Bull v. City and County of San Francisco

758 F. Supp. 2d 925, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 133306, 2010 WL 5289272
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedDecember 16, 2010
DocketC 03-01840 CRB
StatusPublished

This text of 758 F. Supp. 2d 925 (Bull v. City and County of San Francisco) 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
Bull v. City and County of San Francisco, 758 F. Supp. 2d 925, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 133306, 2010 WL 5289272 (N.D. Cal. 2010).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO DISMISS AND GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART MOTION TO ALTER OR AMEND JUDGMENT

CHARLES R. BREYER, District Judge.

There are two Motions presently before the Court. First, Plaintiffs move to alter or amend this Court’s Order granting them leave to amend but not including in that leave permission to add a new named Plaintiff (Brian Vowell) as a subclass rep *927 resentative. See Sept. 8, 2010 Order (Dkt. 314) at 12-14; 1 Sept. 20, 2010 Order (Dkt. 317) (granting Motion for Leave to File Motion for Reconsideration). Second, Defendants move to dismiss all state-law strip search claims against the City seeking damages based on alleged violations of Cal.Penal Code § 4030.

Plaintiffs’ Motion to Alter the Judgment is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. In particular, Plaintiffs are permitted to add Vowell as a subclass representative for the group of arrestees searched absent classification (subclass 2) but not for the group making claims under section 4030 (subclass 3). Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED, and Plaintiffs’ damage claims against the City for violation of section 4030 are dismissed.

I. THE MOTION TO ALTER OR AMEND JUDGMENT

The gist of Plaintiffs’ Motion to Alter the Judgment is that the Court was “clearly wrong” in denying them leave to add a new named Plaintiff and Class Representative who they now imply is necessary (or at least very helpful) for the proper presentation of two of their subclass claims. 2 The Court was clearly wrong, in Plaintiffs’ view, because the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Bull eliminated claims related to “classification” strip searches, and where, as here, a class has already been certified, courts routinely allow substitution of new representatives with viable claims following a change in the law. See Bull v. San Francisco, 595 F.3d 964 (9th Cir.2010).

A. Background

This Court certified a class in this case in 2004. 3 The parties then filed motions for summary judgment on various issues. In disposing of those Motions, this Court held, among other things, that (1) Defendants’ blanket policy of strip searching all arrestees classified for housing in a county jail was unconstitutional; and (2) Defendant Sheriff Hennessey was not entitled to qualified immunity for his decision to create a blanket policy of strip searching all individuals classified for housing. Sept. 22, 2005 Mem. and Order (Dkt. 220) at 10, 14-15; Feb. 23, 2006 Am. Mem. and Order (Dkt. 247) at 13, 22, 25.

Defendant Hennessey took an interlocutory appeal on the qualified immunity issue, and the Ninth Circuit concluded that the City’s “policy requiring strip searches of all arrestees classified for custodial *928 housing in the general population was facially reasonable under the Fourth Amendment, notwithstanding the lack of individual suspicion as to the individuals searched.” Bull, 595 F.3d at 982.

In response to the Ninth Circuit’s decision, Plaintiffs moved to amend their Complaint. Mot. to Am. Cmpl. (Dkt. 291). The Court granted that motion in part, allowing Plaintiffs to amend to set forth three “new” subclasses composed of members of the originally certified class who still have viable claims. Sept. 8, 2010 Order (Dkt. 314). However, the Court did not permit Plaintiffs to add two new named Plaintiffs (and, it is now clear, proposed subclass representatives). Id. at 12-14. This was because (1) the new Plaintiffs’ claims were not affected by Bull because they did not concern a classification strip search and (2) allowing then-addition after so lengthy a time has passed since the events at issue would be unduly prejudicial to Defendants. Id.

Plaintiffs did two things in response to the Court’s Order.

First, they filed a Fourth Amended Complaint, which, among other things, sets forth three subclasses. Fourth Am. Cmpl. (Dkt. 315) at 15-16.

Subclass 1: detainees in [Defendants’] custody who are members of the previously certified class subjected to second strip and visual body cavity searches upon their initial arrival in their housing units, prior to be intermingled with the general population, after they have already been strip searched at the time of housing “classification”;
Subclass 2: detainees in [Defendants’] custody who are members of the previously certified class who were subjected to strip searches without reasonable suspicion before they were classified for housing in the general population;
Subclass 3: misdemeanor detainees in [Defendants’] custody, who are members of the previously certified class, eligible for the protection of California Penal Code Section 4030, who were subjected to strip searches without reasonable suspicion before they have had access to a phone or a reasonable opportunity to post bail, for a period of at least three hours.

Id.

Second, Plaintiffs simultaneously filed a Motion for Leave to File a Motion for Reconsideration of the decision to deny them leave to add Vowell as a named Plaintiff/Class Representative. Dkt. 316. The Court granted Plaintiffs leave to file the motion for reconsideration, they filed that motion, and it is now ripe for disposition.

B. Standard of Review

“A Rule 59(e) motion is appropriate ‘if the district court: (1) is presented with newly discovered evidence, (2) committed clear error or the initial decision was manifestly unjust, or (3) if there is an intervening change in controlling law.’” Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Mantor, 417 F.3d 1060, 1063 n. 1 (9th Cir.2005) (quoting Sch. Dist. No. 1J, Multnomah Cty. v. ACandS, Inc., 5 F.3d 1255, 1263 (9th Cir.1993)). The district court should not reverse itself if its initial decision was merely wrong. Rather, it should do so only if the prior decision was “clearly” wrong. Leslie Salt v. United States, 55 F.3d 1388, 1393 (9th Cir.1995).

C. Discussion

1. After a Class is Certified Courts Often Allow Plaintiffs to Swap in Representatives with Live Claims for Those Whose Claims Have Been Mooted

The starting point for Plaintiffs’ argument that this Court clearly erred in not *929 allowing them to add Vowell as a new Class Representative is the proposition that, once certified, “courts regularly allow replacement of the named plaintiff.” Hitt v.

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Bluebook (online)
758 F. Supp. 2d 925, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 133306, 2010 WL 5289272, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bull-v-city-and-county-of-san-francisco-cand-2010.