(PS) Walton v. Davis

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedAugust 9, 2021
Docket2:18-cv-00080
StatusUnknown

This text of (PS) Walton v. Davis ((PS) Walton v. Davis) 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
(PS) Walton v. Davis, (E.D. Cal. 2021).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 GREGORY WAYNE WALTON II, No. 2:18-cv-0080 TLN DB PS 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 14 COUNTY OF SUTTER, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff is proceeding in this action pro se. This matter was, therefore, referred to the 18 undersigned in accordance with Local Rule 302(c)(21) and 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). Pending 19 before the undersigned is a motion for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal 20 Rules of Civil Procedure filed by defendants Jason Davis and Scott Rounds.1 (ECF No. 71.) 21 Having considered the parties’ briefing, and for the reasons stated below, the undersigned 22 recommends that defendants’ motion for summary judgment be denied in part and granted in part. 23 BACKGROUND 24 Plaintiff Gregory Wayne Walton commenced this action on January 12, 2018, by filing a 25 complaint in forma pauperis pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915. (ECF Nos. 1 & 2.) Plaintiff is 26 proceeding on an amended complaint filed on July 3, 2018. (ECF No. 4.) Therein, plaintiff 27 1 Defendants Davis and Rounds are the only defendants remaining in this action. (ECF Nos. 5 & 28 6.) 1 alleges that on May 10, 2016, defendant Yuba City Police Officer Jason Davis responded to 2 plaintiff’s 911 call and arrested plaintiff without probable cause and by use of excessive force. 3 (Am. Compl. (ECF No. 4) at 7-9.2) Plaintiff further alleges that defendant Yuba City Police 4 Detective Scott Rounds “obtained [an] invalid search warrant with erroneous facts and perjured 5 information[.]” (Id. at 9.) 6 On October 22, 2018, the undersigned granted plaintiff’s motion to proceed in forma 7 pauperis and found that the amended complaint stated a claim for excessive force and false arrest 8 against defendant Davis, and a claim for judicial deception against defendant Rounds. (ECF No. 9 6 at 1-8.) On February 11, 2019, defendants filed a motion to dismiss. (ECF No. 12.) On August 10 2, 2019, the undersigned issued findings and recommendations recommending that the amended 11 complaint’s false arrest claim be dismissed without leave to amend, and that the defendants be 12 ordered to file an answer to the amended complaint’s claims of excessive force and judicial 13 deception. (ECF No. 21 at 9.) The assigned District Judge adopted those findings and 14 recommendations in full on September 3, 2019. (ECF No. 22.) Defendants filed an answer on 15 September 17, 2019. (ECF No. 27.) 16 On October 16, 2020, defendants noticed the pending motion for summary judgment for 17 hearing before the undersigned. (ECF Nos. 53 & 71.) Plaintiff filed an opposition to the motion 18 for summary judgment. (ECF No. 57.) And defendants filed a reply. (ECF No. 59.) Thereafter, 19 the motion for summary judgment was taken under submission. (ECF No. 72.) 20 STANDARDS 21 Summary judgment is appropriate when the moving party “shows that there is no genuine 22 dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. 23 Civ. P. 56(a). Under summary judgment practice, the moving party “initially bears the burden of 24 proving the absence of a genuine issue of material fact.” In re Oracle Corp. Securities Litigation, 25 627 F.3d 376, 387 (9th Cir. 2010) (citing Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323 (1986)). 26 The moving party may accomplish this by “citing to particular parts of materials in the record, 27 2 Page number citations such as this are to the page number reflected on the court’s CM/ECF 28 system and not to the page numbers assigned by the parties. 1 including depositions, documents, electronically stored information, affidavits or declarations, 2 stipulations (including those made for purposes of the motion only), admission, interrogatory 3 answers, or other materials” or by showing that such materials “do not establish the absence or 4 presence of a genuine dispute, or that the adverse party cannot produce admissible evidence to 5 support the fact.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(1)(A), (B). When the non-moving party bears the burden 6 of proof at trial, “the moving party need only prove that there is an absence of evidence to support 7 the nonmoving party’s case.” Oracle Corp., 627 F.3d at 387 (citing Celotex, 477 U.S. at 325); see 8 also Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(1)(B). 9 Indeed, summary judgment should be entered, after adequate time for discovery and upon 10 motion, against a party who fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an 11 element essential to that party’s case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at 12 trial. See Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322. “[A] complete failure of proof concerning an essential 13 element of the nonmoving party’s case necessarily renders all other facts immaterial.” Id. In 14 such a circumstance, summary judgment should be granted, “so long as whatever is before the 15 district court demonstrates that the standard for entry of summary judgment . . . is satisfied.” Id. 16 at 323. 17 If the moving party meets its initial responsibility, the burden then shifts to the opposing 18 party to establish that a genuine issue as to any material fact actually does exist. See Matsushita 19 Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586 (1986). In attempting to establish the 20 existence of this factual dispute, the opposing party may not rely upon the allegations or denials 21 of its pleadings but is required to tender evidence of specific facts in the form of affidavits, and/or 22 admissible discovery material, in support of its contention that the dispute exists. See Fed. R. 23 Civ. P. 56(c)(1); Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 586 n.11. The opposing party must demonstrate that the 24 fact in contention is material, i.e., a fact that might affect the outcome of the suit under the 25 governing law, see Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248 (1986); T.W. Elec. Serv., 26 Inc. v. Pacific Elec. Contractors Ass’n, 809 F.2d 626, 630 (9th Cir. 1987), and that the dispute is 27 genuine, i.e., the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving 28 party. See Wool v. Tandem Computers, Inc., 818 F.2d 1433, 1436 (9th Cir. 1987). 1 In the endeavor to establish the existence of a factual dispute, the opposing party need not 2 establish a material issue of fact conclusively in its favor. It is sufficient that “the claimed factual 3 dispute be shown to require a jury or judge to resolve the parties’ differing versions of the truth at 4 trial.” T.W. Elec. Serv., 809 F.2d at 631. Thus, the “purpose of summary judgment is to ‘pierce 5 the pleadings and to assess the proof in order to see whether there is a genuine need for trial.’” 6 Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 587 (citations omitted). “In short, what is required to defeat summary 7 judgment is simply evidence ‘such that a reasonable juror drawing all inferences in favor of the 8 respondent could return a verdict in the respondent’s favor.’” Zetwick v. County of Yolo, 850 9 F.3d 436, 441 (9th Cir.

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Bluebook (online)
(PS) Walton v. Davis, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ps-walton-v-davis-caed-2021.