Reed v. Baca

800 F. Supp. 2d 1102, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86951, 2011 WL 3319544
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedJuly 22, 2011
DocketCase 2:10-cv-05766-JHN-JCx
StatusPublished

This text of 800 F. Supp. 2d 1102 (Reed v. Baca) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reed v. Baca, 800 F. Supp. 2d 1102, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86951, 2011 WL 3319544 (C.D. Cal. 2011).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

JACQUELINE H. NGUYEN, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on Defendants Sheriff Lee Baca (“Baca”), County of Los Angeles (“County”), and Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department’s (“LASD”) Motion for Summary Judgment. (“Motion”; docket no. 18.) 1 On June 6, 2011, the Court held a hearing on the matter after which the motion was taken under submission. (Docket no. 47.) The Court has considered the briefing in the matter as well as oral argument presented at the hearing. For the reasons herein, the Court GRANTS the Motion.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff alleges that Defendants improperly arrested him on a warrant issued for his brother and improperly detained him following his arrest.

A. Plaintiffs Arrest

While on patrol around 9 p.m. on the evening of May 3, 2009, Deputy Sergio Jimenez (“Jimenez”) and Alberto Hernandez (collectively, “the Deputies”) spotted a vehicle driven by Plaintiff, with license plate number 5XGY790. (Declaration of Sergio Jimenez (“Jimenez Decl.”) ¶ 3.) The Deputies ran a warrant check based on the *1105 license plate number, and found a warrant issued for Phillip John Reed. (Id.; Defs.’ Exhibits, Ex. E at 36 [Unit History Report for May 3, 2009].) The Deputies pulled Plaintiffs car over to determine if the warrant’s subject was in the vehicle. (Jimenez Decl. ¶ 3.)

The misdemeanor warrant (no. ING9IG0112001), issued on April 28, 2009, identified “Phillip John Reed” as a 6'1" tall, 170-pound black male with brown hair and brown eyes, with the date of birth */*/1981 and a Los Angeles residence. (Defs.’ Exhibits, Ex. C at 25 [Warrant Abstract].) The warrant abstract contained a Social Security number ending in *XXXX and CII number A11401270. (Id.) 2

After pulling the car over, the Deputies requested Plaintiffs driver license and registration. (Defs.’ Exhibits, Ex. F [Deposition of Phillip John Reed (“Reed Depo.”) ] at 47:11-16.) Upon seeing that the information on his license as well as his physical appearance 3 matched that listed on the warrant, the Deputies informed Plaintiff that there was a $30,000 warrant out for his arrest. (Id. at 49:9-20; Jimenez Decl. ¶ 4.) According to Plaintiff, after the deputies informed him of the warrant, he gave them his “judicial clearance papers,” which indicated that a warrant issued for a “Phillip Reed” with the warrant number 7CP02616 did not apply to him. (Defs.’ Exhibits, Ex. F [Reed Depo.] at 49:17-25; Declaration of Donald Cook (“Cook Decl.”), Ex. E [Judicial Clearance form dated July 5, 2007].) Plaintiff testified that a deputy took the judicial clearance form to the patrol car and then returned, informing Plaintiff that “this clearance [does] not match what was on the computer.” (Defs.’ Exhibits, Ex. F [Reed Depo.] at 51:19-53:24.) 4 The Deputies then arrested Plaintiff and transported him to the Century Regional Detention Center for booking. (Id. at 61:1-8.; see also Jimenez Decl. ¶ 7.)

B. Plaintiffs Booking

According to Defendants, upon delivering Plaintiff to the Detention Center, Jimenez reviewed Plaintiffs Warrant Information Sheet (‘WIS”), and confirmed that Plaintiffs description and identifiers matched that on the warrant. (Id. ¶ 8; Cook Decl., Ex. C [Jimenez Depo.] at 28:16-25.) Plaintiff was placed in a holding cell. 5 After he was released from the holding cell and before he was taken to the main area “where they had the beds,” Plaintiff was fingerprinted using LiveScan technology and photographed. (Defs.’ Exhibits, Ex. F [Reed Depo.] at 70: 10-23.) *1106 According to Plaintiff, he informed the officer who fingerprinted him that “somebody has been using my identity” and he had “judicial clearance,” but the officer “didn’t follow up on whatever [he] was saying.” (Cook Decl., Ex. B. [Reed Depo.] at 59:10-13; 71:15-20.) By the time he made complaints to the fingerprinting officer, however, Plaintiff no longer had access to the judicial clearance form because his wallet had been taken from him. (Id. at 72:16-25.) The Deputies did not conduct Plaintiffs fingerprinting, nor did they see the fingerprint LiveScan results or Plaintiffs criminal history during Plaintiffs booking. (Jimenez Decl. ¶ 9.)

At 11:10 p.m, a Live Scan report was returned, indicating that Plaintiffs fingerprints did not correlate with a criminal record or match a CII number in the Los Angeles County database. 6 (Cook Decl., Ex. L [Key Depo.] at 24:2-23; Defs.’ Exhibits, Ex. C at 27 [Los Angeles County Regional Identification System Notification].) Because Plaintiff had no CII number in the database, he was assigned CII number A30157089. (Id., Ex. C at 26 [Live Scan Transaction Agency Notification].)

The next morning, Plaintiff was transported to Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Downtown Los Angeles. (Defs.’ Exhibits, Ex. B [Reed Depo.] at 82:1-11.) Plaintiff testified that he did not talk to anyone or ask questions when transported, nor did he attempt to make any phone calls. (Id. at 83-84.) After about two to four hours, Plaintiff was transported to the Inglewood Courthouse. (Id. at 85:17-24.) At the Courthouse, Plaintiff met with a paralegal from the public defender’s office, who was able to determine (by typing the CII number associated with the warrant into the computer and pulling up the warrant subject’s file) that Plaintiff was not the warrant’s subject. (Id. at 85:25-86:18.) At the request of the District Attorney, the case against Plaintiff was dismissed in an afternoon hearing on May 4, 2009, on the basis that Plaintiffs height and photograph did not match that of the subject of the warrant. (Id. at 81:22-87:4; Defs.’ Exhibits, Ex. H [Reporter’s Transcript of Proceedings].) Plaintiff was released from custody around 7:00 p.m. on May 4, 2009. (Defs.’ Exhibits, Ex. D [Total Inmate Information for Plaintiff] at 3.)

Plaintiff filed the instant action against Defendants on August 3, 2010, alleging the following causes of action: (1) violations of his Fourth Amendment rights under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 (against all Defendants); (2) violation of his Fourteenth Amendment rights under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 (against all Defendants); (3) wrongful arrest and detention under California Constitution, Article I, § 13 (against Los Angeles County and LASD); (4) violation of Cal. Civil Code Section 52.1 (“Bane Act”) (against Los Angeles County and LASD); and (5) false imprisonment (against Los Angeles County and LASD). (Docket no. 1.)

On April 25, 2011, Defendants filed this motion for summary judgment. (Docket no.

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Bluebook (online)
800 F. Supp. 2d 1102, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86951, 2011 WL 3319544, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reed-v-baca-cacd-2011.