Boyd v. City of Oakland

458 F. Supp. 2d 1015, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80303, 2006 WL 2982334
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedOctober 17, 2006
DocketC 03-3391 JL
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 458 F. Supp. 2d 1015 (Boyd v. City of Oakland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boyd v. City of Oakland, 458 F. Supp. 2d 1015, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80303, 2006 WL 2982334 (N.D. Cal. 2006).

Opinion

SUMMARY JUDGMENT (granting Docket # 49).

LARSON, Chief United States Magistrate Judge.

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Introduction

Plaintiff Cammerin Boyd filed suit on July 21, 2003, against Defendants Oakland Police Officers Sena and McQuinn, the Oakland Police Department, and the City of Oakland, regarding an alleged incident on July 23, 2002. All parties consented to this Court’s jurisdiction, as provided by 28 U.S.C. § 636(©) and Civil Local Rule 73. Plaintiff was killed in an incident with the San Francisco Police Department on May 5, 2004. Plaintiffs counsel Marylon M. Boyd is also his mother. After Plaintiffs untimely death, Ms. Boyd was appointed administrator of his estate. Cammerin Boyd remains the named plaintiff. Before the Court is the Defendants’ motion for summary judgment. The Court finds that Plaintiff fails to offer sufficient admissible evidence to defeat summary judgment, and grants Defendants’ motion.

Factual Background

The parties have not agreed upon a set of undisputed facts. 1 Plaintiffs Complaint *1022 alleges facts, which Defendants deny. Plaintiffs Complaint alleges that on July 23, 2002, Mr. Boyd, a twenty-nine year old African American male who was a double amputee, was legally driving his late model Mercedes Benz on Birch Street in Oakland. According to the Plaintiff, Defendant Officers Sena and McQuinn of the Oakland Police Department stopped Mr. Boyd’s car. Plaintiff asserts that the officers approached with their guns drawn and, shouting racial epithets, they dragged him from his car. The officers then allegedly made Mr. Boyd walk without his prosthetic devices, removed his clothing from the waist down, and conducted a body cavity search of Mr. Boyd in the public street. Plaintiff alleges that Defendant Officers then placed Mr. Boyd in handcuffs and forcefully threw him in the back of their patrol car, where he waited for 30 minutes while they searched his car. Plaintiff asserts that the officers then falsely ticketed Mr. Boyd and towed his car, leaving him at the scene.

Procedural Background

Plaintiff filed suit on July 21, 2003. This Court construes Plaintiffs Complaint to allege seven causes of action, including: (1) violation of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, (2) violation of civil rights under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, including a Monell claim against the Department and City, (3) conspiracy, (4) negligence, (5) assault and battery, (6) intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, (7) false arrest and false imprisonment.

Defendants City of Oakland, Oakland Police Department, and Officers Sena and McQuinn, filed their Answer to Plaintiffs Complaint on March 11, 2004, denying all of Plaintiffs claims and asserting affirmative defenses.

The Court has given Plaintiff ample opportunity to plead the case. At Plaintiffs request, the Court twice continued the matter in order to allow Plaintiff more time to conduct discovery. The Court ordered a third continuance after the death of the Plaintiff, Mr. Boyd. 2 On August 12, 2004, the Court denied Defendants’ motion to quash Plaintiffs discovery request regarding the observations of a witness to the incident in San Francisco on May 5, 2004, in which the Plaintiff was shot and killed. Although a conspiracy between the Oakland and San Francisco Police Departments was not plead in the Plaintiffs Complaint, the Court allowed Plaintiffs discovery request. On the other hand, Plaintiff has repeatedly failed to produce initial disclosures. On March 25, 2005, the Court ordered Plaintiff to do so or face sanctions.

On February 4, 2006, Defendants moved for summary judgment, or, in the alternative, partial summary judgment. In an untimely memorandum of points and authorities in opposition to summary judgment, Plaintiff asserted that summary judgment is not appropriate because triable issues of material fact exist in this case. Plaintiffs evidentiary support for this assertion is discussed below. A hearing on Defendant’s motion for summary judgment was held on March 22, 2006.

The Court grants the Defendants’ motion for summary judgment against all of the Plaintiffs claims, as discussed below.

*1023 ANALYSIS

I. The declaration of Marylon M. Boyd, Plaintiffs primary evidence, is inadmissible, with the exception of paragraph five’s description of Cammerin Boyd as “extremely upset,” which is admissible under the state of mind exception to the hearsay rule in FRE 803(3), and paragraph six, which is partially admissible to the extent that it states Ms. Boyd’s personal observations, rather than her legal conclusions and assertions made without personal knowledge.

The plaintiff bears the burden of proof on all of the essential elements of his or her claim. Southern Cal. Gas Co. v. Santa Ana, 336 F.3d 885, 888 (9th Cir.2003). A trial court can only consider admissible evidence in ruling on a motion for summary judgment. Orr v. Bank of America, 285 F.3d 764 (9th Cir.2002). “Authentication is a ‘condition precedent to admissibility’ ... We have repeatedly held that unauthenticated documents cannot be considered in a motion for summary judgment.” Id. (citing to FRE 901(a)).

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(e) requires that affidavits submitted in support of a motion for summary judgment must: (1) be made on the personal knowledge of an affiant who is competent to testify to the matters stated therein, (2) must state facts that would be admissible in evidence, and (3) if the affidavit refers to any document or item, a sworn or certified copy of that document or item must be attached to the affidavit. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e); Orr, 285 F.3d at 774 n. 9; William W. Schwarzer et ah, Cal. Prac. Guide: Fed. Civ. Pro. Before Trial (2004) § 14:161. This rule applies to declarations as well as affidavits. Schwarzer, supra, at § 14:161 (citing 28 U.S.C. § 1746, “[djecla-rations made under penalty of perjury have the same effect as an affidavit”).

A declarant must show personal knowledge and competency to testify by the facts stated. Bank Melli Iran v. Pahlavi, 58 F.3d 1406, 1412 (9th Cir.1995) (declarations on information and belief are entitled to no weight where declarant lacks personal knowledge).

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Bluebook (online)
458 F. Supp. 2d 1015, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80303, 2006 WL 2982334, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boyd-v-city-of-oakland-cand-2006.