Hart v. Baca

204 F.R.D. 456, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22836, 2001 WL 1496464
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedNovember 9, 2001
DocketNo. 01-01866 DDP SHX
StatusPublished

This text of 204 F.R.D. 456 (Hart v. Baca) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hart v. Baca, 204 F.R.D. 456, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22836, 2001 WL 1496464 (C.D. Cal. 2001).

Opinion

ORDER RE MOTION TO STRIKE DEFENDANTS’ NINTH AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE

PREGERSON, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on the plaintiffs motion to strike the defendants’ Michael Antonovich, Yvonne Burke, Deane Dana, Donald Knabe, Gloria Molina, and Zev Yaroslavsky (collectively the “Supervisor Defendants”) ninth affirmative defense, which states: “The Supervisor Defendants are entitled to absolute immunity to the extent that their acts alleged in the Complaint were legislative in nature.” (Def s Answer ¶ 23.)

I. Background

The plaintiff filed the First Amended Complaint (“FAC”) in this matter on August 2, 2001. The plaintiff alleges, among other things, that he was illegally over-detained in the Los Angeles County Jail after a superior court judge ordered that he be released. (FAC ¶ 10.) The Supervisor Defendants in this action are Los Angeles County Supervisors.

II. Discussion

A. Legal Standard

Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(f), the Court may strike “any insufficient defense” from a defendant’s answer. Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(f). “To strike an affirmative defense, the moving party must convince the court that there are no questions of fact, that any questions of law are clear and not in dispute, and that under no set of circumstances could the defense succeed.” Securities & Exchange Comm’n v. Sands, 902 F.Supp. 1149, 1166 (C.D.Cal.1995) (internal quotation and citation omitted). “As a general proposition, motions to strike are regarded with disfavor because [they] are often used as delaying tactics, and because of the limited importance of pleadings in federal practice. Accordingly, courts often require a showing of prejudice by the moving party.” Id. (internal quotations and citations omitted).

While disfavored, “where [a] motion [to strike] may have the effect of making the trial of the action less complicated, or have the effect of otherwise streamlining the ultimate resolution of the action, the motion to strike will be well taken.” California v. United States, 512 F.Supp. 36, 38 (N.D.Cal.1981). “[I]f the defense here asserted is invalid as a matter of law, such determination should be made now, in order to avoid the needless expenditures of time and money in litigating” the defense. Purex Corp. v. General Foods Corp., 318 F.Supp. 322, 323 (C.D.Cal.1970).

B. Analysis

The plaintiff contends that the Supervisor Defendants’ ninth affirmative defense for absolute legislative immunity is insufficient as a matter of law based on the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Trevino v. Gates, 23 F.3d 1480 (9th Cir.1994), and its progeny. The FAC appears to set forth two different theories as the bases for the Supervisor Defendants’ liability in this action. First, the FAC alleges that prior decisions by the Supervisor Defendants to indemnify county sheriffs from punitive damage awards were made in bad faith and proximately caused a violation of the [458]*458plaintiffs constitutional rights.1 Second, the FAC alleges that the Supervisor Defendants failed to adequately train, supervise, and discipline sheriffs deputies, and that these omissions proximately caused the plaintiffs injuries.2

1. Rule 11

The defendants argue that the ninth affirmative defense of absolute legislative immunity is asserted as part of a good faith effort to reverse Trevino I. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 11(b)(2). Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 provides in part:

By presenting to the court (whether by signing, filing, submitting, or later advocating) a pleading, ... an attorney ... is certifying that to the best of the person’s knowledge, information, and belief, formed after an inquiry reasonable under the circumstances,—
(2) the claims, defenses, and other legal contentions therein are warranted by existing law or by a nonfrivolous argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law or the establishment of new law;

Fed.R.Civ.P. 11(b)(2).

The Court finds that, contrary to the plaintiffs assertions, Rule 11 does not require an express statement that the defense is being asserted to change the law. Therefore, the Court finds that the Supervisor Defendants’ ninth affirmative defense is properly pleaded.

2. Trevino Is Not Overruled

Under one theory of liability asserted in the FAC, the plaintiff alleges that the Supervisor Defendants are liable for previously voting to indemnify damage awards against Sheriffs deputies. The defendants acknowledge that Trevino holds that the act of voting to indemnify punitive damage awards falls outside the cloak of protection offered by absolute immunity. Trevino, 23 F.3d at 1483. The defendants contend, however, that the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bogan v. Scott-Harris, 523 U.S. 44, 118 S.Ct. 966, 140 L.Ed.2d 79 (1998), effectively overrules Trevino, and establishes the Supervisor Defendants’ rights to absolute legislative immunity.

In Trevino, the Ninth Circuit held that city council members who voted to indemnify specific punitive damage awards against certain police officers pursuant to California Government Code 825(b) were not entitled to absolute legislative immunity. 23 F.3d at 1483. The court reasoned that “an act which applies generally to the community is a legislative one, while an act directed at one or a few individuals is an executive one.” Id. at 1482 (internal quotation and citation omitted).

In Bogan, the Supreme Court found that local legislators who voted to eliminate a department of government had absolute, legislative immunity for their actions, notwithstanding that their votes were due to their allegedly racially discriminatory animus and desire to retaliate against the department head for her exercise of her First Amendment rights. 523 U.S. at 56, 118 S.Ct. 966. The Court rejected the lower courts’ reason[459]*459ing that the measure passed by the city council was an individually targeted administrative act, rather than a legislative elimination of that position. The Supreme Court concluded that whether an act is legislative turns on the nature of the act, rather than the motive of the official performing it. Id. at 45, 118 S.Ct. 966. The defendants contend that Bogan overrules Trevino because the Supreme Court has now established that a local legislator’s vote is a “quintessentially legislative act.”

The Court finds that Trevino is distinguishable from Bogan on several grounds. Most obviously, the local legislative action at issue in Bogan

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Related

Bogan v. Scott-Harris
523 U.S. 44 (Supreme Court, 1998)
Trevino v. Gates
23 F.3d 1480 (Ninth Circuit, 1994)
PUREX CORPORATION, LTD. v. General Foods Corporation
318 F. Supp. 322 (C.D. California, 1970)
Securities & Exchange Commission v. Sands
902 F. Supp. 1149 (C.D. California, 1995)

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Bluebook (online)
204 F.R.D. 456, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22836, 2001 WL 1496464, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hart-v-baca-cacd-2001.