NAACP of San Jose/ Silicon Valley v. City Of San Jose

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedApril 7, 2023
Docket4:21-cv-01705
StatusUnknown

This text of NAACP of San Jose/ Silicon Valley v. City Of San Jose (NAACP of San Jose/ Silicon Valley v. City Of San Jose) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
NAACP of San Jose/ Silicon Valley v. City Of San Jose, (N.D. Cal. 2023).

Opinion

1 2 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 3 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

5 NAACP OF SAN JOSE/ SILICON VALLEY, et al., Case No. 21-cv-01705-PJH 6 Plaintiffs, 7 ORDER RE CLASS CERTIFICATION, v. DISCOVERY, AND SEALING 8 CITY OF SAN JOSE, et al., Re: Dkt. No. 87, 101, 102 9 Defendants. 10

11 12 Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification came on for hearing on February 23, 2023. 13 Plaintiffs appeared through their counsel, Mitchell Engel, Rachel Lederman, and Tammy 14 Webb. Defendants appeared through their counsel, Matthew Pritchard. Also before the 15 court are the parties’ discovery letter brief and plaintiffs’ motion to seal. Having read the 16 papers filed by the parties and carefully considered their arguments and relevant 17 authority, and good cause appearing, the court hereby rules as follows. 18 BACKGROUND 19 This is a civil rights case arising out of the May 2020 protests in response to the 20 killing of George Floyd by police. Specifically, on May 29 and 30, 2020, plaintiffs 21 participated in protests in San Jose to “express their view that police brutality and 22 institutionalized racism must end,” and now “seek redress for the violation of their 23 constitutional rights to assemble, protest, and be free from racial discrimination, disability 24 discrimination, excessive force, and wrongful arrest.” Dkt. 108, ¶¶ 2, 3.1 25 There are two organization plaintiffs and eleven individual plaintiffs in this case. 26 1 At the time that the class certification motion was filed, plaintiffs had been granted leave 27 to file an amended complaint to substitute Doe defendants. See Dkt. 81. Plaintiffs filed a 1 The organization plaintiffs are (1) the National Association for the Advancement of 2 Colored People of San Jose/Silicon Valley, and (2) the San Jose Peace and Justice 3 Center. Dkt. 108, ¶¶ 14-15. There are eleven individual plaintiffs, not all of whom are 4 proposed class representatives. For purposes of this section, only the proposed class 5 representatives will be discussed. 6 The first proposed class representative is Joseph Cañas. Dkt. 108, ¶ 20. Cañas 7 was at the protest on May 29, 2020, playing a guitar, when he was shot in the eye by an 8 impact munition (also referred to as “projectile impact weapon,” or “PIW”). Id. 9 The second proposed class representative is Leslie Vasquez. Dkt. 108, ¶ 21. 10 Vasquez attended the May 29, 2020 protest and was shot in the groin, thighs, and genital 11 area, and bludgeoned in the stomach with a baton as she stood with her hands up. Id. 12 The third proposed class representative is Peter Allen. Dkt. 108, ¶ 22. Allen 13 attended the protest on May 29, 2020, and was pushed to the ground and repeatedly 14 shot with impact munitions. Id. Allen alleges that he was backing away when he was 15 shoved to the ground by an officer with his baton, then shoved to the ground again when 16 he tried to get up and back away. Id., ¶ 111. Allen alleges that he was again attempting 17 to retreat when he was shot in the thigh and in the chest with PIW. Id., ¶ 112-113. 18 The fourth proposed class representative is Shaunn Cartwright. Dkt. 108, ¶ 23. 19 Cartwright was shot in the knee, calf, and finger with PIW on May 30, 2020. Id. 20 The fifth proposed class representative is Yessica Riles. Dkt. 108, ¶ 24. On May 21 29, Riles was shot with PIW in the abdomen while her hands were up in a ‘don’t shoot’ 22 gesture. Id., ¶ 78. 23 The sixth proposed class representative is Gustavo Flores. Dkt. 108, ¶ 25. Flores 24 was present at the May 29, 2020 protest, and “tried to warn the other demonstrators, 25 walking down the front line of demonstrators suggesting that they put their hands up in a 26 gesture of ‘don’t shoot’ to show they were unarmed [and] did not pose a threat.” Id., ¶ 82. 27 While Flores was doing so, a San Jose police officer “shot him in the groin and testicle 1 officer reloading his gun. Id., ¶ 83. As Flores was trying to walk away, someone warned 2 that the officer was aiming at him again, and when Flores turned to look, the officer shot 3 him in his left collarbone with another impact munition. Id. 4 The seventh proposed class representative is Cindy Cuellar. Dkt. 108, ¶ 28. 5 Cuellar attended the May 29, 2020 protest and saw officers “shoot impact munitions into 6 the crowd,” hitting a friend of hers who is a journalist. Id., ¶ 71. When Cuellar went to 7 her friend’s aid, an officer shot her in her left calf. Id. 8 There are four other plaintiffs who are proceeding only as individuals, not as class 9 representatives: Michael Acosta, Joseph Maldonado, Mahmoudreza Naemeh, and 10 Megan Swift. 11 The defendants are as follows: the City of San Jose, David Sykes (city manager of 12 San Jose), Edgardo Garcia (police chief of the SJPD), Christopher Knopf (SJPD 13 assistant chief of police), Jason Dwyer (SJPD caption and the ‘special operations 14 commander’ during the May 2020 protests), Brian Matchett (SJPD lieutenant), Steve 15 Lagorio (SJPD lieutenant), Ronnie Lopez (SJPD sergeant), Lee Tassio (SJPD sergeant), 16 Jaren Yuen (SJPD officer), Bill Nguyen (SJPD officer), Clifford Grodin (SJPD officer), 17 Stephen Michael Curry (SJPD officer), Michael Simonini (SJPD officer), Victor Ayala 18 (SJPD officer), James Adgar (SJPD officer), Steve Gaona (SJPD officer), Tyler Moran 19 (SJPD officer), John Lynch (SJPD sergeant), Larry Situ (SJPD officer), Frank Orabuena 20 (SJPD officer), Gerardo Silva (SJPD officer), and Chris Weber (SJPD officer). Dkt. 108, 21 ¶¶ 27-47. 22 The complaint purports to assert eleven causes of action, though the first is for 23 “injunctive relief” and the second is for “declaratory relief,” which are types of remedies 24 rather than standalone causes of action.

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NAACP of San Jose/ Silicon Valley v. City Of San Jose, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/naacp-of-san-jose-silicon-valley-v-city-of-san-jose-cand-2023.