UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT 

_________________________________ 

CANDACE AGUILERA, 

 Plaintiff - Appellant, 

v. 

CITY OF COLORADO SPRINGS, a 

municipality; DANIELLE MCCLARIN, 

in her official and individual capacity; 

ANGIE NEIVES, in her official and 

individual capacity; ROGER 

VARGASON, in his official and individual 

capacity; BRETT LACEY, in his official 

and individual capacity; ROBERT 

MITCHELL, in his official and individual 

capacity, 

 Defendants - Appellees. 

No. 19-1398 

(D.C. No. 1:18-CV-02125-KMT) 

(D. Colo.) 

_________________________________ 

ORDER AND JUDGMENT*

_________________________________ 

Before TYMKOVICH, Chief Judge, HOLMES and MORITZ, Circuit Judges. 

_________________________________ 

* After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined 

unanimously to honor the parties’ request for a decision on the briefs without oral 

argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(f); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore 

submitted without oral argument. This order and judgment is not binding precedent, 

except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It 

may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 

and 10th Cir. R. 32.1. 

FILED 

United States Court of Appeals 

Tenth Circuit 

November 18, 2020

Christopher M. Wolpert 

Clerk of Court
2 

 Candace Aguilera appeals pro se from the district court’s order dismissing her 

civil-rights complaint and denying her leave to amend. Exercising jurisdiction under 

28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm. 

BACKGROUND

 In her seventy-page first amended complaint, Aguilera alleges the following. On 

the morning of July 10, 2017, Colorado Springs Police Officer Roger Vargason and Fire 

Marshalls Danielle McClarin and Angie Nieves confronted her outside of 

“GreenFaithMinistry,” a “non-denominational spiritual/religious establishment” and 

retailer of “religious goods.” R. at 116, 131. Aguilera is the “Property manager, 

Volunteer, High Priestess (second minster [sic] in command), member, etc. who leases 

two rooms at the Establishment.” Id. at 120.1

 Fire Marshall McClarin explained they wanted inside to “check the occupancy of 

the building.” Id. at 120. Aguilera refused, telling them, “If you want in the building you 

will have to contact Reverend Baker, I will not let you in.” Id. Fire Marshall McClarin 

responded, “If you do not let us in, nobody will be allowed in.” Id. at 121. While Fire 

Marshall McClarin attempted to call Reverend Baker, Aguilera apparently went inside 

and locked the entry door. 

 A few minutes later, Officer Vargason pulled forcefully on the door, telling the 

“GreenFaithMinistry members and volunteers [inside] to ‘[o]pen the door.’” Id. at 127. 

1

 Security camera photos included in the amended complaint indicate that 

GreenFaithMinistry is in a business/strip-mall type location, with other structures 

located nearby across an alleyway or street. Aguilera does not indicate the purpose 

for which she leases the rooms inside GreenFaithMinistry. 
3 

When Aguilera came to the door, Officer Vargason warned her that “[i]f [she] d[id] not 

open th[e] door, [she] w[ould] be in trouble.” Id. at 128. He again tried to pull open the 

door. Aguilera said, “this is private property do you have a warrant?” Id. Officer 

Vargason replied, “Oh now I am talking to Rob Corry (Marijuana lawyer out of 

Denver).” Id. at 128. Officer Vargason continued pulling, stating, “[W]e know you have 

an illegal grow in there.” Id. Officer Vargason’s final “order to . . . Aguilera was to 

‘Praise the Lord.’” Id. at 129. 

 The officers remained at GreenFaithMinistry for forty-five minutes. During that 

time, several other GreenFaithMinistry members arrived. Fire Marshall Nieves asked 

one such member “[i]f marijuana [wa]s being consumed inside the building.” Id. at 134. 

Those members felt “intimidated,” so they “turn[ed] around and le[ft].” Id. at 126. 

Before the officers finally left, Officer Vargason used a cell phone to take “pictures of 

Members[’] license plates, including the vehicle that . . . Aguil[e]r[a] drives.” Id. at 133. 

 Aguilera filed this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 pro se lawsuit in August 2018.2

 She alleges 

in confusing fashion that the defendants violated her “absolute natural rights and the 

constitutions which expressively mandates [sic] its compliance and restricts any 

opposition by any government and anything below it without contest via absolute natural 

rights, Art. 6, Clause 2 Supremacy Clause, Constitutions, Free Exercise Clause, etc.” Id. 

2

 In addition to suing the City of Colorado Springs and the officers who 

confronted her on July 10, 2017, Aguilera also sued two individuals not present that 

day—Brett Lacey and Robert Mitchell. They allegedly “worked in concert” as the 

“Head Fire Marshall” and El Paso County Sheriff’s Lieutenant, respectively, to 

violate Aguilera’s rights. Id. at 117-18; see also id. at 256. 
4 

at 158. Further, she alleges that the defendants’ actions caused her and “four other 

church members/volunteers[ ] [to] vacate their place of worship,” id. at 123-24, and that 

the City of Colorado Springs “targeted non-denominational GreenFaithMinistry to insure 

[that] monetary contributions for police and the fire dep[ar]t[ment] services continue 

from neighboring [Christian] religious establishments.” Id. at 115-16. She seeks 

declaratory, injunctive, and monetary relief. 

 The defendants moved to dismiss, asserting qualified immunity. The district court 

granted the motions and dismissed all of Aguilera’s claims. Doing so, it construed 

Aguilera’s complaint as advancing claims under (1) the First Amendment for violations 

of the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses, and (2) the Fourth Amendment for 

unlawful search and seizure.3

 To the extent Aguilera asserted her claims on behalf of GreenFaithMinistry and 

other members, the district court concluded she lacked standing. As for her 

Establishment Clause claim, the district court determined it failed the three-part test of 

Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602, 612-13 (1971). Her Free Exercise claim failed, the 

district court said, because she did not allege that any defendant burdened her ability to 

exercise a religious belief. Regarding her search-and-seizure claim, the district court 

determined there were no allegations the defendants actually conducted a search, and 

there was no seizure of property because the defendants did not meaningfully interfere 

3

 We conclude that the district court accurately distilled the nature of 

Aguilera’s first amended complaint. 
5 

with her possessory interests.4

 Finally, the district court denied Aguilera’s motion for 

leave to amend the complaint because she failed to comply with the meet-and-confer 

requirements of the local rules. 

DISCUSSION

I. Standards of Review 

 We review de novo the district court’s grant of a motion to dismiss on the grounds 

of standing, Comm. to Save the Rio Hondo v. Lucero, 102 F.3d 445, 447 (10th Cir. 1996), 

and qualified immunity, Weise v. Casper, 593 F.3d 1163, 1166 (10th Cir. 2010). 

 “In resolving a motion to dismiss based on qualified immunity, the court considers 

(1) whether the facts that a plaintiff has alleged make out a violation of a constitutional 

right, and (2) whether the right at issue was clearly established at the time of defendant’s 

alleged misconduct.” Keith v. Koerner, 707 F.3d 1185, 1188 (10th Cir. 2013) (internal 

quotation marks omitted). “If the plaintiff fails to satisfy either part of the inquiry, the 

court must grant qualified immunity.” Carabajal v. City of Cheyenne, 847 F.3d 1203, 

1208 (10th Cir. 2017). 

4

 Although the district court did not discuss Aguilera’s claims against the City 

of Colorado Springs and the officers in their official capacities, its dismissal order 

covers those claims. “[A]n official-capacity suit brought under § 1983 generally 

represents only another way of pleading an action against an entity of which an 

officer is an agent.” Moss v. Kopp, 559 F.3d 1155, 1168 n.13 (10th Cir. 2009) 

(brackets and internal quotation marks omitted). And without “a constitutional 

violation by the individual . . . officers whose conduct directly caused plaintiffs’ 

injuries, there can be no municipal liability.” Trigalet v. City of Tulsa, 239 F.3d 

1150, 1156 (10th Cir. 2001). 
6 

 In deciding whether the complaint should be dismissed, we evaluate the complaint 

to see if it “contain[s] sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to state a claim to relief 

that is plausible on its face.” Wittner v. Banner Health, 720 F.3d 770, 774-75 (10th Cir. 

2013) (internal quotation marks omitted). But “we are not bound to accept as true a legal 

conclusion couched as a factual allegation,” and “we consider only the facts alleged in 

[Aguilera’s] [a]mended [c]omplaint.” Id. We do “not consider allegations or theories 

[asserted in her appellate briefs] that are inconsistent with those pleaded in the 

complaint.” Hayes v. Whitman, 264 F.3d 1017, 1025 (10th Cir. 2001). 

Although we construe Aguilera’s filings liberally, we do not serve as her advocate. 

See Garrett v. Selby Connor Maddux & Janer, 425 F.3d 836, 840 (10th Cir. 2005). 

II. Standing

 

 “The doctrine of standing . . . requires federal courts to satisfy themselves that the 

plaintiff has alleged such a personal stake in the outcome of the controversy as to warrant 

[her] invocation of federal-court jurisdiction.” Summers v. Earth Island Inst., 555 U.S. 

488, 493 (2009) (internal quotation marks omitted). Thus, “[o]rdinarily, a party must 

assert h[er] own legal rights and cannot rest h[er] claim to relief on the legal rights of 

third parties.” Sessions v. Morales-Santana, 137 S. Ct. 1678, 1689 (2017) (ellipsis and 

internal quotation marks omitted). 

 Aguilera acknowledges in her opening brief that she is not suing to vindicate the 

rights of GreenFaithMinistry and its other members. See Aplt. Opening Br. at 37.5

 Thus, 

5

 At the same time, she maintains that “Appellees are incorrect when they say 

you cannot sue for others.” Reply Br. at 1. We do not reach this dispute. Article III 
7 

the district court did not err in dismissing Aguilera’s claims without prejudice “to the 

extent [she] assert[ed] [them] on behalf of others.” R. at 576. 

III. Establishment Clause 

 Aguilera argues that Officer Vargason violated the Establishment Clause by 

ordering her to “Praise the Lord.”6

 Aplt. Opening Br. at 41. The Establishment Clause 

prohibits “law[s] respecting an establishment of religion.” U.S. Const. amend. I. In 

particular, it “mandate[s] governmental neutrality between religion and religion, and 

between religion and nonreligion.” O’Connor v. Washburn Univ., 416 F.3d 1216, 1223 

(10th Cir. 2005) (internal quotation marks omitted). 

 “To assess an Establishment Clause challenge, we follow the tripartite test from 

Lemon v. Kurtzman,” which provides that “government action does not violate the Clause 

of the Constitution limits our power to hear cases or controversies. See U.S. Const. 

art. III, § 2, cl. 1. It does not confer jurisdiction over disputes that are purely 

academic. See Aetna Life Ins. Co. of Hartford v. Haworth, 300 U.S. 227, 240-41 

(1937) (observing that there “must be a real and substantial controversy admitting of 

specific relief through a decree of a conclusive character, as distinguished from an 

opinion advising what the law would be upon a hypothetical state of facts”). Given 

Aguilera’s representation that she “include[d] GreenFaithMinistry and Members to 

show” only that “[her] rights were clearly violated,” Aplt. Opening Br. at 37, her 

dispute with Defendants-Appellees concerning third-party standing is purely 

academic. 

6

 “[T]he requirements for standing to challenge state action under the 

Establishment Clause . . . do not include proof that particular religious freedoms are 

infringed.” Sch. Dist. of Abington Twp. v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203, 224 n.9 (1963). 

Rather, the plaintiff can show standing by asserting a “direct[ ] affect[ ]” from the 

“practice[ ] against which [her] complaint[ ] [is] directed.” Id.; see also Montesa v. 

Schwartz, 836 F.3d 176, 197 (2d Cir. 2016) (stating that “direct exposure standing” 

can occur where “a plaintiff is personally confronted with a government-sponsored 

religious expression that directly touches the plaintiff’s religious or non-religious 

sensibilities”). We conclude that Aguilera’s allegation of being ordered to “Praise 
8 

if (1) it has a secular purpose; (2) its principal or primary effect is one that neither 

advances nor inhibits religion; and (3) it does not foster an excessive government 

entanglement with religion.” Medina v. Catholic Health Initiatives, 877 F.3d 1213, 1230 

(10th Cir. 2017) (internal quotation marks omitted).7

 The purpose and effect prongs 

“look[ ] through the eyes of an objective observer, aware of the purpose, context, and 

history of the government action in question.” Id. at 1230-31 (internal quotation marks 

omitted). 

 In order to survive a motion to dismiss, a plaintiff asserting an Establishment 

Clause violation “must allege facts which, accepted as true, suggest a violation of any 

part of th[e] [Lemon] analysis.” Bauchman for Bauchman v. W. High Sch., 132 F.3d 542, 

552-53 (10th Cir. 1997). “We will not infer an impermissible purpose or effect in the 

absence of any supporting factual allegations.” Id. at 553. 

the Lord” confers standing to assert an Establishment Clause violation under a 

direct-exposure theory. 

7

 The Supreme Court has recently cast doubt on the viability of the Lemon test, 

stating that it “presents particularly daunting problems in cases . . . that involve the 

use, for ceremonial, celebratory, or commemorative purposes, of words or symbols 

with religious associations.” Am. Legion v. Am. Humanist Assoc., 139 S. Ct. 2067, 

2081 (2019) (plurality opinion). American Legion does not, however, offer a 

replacement test. Rather, it encourages the “application of a presumption of 

constitutionality for longstanding monuments, symbols, and practices.” Id. at 2081-

82. In any event, Aguilera’s allegation that she was ordered to “Praise the Lord” 

appears to fall outside of American Legion’s repudiation of Lemon in religiousdisplay cases. 
9 

A. Secular Purpose 

 Aguilera’s amended complaint does not allege facts indicating that an objective 

observer would view Officer Vargason’s purpose in saying “Praise the Lord” as an 

official endorsement of religion. Specifically, the phrase “Praise the Lord” can be uttered 

solely as a personal affirmation of religious or even non-religious gratitude, and not “with 

the ostensible and predominant purpose of advancing religion,” McCreary County v. Am. 

Civ. Liberties Union, 545 U.S. 844, 860 (2005). Aguilera fails to identify any allegation 

supporting her assertion that Officer Vargason intended the phrase as a directive for her 

to worship a deity. Further, the phrase was uttered in the midst of a secular investigation 

concerning the building’s occupancy and suspected use as an illegal marijuana 

establishment. “We will not lightly attribute unconstitutional motives to the government, 

particularly where we can discern a plausible secular purpose.” Medina, 877 F.3d at 

1230 (internal quotation marks omitted). 

B. Effect 

 

 Similarly, the amended complaint is devoid of allegations showing that Officer 

Vargason’s mere utterance of “Praise the Lord” would have the principal or primary 

effect of advancing or inhibiting religion. In particular, no facts are alleged under which 

an objective observer, aware of the officers’ secular investigational purpose, would 

conclude that the phrase “convey[ed] a message that religion or a particular religious 

belief is favored or preferred.” Medina, 877 F.3d at 1231 (internal quotation marks 

omitted). The effect prong “does not forbid all mention of religion,” and it does not take 
10 

into account “whether particular individuals might be offended by the content” of a 

government actor’s message “or consider [that message] to endorse religion.” 

Bauchman, 132 F.3d at 555. 

C. Entanglement 

 Nor does Aguilera allege that Officer Vargason’s utterance of “Praise the Lord,” 

“foster[ed] an excessive government entanglement with religion.” Id. at 1233. This 

prong of the Lemon test ensures that religious organizations retain “independence from 

secular control or manipulation” in “matters of church government as well as those of 

faith and doctrine.” Id. at 1234 (internal quotation marks omitted). Without an allegation 

that Officer Vargason’s use of “Praise the Lord” somehow constituted “state involvement 

with recognized religious activity,” the entanglement prong is not met. See Bauchman, 

132 F.3d at 556. 

D. Conclusion 

 We conclude that the district court did not err in dismissing Aguilera’s 

Establishment Clause claim, as she has not plausibly alleged a constitutional violation 

under any prong of the Lemon test. Cf., e.g., Wood v. Arnold, 915 F.3d 308, 315 

(4th Cir.) (“[I]f courts were to find an Establishment Clause violation every time that a 

student or parent thought that a single statement by a teacher either advanced or 

disapproved of a religion, instruction in our public schools would be reduced to the 

lowest common denominator.” (internal quotation marks omitted)), cert. denied, 

140 S. Ct. 399 (2019). 
11 

IV. Free Exercise Clause 

 Aguilera argues that Fire Marshall McClarin violated the Free Exercise Clause by 

“threaten[ing] [her]” outside GreenFaithMinistry when he said, “If you do not let us in, 

nobody will be allowed in.” R. at 120-21. According to Aguilera, that threat “made . . . 

[her] and four other church members/volunteers[ ] vacate their place of worship.” Id. at 

123-24; see Aplt. Opening Br. at 44. 

 “To establish a free-exercise claim, [Aguilera] must show that the government has 

placed a burden on the exercise of h[er] religious beliefs or practices.” Fields v. City of 

Tulsa, 753 F.3d 1000, 1009 (10th Cir. 2014). “A plaintiff states a claim that h[er] 

exercise of religion is burdened if the challenged action is coercive or compulsory in 

nature.” Id. (alteration and internal quotation marks omitted). 

 Aguilera’s own allegations belie the coercive or compulsory nature of Fire 

Marshall McClarin’s threat. She alleges that immediately after Fire Marshall McClarin 

made the threat, she went inside GreenFaithMinistry and locked the entry door behind 

her. Indeed, she remained inside with the door locked, refused to open it even as Officer 

Vargason pulled on it and told her to open it, and she declared, “this is private property 

do you have a warrant?” R. at 128. It is unclear when she finally exited 

GreenFaithMinistry. Given these allegations, Aguilera has failed to assert a connection 

between Fire Marshall McClarin’s threat (even when viewed together with Officer 

Vargason’s actions) and her decision to vacate GreenFaithMinistry. Significantly, 

Aguilera has not alleged that Fire Marshall McClarin (or any other officer) ever ordered 

her to vacate the building. 
12 

 Nevertheless, Aguilera argues the constitutional violation is clear in light of Sause 

v. Bauer, 138 S. Ct. 2561 (2018). There, the Supreme Court explained that the Free 

Exercise Clause may have been violated by a police officer’s order to the plaintiff, 

while he was inside her apartment investigating a noise complaint, to stop praying. Id.

at 2562-63. The Court said it was “impossible to analyze [the plaintiff’s] free exercise 

claim” without knowing whether officers were lawfully inside her apartment and “what, 

if anything, the officers wanted her to do at the time when she was allegedly told to stop 

praying.” Id. at 2563. Thus, the Court reversed and remanded for further proceedings. 

 But Sause has no apparent application here. Aguilera does not assert in her 

complaint that she was ordered to stop praying or worshipping in any manner. Nor does 

she allege that she was engaged in prayer or worship inside GreenFaithMinistry at any 

time during the officers’ presence outside the building. Further, as discussed below, the 

officers were lawfully present on the porch outside GreenFaithMinistry when they 

communicated with Aguilera. 

 In short, Aguilera has failed to allege that any defendant burdened her exercise of 

religious beliefs or practices. Thus, the district court did not err in dismissing her Free 

Exercise claim. 

V. Fourth Amendment

 The Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. New York 

v. Burger, 482 U.S. 691, 699 (1987). A plaintiff asserting a Fourth Amendment violation 

must either have “a legitimate expectation of privacy in the place searched or the item 

seized,” United States v. Angevine, 281 F.3d 1130, 1134 (10th Cir. 2002) (internal 
13 

quotation marks omitted), or identify an “unprivileged trespass on property expressly 

protected by the Fourth Amendment—persons, houses, papers, and effects—for the 

purpose of conducting a search or seizure,” United States v. Carloss, 818 F.3d 988, 992 

n.2 (10th Cir. 2016) (internal quotation marks omitted). 

A. Search 

 Aguilera contends that Officer Vargason engaged in an unlawful Fourth 

Amendment search by photographing her vehicle and its license plate. At the time 

Officer Vargason took the photos, he was standing on GreenFaithMinistry’s porch, with 

Aguilera’s vehicle parked only a few feet away, off of what appears to be an alleyway or 

street, with other buildings/businesses nearby. Aguilera has not pled a plausible Fourth 

Amendment violation for the following reasons. 

 First, she has no expectation of privacy in the appearance of her vehicle or its 

license plate, with her car parked in public view off of a street or alleyway. See New 

York v. Class, 475 U.S. 106, 114 (1986) (“The exterior of a car, of course, is thrust into 

the public eye, and thus to examine it does not constitute a ‘search.’”); United States v. 

Walraven, 892 F.2d 972, 974 (10th Cir. 1989) (“[B]ecause they are in plain view, no 

privacy interest exists in license plates.”). 

 Second, although Officer Vargason took the photos from GreenFaithMinistry’s 

porch, his vantage point did not convert his photo-taking into a search. The amended 

complaint is not entirely clear as to whether he and the fire marshalls were at 

GreenFaithMinistry to check compliance with administrative occupancy standards, to 

investigate illegal marijuana sales, or both. In any event, the Fourth Amendment is not 
14 

implicated where officers are on private property and perform a so-called “knock and 

talk.” See United States v. Shuck, 713 F.3d 563, 568 (10th Cir. 2013) (holding that 

“officers did not violate the Fourth Amendment when they approached [a] trailer’s back 

door with an intent to speak to its occupants regarding the reported odor of marijuana” 

and saw in plain view a PVC pipe that smelled of marijuana). “Observations made from 

such vantage points are not covered by the Fourth Amendment.” Id. at 567 (brackets and 

internal quotation marks omitted); see also Carloss, 818 F.3d at 993 (“The mere purpose 

of discovering information in the course of engaging in [a knock and talk] does not cause 

it to violate the Fourth Amendment.”). Thus, Officer Vargason did not need a warrant to 

photograph Aguilera’s license plate while on GreenFaithMinistry porch.8

8

 Aguilera’s reliance on Collins v. Virginia, 138 S. Ct. 1663 (2018), is 

misplaced. In that case, the Supreme Court held that a warrant is required to search a 

vehicle that is within the curtilage of a home, notwithstanding the automobile 

exception to the warrant requirement. Id. at 1670-71. The Court rested its decision 

on “the core Fourth Amendment protection afforded to the home and its curtilage.” 

Id. at 1671. Here, Aguilera’s vehicle was not parked within the curtilage of a home. 

See Oliver v. United States, 466 U.S. 170, 180 (1984) (explaining that the curtilage 

“is the area to which extends the intimate activity associated with the sanctity of a 

[person’s] home and the privacies of life, and therefore has been considered part of 

the home itself for Fourth Amendment purposes” (internal quotation marks omitted)). 

Rather, her vehicle was parked off of an alleyway or street, in a non-residential area, 

and next to GreenFaithMinistry, a “non-denominational spiritual/religious 

establishment” and retailer of “religious goods.” R. at 116, 131. 

Also, Aguilera argues on appeal that Officer Vargason’s photo-taking 

constituted a search because he used “his police issued phone,” which “can run apps / 

programs” that provide “access to [a] [d]atabase that [is] not accessible by the 

public.” Aplt. Opening Br. at 48. Because these allegations are not in the amended 

complaint, we do not consider them. See Hayes, 264 F.3d at 1025. We likewise do 

not consider Aguilera’s allegation that the photo-taking unlawfully disclosed her 

“association in a non[]profit.” Aplt. Opening Br. at 48. 
15 

B. Seizure 

 Aguilera contends that Fire Marshall McClarin’s threat, “If you do not let us in, 

nobody will be allowed in,” “illegally seize[d] [GreenFaithMinistry] in violation of the 

4th [A]mendment.” Aplt. Opening Br. at 44. We conclude that Aguilera has standing to 

advance this claim to the extent it is based on her leasing of two rooms in the building. 

But she fails to allege that any defendant meaningfully interfered with her possessory 

interests in the building. See United States v. Shrum, 908 F.3d 1219, 1229 (10th Cir. 

2018) (observing that “a Fourth Amendment ‘seizure’ occurs when there is some 

meaningful government interference with an individual’s possessory interests in 

property” (alterations and internal quotation marks omitted)). As we have already 

observed, following Fire Marshall McClarin’s alleged threat, Aguilera entered the 

building, locked the door, excluded the officers, and then later exited the building without 

being asked to leave. Thus, no Fourth Amendment seizure occurred. 

C. Conclusion

 The district court did not err in dismissing Aguilera’s Fourth Amendment claims 

for illegal search and seizure. 

VI. Motion to Amend

 “We review for abuse of discretion the district court’s denial of [Aguilera’s] 

motion to file an amended complaint.” Cohen v. Longshore, 621 F.3d 1311, 1313 

(10th Cir. 2010). The district court denied the motion because she failed to confer with 

opposing counsel before filing the motion, as required by District of Colorado Local Civil 

Rule 7.1(a), which states that “[b]efore filing a motion, counsel for the moving party or 
16 

an unrepresented party shall confer or make reasonable good faith efforts to confer with 

any opposing counsel or unrepresented party to resolve any disputed matter.” 

 Although Aguilera states in her opening appellate brief that she would like to 

amend her complaint, she does not address the district court’s rationale for denying her 

leave to amend. She therefore waived any challenge to that decision. See Sylvia v. 

Wisler, 875 F.3d 1307, 1332 (10th Cir. 2017) (“An issue or argument insufficiently raised 

in the opening brief is deemed waived.” (internal quotation marks omitted)). 

CONCLUSION

Because Aguilera’s amended complaint fails to plausibly allege a 

constitutional violation against any of the individual defendants, the district court 

properly applied qualified immunity and dismissed the complaint. We therefore 

affirm the district court’s judgment. 

 We deny as moot Aguilera’s motion to file an appendix, given that all the 

documents she seeks to include are already included in the record on appeal. We 

grant attorney Peter A. Lichtman’s motion to withdraw as counsel of record for 

Defendant-Appellee Mitchell. 

Entered for the Court 

Nancy L. Moritz 

Circuit Judge