Williams v. Volinkley et al, No. 9:2015cv00100 - Document 6 (D. Mont. 2015)
Court Description: ORDER ADOPTING FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5 in full. Case DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE. Signed by Judge Dana L. Christensen on 11/17/2015. Mailed to Williams. (TAG, )
Download PDF
<![CDATA[
Williams v. Volinkley et al Doc. 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MONTANA MISSOULA DIVISION FILED NOV 17 2015 Clerk, U.S District Court District Of Montana Missoula CV 15-100-M-DLC-JCL RHENON WILLIAMS, Plaintiff, ORDER vs. MISSOULA CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT, and OFFICER JENA VOLINKLEY, Defendants. United States Magistrate Judge Jeremiah C. Lynch entered his order, findings, and recommendations in this case on August 12, 2015, granting Plaintiff Rhenon Williams' ("Williams") motion to proceed in forma pauperis, but nevertheless recommending that her case be dismissed without prejudice. Judge Lynch further granted Williams leave to file an amended complaint, and set a filing deadline of September 10, 2015. Williams neither objected to the findings and recommendations, nor filed an amended pleading before the deadline. The Court will therefore review the findings and recommendations for clear error, rather than de nova. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(b )(1 ); McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Commodore Bus. Mach., Inc., 656 F.2d 1309, 1313 (9th Cir. 1981). Clear error -1- Dockets.Justia.com exists if the Court is left with a "definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed." United States v. Syrax, 235 F.3d 422, 427 (9th Cir. 2000). For the reasons explained below, the Court adopts Judge Lynch's findings and recommendations in full. Williams' claims sounds in 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and arise from a citation issued to her by Defendant Volinkley for inappropriately contacting an individual involved in an unrelated police matter. Williams admits to contacting this individual, but alleges that Volinkley did not notify her of the violation and further harassed her in an unspecified manner. Williams makes no mention of the disposition of her citation in her Complaint. Based on these facts, Judge Lynch determined that the Court lacks jurisdiction over Williams' claims based on Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37 ( 1971 ), which compels abstention when: "( 1) a state-initiated proceeding is ongoing; (2) the proceeding implicates important state interests; (3) the federal plaintiff is not barred from litigating federal constitutional issues in the state proceeding; and (4) the federal court action would enjoin the proceeding or have the practical effect of doing so .... " San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce Political Action Comm. v. City ofSan Jose, 546 F.3d 1087, 1092 (9th Cir. 2008) (citations omitted). Judge Lynch found these elements met here: -2- Williams is the subject of an ongoing criminal action implicating the City of Missoula's authority to enforce state law; Williams may raise her constitutional claims in that action; and, intervention on the Court's part would surely stifle the state proceeding. The Court finds no clear error in this analysis, nor any other aspect of Judge Lynch's findings and recommendations. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that Judge Lynch's findings and recommendations (Doc. 5) are ADOPTED IN FULL. This case is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE, as the Court lacks jurisdiction pursuant to the doctrine contoured in Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37 (1971). DATED this IT' day of November, 2015. Dana L. Christensen, Chief Judge United States District Court -3-
]]>
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You
should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google
Privacy Policy and
Terms of Service apply.
