Donald Lee v. Karen Heggen, Prosecutor

Summary

The United States District Court for the Northern District of New York adopted a magistrate judge’s Report-Recommendation and dismissed Donald Lee’s amended civil rights complaint against prosecutor Karen Heggen. The court held that prosecutorial immunity supported dismissal for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6), and dismissed the amended complaint with prejudice.

Holdings

1. When no objection is made to a magistrate judge's Report-Recommendation, the district court reviews it for clear error and may accept it if no clear error appears on the face of the record.
2. Prosecutorial immunity is not a jurisdictional ground for dismissal under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1); it is an affirmative immunity treated as a failure-to-state-a-claim issue under Rule 12(b)(6).
3. A dismissal based on prosecutorial immunity may be entered with prejudice when further amendment would not cure the pleading defect, and the district court dismissed Plaintiff's Amended Complaint with prejudice.
4. Even if dismissal were based on failure to allege Defendant's personal involvement, the court would be reluctant to dismiss without prejudice and permit another amendment because Plaintiff had already amended once as a matter of course.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the magistrate judge's Report-Recommendation should be accepted under clear-error review when Plaintiff filed no objection.
2. Whether prosecutorial immunity is a jurisdictional basis for dismissal under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1) or instead a failure-to-state-a-claim basis under Rule 12(b)(6).
3. Whether dismissal based on prosecutorial immunity could be entered with prejudice after Plaintiff had already amended his complaint.
4. Whether the alternative failure-to-allege-personal-involvement ground warranted dismissal without prejudice and another opportunity to amend.

Disposition

dismissed