USCA4 Appeal: 24-2096 Doc: 30 Filed: 11/25/2025 Pg: 1 of 4

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 24-2096

BROOKE OLIVIA HILL, as duly appointed Administratrix of the Estate of C.R.M.,

Plaintiff - Appellant,

v.

ORLANDO MAYNARD, individually and officially; TOWN OF ELON, NORTH CAROLINA,

Defendants - Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, at Greensboro. William L. Osteen, Jr., District Judge. (1:23-cv-00479-WO-JEP)

Submitted: November 18, 2025 Decided: November 25, 2025

Before WILKINSON, KING, and THACKER, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

ON BRIEF: James Rainsford, Jason Murphy, COLEMAN, MERRITT, MURPHY & RAINSFORD, P.C., Hillsborough, North Carolina, for Appellant. J. Nicholas Ellis, Sydney P. Davis, POYNER SPRUILL LLP, Rocky Mount, North Carolina, for Appellee Town of Elon, North Carolina. Todd A. Smith, SMITH GILES PLLC, Graham, North Carolina, for Appellee Orlando Maynard.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. USCA4 Appeal: 24-2096 Doc: 30 Filed: 11/25/2025 Pg: 2 of 4

PER CURIAM:

Brooke Hill appeals the district court’s order denying relief on her

amended complaint. On appeal, she challenges the district court’s determinations that the

individual defendant did not act under color of state law and that municipal liability did not

attach to the city defendant. We affirm.

We review de novo a district court’s grant of a Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) motion.

Blair v. Appomattox Cnty. Sch. Bd.,

, 491 (4th Cir. 2025). A complaint must

contain only “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled

to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). To survive a motion to dismiss, however, a plaintiff’s

allegations must “state[] a plausible claim for relief” that “permit[s] the court to infer more

than the mere possibility of misconduct” based upon “its judicial experience and common

sense.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal,

(2009). “The plausibility standard is not akin

to a probability requirement, but it asks for more than a sheer possibility that a defendant

has acted unlawfully.”

(citation modified); see Wag More Dogs, LLC v. Cozart,

(4th Cir. 2012) (“At bottom, a plaintiff must nudge [her] claims across

the line from conceivable to plausible to resist dismissal.” (citation modified)). When

ruling on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, a court must accept as true the factual allegations

contained in the complaint “and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff.”

Blair, 147 F.4th at 491 (citation modified). The court “need not accept legal conclusions

couched as facts or unwarranted inferences, unreasonable conclusions, or arguments.” Id.

(citation modified).

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Section 1983 states that

[e]very person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State . . . subjects, or causes to be subjected, any . . . person . . . to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law.

. Therefore, to prevail on her § 1983 claim, Hill had “to show that: (1) . . .

Defendants deprived [C.M] of a constitutional right; and (2) . . . Defendants did so under

color of State statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage.” Peltier v. Charter Day Sch.

Inc.,

(4th Cir. 2022) (citation modified); see also Goldstein v. Chestnut

Ridge Vol. Fire Co.,

, 341 (4th Cir. 2000) (recognizing that § 1983 “liability

is imposed only for deprivations carried out under color of law” (citing Flagg Bros., Inc. v.

Brooks,

(1978))).

“The color of law requirement excludes from the reach of § 1983 all merely private

conduct, no matter how discriminatory or wrongful.” Rossignol v. Voorhaar,

(4th Cir. 2003) (citation modified). But § 1983 does “include[] within its scope

apparently private actions which have a ‘sufficiently close nexus’ with the State to be ‘fairly

treated as that of the State itself.’” Id. (quoting Jackson v. Metro. Edison Co.,

(1974)). In making this distinction, “there is no bright-line rule separating state

action from private action.” Peltier,

; see Lindke v. Freed,

(2024) (“The distinction between private conduct and state action turns on substance,

not labels . . . .”). Rather, “the inquiry is highly fact-specific in nature,” and “the state

action analysis lacks rigid simplicity”; “thus, a range of circumstances can support a

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finding of state action.” Peltier,

(citation modified); see Lindke,

.

We have conducted a fact-specific inquiry and reviewed the parties’ briefs and the

record on appeal. We find no reversible error in the district court’s conclusion that the

individual defendant did not act under color of state law and that, with no constitutional

violation, the city defendant cannot be held liable. Accordingly, we affirm the district

court’s order. Hill v. Maynard, No. 1:23-cv-00479-WO-JEP (M.D.N.C. Sep. 30, 2024).

We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately

presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional

process.

AFFIRMED

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