Brown v. Montoya, No. 10-2269 (10th Cir. 2011)
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Defendants Daniel Montoya and Joe Williams appealed the district court's denial of their motion to dismiss Plaintiff Ray Brown's "1983" lawsuit against them. Plaintiff pled guilty to two counts of false imprisonment in New Mexico state court. When he was released from custody, his probation officer, Daniel Montoya, directed him to register as a sex offender and placed him in the sex offender probation unit. Officer Montoya alleged that he acted on information that the victim in Plaintiff's false imprisonment case was a minor and, under Officer Montoya’s understanding of the law, Plaintiff was properly classified as a sex offender. Plaintiff sought and won in state court an order removing his name from the sex offender registry and removing him from the sex offender probation unit. Plaintiff then filed suit, alleging violation of his Fourteenth Amendment rights, as well as substantive due process, procedural due process, and equal protection rights. The Defendants argued, among other things, that their qualified immunity from suit required dismissal. The Tenth Circuit's review of the case was limited to the qualified immunity issue. As to Plaintiff's claims against Secretary Williams in his individual capacity, the Court reversed the district court’s denial of the motion. As to Plaintiff's procedural due process claim against Officer Montoya, the Court affirmed the district court’s denial of the motion to dismiss. The Court reversed the denial of the motion to dismiss on the substantive due process and equal protection claims, and remanded the case for further proceedings.
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