Estate of Norman Fisher Jr. v. County of Sacramento

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedJune 17, 2025
Docket2:24-cv-00109
StatusUnknown

This text of Estate of Norman Fisher Jr. v. County of Sacramento (Estate of Norman Fisher Jr. v. County of Sacramento) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Estate of Norman Fisher Jr. v. County of Sacramento, (E.D. Cal. 2025).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 ESTATE OF NORMAN FISHER JR., et No. 2:24-cv-00109-DAD-SCR al., 12 Plaintiffs, 13 ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR v. APPROVAL OF MINOR’S COMPROMISE 14 COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO, et al., (Doc. No. 29) 15 Defendants. 16

17 18 On February 28, 2025, plaintiffs filed a motion for an order approving a proposed minor’s 19 compromise settling plaintiff S.F.’s claims brought in this action. (Doc. No. 29.) On March 14, 20 2025, defendants filed a statement of non-opposition. (Doc. No. 30.) For the reasons discussed 21 below, the court will grant the pending unopposed motion. 22 BACKGROUND 23 Plaintiff S.F. is a fifteen-year-old girl, but she was thirteen years old at the time of the 24 events giving rise to this action.1 (Doc. No. 29-2 at ¶ 5.) The pending application provides a 25 detailed factual background, which the court incorporates by reference herein. In short, this 26 action involves the death of 47-year-old Norman Fisher Jr. (the “decedent”) on May 27, 2023 27 1 Plaintiff S.F. is a minor, but no appointment of a guardian ad litem was necessary in this action. 28 (Doc. Nos. 4, 4-1.) 1 after his health deteriorated while incarcerated as a pre-trial detainee at the Sacramento County 2 Main Jail. (Doc. No. 29-1 at 2.) 3 Plaintiffs Estate of Norman Fisher Jr. (the “estate”), Catherine Dallas Fisher (decedent’s 4 mother), and S.F. (decedent’s daughter) filed the complaint initiating this action on January 8, 5 2024. (Doc. No. 1.) The operative first amended complaint asserts the following ten claims: 6 (1) a § 1983 claim of deliberate indifference in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment asserted 7 by the estate against all defendants; (2) a claim under 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101, et seq. for a violation 8 of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act asserted by the estate against defendants County 9 of Sacramento, Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, and Sacramento County Department of 10 Health Services (the “municipal defendants”); (3) a claim under 29 U.S.C. §§ 701, et seq. for a 11 violation of § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act asserted by the estate against the municipal 12 defendants; (4) a § 1983 claim of interference with familial association in violation of the 13 Fourteenth Amendment asserted by plaintiffs S.F. and Catherine Fisher against all defendants; 14 (5) a § 1983 claim of interference with familial association in violation of the First Amendment 15 asserted by plaintiffs S.F. and Catherine Fisher against all defendants; (6) a claim under 16 California Government Code § 845.6 for failure to summon medical care asserted by the estate 17 against all defendants; (7) a claim under California Civil Code § 52.1 (the “Bane Act”) asserted 18 by all plaintiffs against all defendants; (8) a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress 19 asserted by the estate against defendants Romig, Babu, Gonzales, Venkatapathy, Fadaki, Patnaik, 20 Harris, Ornido, and Castex; (9) a negligence claim asserted by the estate against all defendants; 21 and (10) a claim under § 377.60 of the California Code of Civil Procedure for wrongful death 22 asserted by plaintiff S.F. against all defendants. (Doc. No. 25 at ¶¶ 128–97.) 23 On January 23, 2025, the parties attended a mediation with retired U.S. Magistrate Judge 24 Kendall J. Newman, and the parties agreed to the terms of their settlement subject to County of 25 Sacramento board approval and the court’s approval of a minor’s compromise. (Doc. No. 29-1 at 26 4.) On February 28, 2025, plaintiffs filed the pending motion for an order approving the proposed 27 minor’s compromise settling all of plaintiff S.F.’s claims in this action. (Doc. No. 29-1.) 28 ///// 1 LEGAL STANDARD 2 This court has a duty to protect the interests of minors participating in litigation before it. 3 Salmeron v. United States, 724 F.2d 1357, 1363 (9th Cir. 1983). To carry out this duty, the court 4 must “conduct its own inquiry to determine whether the settlement serves the best interests of the 5 minor.” Robidoux v. Rosengren, 638 F.3d 1177, 1181 (9th Cir. 2011) (quoting Dacanay v. 6 Mendoza, 573 F.2d 1075, 1080 (9th Cir. 1978)); see also Salmeron, 724 F.2d at 1363 (“[A] court 7 must independently investigate and evaluate any compromise or settlement of a minor’s claims to 8 assure itself that the minor’s interests are protected, even if the settlement has been recommended 9 or negotiated by the minor’s parent or guardian ad litem.”) (citation omitted). 10 In examining the fairness of a settlement of a minor’s federal claims, the district court’s 11 inquiry should focus solely on “whether the net amount distributed to each minor plaintiff in the 12 settlement is fair and reasonable, in light of the facts of the case, the minor’s specific claim, and 13 recovery in similar cases.” Robidoux, 638 F.3d at 1181–82; see also id. at 1179 n.2 (limiting the 14 court’s holding to cases involving federal claims only). Where a settlement involves state law 15 claims, federal courts generally are guided by state law. See Tashima & Wagstaffe, California 16 Practice Guide: Federal Civil Procedure Before Trial ¶ 15:138 (Cal. & 9th Cir. Eds. 2015) 17 (“Federal courts generally require that claims by minors . . . be settled in accordance with 18 applicable state law. California law requires court approval of the fairness and terms of the 19 settlement.”). Under California law, a settlement for a minor and attorneys’ fees to represent a 20 minor must be approved by the court. Cal. Prob. Code § 3601; Cal. Fam. Code § 6602. 21 Reasonable expenses and court costs to be paid out of the settlement also must be approved by the 22 court. Cal. Prob. Code § 3601. Finally, the Local Rules of this court require the parties to make 23 disclosures regarding the minors involved, the nature of the controversy, the manner in which the 24 compromise was determined, and whether a conflict of interest may exist between the minor and 25 the minor’s attorney. See Local Rule 202(b)–(c). 26 ANALYSIS 27 In petitions for a minor’s compromise, courts typically consider such information as the 28 relative worth of the settlement amount, the circumstances of the settlement, counsel’s 1 explanation of their views and experiences in litigating these types of actions, and other, similar 2 compromises that have been approved by courts. See, e.g., Bravo v. United States, No. 1:14-cv- 3 01004-AWI-JLT, 2016 WL 3418450, at *2–3 (E.D. Cal. June 22, 2016) (considering the posture 4 of the case and the fact that the settlement occurred as a result of a court-supervised settlement 5 conference); Hagan v. Cal. Forensic Med. Grp., No. 2:07-cv-01095-LKK-AC, 2013 WL 461501, 6 at *1 (E.D. Cal. Feb. 5, 2013) (considering court-approved minor’s settlements in other cases), 7 report and recommendation adopted, 2013 WL 552386 (E.D. Cal. Feb. 12, 2013). Having 8 considered the unopposed motion for approval of the minor’s compromise in this case, the 9 undersigned concludes that the settlement agreement in this case is reasonable and in plaintiff 10 S.F.’s best interests.

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