Doe v. County of Sacramento

District Court, E.D. California·Decided February 10, 2025·No. 2:21-cv-01438·Unknown

Opinion

MARIA DOE, et al. No. 2:21-cv-01438-DC-CKD Plaintiffs, ORDER GRANTING MOTIONS FOR v. APPROVAL OF THE COMPROMISE OF A MINOR AND FOR GOOD FAITH COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO, et al. SETTLEMENT DETERMINATION Defendants. (Doc. Nos. 102, 106) This matter is before the court on Plaintiffs Maria Doe, Clara Doe, and I.D.’s motion for approval of the compromise of a minor (Doc. No. 102) and Defendants Jagdeep Singh, the Estate of Sushma Giri, and V & N Associates, LLC’s motion for good faith settlement determination (Doc. No. 106). Both motions were taken under submission to be decided on the papers pursuant to Local Rule 230(g). (Doc. Nos. 107, 111.) For the reasons explained below the court will grant both motions. In the operative second amended complaint, Plaintiffs allege the following. On May 7, 2018, Defendant Jagdeep Singh and his spouse, Sushma Giri, took title of 5973 Vista Avenue, Sacramento, California (“the Property”). (Doc. No. 32 at ¶ 10.) On May 31, 2018, Defendant Alida Estrada became a tenant of the Property. (Doc. Nos. 32 at ¶ 11; 33 at 53.) In November 2019, Plaintiff Maria Doe entered into an oral lease with Defendant Estrada to rent a unit of the Property. (Doc. No. 32 at ¶ 15.) On or about November 6, 2019, Plaintiff Maria Doe moved into the unit with three of her children, including Plaintiffs Clara Doe and I.D. (Id. at ¶ 16.) Soon after the Doe family moved into the unit, they became aware of numerous habitability issues. (Id. at ¶ 18.) Plaintiffs reported these issues to Defendant Estrada, but the problems were largely unaddressed. (Id. at ¶ 19.) On January 2, 2020, Sushma Giri passed, and Defendant Singh became the administrator of her estate. (Id. at ¶ 10.) On or about March 20, 2020, Defendant Singh transferred his interest in the Property to Defendant V & N Associates, LLC. (Id.) Defendants Singh, the Estate of Sushma Giri, and V & N Associates, LLC, are referred to as “the Property Owner Defendants.” (Id.) In March 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency due to the spread of COVID-19 and issued various directives regarding the capacity and function of the restaurant industry where Plaintiff Maria Doe worked. (Id. at ¶¶ 20, 23–24.) Governor Newsom also issued an executive order authorizing local governments to halt evictions of households who suffered a decrease in income due to COVID-19. (Id. at ¶ 25.) On March 24, 2020, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors adopted an eviction moratorium to prevent the eviction of tenants who owe rent due to COVID-19. (Id. at ¶ 28.) In March 2020, Plaintiff Maria Doe was laid off from her restaurant job due to COVID-19 restrictions and informed Defendant Estrada she would be unable to pay rent for the month of April because she had lost her job. (Id. at ¶¶ 29–30.) Defendant Estrada told her she would have until April 8th to move out if she did not pay April rent. (Id. at ¶ 30.) On or about April 1, 2020, Defendant Estrada told Plaintiff Maria Doe that because she could not pay the April rent, she would have to move by April 3, sooner than Defendant Estrada had previously stated. (Id. at ¶ 31.) In response, Plaintiff Maria Doe handed Defendant Estrada a signed form entitled “Tenant Delay of Rent Payment—COVID-19” that allegedly had been provided to her by “Sacramento Community Development.” (Id.) Although the form attested to the fact that because Plaintiff Maria Doe had lost income due to COVID-19, she was protected from eviction, Defendant Estrada allegedly told Plaintiff Maria Doe her form was “worthless” and proceeded to turn off the electricity to the unit two days later. (Id. at ¶¶ 31, 33.) On or about April 4, 2020, Plaintiff Maria Doe called Sacramento County Code Enforcement (“Code Enforcement”) to report that Defendant Estrada had “shut off her electricity to make her move out.” (Id. at ¶ 34.) On April 7, 2020, Code Enforcement contacted Defendants Singh and Estrada. (Id. at ¶ 35.) Following the calls from Code Enforcement, Defendant Singh communicated with Defendant Estrada. (Id.) Defendant Estrada then confronted Plaintiff Maria Doe to complain about her call to Code Enforcement. (Id. at ¶ 36.) Defendant Estrada told Plaintiff Maria Doe that Defendant Singh required her family to leave immediately because Code Enforcement was going to come that week. (Id.) Defendant Estrada threatened to call the police if Plaintiffs did not move out, and she followed through with that threat by calling 911 to complain that Plaintiff Maria Doe refused to move out. (Id. at ¶¶ 36, 38.) In response, Defendant Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office dispatched Defendant Deputy Darryl Roderick to the Property. (Id. at ¶ 39.) Plaintiffs allege Defendant Roderick proceeded to assist Defendant Estrada in coercing them to vacate the unit while refusing to provide Spanish language interpretation for Plaintiff Maria Doe, whose primary language is Spanish and who is not proficient in English. (Id. at ¶¶ 42–54.) Hours later, Plaintiffs vacated the unit and were rendered homeless. (Id. at ¶¶ 56–58.) Plaintiffs initiated this lawsuit by filing a complaint on August 11, 2021. (Doc. No. 1.) On April 13, 2022, Plaintiffs filed the operative second amended complaint against the Property Owner Defendants and Defendants County of Sacramento, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, Roderick, and Estrada. (Doc. No. 32.) Therein, Plaintiffs bring the following sixteen causes of action: (1) wrongful eviction and conspiracy to wrongfully evict against the Property Owner Defendants and Defendants Estrada and Roderick; (2) violation of the Due Process Clause, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, against Defendant Roderick; (3) Monell liability for failure to adopt language access Policy against Defendants County of Sacramento and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office; (4) Monell liability for failure to train against Defendants County of Sacramento and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office; (5) intentional discrimination in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, against Defendants County of Sacramento and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office; (6) violation of the Bane Act, Cal. Civ. Code § 52.1, against all Defendants; (7) violation of the Unruh Act, Cal. Civ. Code § 51 against Defendant Roderick; (8) unlawful discrimination in violation of Cal. Gov. Code §§ 11135 and 11139 against Defendants County of Sacramento and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office; (9) a writ of mandamus pursuant to Cal. Code Civ. Pro. § 1085 against Defendants County of Sacramento and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office; (10) negligence against Defendants County of Sacramento, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, and Roderick; (11) retaliatory eviction in violation of Cal. Civ. Code § 1942.5 against the Property Owner Defendants and Defendant Estrada; (12) breach of the warranty of habitability against Defendant Estrada; (13) untenantability in violation of Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1941 and 1941.1 against the Property Owner Defendants and Defendant Estrada; (14) negligence against the Property Owner Defendants and Defendant Estrada; (15) breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing against Defendant Estrada; and (16) breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment against Defendant Estrada. (Id. at 13–27.) On November 14, 2024, Plaintiffs and the Property Owner Defendants entered into a settlement and release agreement to settle all of Plaintiffs’ claims brought against them in exchange for a total settlement a

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