Opinion ID: 781426
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 2 Jesus Hernandez, Ismael Garza, and Robert Wissman were employed at the Nu-Wood Decorative Millwork plant in Goshen, Indiana, in December 2001. During their work shift on December 6, 2001, Wissman got into a physical fight with another Nu-Wood employee. Wissman left the plant after the fight, but on his way out he threatened to return to do bodily harm. After Wissman left, Nu-Wood plant manager Greg Oswald called the Goshen police department to report that he was concerned about his and his employees' safety because of Wissman's earlier altercation and parting threat, and because Oswald knew Wissman had access to guns. The unidentified person who answered the phone for the police department put Oswald on hold several times and then told him that the police department would not get involved unless and until Wissman harmed someone. Wissman returned to the Nu-Wood plant later that day and made good on his threat: he shot and killed Oswald, shot and injured Hernandez, shot at Garza, and shot and injured several other Nu-Wood employees. Wissman also died during the shooting spree. 3 Hernandez, his wife Tabitha Hernandez, and Garza sued the City and Wissman's estate under Indiana state tort law, alleging negligence and wrongful death, and they sued the City under 29 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging a substantive due process violation. The federal and state law claims against the City are based on the City's alleged failure, through its police department's conduct, policies and procedures, to reasonably protect the Plaintiffs from Wissman's shooting spree. The district court dismissed the § 1983 counts against the City under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim, finding that a government's failure to protect a person against private violence generally does not amount to a violation of the [f]ederal [c]onstitution. See also DeShaney v. Winnebago County Dept. of Social Svcs., 489 U.S. 189, 109 S.Ct. 998, 103 L.Ed.2d 249 (1989). The court then remanded the remaining state law claims to the Elkhart County, Indiana, Circuit Court pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b).