Nancy Lagrange v. Steven Hatcher

MEMORANDUM

Josie Garcia and Nancy LaGrange, guardian ad litem of Alize Martinez (Alize), (collectively, Plaintiffs), appeal the district court’s dismissal of their 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint, which alleged, inter alia, that Steven Hatcher, an enforcement agent of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, and the Nevada Gaming Control Board, (collectively, State Defendants), acted with deliberate indifference to their Fourteenth Amendment due process rights when Hatcher fatally shot Santiago Ray Martinez (Martinez), Garcia’s son and Alize’s father.

1. The district court abused its discretion when it dismissed the claims against the State Defendants without oral argument and without providing Plaintiffs the opportunity to amend the complaint because the factual findings contained in the district attorney’s report regarding the shooting incident raised the spectre of a plausible claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Hatcher. See Telesaurus VPC, LLC v. Power, 623 F.3d 998, 1003 (9th Cir.2010) (holding that a district court abuses its discretion by denying leave to amend unless amendment would be futile or the plaintiff has failed repeatedly to cure the complaint’s deficiencies despite…