Opinion
CIVIL ACTION NO 2:14cv959-MHT (WO)
12-14-2015
WINDHAM TODD PITTMAN, Plaintiff, v. STATE FARM FIRE AND CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY; et al., Defendants.
OPINION
Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, plaintiff filed this lawsuit claiming that defendants--his former girlfriend, a sheriff's deputy, an insurance company, its employee, and its lawyers--conspired against him to violate his constitutional rights by subjecting him to a malicious prosecution and presenting a false affidavit in support of a search-warrant request. Plaintiff also brought a number of state-law claims based on the same allegations. One defendant, Teresa Spence, is pro se. This lawsuit is now before the court on the recommendation of the United States Magistrate Judge that the motions to dismiss filed by the represented defendants be granted, that the federal claims against them be dismissed with prejudice, and that the state-law claims against them be dismissed without prejudice, and with leave to refile in state court. Also before the court are the parties' objections to the recommendation. Pro se defendant Teresa Spence's motion to dismiss is before the court as well. (While her motion to dismiss was made in answer to the original complaint, the allegations against her in both the original and amended complaints are essentially the same, and, in any event, the plaintiff has not made an issue of the court's consideration of Spence's motion to dismiss.) After an independent and de novo review of the record, the court concludes that the objections should be overruled, the magistrate judge's recommendation adopted, and the motions to dismiss granted.
An appropriate judgment will be entered.
DONE, this the 14th day of December, 2015.
/s/ Myron H. Thompson
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE