P.K. HOLMES, III, Chief District Judge.
Currently before the Court are the following motions, which are ripe for consideration:
In an order entered November 24, 2015 (Doc. 37), the Court denied Plaintiffs' motions for extensions of time to respond to the motions to dismiss and stated that it would not consider the late-filed responses. Because of the need for clarification of certain issues, the Court held a hearing on the motions on December 14, 2015.
In ruling on a motion to dismiss, the Court must "accept as true all facts pleaded by the non-moving party and grant all reasonable inferences from the pleadings in favor of the non-moving party." Gallagher v. City of Clayton, 699 F.3d 1013, 1016 (8th Cir. 2012) (quoting United States v. Any & All Radio Station Transmission Equip., 207 F.3d 458, 462 (8th Cir. 2000)). "[A] complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face." Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (internal quotations omitted). However, pleadings that contain mere "labels and conclusions" or "a formulaic recitation of the elements of the cause of action will not do." Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2009).
"Twombly and Iqbal did not abrogate the notice pleading standard of [Federal] Rule [of Civil Procedure] 8(a)(2). Rather, those decisions confirmed that Rule 8(a)(2) is satisfied `when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for a misconduct alleged.'" Hamilton v. Palm, 621 F.3d 816, 817 (8th Cir. 2010) (quoting Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678). Where the facts alleged, taken as true, "raise a reasonable expectation that discovery will reveal evidence" in support of a plaintiff's claim, the Court should deny a motion to dismiss. Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556.
Having considered the pending motions, as well as arguments of counsel for all parties at the hearing, the Court finds that the following claims of Plaintiffs are subject to dismissal for failure to state a claim:
In their complaint, Plaintiffs' Title IX claim is captioned "Title IX Claim — Unlawful Discrimination Based on Disability." (Doc. 1, p. 29). Under this caption, Plaintiffs summarily allege that they were "targeted by BSD because of their disability (autism)." Although there is no citation under this charge in the complaint, the Court presumes Plaintiffs are referring to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq, which prohibits "discrimination on the basis of sex in any educational program that receives federal funding." 20 U.S.C. § 1681(a); Roe v. St. Louis Univ., 746 F.3d 874, 881 (8th Cir. 2014). While Plaintiffs' counsel at the hearing referred to the fact that all the children on whose behalf this case is brought are male, there are no allegations in the complaint that would support a claim of discrimination based on the children's sex. Plaintiffs have failed to state a claim for violation of Title IX as to any Defendant.
Plaintiffs' state-law claims are contained in a single paragraph, which states that "[t]he aforementioned actions of Defendants [Bentonville School District], Poore, Sharp, Powers, Riggs, Upshaw, Cheatham, Cowgur, Lightle, and Bradshaw constitute state law claims of negligence, assault, battery, fraud, the denial of a free education, and outrage." (Doc. 1, ¶ 117). The Court declines to comb through the lengthy factual allegations of the complaint in an effort to determine the whether there is a sufficient factual or legal basis for each summarily pleaded state-law claim. Furthermore, Plaintiffs' counsel stated at the hearing that—despite the indication in the complaint that all the listed state-law claims were brought against all the listed Defendants in the same paragraph—the fraud claim was brought against Defendant Bradshaw only, and the only state-law claim brought against the other individual Defendants was the claim for denial of a free education. This leaves the Court to interpret that the claims for negligence (otherwise unspecified), assault, battery, and outrage are brought against the Bentonville School District ("BSD"). The complaint, does not however, specify how or why BSD should be found to have committed those offenses. Likewise, there are no specific allegations against any individual defendant sufficient to state a claim against them in their individual capacities, either as to the state-law claims or any other claim. And as to the fraud claim against Bradshaw, Plaintiffs have not pleaded fraud with particularity as required. Fed. R. Civ. P. 9(b) ("In alleging fraud or mistake, a party must state with particularity the circumstances constituting fraud or mistake."). Plaintiffs' state-law claims and all claims against Defendants in their individual capacities are subject to dismissal for failure to state a claim.
Defendants filed supplements showing that the Laws (Docs. 33-1 and 33-2) and Ms. Siverly (Doc. 35-1) had their IDEA claims dismissed without prejudice at the administrative level. Their IDEA claims, therefore, have not been administratively exhausted as required
At the hearing, Plaintiffs' counsel conceded that she did not intend to bring § 1983 claims against the ADE. Rather, she sought prospective injunctive relief and declaratory relief against Defendant Johnny Key in his official capacity as Commissioner of the ADE. To the extent Plaintiffs intended to bring § 1983 claims against the ADE,
Defendants' motions to dismiss will be granted insofar as the above claims will be dismissed. While Plaintiffs will be granted leave to file an amended complaint, any amended complaint seeking to raise claims dismissed by this order must cure the noted deficiencies or be subject to dismissal without further leave to amend. The motions to dismiss will be denied in all other respects.
Specifically, the Court rejects Defendants' argument that the Parrishes' IDEA claims should be dismissed as untimely. The Parrishes timely filed their complaint on the 91st day after their hearing decision was rendered on January 12, 2015. Ninety days after that date would have been April 12, 2015—a Sunday. Plaintiffs filed their complaint on April 13, as allowed by Rule 6(a)(1)(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
The Court finds that Plaintiffs have also sufficiently stated an IDEA claim (as to the Parrishes and Craigs) against the ADE.
The Court finds that Plaintiffs have also sufficiently stated a claim under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ("Rehab Act") and under the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"). While Plaintiffs did not explicitly use the words "bad faith" or "gross misjudgment" in making these claims,
Plaintiffs' counsel made numerous clarifications of Plaintiffs' claims at the hearing. The original complaint (Doc. 1), however, is the pleading that currently defines this action, and Defendants cannot be expected to further litigate the action without some clarity on the record. Therefore, Plaintiffs will be directed to file an amended complaint that clearly sets out, as to each claim: (1) which Plaintiffs are bringing the claim; (2) against which Defendant(s) the claim is brought; and (3) what relief is sought on behalf of each Plaintiff and as to each Defendant. As to the Laws and Ms. Siverly in particular, Plaintiffs should also make clear what claims are brought and/or relief sought given that those families have not exhausted their administrative remedies
As discussed at the hearing, the Court also considered imposing a monetary sanction of $500 as to Plaintiff's counsel Theresa Caldwell, to be paid as a penalty to the Court. Upon further reflection and consideration, however, the Court will not impose a monetary sanction at this time and instead will let stand the Court's admonitions to Ms. Caldwell at the hearing. Ms. Caldwell is also cautioned that a monetary sanction will be imposed in the future for Rule 11 violations. Such admonition and caution is appropriate due to Ms. Caldwell's violation of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(b) in presenting to the Court a motion for extension of time (Doc. 23) in which she represented that her response to the pending motion to dismiss filed by the ADE and Commissioner Key was due on July 1, 2015. In presenting the motion to the Court, Ms. Caldwell represented that the information contained in that motion was factually correct "to the best of [her] knowledge, information, and belief, formed after an inquiry reasonable under the circumstances." Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(b). It was not reasonable under the circumstances for Ms. Caldwell to fail to read a less-than-two-page order that clearly set a deadline of June 26, 2015.
For the reasons set forth above, IT IS ORDERED that Defendants' motions to dismiss (Docs. 10, 13) are GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. The motions are granted insofar as Plaintiffs' claims under Title IX, state-law claims, claims against the individual Defendants in their individual capacities, IDEA claims brought on behalf of the Laws of Ms. Siverly, and § 1983 claims against the ADE are all DISMISSED for failure to state a claim, with leave of Court to amend the complaint. The motions are DENIED in all other respects.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiffs file an amended complaint providing a more definite statement as to each claim by clearly setting out: (1) which Plaintiffs are bringing the claim; (2) against which Defendant(s) the claim is brought; (3) what relief is sought on behalf of each Plaintiff and as to each Defendant. The amended complaint must be filed by
IT IS FURTHER to be noted of record that Plaintiff's counsel, Ms. Theresa Caldwell, is cautioned that future violations of Rule 11 will be sanctioned.
The Court will consider continuing the trial of this matter and entering an amended final scheduling order after filing of the amended complaint and responses.
IT IS SO ORDERED.