In a stunning turn of events in a case that was seemingly headed to the discovery process, Judge Michael R. Barret dismissed Jose “Chille” DeCastro’s lawsuit against defendants Major Chapman, Jane Doe and Lawrence County, Ohio, for failure to state a claim and granted the motion for judgment on the pleadings to defendants Chance Blankenship, Robert Fouch, Evan McKnight, Brad Spoljaric, Pam Wagner, and the City of Ironton.
DeCastro had filed a lawsuit against both sets of defendants last year after his arrest for refusing to leave the Ironton, Ohio, City Hall after the building closed. DeCastro alleged a number of violations made by police officers on the scene and in the days that followed the arrest including lack of probable cause, illegally searching his phone, failure to return said phone to him, violating his first amendment right to record the police and public officials and targeting him for exercising his first amendment rights.
Like with DeCastro’s previously dismissed Massachusetts lawsuit, DeCastro ran into problems with stating who did what, why their actions were illegal, and showing an adverse effect of those actions that resulted in damage. The case lingered for most of 2022 with DeCastro missing multiple deadlines to fulfill orders to state a claim and was ultimately dismissed late last year due DeCastro missing a final deadline to show case. The case then being revived as DeCastro filed a response a week after the deadline.
In his final ruling, Judge Barret found that DeCastro failed to state a claim against Major Chapman, Jane Doe and Lawrence County. Barret also found that DeCastro had failed to show that he would succeed in any of his claims against the remaining defendants. He pointed out that while DeCastro made a lot of accusations against the defendants, he failed to show how he was damaged or what laws backed his claims in order to bring accusation into reality.
The lawsuit recently had entered the discovery phase. DeCastro and the attorneys for the defendants had agreed to a plan for discovery that had deadlines for the discovery process reaching into 2024.
It is unclear if DeCastro will appeal the decision at this time.
This is a developing story.
