Hamilton v. Reign Promotions LLC et al

Filing 40

ORDER denying 34 Motion to Dismiss by Judge Benjamin H Settle.(TG)

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1 2 3 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT TACOMA 4 5 6 JAMES HAMILTON, 7 Plaintiff, 8 9 v. REIGN PROMOTIONS, LLC, et al., 10 CASE NO. C13-5161 BHS ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS Defendants. 11 12 This matter comes before the Court on Defendant Joe Hernandez’s (“Hernandez”) 13 motion to dismiss (Dkt. 34). The Court has considered the pleadings filed in support of 14 and in opposition to the motion and the remainder of the file and hereby denies the 15 motion for the reasons stated herein. 16 I. PROCEDURAL HISTORY 17 On March 6, 2013, Plaintiff James Hamilton (“Hamilton”) filed a complaint 18 alleging personal injuries. Dkt. 1. On June 20, 2013, Hamilton filed an amended 19 complaint against Reign Promotions, LLC (“Reign”), Hernandez, and Darren Andy 20 alleging personal injuries suffered at one of Reign’s mixed martial arts events. Dkt. 18. 21 Hamilton asserts a cause of action for negligence against Hernandez. Id., ¶ 4.1. 22 ORDER - 1 1 On August 6, 2013, Hernandez filed a motion to dismiss. Dkt. 34. On August 26, 2 2013, Hamilton responded. Dkt. 35. 3 4 II. DISCUSSION In Washington, the statute of limitations for intentional torts is two years and the 5 statute of limitations for negligence claims is three years. RCW 4.16.080, 4.16.100. 6 In this case, Hernandez argues that Hamilton’s claims are barred by the statute of 7 limitations. Dkt. 34. It is undisputed that Hamilton filed the complaint approximately 8 two and one half years after the alleged incident. Hernandez contends that Hamilton 9 should not be allowed to disguise his intentional assault claims as negligence to avoid the 10 statute of limitations for intentional torts. Dkt. 34 at 4. Hamilton, however, counters that 11 Hernandez unintentionally injured Hamilton when Hernandez was acting to protect a 12 third party, Kerry Hernandez. Dkt. 35 at 5–7. This is a plausible theory of negligence. 13 14 III. ORDER Therefore, it is hereby ORDERED that Hernandez’s motion to dismiss (Dkt. 34) 15 is DENIED. 16 Dated this 18th day of September, 2013. A 17 18 BENJAMIN H. SETTLE United States District Judge 19 20 21 22 ORDER - 2

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