Doe 1 v. City Of San Diego

363 F. Supp. 3d 1104
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedJanuary 29, 2019
DocketCase No.: 17-cv-01581-BTM-WVG
StatusPublished

This text of 363 F. Supp. 3d 1104 (Doe 1 v. City Of San Diego) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Doe 1 v. City Of San Diego, 363 F. Supp. 3d 1104 (S.D. Cal. 2019).

Opinion

Honorable Barry Ted Moskowitz, United States District Judge

Defendant City of San Diego has filed a motion to dismiss Plaintiffs' Complaint. (ECF No. 10 ("MTD").) In response, Plaintiffs John Doe 1 and John Doe 2 filed an opposition, (ECF No. 13 ("Pls.' Opp'n") ), along with a request for judicial notice in support of the opposition, (ECF No. 13-1 ("Pls.' RJN") ). Defendant City of San Diego then filed a reply. (ECF No. 14 ("Def.s' Reply").) For the reasons discussed below, the Court denies Defendant's motion to dismiss and grants in part and denies as moot in part Plaintiffs' request for judicial notice.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs John Doe 1 and John Doe 2 (collectively, "Plaintiffs") bring claims against Defendant City of San Diego ("Defendant" or "the City") under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, requesting declaratory and injunctive relief due to the allegation that a local city ordinance restricting the areas where registered sex offenders ("Registrant(s)") may reside is unconstitutional under federal and California state law. (ECF No. 1 ("Compl.").) The local law, entitled the "Child Protection Act," was adopted on April 13, 2008 by San Diego City Council and codified as San Diego Municipal Code, Chapter 5, Article 8, Division 6. See San Diego, Cal., Municipal Code § 58.0601-58.0607 (hereinafter "the Ordinance").

About a year and a half before the City of San Diego adopted the Ordinance, the California voters adopted Proposition 83, known as "The Sexual Predator Punishment and Control Act: Jessica's Law", which passed on November 7, 2006 and went into effect on November 8, 2006. Cal. Legis. Serv. Prop. 83 (West) (hereinafter "Jessica's Law"). Among other changes, Jessica's Law amended several sections of the California Penal Code, including Section 3003.5. Id. ; see also Cal. Penal Code § 3003.5. The newly amended law retained the original language of Section 3003.5, now codified under subsection (a), which *1108restricts Registrants released on parole from residing with other Registrants in a single family dwelling. See Cal Penal Code § 3003.5(a). Two additional subsections were also added. Subsection (b) makes it unlawful "for any person for whom registration is required pursuant to [California Penal Code] Section 290 to reside within 2000 feet of any public or private school, or park where children regularly gather." Id. at § 3003.5(b). Subsection (c) provides that "nothing in this section shall prohibit municipal jurisdictions from enacting local ordinances that further restrict the residency of any person for whom registration is required pursuant to Section 290." Id. at § 3003.5(c).

The Ordinance mandates additional residency restrictions for Registrants in the City of San Diego. The stated purpose of the Ordinance is "to reduce the risk of harm to children by impacting the ability of sex offenders to be in contact with children" and "to provide additional restrictions beyond those provided for in Proposition 83, Jessica's law (effective November 8, 2006) by adding locations to the residence restrictions imposed by Jessica's Law...." Ordinance at § 58.0601.

The Ordinance provides three main regulations. First, the Ordinance makes it unlawful for Registrants to reside within 2000 feet of listed restricted areas. Id. at § 58.0603. The list includes "(a) Amusement center (b) Arcade (c) Child day care facility (d) Library (e) Playground (f) Park (g) School." Id. A separate section also provides brief definitions for each restricted area as well as definitions for other terms in the Ordinance like "[r]egistered sex offender." See id. at § 58.0602. Second, the Ordinance describes how to measure the 2000-foot buffer zone surrounding each restricted area. Id. at § 58.0604 ("The 2000-foot buffer zone is measured in a straight line, in all directions, without regard to intervening structures, from the property line of the places listed in section 58.0603 (a) through (g)."). Third, two additional sections regulate which Registrants are covered by the residency requirements with provisions specifying an effective date for the Ordinance as well as exemptions. See id. at §§ 58.0605-58.0606. The Ordinance only applies to a Registrant whose offense was committed on or after April 13, 2008. Id. at § 58.0606. The Ordinance also exempts a Registrant residing outside of the covered entities before April 13, 2008, even if one of the listed entities were to then move within 2000 feet of the Registrant after April 13, 2008. Id. at § 58.0605(b).

Since the passage of Jessica's Law in 2006, cases challenging the constitutionality of residency restrictions applying to Registrants have been litigated in state and federal courts. Of particular relevance here, the California Supreme Court in 2015 held the "blanket enforcement of the mandatory residency restrictions of Jessica's Law, as applied to registered sex offenders on parole in San Diego County" to be unconstitutional because the law could not "survive even the more deferential rational basis standard of constitutional review." In re Taylor , 60 Cal. 4th 1019, 1038, 184 Cal.Rptr.3d 682, 343 P.3d 867 (2015).

Plaintiffs John Doe 1 and John Doe 2 filed a complaint on August 7, 2017, challenging the Ordinance on state and federal constitutional grounds. (Compl. ¶¶ 1-3.) The Complaint alleges that both Plaintiffs are required to register as sex offenders under California Penal Code Section 290 for offenses committed after April 13, 2008. Id. at ¶¶ 6-7. Plaintiff John Doe 1 resides in the City of San Diego, and Plaintiff John Doe 2 resides in the County of San Diego. Id.

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Bluebook (online)
363 F. Supp. 3d 1104, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/doe-1-v-city-of-san-diego-casd-2019.