Estate of William Hayden Schuck, by and through his successors in-interest Sabrina Schuck and Timothy Schuck; et al. v. County of San Diego; et al.

District Court, S.D. California·Decided July 19, 2024·No. 3:23-cv-00785·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 11 Case No.: 23-cv-785-DMS-AHG ESTATE OF WILLIAM HAYDEN

12 SCHUCK, by and through his successors ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND in-interest Sabrina Schuck and Timothy 13 DENYING IN PART MOTION TO Schuck; et al., DISMISS DEFENDANTS 14 Plaintiffs, CORRECTIONAL HEALTHCARE 15 v. PARTNERS AND NICHOLAS KAHL FROM SECOND AMENDED 16 COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO; et al., COMPLAINT (ECF NO. 67) 17 Defendants. 18 19 Pending before the Court is Defendants Correctional Healthcare Partners (“CHP”) 20 and Nurse Practitioner Nicholas Kahl’s (“Kahl”) motion to dismiss Plaintiffs’ Second 21 Amended Complaint (“SAC,” ECF No. 58) under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 22 12(b)(6). (ECF No. 67.) Following the death of William Hayden Schuck (“Schuck”) in 23 San Diego County Central Jail the morning of March 16, 2022, Schuck’s parents, Sabrina 24 and Timothy Schuck, on behalf of Schuck’s Estate and in their individual capacities as 25 Schuck’s next of kin, brought several claims against the County of San Diego (“the 26 County”), CHP, Kahl, and various county employees alleging constitutional violations 27 under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the California Bane Act (Cal. Gov’t Code § 52.1), and various 28 state tort law claims including negligence and wrongful death. Plaintiffs filed a response 1 in opposition (ECF No. 69) to which CHP and Kahl replied (ECF No. 70). For the reasons 2 set forth below, the Court grants in part and denies in part the motion to dismiss. 4 A. Factual Allegations 5 The background of this case is set forth in detail in the Court’s previous Order dated 6 February 8, 2024 (ECF No. 53). See Estate of Schuck ex rel. Schuck v. County of San 7 Diego (Estate of Schuck I), No. 23-CV-785-DMS-AHG, 2024 WL 500711, at *1–4 (S.D. 8 Cal. Feb. 8, 2024). The SAC adds Kahl as a named defendant and alleges Kahl was, at all 9 relevant times, a CHP employee contracted by the San Diego Sheriff’s Department in the 10 Medical Services Division at the San Diego County Jail. (SAC ¶ 27.) On March 15, 2022, 11 four days after Schuck’s hospitalization at UCSD, Kahl allegedly reviewed the “After Visit 12 Summary” and requested Schuck’s complete record from UCSD including all physician 13 notes. (Id. ¶ 95.) Plaintiffs allege that Kahl “should have reviewed [Schuck’s] hospital 14 records as soon as they were scanned into the system as part of the screening process,” and 15 that “[b]ased on [Schuck’s] medical records, Kahl should have known … of [Schuck’s] 16 serious medical issues and failed to … summon medical case.” (Id. ¶¶ 96–97.) There are 17 no material changes between the SAC and the First Amended Complaint (“FAC”) 18 regarding CHP’s liability, except that the SAC omits the allegation that “physicians 19 employed by CHP knew or should have known of [Schuck’s] symptoms during the days 20 leading up to his death and could have and should have intervened to provide life-saving 21 medical care,” (FAC ¶ 153, ECF No. 25), the Monell claims in Counts 3 and 4 no longer 22 contain an official ratification theory of liability, and Doe Medical Provider 2 (mental 23 health provider) is omitted. 24 B. Claims 25 Plaintiffs Sabrina and Timothy Schuck, parents of the decedent, initiated this action 26 on April 28, 2023, and filed the FAC on June 1, 2023. On February 8, 2024, the Court 27 issued an order granting in part and denying in part Defendant CHP’s motion to dismiss 28 and granting leave to amend. (ECF No. 53.) Plaintiffs filed their SAC on March 14, 2024, 1 which alleges nine claims (eight of which are against CHP or Kahl), as follows: 2 (1) 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, by Schuck’s Estate, against various County employees and Kahl. (SAC ¶¶ 201–210.) 3 (2) 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, by Schuck’s 4 parents, against various County employees and Kahl. (Id. ¶¶ 211–218.) 5 (3) 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Monell) for violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, by 6 Schuck’s Estate, against the County and CHP. (Id. ¶¶ 219–235.) 7 (4) 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Monell) for violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, by Schuck’s parents, against the County and CHP. (Id. ¶¶ 236–241.) 8 (5) California Government Code § 52.1 (Bane Act), by Schuck’s Estate, 9 against the County, County employees, CHP, and Kahl. (Id. ¶¶ 242–250.) 10 (6) California Government Code § 845.6 for failure to summon medical care, 11 by Schuck’s Estate, against the County and County employees.1 (Id. ¶¶ 251–261.) 12 (7) Negligence, by Schuck’s Estate, against the County, County employees, 13 CHP, and Kahl. (Id. ¶¶ 262–273.) 14 (8) Negligent training and supervision, by Schuck’s Estate, against the 15 County, certain County employees, CHP, and Kahl. (Id. ¶¶ 274–285.) 16 (9) Wrongful death, by Schuck’s parents, against the County, County employees, CHP, and Kahl. (Id. ¶¶ 286–294.) 17 18 On April 25, 2024, a second informal telephonic status conference was held with the 19 undersigned district judge. (See ECF No. 66.) Defendants CHP and Kahl filed the second 20 motion to dismiss on May 3, 2024. (“Defs.’ Mot.,” ECF No. 67.) Plaintiffs filed a response 21 in opposition on June 7, 2024. (“Pls.’ Opp’n,” ECF No. 69.) On June 21, 2024, Defendants 22 filed a reply. (“Defs.’ Reply,” ECF No. 70.) The Court took the matter under submission 23 without oral argument, see S.D. Cal. Civ. L.R. 7.1(d)(1), on June 28, 2024. (ECF No. 73.) 25 Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), a party may file a motion to dismiss 26

27 1 The SAC makes a single fleeting reference to “Kahl” in this claim. (See SAC ¶ 253.) This reference 28 1 on the grounds that a complaint “fail[s] to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” 2 Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). To survive a motion to dismiss, “a complaint must contain 3 sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its 4 face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 5 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual 6 content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable 7 for the misconduct alleged.” Id. “Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim 8 for relief will … be a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its 9 judicial experience and common sense.” Id. at 679. “Factual allegations must be enough 10 to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555. If Plaintiff 11 “ha[s] not nudged” her “claims across the line from conceivable to plausible,” the 12 complaint “must be dismissed.” Id. at 570. 13 In reviewing the plausibility of a complaint on a motion to dismiss, a court must 14 “accept factual allegations in the complaint as true and construe the pleadings in the light 15 most favorable to the nonmoving party.” Manzarek v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 16 519 F.3d 1025, 1031 (9th Cir.

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Estate of William Hayden Schuck, by and through his successors in-interest Sabrina Schuck and Timothy Schuck; et al. v. County of San Diego; et al., (S.D. Cal. 2024).

Estate of William Hayden Schuck, by and through his successors in-interest Sabrina Schuck and Timothy Schuck; et al. v. County of San Diego; et al. (Estate of William Hayden Schuck, by and through his successors in-interest Sabrina Schuck and Timothy Schuck; et al. v. County of San Diego; et al.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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