Fuller v. County of Orange

276 F. App'x 675
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit·Decided May 2, 2008·No. No. 06-55511·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM *

Donald Claython Fuller, Jr. (“Fuller”) appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment for Defendants County of Orange, the Orange County Sheriffs De[678] partment, former Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona, Orange County Sheriffs Deputies Streeter, Drootin, and Feely, and Sergeant Acuna (“Defendants”). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings.

Fuller brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1988 and California law, asserting Orange County Sheriffs Deputies used excessive force against him during his booking and incarceration, in violation of his First and Fourth Amendment rights. The district court granted the Defendants’ motion for summary judgment, holding there was no triable issue of fact that the deputies’ use of force was objectively reasonable.

We “review de novo a grant of summary judgment and must determine whether, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, there are any genuine issues of material fact and whether the district court correctly applied the relevant substantive law.” Goodstein v. Cont'l Cas. Co., 509 F.3d 1042, 1049 n. 6 (9th Cir.2007) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).

I.

A.

“[U]se of force is contrary to the Fourth Amendment if it is excessive under objective standards of reasonableness.” Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 202, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001). In determining whether the use of force was reasonable, we balance the severity of the force applied against the need for the use of force. See Drummond v. City of Anaheim, 343 F.3d 1052, 1056-60 (9th Cir. 2003).

Viewing the facts in the light most favorable to Fuller, we hold there is a triable issue of fact as to whether the deputies’ use of force was reasonable. Thus, we reverse the grant of summary judgment for Deputies Streeter, Feely, and Drootin.

B.

We reverse the district court’s grant of summary judgment for Sergeant Acuna, who was assigned to the Orange County Jail as a supervisor at the time of the incident. A supervisor may be liable under § 1983 if he “was personally involved in the constitutional deprivation or a sufficient causal connection exists between the supervisor’s unlawful conduct and the constitutional violation.” Lolli v. County of Orange, 351 F.3d 410, 418 (9th Cir.2003) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).

Even though Acuna did not have physical contact with Fuller, he supervised the deputies as they searched Fuller, watched to make sure the search was conducted in accordance with County policies and procedures, but failed to prevent the unreasonable use of force on Fuller.

C.

We affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment for Sheriff Carona for claims against him in his personal capacity and reverse as to the claims against him in his official capacity.

There is no respondeat supeñor liability under § 1983, and thus Sheriff Carona cannot be held liable based solely on his position as Orange County Sheriff. See Hansen v. Black, 885 F.2d 642, 645-46 (9th Cir.1989). It is undisputed Sheriff Carona was not present at the Orange County Jail during the incident at issue and thus had no personal involvement in Fuller’s booking or search. Therefore, the district court correctly entered summary judgment on Fuller’s claims against Sher[679] iff Carona in his personal capacity. See Larez v. City of Los Angeles, 946 F.2d 630, 645-46 (9th Cir.1991).

The district court erred, however, in entering summary judgment on Fuller’s claims against Sheriff Carona in his official capacity. Fuller introduced evidence that Sheriff Carona was the final policy-maker for all jail policies and was ultimately responsible for deciding the appropriate departmental response following an internal investigation. Fuller also introduced a report that was prepared by a criminal justice consultant on Sheriff Carona’s behalf. The report detailed concerns regarding the use of force by jail personnel during the time period relevant to the instant case. Therefore, the district court erred in entering summary judgment in favor of Sheriff Carona on the claims against him in his official capacity.1 See Lolli, 351 F.3d at 418; Larez, 946 F.2d at 646-47.

D.

The district court did not reach the question whether the individual Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity because it held no Fourth Amendment violation occurred. Because the facts, viewed in the light most favorable to Fuller, establish a constitutional violation, we turn to whether the individual Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity. The law of the Ninth Circuit at the time of this incident (February 27, 2001) would have given reasonable officers “fair warning” that the use of force less severe than the force used on Fuller, under similar circumstances, violates the Fourth Amendment. See Hope v. Pelzer, 536 U.S. 730, 739-40, 122 S.Ct. 2508, 153 L.Ed.2d 666 (2002); Felix v. McCarthy, 939 F.2d 699, 701-02 (9th Cir. 1991) (throwing a prisoner against a wall without provocation, causing bruising and soreness, constitutes unconstitutionally excessive use of force); Palmer v. Sander-son, 9 F.3d 1433, 1436 (9th Cir.1993) (tightly handcuffing an arrestee in disregard of the arrestee’s complaints constitutes excessive use of force where the handcuffs caused pain and bruising). Therefore, we hold the individual Defendants are not entitled to qualified immunity-

E.

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Fuller v. County of Orange, 276 F. App'x 675 (9th Cir. 2008).

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