Opinion ID: 1864500
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Legal Sufficiency of Plaintiffs' Claims Based on 42 U.S.C. Section 1983.

Text: Plaintiffs assert that the petition states a claim that the State and its agencies, acting under color of state law, wrongly deprived them of interests in life, liberty and property protected under the fourteenth amendment to the federal constitution. Consequently, they assert that their petition states a valid claim for relief under 42 U.S.C. section 1983. The State urges that the motion to dismiss was properly granted as to plaintiffs' section 1983 claims as well as their negligence claims. We agree with the State's contention. In Martinez v. California, 444 U.S. 277, 100 S.Ct. 553, 62 L.Ed.2d 481 (1980), the plaintiff sought recovery under section 1983 against California parole officials who had allegedly failed to follow state parole procedures with regard to an individual released from prison. That individual later killed the plaintiff's decedent. Plaintiff asserted in the section 1983 action that the actions of the parole officials deprived the decedent of life without due process. In concluding that no claim existed under section 1983, a unanimous Supreme Court stated: Although the decision to release Thomas [the paroled prisoner] from prison was action by the State, the action of Thomas five months later cannot be fairly characterized as state action. Regardless of whether, as a matter of state tort law, the parole board could be said either to have had a duty to avoid harm to his victim or have proximately caused her death, ... we hold that, taking these particular allegations as true, appellees did not deprive appellants' decedent of life within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. 444 U.S. at 284-85, 100 S.Ct. at 559, 62 L.Ed.2d at 489. Other federal courts, relying on Martinez, have repeatedly denied relief under section 1983 to plaintiffs seeking recovery for harm caused to them by criminal activity claimed to have been preventable by the state. See, e.g., Carlson v. Conklin, 813 F.2d 769, 771-72 (6th Cir. 1987); Jones v. Phyfer, 761 F.2d 642, 644-45 (11th Cir.1985); Wright v. City of Ozark, 715 F.2d 1513, 1515 (11th Cir.1983); Fox v. Custis, 712 F.2d 84, 88 (4th Cir. 1983); Bowers v. DeVito, 686 F.2d 616, 618 (7th Cir.1982). The district court acted correctly in sustaining the motion to dismiss on both the negligence claims and the claims based on alleged violations of 42 U.S.C. section 1983. The judgment of the district court is affirmed. AFFIRMED.