GREGORY G. HOLLOWS, Magistrate Judge.
The plaintiff filed a First Amended Complaint on May 4, 2016. ECF No. 61. The City of Sacramento and several of the defendants associated with it filed a Motion to Dismiss that Complaint on May 16, 2016. ECF No. 63. The Motion was originally scheduled for hearing on May 18, 2016, was rescheduled to June 23, 2016, ECF No. 64, upon receipt of a Motion to Dismiss filed by defendant Garren Bratcher filed on May 18, 2016. ECF No. 66. That June 23, 2015 hearing date was vacated by an Order to Show Cause issued by the court on June 16, 2016. ECF No. 72.
The amended complaint is a voluminous document filled with many conclusory statements regarding conspiracy and speculations about an arrest which even plaintiff concedes was based on his non-registration as a sex offender (although plaintiff states reasons for his not being registered). The court, now having reviewed all of the documents and being fully apprised of the facts and law asserted in the pleadings and memoranda before it, has determined that oral argument of these matters would not be of material assistance to the court and therefore enters this Findings and Recommendations/Order.
In his First Amended Complaint, ECF 61, plaintiff purports to bring a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action against the City and County, District Attorney, Public Defender, Sherriff's Department, Police Department
Plaintiff also includes a number non-institutional employees as defendants, Garren Bratcher and Does 1-4 are employees of Loaves and Fishes, Gil Manalo, Deputy Hester and Does 8-10, are both employees of the County and "duly elected or appointed officials." He also names the Sacramento Police Chief (Samuel D. Somers, Jr.) and County Sheriff (Scott R. Jones), District Attorney Ann Marie Schubert and several Assistant DAs plus several Deputy Public Defenders and Superior Court Judge Geoffrey A. Goodman. Does 11-16 are SAFE officers. Finally he identifies Doe 18 as a one-time inmate at the Sacramento County Main Jail.
As to the institutional defendants, plaintiff does conclude that all actions of which he complained were taken "pursuant to customs, policies and practices of the City and County" by individuals acting under color and authority of law.
Plaintiff was arrested in August 2002 and ultimately pled NOLO or guilty to a violation of Cal. Penal § 220 — Assault with intent to commit mayhem or specified sex offenses, assault of a person under 18 with intent to commit specified sex offenses, all in the commission of a first degree burglary — thereby requiring him to register as a sex offender under Section 290. He went to prison and was paroled on May 7, 2004 at which time he also entered a drug and alcohol program. He was discharged from parole on May 7, 2007.
As a result of the foregoing plaintiff asserts that Penal Code § 290 violates the Fourteenth Amendment insofar as he is potentially faced with a felony (willful failure to register) or a misdemeanor (failure to register no less than every 30 days as a transient), but the system doesn't work.
As to Loaves & Fishes, Larry the green hat, Doe 1, wouldn't let him bring his bicycle frame into Friendship Park, characterizing it as a bicycle. The two had words, and plaintiff was restricted from entering the Park by defendant Bratcher, and Bratcher later refused to assist him with a letter to regain access. Other Loaves and Fishes Does would not assist either, so he's suing them. Ultimately he was banned from the North C Street property which prevented him from being "seen" at Mercy Clinic on 2/3/14 [apparently located at the same facility as Loaves and Fishes].
Ultimately, various Police defendants detained him with no probable cause, handcuffed him and took him to jail on or about February 20, 2014 on PC 290.12 (annual registration) felony and 290.11 (transient registration) misdemeanor charges (not to exceed 1 year Jail, second offense 16 mo. to 2-3 years). He is apparently also claiming they harassed him and falsified their reports.
Plaintiff claims Bratcher kept reporting him to the police because he'd called Bratcher a "renege" for not helping earlier and anyone who assisted Bratcher is (obviously) in a conspiracy with him to harass plaintiff.
Police defendants are alleged to have continued to "investigate" him but gave no plausible reason for doing so and failed to report their activities. This ongoing investigation is alleged to constitute an undefined Constitutional violation.
Public defendant Miller is alleged to have directed plaintiff not to plead or answer the judge's questions at an arraignment on 2/24/14 which resulted in his being in jail for 14 days awaiting a preliminary hearing,
Doe 8 refused to remove defendant from a cell shared with Doe 18 when Plaintiff claimed he was in danger which resulted in plaintiff being and assaulted moments later as a result of which he suffered injuries that required medical treatment.
In addition plaintiff raises many issues regarding the way his trial was conducted, both in terms of the performance of his public defense counsel before he prevailed in a
The totality of is claims are:
(1) First Claim: Equal protection (42 U.S.C. § 1983); (2) Second Claim: Conspiracy to interfere with civil rights (42 U.S.C. § 1985.3); (3) Third Claim: Negligent/intentional failure to prevent deprivation of rights. (42 U.S.C. § 1986); (4) Fourth Claim: False arrest and false imprisonment (Cal. Govt Code 820.4); (5) Fifth Claim: Malicious Prosecution and Abuse of Process; (6) Sixth Claim: Denial of Civil Rights/Discrimination (Cal. Civil Code §§ 51, 51.5, 51.7, 52; (7) Seventh Claim: Failure to Discharge Mandatory Duty (Cal. Govt Code 815.6); (8) Eighth Claim: Negligence (Cal. Govt Code 815.2); (9) Ninth Claim: Assault and Battery; (10) Tenth Claim: Conspiracy; (11) Eleventh Claim: Intentional or Reckless Infliction of Mental Distress; (12) Twelfth Claim: Negligent Infliction of Mental Distress; (13) Thirteenth Claim: Improper use of Internet Web Site (Cal. Pen, Code § 290.4); (14) Fourteenth Claim: Legal Malpractice (Lawyers); and (15) Fifteenth Claim: Breach of Fiduciary Duty (Lawyers).
The plaintiff asserts that this chain of behaviors collectively demonstrates fraud, corruption, and conspiracy resulting in a violation of his right to due process and equal protection under both the California and federal constitutions.
Ultimately the district attorney, who is a named defendant, dismissed all charges before trial since, according to the "record" it was stated that "we got him for about all the time that we would if he was convicted."
3.
The City Defendants — City of Sacramento, Chief Samuel D. Somers, Jr., Officers George Chargin, Jose Yepes, and Jeremy Ratcliffe, Sgt. Sameer Sood, Det. Bobby Daniels, and Det. Kevin Patton — bring this Motion to Dismiss them from the 11 causes of action against them for failure to allege sufficient facts. They ask that the dismissal be with prejudice insofar as "his two attempted pleadings" both suffer the same defect and show no plausible claims.
By its very language it is clear that 42 U.S.C. section 1981 protects persons who are members of a protected class.
Plaintiff does not allege that he is a member of protected class and that alone requires dismissal of this element of his complaint.
With regard to claims against the City of Sacramento,
Further, to show a policy or custom of the municipal entity he must allege facts to show there was a widespread practice in the City and/or the County "that . . . is so permanent and well settled as to constitute a `custom or usage' with the force of law.
The Eleventh Amendment to the federal Constitution bars federal suits for violations of federal law brought against state officials sued in their official capacities for damages and other retroactive relief.
Plaintiff seeks to hold the Chief of Police of the City of Sacramento and the Sheriff of Sacramento County personally liable for his alleged personal and constitutional injuries, apparently solely because they head the police department and Sheriff's Office, respectively. He alleges no facts regarding any actions taken against him by either of these officials personally or in some other way that would give rise to individual liability. While these officials might be sued for retrospective relief in their official capacities, the undersigned finds herein that no actions are alleged for which injunctive relief would be appropriate. Plaintiff's individual claims fail to state a claim, and these claims should be dismissed with prejudice.
The Eleventh Amendment does not bar federal suits for violations of federal law or state law against state officials correctly sued in their individual capacities for damages.
In order to successfully state a claim under section 1983, plaintiff must allege the violation of a right secured by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, and must show that the alleged deprivation was committed by a person acting under color of state law."
Plaintiff alleges that his arrest violated both his Fourteenth and Fourth Amendment rights. His Fourteenth Amendment claim must fail since all constitutional claims resulting from an arrest, investigatory stop, or other seizure of a free citizen should be analyzed under the Fourth Amendment rather than under substantive due process.
Here plaintiff admits in his Complaint that at the time of his arrest he was indeed not in compliance with the dictates of California Penal Code section 290 — the offense for which he was arrested. Thus, the action of these officers was supported by probable cause to believe that a crime had been committed. To arrest with probable cause does not result in a constitutional violation under the Fourth Amendment.
Further, these officers would be entitled to qualified immunity while performing discretionary functions such as effecting arrests, so long as their conduct does not violate a clearly established statutory or constitutional right. That is, the police officers cannot have violated the Constitution by arresting a person pursuant to a facially valid statute, or at least one which is not so pernicious on its face that no reasonable officer would attempt an arrest, e.g., a statute which required the arrest of only a specific racial group.
This analysis results in the conclusion that the police officers who made the arrest are entitled to the dismissal of the complaint against them, with prejudice.
The other named police officers have no specific factual allegations leveled against them. Instead plaintiff asserts that they "maliciously contriv[ed] intending to injure [him] in [his] good name and to bring [him] into public disgrace and scandal without probable cause" in collusion with the SAFE police unit that is responsible for enforcing Penal Code section 290. ECF 61 at ¶34. These allegations amount to nothing more than plaintiff's peculation or surmise and contain no facts to support them. Therefore, these officers (and those identified only as Doe defendants) are entitled to a dismissal of the complaint against them for failure to state a cognizable claim.
All of the allegations against Judge Goodman are aimed at his performance of his judicial duties. In paragraphs 50 and 51 of his complaint, ECF 61 at pp.25-26, plaintiff states his case against Judge Goodman as stemming from the Judge's dismissal of plaintiff's preliminary hearing which resulted in his extended pre-trial confinement. This, plaintiff contends, shows he's part of the conspiracy and that he personally violated the law.
These defendants are private citizens with no connection to government and thus any actions they took were not taken as persons acting under color of state law, which is a prime requisite for an action under 42 U.S.C. section 1983 and related statutes asserted in this complaint.
In order to successfully plead a conspiracy a plaintiff must demonstrate the existence of "`an agreement or `meeting of the minds' to violate constitutional rights.'"
Moreover, "[t]o state a claim for conspiracy to violate constitutional rights, `the plaintiff must state specific facts to support the existence of the claimed conspiracy'"
Here, plaintiff has described conduct, but he has failed to allege any facts to show that the conduct he describes can be determined to constitute a conspiracy to violate his rights in either his original or his Amended Complaint. The mere reporting of a potential crime to police officers is not an actionable conspiracy as the citizen does not become a state actor by the mere reporting of a potential crime.
Plaintiff has alleged that a jail officer, named only as Doe 8, refused to remove plaintiff from a cell after he complained that his cell mate, identified only as Doe 18, had threatened him, that he was fearful he would be attacked, that he actually was thereafter attacked, and that he required medical attention for his injuries. These facts are apparently intended to constitute a claim for violation of his Eighth Amendment Rights. ECF 64-1 at ¶ 37. In order to plead such a claim successfully, the plaintiff must show that he was "incarcerated under conditions posing a substantial risk of serious harm and that prison officials were deliberately indifferent to his need for protection."
"In order to be actionable under 1983, however, we believe that more than an isolated incident of negligent failure to protect must be alleged. The federal courts have stated on numerous occasions that absent unusual circumstances they will not intervene in the internal administration of state prison systems."
The undersigned repeats much of what was set forth in the Court's previously filed order regarding the motions to dismiss.
Plaintiff has also failed to state a claim for violations of §§ 1985 and 1986. In order to state a claim under § 1985, a plaintiff must show that "some racial, or perhaps otherwise class-based invidiously discriminatory animus" lay behind the alleged conspirators' action and that the conspiracy was aimed at interfering with protected rights secure by the law to all.
Section 1986 provides a claim for damages where a valid claim for relief has been stated under § 1985.
The undersigned understands full well that the Federal Rules require a liberal view towards granting leave to amend,
Therefore, the undersigned recommends that leave to amend be granted for only the failure to protect claim.
All of the claims (Third through Fifteenth) remaining in the Complaint are supplemental state claims over which this court has jurisdiction only pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367. District Courts are not required to retain jurisdiction of such supplemental claims when dismissing the claims upon which primary federal court jurisdiction is established,
Here, plaintiff has had an opportunity to attempt to properly plead his federal claims and he has failed on both occasions. These claims should therefore be dismissed without prejudice. The state claims may, under these circumstances, be brought to the state Superior Court for adjudication before a court with much broader experience with the claims that remain at issue after this decision. Plaintiff would be well advised to prune his complaint to cognizable state law claims and defendants against whom there is any potential for success.
For the foregoing reasons, the court Recommends as follows:
1. Plaintiff's First, Second and Third claims be dismissed with prejudice for failure to state a claim under federal law;
2. Plaintiffs Fourth, Fifth, Sixth Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Claims be dismissed without prejudice so they may be repleaded in the State court if plaintiff so wishes.
3. Plaintiff may if he so chooses,
These findings and recommendations are submitted to the United States District Judge assigned to the case, pursuant to the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). Within fourteen days after being served with these findings and recommendations, any party may file written objections with the court and serve a copy on all parties. Such a document should be captioned "Objections to Magistrate Judge's Amended Findings and Recommendations." Failure to file objections and/or the permitted Second Amended Complaint within the specified time may waive the right to appeal the District Court's order.