Opinion
Case No. 2:02-CV-1125 TS
August 5, 2003
ORDER GRANTING GRANITE SCHOOL DISTRICT'S MOTION TO DISMISS
On April 22, 2003, Defendant Granite School District ("Granite") filed a Motion to Dismiss and for Summary Judgment. On July 1, 2003, Granite filed a Request for Ruling, stating Plaintiffs had failed to timely respond to the Motion. To date, Plaintiffs have failed to respond to the Motion.
The Court will construe the Motion as a Motion to Dismiss. While Granite did include materials outside the Complaint, the Court will not consider or reference the materials.
The Court having reviewed the motion, memorandum, and being otherwise fully informed, finds as follows:
In considering a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), all well-pleaded factual allegations in the complaint are accepted as true and viewed in the light most favorable to plaintiffs as the nonmoving party. Sutton v. Utah State School for the Deaf and Blind, 173 F.3d 1226, 1236 (10th Cir. 1999). "A 12(b)(6) motion should not be granted `unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief.'" GFF Corp. v. Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc., 130 F.3d 1381, 1384 (10th Cir. 1997) (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46 (1957)). Accepting all of the facts in the light most favorable to the Plaintiffs, the Court finds as follows:
Rule 17(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides in relevant part that "capacity to sue or be sued shall be determined by the law of the state in which the district court is held. . . ." Pursuant to Utah state law, only a local board of education has the legal capacity to be sued. UTAH CODE ANN. § 53A-3-401(3); See also, Bauchman v. West High School, 900 F. Supp. 254, 263 (D. Utah 1995) (dismissing West Valley High School as a party because Utah law only allows local school board to be sued). Plaintiffs have sued the Granite School District and not the local board of education. Based upon the above, the Court finds that Granite School District is not a proper party and GRANTS Granite's Motion to Dismiss Granite School District as a defendant. The Motion to Dismiss is granted without prejudice.