UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

Miami Division

Case Number: 20-21264-CIV-MORENO

ADACIA DOUGLAS, 

Plaintiff,

vs.

JUDGE NUSHIN G. SAYFIE, JUDGE

MIRANDA CRISTINA, BAILIFF MANNY 

PEREZ, JUDGE MARLENE FERNANDEZ

KARAVETSOS, JOSE PEREZ-MIRANDA,

and MIAMI-DADE POLICE DEPARTMENT,

Defendants.

_________________________________________/

ORDER GRANTING MOTIONS TO DISMISS AND CLOSING CASE 

THIS CAUSE came before the Court upon Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss (D.E. 6 & 7),

filed respectively on March 31, 2020 and April 2, 2020. 

THE COURT has considered the motions, the pertinent portions of the record, and being 

otherwise fully advised in the premises, it is

ADJUDGED that the motions are GRANTED by default due to Plaintiff’s failure to 

respond. See Local Rule 7.1(c). Furthermore, the Court finds that the claims against the Florida 

judicial defendants are barred by the doctrine of judicial immunity. On February 5, 2020, the 

Plaintiff filed a complaint in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, in and for Miami-Dade County, Florida, 

(case number 2020-CA-2674) alleging violations of the First and Fourth Amendments to the 

United States Constitution arising from Plaintiff’s interactions with state court judges and court 

staff that allegedly occurred at the Richard Gerstein Justice Building courthouse in Miami. 

Plaintiff claims, in his complaint, that the judiciary defendants violated his rights when 

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they “conspired with each other that if Adacia Douglas attempted to enter any open court 

proceeding to the public that courtroom security along with all Miami-Dade available officers 

would deny her access.” Those claims, however, stem from actions taken by these defendants 

while acting in their judicial capacity, and thus the Court finds that such actions are immune from 

suit. See Sibley v. Wilson, No. 04-21000-CIV, 2004 WL 5589793, at *3 (S.D. Fla. July 8, 2004)

(“A judge will be acting within his judicial discretion if the act complained of is a judicial act and 

the judge has subject matter jurisdiction at the time he acted.”); see also Simmons v. Conger, 86 

F.3d 1080, 1085 (11th Cir.1996) (holding that a trial judge had absolute immunity to exclude 

plaintiff from attending a proceeding in a matter that was properly before him). This immunity 

extends to the named bailiffs in this case as well because their conduct, as alleged in the complaint, 

was directly related to the proceedings held by the defendant judges. As observed by the Eleventh 

Circuit, “[n]onjudicial officials are encompassed by a judge’s absolute immunity when their 

official duties ‘have an integral relationship with the judicial process.’” Roland v. Phillips, 19 

F.3d 552, 555 (11th Cir. 1994) (quoting Ashbrook v. Hoffman, 617 F.2d 474, 476 (7th Cir. 1980)). 

In addition, the complaint is dismissed as to the remaining defendant Miami-Dade Police 

Department. The police department does not have the capacity to be sued. Williams v. MiamiDade Police Dep’t, 297 F. App’x 941, 945 (11th Cir. 2008) (“Because the [Miami-Dade Police 

Department] does not have the capacity to be sued under Florida law, the district court did not err 

in dismissing it as a party.”). See also Silberman v. Miami Dade Transit, 927 F.3d 1123, 1138 

(11th Cir. 2019) (“In sum, we affirm the district court’s decision to dismiss Silberman’s complaint 

on the ground that [Miami Dade Transit] is not sui juris under Florida law.”); Barteet v. Eismann, 

No. 13-80434-CIV, 2013 WL 5236640, at *2 (S.D. Fla. Sept. 17, 2013) (“Defendants are correct 

that it is improper for Plaintiff to have named several county departments as Defendants.”).

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Based on the foregoing, the motions to dismiss are GRANTED, and the case is CLOSED.

DONE AND ORDERED in Chambers at Miami, Florida, this 29th of April 2020.

_____________________________________

FEDERICO A. MORENO

UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Copies furnished to:

Counsel of Record

Adacia Douglas

1603 NW 7th Avenue

Miami, FL 33136

PRO SE

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