Gregory v. City of Vallejo

63 F. Supp. 3d 1171, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 152823, 2014 WL 5473075
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedOctober 28, 2014
DocketNo. 2:13-cv-00320-KJM-KJN
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 63 F. Supp. 3d 1171 (Gregory v. City of Vallejo) 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
Gregory v. City of Vallejo, 63 F. Supp. 3d 1171, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 152823, 2014 WL 5473075 (E.D. Cal. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER

KIMBERLY J. MUELLER, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on the motion by the City of Vallejo (“City”), former Chief of the City Police Department (“PD”) Robert Nichelini (“Chief Ni-chelini”), and former police officer Chase Calhoun (“Officer Calhoun”) (collectively “defendants”) for summary judgment. (Defs.’ Mot. Summ. J., ECF No. 29.) Erika Gregory (“Ms. Gregory”) and Loren Mollner (“Mr. Mollner”) (collectively “plaintiffs”) oppose the motion. (Pis.’ Opp’n, ECF No. 43.) The court held a hearing on the matter on August 29, 2014, at which Nick Casper appeared for plaintiffs and Furah Faruqui for defendants. As explained below, the court DENIES in part and GRANTS in part defendants’ motion.

I. UNDISPUTED FACTS1

The claims in this case brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 arise out of Officer Calhoun’s killing of plaintiffs’ dog, Belle. (See generally Pis.’ First Am. Compl. (“Compl.”), ECF No. 10.) Plaintiffs are a married couple. (ECF No. 45 ¶ 1.) Belle was an eleven-year-old Labrador-Catahou-la-mix weighing about 70 pounds. (Gregory Decl. ¶ 2, ECF No. 38; Gregory Dep. 58:18-23, Casper Deck, Ex. 1, ECF No. 36-1.) In addition to Belle, plaintiffs owned two other dogs: Flicka, a fourteen-year-old blind and deaf Border Collie-mix; and a Labrador puppy, Holly. (Id.) At the time of the challenged action, Officer Calhoun was a City police officer. (ECF No. 44 ¶ 8.) At the hearing, the parties clarified that Chief Nichelini was the City’s Police Chief at the time of the shooting.

About a week before the challenged incident, Ms. Gregory learned that her bank account had been subjected to fraud. (Gregory Dep. 23:20-24:7.) Accordingly, on May 11, 2012, four days before the incident, Ms. Gregory filed a claim with the -City PD through the PD’s website, along with filing a claim with her bank. (Id. at 24:7-26:8.) On May 16, 2012, the day of the incident, on the advice of her bank investigator, Ms. Gregory contacted the City PD to learn whether an investigator had been assigned to her claim. (Id. at 26:9-27:11.) The person on the phone at the PD told Ms. Gregory that no investiga[1175]*1175tor had been assigned to her claim and transferred the call to ■ a dispatcher. (Id. at 28:2-29:5.) As the dispatcher did not understand why the call had been transferred to her, she transferred Ms. Gregory back to the investigations department. (Id. at 29:3-13.) Eventually, the person at the investigations department said she would “try and force a message through to dispatch ....” (Id. at 29:3-15.)

The City’s computer-aided dispatch log indicates that at 11:00 a.m., Ms. Gregory contacted the City PD, wanting to speak “to an officer to provide suspect information. ...” (Casper Deck, Ex. 5, ECF No. 36-5.) After more than an hour, Officer Calhoun picked up the call at 12:11 p.m. (Id.) At the time Officer Calhoun accepted the call, he knew that the call concerned an already-open case file with the City PD (Calhoun Dep. 40:18-41:4, Ex. 4, ECF No. 36-4) and involved claims of bank fraud (id. at 46:4-7). When Officer Calhoun reported to plaintiffs’ residence, he was in a police uniform carrying with him, among other things, a Taser, gun, pepper spray, and baton. (ECF No. 44 ¶ 13.) Arriving at plaintiffs’ residence, Officer. Calhoun parked his patrol car in front and walked up to the property. (Id. ¶¶ 17-18.) Plaintiffs’ property was surrounded by a low white fence with a closed but unlocked gate. (Id. ¶ 19.) According to Officer Calhoun, when he approached the gate, he shook the gate or hit the gate with his flashlight before opening it. (Calhoun Dep. 54:13-22, Faruqui Deck, Ex. A, ECF No. 32-1.) Hearing no response from the inside, Officer Calhoun entered the yard and began walking towards the front door. (ECF No. 44 ¶ 29.) As Officer Calhoun was approaching the front door, he saw Belle and Flicka moving toward him. (Id. ¶ 32.) Because Officer Calhoun “realized that [he] was going to be attacked by not one, but two dogs,” he drew his firearm and fired two rounds killing Belle. (Calhoun Dep. 71:15-21, ECF No. 32-1.) Subsequently, Officer Calhoun left the yard, closed the gate (ECF No. 44 ¶¶ 36-37), reported the incident and requested that an Animal Control team be sent (id. ¶ 39). Alarmed by the gunshots (Gregory Dep. 31:17-25, ECF No. 361), Ms. Gregory came out of the house and saw Belle “lying in a pool of blood” (id. 58:9-11). It is undisputed that Officer Calhoun was the only eyewitness to the shooting. (ECF No. 44 ¶ 42.)

Plaintiffs filed a complaint for damages on February 20, 2013 (see ECF . No. 2), alleging seven claims: (1) violation of the Fourth Amendment under § 1983 against Officer Calhoun; (2) violation of the Fourth Amendment against the City and Chief Nichelini under Monell v. Department of Social Services of City of New York, 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978); (3) trespass against Officer Calhoun; (4) trespass to chattels against Officer Calhoun; (5) conversion against Officer Calhoun; (6) intentional infliction of emotional distress against .Officer Calhoun; and (7) violation of California Civil Code sections 52 and 52.1 (see Compl. at 7-14). Defendants now move for summary judgment on all of plaintiffs’ claims. (ECF No. 29.) Plaintiffs partly oppose the motion (ECF No. 43), and defendants have replied (ECF No. 48).

II. SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD

A court will grant summary judgment “if ... there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a mattér of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). The “threshold inquiry” is whether “there are any genuine factual issues that properly can be resolved only by a finder of fact because they may reasonably be resolved in favor of either party.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 [1176]*1176U.S. 242, 250, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).2

The moving party bears the initial burden of showing the district court “that there is an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party’s case.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 417 U.S. 317, 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The burden then shifts to the nonmoving party, which “must establish that there is a genuine issue of material fact .... ” Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 585, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). In carrying their burdens, both parties must “cit[e] to particular parts of materials in the record ...; or show [] that the materials cited do not establish the absence or presence of a genuine dispute, or that an adverse party cannot produce admissible evidence to support the fact.” Fed. R. Crv. P. 56(c)(1); see also Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348 (“[the nonmoving party] must do more than simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts”). Moreover, “the requirement is that there be no genuine issue of material fact....

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
63 F. Supp. 3d 1171, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 152823, 2014 WL 5473075, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gregory-v-city-of-vallejo-caed-2014.