ST. LOUIS – A federal judge dismissed a complaint against defendants in a case filed by three women who claimed they were unlawfully arrested when attempting to plan an Independence Day parade.
"Plaintiffs plead nothing more than conclusory allegations with respect to the alleged actions taken by Reiser vis a vis a conspiracy," U.S. District Judge Henry Edward Autrey wrote in the April 21 order. "Merely stating that defendants acted in concert with each other does not bring their actions above mere speculation."
Autrey wrote that the complaint lacks facial plausibility and that the court isn't able to draw the reasonable inference that Herman Reiser is "liable for participating in a conspiracy with the other defendants to deprive Plaintiffs of their constitutional rights and to falsely imprison them."
Susan Kwon, Constance Cathcart and Sharon Cathcart filed the lawsuit against Joshua Sadler, Christopher Callender, Timothy Cook, Reiser and Terre du Lac Association in 2019 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri because of an incident that occurred in June 2019.
The three women were attempting to meet to work as part of the events committee for Terre du Lac Association on June 9, 2019. Kwon had earlier spoken with two board members about the events committee using the board room. When they arrived at the office, they again asked if they could use the board room and were told again that they could.
Approximately 30 minutes into the meeting, Reiser arrived and allegedly told the women to leave and threatened to call the police if they did not leave. He claimed they were under a court order that required them to leave. Sadler and Callender then arrived, repeating the claim about a court order, which all three men knew did not exist, the judge's order said. The officers handcuffed the women and eventually took them to St. Francois County jail. The jail employees released the women without being charged and without having them post bond.
The women claimed the arrests were made without a warrant or probable cause and that the defendants lacked legal authority to order the plaintiffs to leave the Terre du Lac Association board room.
Autrey wrote that just because Reiser called the police did not satisfy the "meeting of the minds" requirement with conspiracy, the order states.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri case number 4:19-cv-02133