition, Plaintiff failed to “allege that there is a continuing,
widespread, persistent pattern of unconstitutional misconduct by the City of North
Platte or its employees, or that the City of North Platte’s policymaking officials were
deliberately indifferent to or tacitly authorized any unconstitutional conduct.” (Id. at
CM/ECF p. 4.) On the court’s own motion, the court gave Plaintiff 30 days to amend
his Complaint to clearly state a claim upon which relief may be granted against
Defendants. (Id. at CM/ECF p. 5.) On October 21, 2011, the court gave Plaintiff an
additional 21 days to supplement his amended Complaint. (Filing No. 11.)
Plaintiff filed two identical Amended Complaints on September 8, 2011, and
November 14, 2011. (Filing Nos. 10 and 16.) However, even liberally construed,
Plaintiff’s Amended Complaints suffer from the same defects as the original
Complaint. Indeed, except for the addition of two paragraphs relating to “custom and
pattern,” in which Plaintiff generally alleges that the City of North Platte has

discriminated against him in the past, the allegations of the Amended Complaints are
identical to the original. As such, Plaintiff has not set forth enough factual allegations
to “nudge[] [his] claims across the line from conceivable to plausible,” and his claims
“must be dismissed” for failing to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Bell
Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 569-70 (2007); see also Ashcroft v. Iqbal,
129 S. Ct. 1937, 1950 (2009) (“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.”). For these reasons, and for the
reasons set forth in the court’s August 8, 2011, Memorandum and Order, Plaintiff’s
Amended Complaints fail to state a claim upon which relief may be granted.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that: Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii),
this matter is dismissed without prejudice because Plaintiff has failed to state a claim
upon which relief may be granted. A separate judgment will be entered in accordance
with this Memorandum and Order.
DATED this 7 th day of December, 2011.
BY THE COURT:
Richard G. Kopf
Senior United States District Judge

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