Filed: Jun. 16, 2015
Latest Update: Jun. 16, 2015
Summary: MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO STRIKE CERTAIN STATEMENTS BROOKE C. WELLS , Magistrate Judge . Before the court is Defendant West Valley City's Motion to Strike Immaterial, Impertinent and Scandalous Statements from Plaintiffs' First Amended Complaint. 1 Defendant filed the motion March 31, 2015 and as of the date of this decision no opposition has been filed by Plaintiffs and the time to do so has long since passed. 2 As set forth below and for good cause sho
Summary: MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO STRIKE CERTAIN STATEMENTS BROOKE C. WELLS , Magistrate Judge . Before the court is Defendant West Valley City's Motion to Strike Immaterial, Impertinent and Scandalous Statements from Plaintiffs' First Amended Complaint. 1 Defendant filed the motion March 31, 2015 and as of the date of this decision no opposition has been filed by Plaintiffs and the time to do so has long since passed. 2 As set forth below and for good cause show..
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MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO STRIKE CERTAIN STATEMENTS
BROOKE C. WELLS, Magistrate Judge.
Before the court is Defendant West Valley City's Motion to Strike Immaterial, Impertinent and Scandalous Statements from Plaintiffs' First Amended Complaint.1 Defendant filed the motion March 31, 2015 and as of the date of this decision no opposition has been filed by Plaintiffs and the time to do so has long since passed.2 As set forth below and for good cause shown the court GRANTS the motion to strike.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(f) provides that "[t]he court may strike from a pleading . . . any redundant, immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous matter."3 Defendant alleges that the suicide of Officer Michael Valdes is entirely unrelated to Plaintiffs' claims that the Defendants violated their civil rights. In paragraph 12 of the first amended complaint Plaintiffs state the following:
Following these unlawful events, the aforementioned FBI investigation uncovered the NNU's unlawful policies and customs at issue in this case and the NNU was disbanded. Two supervisors and at least five other officers were placed on administrative leave. Another West Valley City Police Department officer, Michael Valdes, was discovered in Wyoming, dead from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and Chief Nielsen has since retired.4
Defendant asserts that Officer Valdes is not a member of the NNU and was not involved in the investigation of neither that unit nor the cases dismissed by prosecutorial agencies. There is nothing in the record to dispute these arguments.
After reviewing the record, the court agrees that Officer Valdes' suicide is immaterial to Plaintiffs' claims and further finds that the nature of this assertion appears misleading and is "scandalous" within the meaning of the rule 12(f). A scandalouse matter is one that "`is both grossly disgraceful (or defamatory) and irrelevant to the action of defense.'"5
Accordingly, for good cause shown and on account of no opposition being filed to the motion, the court GRANTS the motion to strike. The references to Officer Valdes which appear in paragraph 12 are stricken from the Complaint.6
