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A Black Corydon woman’s amended civil rights complaint failed to present sufficient claims against several town defendants and Harrison County commissioners, a federal judge ruled in dismissing the lawsuit with prejudice.
Southern District of Indiana Chief Judge Tonya Walton Pratt issued the order Tuesday in Maxine F. Brown v. Town of Corydon, et al., 4:23-cv-00086.
In the order, Brown’s request for leave to transfer information was also denied.
Pratt had dismissed Brown’s initial complaint without prejudice in November 2023.
According to court records, Brown lives in a predominantly and historically Black neighborhood in Corydon.
In the initial and amended complaints, Brown alleged that from the time of her birth in 1944 until she relocated to another county in 1963, and continuing from the time she returned to Corydon in 1979 until present, she had been denied full access to town public utilities such as water/sewer and trash pickup.
She also claimed that in addition to her limited sewer and water access, she faced other difficulties in the town.
Additionally, Brown said town and Harrison County officials failed to incorporate her neighborhood into the town, and the officials engaged in suspicious acts that caused her to be harassed, intimidated and threatened.
In the order Pratt issued Tuesday, the chief judge stated that Brown’s claims are duplicative.
Pratt wrote that the complaint brings claims against the town of Corydon defendants and Harrison County commissioners in their official capacities, as well as naming the town of Corydon and Harrison County government as defendants.
The chief judge noted that Brown has not sued any defendant individually who’s named in the amended complaint.
“Although Ms. Brown lists a series of troubling incidences from 2018 to 2023, she does not allege that any particular defendant (or other person) committed those acts. The Amended Complaint does not plead any facts suggesting that any particular Defendant participated in the Town of Corydon’s decision to not supply water/sewer and trash services to Ms. Brown or her school,” Pratt wrote, citing Gonzalez v. McHenry Cnty., Illinois, 40 F.4th 824 (7th Cir. 2022).
Pratt added that the amended complaint also fails to allege that any particular Harrison County commissioners harassed, intimidated or threatened her or vandalized the historically Black school in which Brown has an interest.
“Liberally construing the Amended Complaint, Ms. Brown has pled no facts that give rise to a claim against any of the Defendants in their individual capacities,” the chief judge wrote.
According to the order, Brown’s 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claims are still time-barred by the statute of limitations.
Brown attempted to cure the deficiencies of the original complaint by listing specific dates of incidences, with the earliest being tampering with her sewer line in 2017 and the latest coming in 2023 via a sewer backup that severely damaged the lower level of her home.
“As noted previously, suits under § 1983 use the statute of limitations and tolling rules that states employ for personal injury claims,” Pratt wrote. “In Indiana, the applicable statute of limitations period is two years. … The statute of limitations period begins when the plaintiff knows or has reason to know of the injury giving rise to the cause of the action.”
Further, the amended complaint failed to state a claim for municipal liability under § 1983 against the town of Corydon defendants or Harrison County commissioners, Pratt wrote.
Finally, Brown alleged that the defendants conspired to interfere with her civil rights.
Pratt wrote those allegations must be plausible, and mere suspicion is not enough.
“The events that Ms. Brown describes are deplorable, and the Court feels empathy for the pain and suffering she has experienced concerning her property,” the judge wrote. “However, there is no factual basis upon which to conclude that either the Town of Corydon Defendants or Harrison County Commissioners conspired or agreed with members of the public to damage the lower level of Ms. Brown’s home or the historically Black school she purchased.”
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