PAUL G. BYRON, District Judge.
This cause comes before the Court on the following:
With briefing complete, this matter is ripe for review. Upon consideration, the motions are due to be granted in part and denied in part.
This case arises from the death of April Brogan ("
On or about April 29, 2015, AB was booked into the Jail on a misdemeanor charge. (Doc. 118, ¶¶ 10, 14 ("
Plaintiff categorically avers that "[e]ach of the Defendants knew at the outset" that AB was addicted to opiates and that she exhibited withdrawal symptoms during intake. (Id. ¶¶ 5, 10). Opioid withdrawal symptoms are "easily objectively noticed," and Defendants in this case were further on notice of AB's addiction because of AB's "known medical history," Defendants' possession of documentation showing AB failed drug tests, and AB's placement in drug treatment programs through the Jail. (Id. ¶¶ 10, 16).
On April 25, 2017, Plaintiff Sandra J. Brown initiated this action. (Doc. 1 ("
The SAC brings 26 counts. Counts 1, 2, and 22 bring wrongful death claims pursuant to Fla. Stat. § 415.1111 against Armor, Volusia County, and seventeen individual Defendants. (Id. at pp. 19-24, 77-79). Counts 3 and 4 assert § 1983 deliberate indifference claims against Armor and Volusia County. (Id. at pp. 24-29). Count 5 brings a § 1983 claim against Volusia County for "deliberate indifference and failure to train and supervise." (Id. at pp. 29-33). Counts 6 through 21 assert § 1983 deliberate indifference claims against sixteen individual Defendants. (Id. at pp. 33-77).
All Defendants—save two individual Defendants—joined in moving to dismiss the SAC. (Doc. 123). The two holdouts eventually moved to dismiss as well, adopting the arguments advanced in the first-filed motion. (Doc. 135).
A complaint must contain "a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief," set forth in "numbered paragraphs each limited as far as practicable to a single set of circumstances." Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a), 10(b). Thus, to survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, the 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) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). A claim is plausible on its face when the plaintiff "pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged." Id.
Though a complaint need not contain detailed factual allegations, mere legal conclusions or recitation of the elements of a claim are not enough. Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555. Moreover, courts are "not bound to accept as true a legal conclusion couched as a factual allegation." Papasan v. Allain, 478 U.S. 265, 286 (1986). "While legal conclusions can provide the framework of a complaint, they must be supported by factual allegations." Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679. Courts must also view the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff and resolve any doubts as to the sufficiency of the complaint in the plaintiff's favor. Hunnings v. Texaco, Inc., 29 F.3d 1480, 1483 (11th Cir. 1994) (per curiam). In sum, courts must (1) ignore conclusory allegations, bald legal assertions, and formulaic recitations of the elements of a claim; (2) accept well-pled factual allegations as true; and (3) view well-pled allegations in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679.
The pending motions to dismiss raise a plethora of arguments supporting dismissal. The Court need only address one, however, because the SAC is due to be dismissed as a shotgun pleading.
In Weiland v. Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, 792 F.3d 1313 (11th Cir. 2015), the Eleventh Circuit outlined four types of shotgun complaints:
Id. at 1321-23 (footnotes omitted). All four categories of shotgun complaints are deficient because "they fail . . . to give the defendants adequate notice of the claims against them and the grounds upon which each claim rests." Id. at 1323; see also Anderson v. Dist. Bd. of Trs. of Cent. Fla. Cmty. Coll., 77 F.3d 364, 366 (11th Cir. 1996). Shotgun pleadings fundamentally violate Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) and 10(b). Weiland, 792 F.3d at 1320. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has "been roundly, repeatedly, and consistently condemning [shotgun pleadings] for years . . . ." Davis v. Coca-Cola Bottling Co., 516 F.3d 955, 979 (11th Cir. 2008), abrogated on other grounds by Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009). Faced with a shotgun pleading, district courts must require repleader. Ferrell v. Durbin, 311 F. App'x 253, 259 n.8 (11th Cir. 2009) (per curiam).
Where a plaintiff brings claims against multiple defendants, "the complaint should contain specific allegations with respect to each defendant; generalized allegations `lumping' multiple defendants together are insufficient to permit the defendants, or the Court, to ascertain exactly what plaintiff is claiming." J.V. v. Duval Cty. Sch. Bd., No. 3:16-cv-1009-J-34MCR, 2017 WL 4226590, at *1 (M.D. Fla. Sept. 22, 2017); see also Ebrahimi v. City of Huntsville Bd. of Educ., 114 F.3d 162, (11th Cir. 1997) (describing as a "prototypical shotgun complaint" a pleading that "offered vague and conclusory factual allegations in an effort to support a multiplicity of discrimination claims leveled against 15 defendants"); Synergy Real Estate of SW Fla., Inc. v. Premier Prop. Mgmt. of SW Fla., LLC, No. 2:11-cv-707-FtM-29UAM, 2013 WL 5596795, at *2 (M.D. Fla. Oct. 11, 2013).
The SAC advances 26 counts against 20 Defendants in 428 paragraphs spanning 87 pages. Plaintiff's kitchen-sink pleading is replete with vague, conclusory, and repetitive allegations, which too often fail to distinguish between Defendants.
To streamline repleader, the Court now addresses another of Defendants' dismissal arguments: the § 1983 claims against the individual Defendants fail to state plausible claims. (Doc. 123).
To prevail on a § 1983 deliberate indifference claim, a plaintiff must establish: (1) the plaintiff experienced a serious medical need; (2) defendant showed deliberate indifference to that need; and (3) causation. Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 104-05 (1976). The deliberate indifference element is satisfied where a defendant: (1) subjectively knew of a risk of serious harm; (2) disregarded the risk; and (3) displayed conduct that is more than mere negligence. Brown v. Johnson, 387 F.3d 1344, 1351 (11th Cir. 2004). Here, Plaintiff's allegations that each individual Defendant acted with deliberate indifference to AB's serious medical need are conclusory, threadbare recitals of the elements of a claim. At best, they are "legal conclusion[s] couched as [] factual allegation[s]," which are similarly not entitled to the presumption of truth. See Papasan v. Allain, 478 U.S. at 286. The SAC fails to come close to plausibly pleading that each individual Defendant subjectively knew of AB's medical need, and disregarded that need by conduct that is more than mere negligence.
Many claims set forth in the SAC are completely devoid of factual support. This method of pleading violates both the letter and spirit of the federal rules. Persistence in this pleading approach may result in the dismissal of claims with prejudice or other appropriate sanctions. Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(b)(2), (3).
Accordingly, it is