The plaintiff was shot by two police officers while in an alleged mental crisis. The plaintiff and FLA claimants sued the two police officers, three police chiefs, and various John Doe police officers. The plaintiffs claimed damages, including punitive and aggravated damages. The defendants moved to strike the claims against the police chiefs and the John Doe officers, and moved to strike the claims for punitive and aggravated damages. Justice Gibson granted the relief sought, and struck the claims against the police chiefs and the John Doe officers. He also struck the claims for punitive and aggravate damages. He found the police chiefs did not owe a private law duty of care to every member of society who might be at risk. Their duty was to the public as a whole. The John Doe defendants were empty placeholders whose existence was hypothetical and undefined, and there was no indication of how the purported John Doe constables were involved or of what they did or failed to do. Finally, the claims for punitive and aggravated damages lacked facts pled in support of such damages.
