Martinez v. City of Stockton

132 F.R.D. 677, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14718, 1990 WL 167596
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedOctober 18, 1990
DocketNo. Civ S-89-0547 EJG GGH
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 132 F.R.D. 677 (Martinez v. City of Stockton) 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
Martinez v. City of Stockton, 132 F.R.D. 677, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14718, 1990 WL 167596 (E.D. Cal. 1990).

Opinion

ORDER

GREGORY G. HOLLOWS, United States Magistrate.

Introduction

This case involves a claim by plaintiff that her decedent died as a result of excessive force utilized by police during an arrest of her decedent. On Friday August 17, 1990, the parties appeared in this court to argue plaintiff’s motion to produce documents from the Stockton police personnel and Internal Affairs files. Claudia W. Brisson represented the plaintiff; J. Anthony Abbott represented the defendant. The court issued an order on August 25, 1990, which in part instructed counsel to prepare for a Fed.Rule of Civ.Pro., Rule 26(f) dis[679]*679covery conference which was held on October 12,1990. Because of the importance of the discovery issues raised in this “excessive force” 42 U.S.C. § 1983 case and because the recent change in “excessive force” substantive law significantly changes the discovery which should be allowed in such cases, the court writes an order inclusive of its previous order and the results of the Rule 26 conference. That part of the August 25th order which set forth the details of the Rule 26(f) conference, and the protective order fashioned for this case, is set forth in the Appendix to this order.

Background

This action was originally filed on April 18, 1989, by Lillian Martinez in her individual capacity for the wrongful death of her brother, Alphonso Dutra, and in her capacity as the administrator of the Dutra estate for section 1983 violations. The action arises out of the alleged police brutality suffered by Dutra in his arrest on April 29, 1988. On that day, at approximately 3:05 p.m., Dutra was arrested outside of his apartment building for allegedly violating section 11352 of the California Health and Safety Code (sale of heroin).

Stockton police officer Joseph Rocha had set up a buy from Dutra at Independence Park in Stockton. The purchase was eventually made in the hallway of Dutra’s apartment complex. After the purchase was made, Rocha identified himself as a police officer and Dutra fled. He was caught in the street outside his building by Rocha and Officers Townes and Sandoval, who were hiding in the hallway of the building observing the transaction. Dutra was driven to the Stockton Police Facility by Officer Trullson.

After he was booked, Dutra was taken to the county jail for incarceration. There, he was examined by a nurse and cleared for admission. On May 4, 1988, Dutra was found unconscious in his jail cell. He was then taken to the hospital where doctors operated in an attempt to stop internal bleeding.

On or about May 9, 1988, Dutra died of hemorrhaging allegedly caused by actions taken while he was under the custody and control of the Stockton City Police and the San Joaquin County Jail.

On July 25, 1989, plaintiff filed her first amended complaint, therein alleging that four named police officers; defendants Rocha, Townes, Sandoval, and Trullson caused Dutra’s death by kicking him in the stomach.

Plaintiff’s original request for production of documents, which set forth eleven categories of requested documents, has been complied with in part by the defendant. The defendant refused to produce the materials sought by the following requests.

Request Number 1: Produce all records concerning the decedent Alphonso Dutra with the Stockton Police Department, including the materials produced by the City of Stockton Internal Affairs Unit, specifically including the statements of Officers Townes, Rocha, Sandoval, and Trullson.
Request Numbers 2, 3, 4, and 5: Produce the entire personnel files and records, including complaints, disciplinary records and Internal Affairs records concerning claims of excessive force, brutality, discrimination, racism, abuse of power, or any other police misconduct by defendant-Officers Townes, Sandoval, Trullson, and Rocha.
Request Numbers 8: Produce all records held by the City of Stockton including the records concerning the investigation into the death of the decedent Alphonso Dutra, including the objective materials stated to be withheld in the Defendants’ Response to Request Number 1. Specifically, this category again requests the Internal Affairs investigation statements of Officers Townes, Rocha, Sandoval, and Trullson.

Through its counsel, the City of Stockton objected to production of the law enforcement personnel records on the basis of section 832.7 of the California Penal Code:

Peace officer personnel records and records maintained pursuant to section 832.5 [citizen’s complaints investigations], or information obtained from these records, are confidential and shall not be disclosed in any criminal or civil proceeding except by discovery pursuant [680]*680to sections 1043 and 1046 of the Evidence Code. This section shall not apply to investigations or proceedings concerning the conduct of police officers or a police agency conducted by a grand jury or a district attorney’s office.

The City also claimed that section 1040 of the California Evidence Code precluded the disclosure of the requested information, or as a last argument, that plaintiff’s counsel had not satisfied the requirements for disclosure set forth in §§ 1043, 1045.

Pursuant to this court’s order filed July 17, 1990, this court directed the defendant to submit the above requested material for the purpose of an in camera review. The court stated that the documents would be examined for the purpose of determining which documents, if any, shall be ordered released to plaintiff pursuant to her discovery requests. The court further ordered that the defendant Bate stamp each of the submitted documents so as to afford the court a means of identifying those documents which may eventually be ordered released to the plaintiff. In response to the court’s order, the defendant submitted approximately 2000 documents. They were numbered as follows:

RECORDS OF THE CITY OF STOCKTON PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT
Records of Officer Joseph Rocha pp. 1-99
Records of Officer Albert Paul Sandoval pp. 100-224
Records of Officer Michael Allen Townes pp. 225-391
Records of Officer Jon Cristor Trullson pp. 392-591
RECORDS OF THE STOCKTON POLICE DEPARTMENT PERSONNEL OFFICE
Records of Rocha pp. 592-679
Records of Sandoval pp. 680-783
Records of Townes pp. 784-788
Records of Trullson pp. 900-1022
RECORDS OF THE STOCKTON POLICE DEPARTMENT INTERNAL AFFAIRS DIVISION (EXCLUSIVE OF RECORDS PERTAINING TO ALPHONSO DUTRA)
Records of Rocha pp. 1023-1153
Records of Sandoval pp. 1154-1243
Records of Townes pp. 1244-1298
Records of Trullson pp. 1299-1595
RECORDS OF THE STOCKTON POLICE DEPARTMENT INTERNAL AFFAIRS DIVISION INVESTIGATION OF THE DEATH OF ALPHONSO DUTRA
Transcripts of interviews with Rocha, Sandoval, Townes and Trullson pp. 1876-1960 pp. 1979-1981

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Bluebook (online)
132 F.R.D. 677, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14718, 1990 WL 167596, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/martinez-v-city-of-stockton-caed-1990.