Parker v. City of San Diego

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedJuly 9, 2024
Docket3:24-cv-00518
StatusUnknown

This text of Parker v. City of San Diego (Parker v. City of San Diego) 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
Parker v. City of San Diego, (S.D. Cal. 2024).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 ROBERT L. PARKER, Case No.: 3:24-cv-00518-JES-DDL

12 Plaintiff, ORDER: 13 v. (1) GRANTING IN PART MOTION 14 CITY OF SAN DIEGO, et al., TO DISMISS, and 15 Defendants. (2) GRANTING MOTION FOR 16 MORE DEFINITIVE STATEMENT 17 18 [ECF Nos. 11, 12] 19 20 Before the Court is Defendants’ San Diego State University Police Department 21 (“SDSUPD”), Regents of California State University (“Regents of CSU”), Police Chief 22 Josh Mays (“Chief Mays”), Jonathan Becerra (“Becerra”), Carrie Hogan (“Hogan”), 23 Norma Cruz (“Ofc. Cruz”), Paul McClain (“Ofc. McClain”), Tracy Steckler (“Ofc. 24 Steckler”), Officer Calvert (“Ofc. Calvert”) (collectively known as “State Defendants”), 25 and City of San Diego’s (“City”) motion to dismiss the First Amended Complaint 26 (“FAC”). The City filed its motion on May 24, 2024. ECF No. 11. The State Defendants 27 filed their motion on May 24, 2024. ECF No. 12. Robert Parker (“Plaintiff”) filed a 28 response to each motion on June 19, 2024. ECF Nos. 13, 14. The City and State 1 Defendants both filed reply briefs. ECF Nos. 15, 16. The Court heard oral argument on 2 both motions on July 3, 2024, and took the matters under submission. ECF No. 17. For 3 the reasons stated below, the Court partially GRANTS the motion to dismiss and 4 GRANTS the motion for a more definitive statement. 5 I. FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS 6 Plaintiff alleges that on February 10, 2020, he was present on the campus of San 7 Diego State University (“SDSU”). FAC ¶ 5. While on campus, Plaintiff alleges that he 8 exhibited no conduct from which a rational person could draw a conclusion that “it 9 reasonably appears […] that the person is committing any act likely to interfere with the 10 peaceful conduct of the activities of the campus or facility, or has entered the campus or 11 facility for the purpose of committing any such act.” FAC ¶ 6. 12 On February 12, 2020, Ofc. Steckler and Ofc. Calvert arrived at Plaintiff’s private 13 residence and delivered a notice per California Penal Code § 626.6 (“PC 626.6”). FAC ¶ 14 11. The notice was based on Plaintiff’s presence on campus on February 10, 2020. Id. 15 Plaintiff alleges that Ofc. Steckler and Ofc. Calvert knowingly, wantonly, maliciously, 16 recklessly and intentionally misapplied the law in delivering the notice to Plaintiff on 17 February 12, 2020. FAC ¶ 14. 18 On February 18, 2020, Plaintiff went onto the SDSU campus and was arrested for 19 violation of PC 626.6 by Ofc. Cruz and Ofc. McClain. FAC ¶¶ 12, 16. Plaintiff alleges 20 that Ofc. Cruz and Ofc. McClain knowingly, wantonly, maliciously, recklessly and 21 intentionally implemented the arrest of Plaintiff. FAC ¶ 16. 22 Plaintiff also alleges that SDSUPD, Chief Mays and Does 1-10 directed the 23 “knowing[ ], wanton[ ], malicious[ ], reckless[ ] and intentional[ ] unlawful PC 626.6 24 notice” to Plaintiff on February 12, 2020. FAC ¶ 13. Further, Plaintiff alleges that 25 SDSUPD, Chief Mays and Does 1-10 directed the “knowing[ ], wanton[ ], malicious[ ], 26 reckless[ ] and intentional[ ] unlawful arrest” of Plaintiff on February 18, 2020. FAC ¶ 27 15. Plaintiff alleges that all SDSUPD Defendants knew that evidence they provided to the 28 1 City Attorney was fabricated and false, yet they continued in their support of the truth of 2 that evidence throughout the period of prosecution. FAC ¶ 17. 3 On June 19, 2020, the City initiated prosecution by delivering a criminal complaint 4 to the court that was not signed by a prosecutor. FAC ¶ 18. The date for arraignment was 5 originally set for November 10, 2020, but was rescheduled to December 3, 2020. FAC ¶ 6 22. Plaintiff was not able to appear remotely on December 3, 2020, and submitted an 7 affidavit explaining his failed attempt to attend the arraignment hearing. FAC ¶ 23. An ex 8 parte hearing was held on March 4, 2021, and the arraignment was scheduled for July 12, 9 2021. Id. On July 12, 2021, Plaintiff was arraigned and a plea of not guilty was entered. 10 FAC ¶ 24. On December 9, 2021, the court set dates of January 27, 2022, for readiness 11 and March 17, 2022, for trial. FAC ¶ 25. On January 27, 2022, at the readiness 12 conference, the court expressed concern that the criminal complaint had never been 13 signed by any prosecutor and that Plaintiff had not been provided discovery. FAC ¶ 26. 14 The court then set a continued readiness date of February 16, 2022. Id. On February 16, 15 2022, the trial date was confirmed. FAC ¶ 28. On March 17, 2022, Plaintiff appeared for 16 trial and the prosecutor requested to dismiss the charge, which the court granted. FAC ¶ 17 29. 18 Plaintiff alleges that the City and Does 21-50 knowingly, wantonly, recklessly, 19 intentionally and maliciously proceeded with and maintained prosecution of Plaintiff 20 until March 17, 2022, with knowledge that the notice was unlawful, the arrest was 21 without probable cause, and Plaintiff had not violated any law. FAC ¶ 30. Plaintiff further 22 alleges that the City exercised its policy and initiated prosecution by delivering an 23 unsigned criminal complaint to the court without making a determination that the 24 evidence established probable cause for a crime to be charged against Plaintiff. FAC ¶¶ 25 18, 20, 30. 26 Plaintiff alleges two causes of action: (1) malicious prosecution against the City, 27 Chief Mays, Becerra, Hogan, Ofc. Cruz, Ofc. McClain, Ofc. Steckler, Ofc. Calvert and 28 Does 21-50; and (2) injunctive relief against all Defendants. 1 II. LEGAL STANDARD 2 A. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) 3 A motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to 4 state a claim tests the legal sufficiency of a plaintiff’s claim. Navarro v. Block, 250 F.3d 5 729, 732 (9th Cir. 2001). When considering the motion, the court must accept as true all 6 well-pleaded factual allegations in the complaint. Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 7 U.S. 544, 555 (2007). The court need not accept as true legal conclusions cast as factual 8 allegations. Id.; Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (“[t]hreadbare recitals of the 9 elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements” are insufficient). 10 A complaint must “state a claim for relief that is plausible on its face.” Twombly, 11 550 U.S. at 570. To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must include non- 12 conclusory factual content. Id. at 555; Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679. The facts and the 13 reasonable inferences drawn from those facts must show a plausible—not just a 14 possible—claim for relief. Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556; Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679; Moss v. 15 U.S. Secret Service, 572 F.3d 962, 969 (9th Cir. 2009). The focus is on the complaint, as 16 opposed to any new facts alleged in, for example, the opposition to a defendant’s motion 17 to dismiss. See Schneider v. California Dep’t of Corrections, 151 F.3d 1194, 1197 n.1 18 (9th Cir. 1998), reversed and remanded on other grounds as stated in 345 F.3d 716 (9th 19 Cir. 2003). “Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for relief [is] . . . a 20 context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience 21 and common sense.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679. The “mere possibility of misconduct” or 22 “unadorned, the defendant-unlawfully-harmed me accusation[s]” fall short of meeting 23 this plausibility standard. Id.; see also Moss, 572 F.3d at 969.

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Bluebook (online)
Parker v. City of San Diego, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/parker-v-city-of-san-diego-casd-2024.