Little v. Gore

188 F. Supp. 3d 1005, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69369, 2016 WL 3022039
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedMay 26, 2016
DocketCase No. 14-cv-02181-BAS(JMA)
StatusPublished

This text of 188 F. Supp. 3d 1005 (Little v. Gore) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Little v. Gore, 188 F. Supp. 3d 1005, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69369, 2016 WL 3022039 (S.D. Cal. 2016).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANTS’ MOTIONS TO DISMISS

[ECF Nos. 21, 22, 23]

Hon. Cynthia Bashant, United States District Judge

On September 12, 2014, Plaintiffs filed a Complaint against the Defendant Officers. (ECF No. 1.) Following Defendants’ previous Motions to Dismiss, this Court ordered the Complaint dismissed in part with leave to amend. (ECF No. 17.) On February 29, 2016, Plaintiffs filed their First Amended Complaint (“FAC”). (ECF No. 20.) Defendants now move to dismiss the FAC in its entirety. (ECF Nos. 21, 22, 23.) Many of the arguments in the Motions to Dismiss and Responses in Opposition are largely a rehashing of the Court’s previous ruling on Defendants’ earlier Motions to Dismiss. Therefore, as noted below, many of the rulings made in the previous Order (ECF No. 17) are simply adopted and repeated for the purposes of this Order.

The Court finds these motions suitable for determination on the papers submitted and without oral argument. See Civ. L.R. 7.1(d)(1). For the reasons set forth below, the Court GRANTS IN PART AND DENIES IN PART Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss (ECF Nos. 21, 22, 23).

I. BACKGROUND1

On October 16, 2012, Matt Stevens, a Deputy Sheriff for the County of San Die[1009]*1009go (“Stevens”), swore an affidavit to San Diego County Superior Court stating that he observed “well over 100 growing marijuana plants” on Plaintiffs’ property while conducting aerial reconnaissance on September 17, 2012, and October 11, 2012. (FAC ¶¶ 11-12.) Stevens “knew from his observations that there were well under 100 marijuana plants on the [property] but embellished his observations in order to deceive Judge Rubin into issuing a search warrant.” (Id. ¶.12.) Judge Rubin subsequently issued a search warrant authorizing the search of Plaintiffs’ property and the seizure of any marijuana. (Id. ¶ 14.)

At 5:00 a.m. on October 17, 2012, Stevens together with Evan Sobczak, a Deputy Sheriff for the County of San Diego (“Sobczak”), Paul Paxton, a Detective for the San Diego Police Department (“Pax-ton”) and Justin Faw, a Special Agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration (“Faw”), all members of the San Diego County Integrated Narcotics Task Force (collectively, the “Defendant Officers”), ex^ ecuted the search warrant at Plaintiffs’ property. (FAC ¶ 15.) The Defendant Officers, “dressed ■ in military-style fatigues and armed with firearms, some of which were assault rifles, stormed [Plaintiffs’ property] in a SWAT-style raid with weapons drawn.” (Id. ¶ 16.) Upon entering Plaintiffs’ property, the Defendant Officers located Mr. Little, arrested him and put him in handcuffs. (Id. ¶ 17.) Stevens allegedly “questioned [Mr. Little] without reading him Miranda rights despite keeping [Mr. Little] in handcuffs.” (Id. ¶ 18.) The Defendant Officers then located Mrs. Little, and Sobczak “arrested [her] by tightly putting handcuffs on [her] wrists behind her back and locking her in the rear seat of his patrol vehicle.” (Id. ¶ 19.) At the time of the arrest, Mrs. Little “suffered from severe arthritis.” (Id. ¶ 20.) She “feared asking any of the NTF officers to loosen her handcuffs” and “was forced to wear the handcuffs for at least! ½ hours.” (Id.)

Prior to her arrest, Mrs. Little informed the Defendant Officers that “she has been sick for the past two months with pneumonia.” (FAC ¶ 19.) Nonetheless, Sobczak put Mrs. Little, who was wearing only shorts and a t-shirt, in a police car for approximately 30 minutes with the air conditioner running. (Id. ¶¶ 21, 25.) “During this time, [Mrs. Little] was visibly shivering due to the cold air, which was approximately 50 degrees Fahrenheit and at least as cold as the outside air.” (Id. ¶ 21.) The Defendant Officers ignored Mrs. Little’s complaint that she was too cold. (Id.) “As a result of her lengthy exposure to these cold conditions, [her] pneumonia symptoms were exacerbated in the following days, lengthening the time for her recovery.” (Id. ¶ 25.)

“At some point while she was in the police car, [Stevens] questioned [Mrs. Little] without reading her Miranda rights.” (FAC ¶ 22.) Sobcazk then removed Mrs. Little from the patrol vehicle “after an unknown period of time” and ordered her to remain seated in a chair. (IcL ¶ 23.) Before sitting down, Mrs. Little informed the Defendant Officers “that the chair was on top of a hill of red ants and that she was extremely allergic to red ants.” (Id.) In fact, Mrs. Little’s “allergy is so severe that it can cause her to go into anaphylactic shock for which she normally carries an EpiPen which she did not have access to at the time.” (Id. ¶ 24.) Mrs. Little told the Defendant Officers this “but they failed to take action” and therefore Mrs. Little “began having a panic attack as she was afraid the ants may get on her feet or that she might fall out of the chair on to the anthill, either of which could have killed her.” (Id.)

Despite informing the Defendant Officers on several occasions that she needed to use the bathroom and could not control [1010]*1010her bladder because of radiation damage to her bladder and intestines from her cancer treatment, Mrs. Little was not allowed to use the bathroom. (FAC ¶ 26.) As a result, she involuntarily relieved herself while seated outside and was unable to change into clean clothing until the Defendant Officers left the property. (Id.)

Officers further threatened Mrs. Little, saying they would call animal control to remove her Bengal kittens, “despite having no cause to believe the animals were being mistreated, abused or maintained in violation of law.” (FAC ¶ 27.)

At the time of the search, Plaintiffs were “valid qualified patients under Cal, Health & Safety [Code] §§ 11362.5 and 11362.765,” and Mr. Little was Mrs. Little’s primary caregiver. (FAC ¶ 28.) The Defendant Officers were aware of these facts. (Id.)

In the course of conducting the search, Stevens claimed the Defendant Officers located over 640 pounds of marijuana “in the form of untrimmed buds, packaged marijuana, and marijuana edibles.” (FAC ¶ 29.) “In reality, [they] were in possession of far less processed and unprocessed marijuana.” (Id.) The Defendant Officers destroyed the seized marijuana the following day by dumping it at the Miramar Landfill. (Id. ¶ 30.)

On November 5, 2012, the San Diego County District Attorney filed á criminal complaint charging Plaintiffs with' one count of unlawful possession of marijuana for sale in violation of California Health and Safety Code Section 11359, and one count of unlawful cultivation of marijuana in violation of California Health and Safety Code Section 11358. (FAC ¶ 31.) In the course of pretrial hearings, the trial court granted a motion to exclude evidence pursuant to Arizona v. Youngblood, 488 U.S. 51, 109 S.Ct. 333, 102 L.Ed.2d 281 (1988), and California v. Trombetta, 467 U.S. 479, 104 S.Ct. 2528, 81 L.Ed.2d 413 (1984), “finding that the [Defendant] [Officers had violated the [Plaintiffs’] due process rights by destroying material, exculpatory evidence.” (Id.

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Bluebook (online)
188 F. Supp. 3d 1005, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69369, 2016 WL 3022039, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/little-v-gore-casd-2016.