Stone v. City & County of San Francisco

145 F.R.D. 553, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 797, 1993 WL 18622
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedJanuary 19, 1993
DocketNo. C-78-2774 WHO
StatusPublished

This text of 145 F.R.D. 553 (Stone v. City & County of San Francisco) 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
Stone v. City & County of San Francisco, 145 F.R.D. 553, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 797, 1993 WL 18622 (N.D. Cal. 1993).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

ORRICK, Senior District Judge.

Whether contempt fines assessed against [554]*554defendants 1 by the Special Master, pursuant to this Court’s Memorandum Opinion and Order of December 17,1991 (December 17 Order), accrued while the Ninth Circuit’s stay of that Order was in effect from January 1, 1992, to August 31, 1992, is the question before the Court. The question is one of first impression and, thus, the Court writes upon a clean slate because the parties contend and the Court has found that there is no authority bearing on the question other than a few cases where the courts have assumed, without deciding, that contempt fines do not accrue during the period that an underlying contempt order is stayed. For the reasons discussed below, the Court holds that the contempt fines did not accrue while the Ninth Circuit’s stay was in effect, and, accordingly, orders the Special Master to remit to defendants those fines assessed and collected for the period of the stay.

I.

The facts that preceded this Court’s contempt finding are summarized in the Ninth Circuit’s opinion affirming both the finding of contempt and the assessment of the fines. See Stone v. City & County of San Francisco, 968 F.2d 850, 852-53 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 113 S.Ct. 1050, 122 L.Ed.2d 358 (1993). The facts relevant to the instant controversy are as follows.

In 1978, plaintiffs, who were pretrial detainees in the San Francisco County Jail located on the sixth floor of the Hall of Justice (“Jail No. 1”), brought this class action against defendants to remedy allegedly unconstitutional safety and health conditions in Jail No. 1, created in part by overcrowding. On July 15, 1982, the parties entered into a Consent Decree (“Decree”), which has been supplemented by various orders of this Court. Of particular relevance here is Paragraph XIV of the Decree, which provides that “[e]xcepting weekends and holidays, in no event shall any housing areas, including dormitories, regularly house more than their rated capacity, as set forth by the California Board of Corrections’ Living Area Space Evaluation....”

In June 1985, plaintiffs moved to hold defendants in contempt for violating several provisions of the Decree, including the provision dealing with the mandated population levels. As a result of that motion, in May 1986 the Court ordered defendants to comply with the Decree, appointed a Special Master, and ordered the Special Master to investigate, report, and recommend actions for defendants to take in order to insure compliance with the Decree. See Stipulation and Order filed May 2, 1986.

Over the course of the following five and one-half years, defendants came into, and fell out of, compliance with the population levels several times. On November 28, 1987, the Court issued an Order to Show Cause why defendants should not be held in contempt; the Court repeatedly continued hearings on the pending motion for contempt to allow defendants the opportunity to meet the population levels. See Stone, 968 F.2d at 853. Defendants did remain in compliance for a period of almost two years. After February 19, 1991, however, the population levels were exceeded on numerous occasions. On May 30, 1991, plaintiffs again moved for an order (1) holding defendants in contempt, (2) awarding sanctions, and (3) ordering compliance with the Decree.

Plaintiffs’ renewed contempt motion came before the Court on November 7, 1991. Defendants did not deny the overcrowding in Jail No. 1, but did request additional time to implement a plan to reduce the overcrowding. The Court took the matter under submission and subsequently issued the December 17 Order. The Court found that plaintiffs had “shown by clear and convincing evidence that a specific and definite order of this Court ha[d] been violated[,]” December 17 Order at 12:23-25, and that “[defendants ha[d] [555]*555not performed all reasonable steps to insure compliance with the Decree and subsequent Court Orders.” Id. at 12:28-13:1. Pursuant to its inherent powers and the powers granted it under 18 U.S.C. § 401(3), the Court determined that it had the authority to “impose sanctions, as a corollary to a finding of contempt, to coerce defendants into compliance with the Decree and subsequent Court Orders, and to compensate plaintiffs for the losses they ha[d] sustained.” Id. at 13:6-9.

Based upon its findings of fact and conclusions of law, the Court held defendants in contempt, and ordered sanctions paid “in the amount of $300 per day per person for each day after January 1, 1992, in which defendants violated this Court’s Orders by” exceeding the population levels in Jail No. 1. Id. at 15:28-16:6. The December 17 Order provided the following mechanism for the assessment and collection of fines. Commencing on February 1, 1992, and on the first day of each month thereafter, the Special Master was to send defendants a statement summarizing the fines to be levied for any violations that occurred during the preceding month. Within ten days of their receipt of each statement, deféndants were to deposit the fine levied into an escrow account to be established by the Special Master. Each side was to have the right to object to the Special Master’s statement of fines, although any such objection would not relieve defendants of the obligation to pay the sum specified in the disputed statement. If the Court determined that an objection had merit, a future order would provide for the appropriate adjustment. Id. at 16:11-17:9.

In addition, the December 17 Order provided that the fines were to be made available to the City and County of San Francisco “for programs that will have a direct bearing on the population levels of the jail system.” Id. at 16:26-17:1.2 The Court ordered this remedial provision pursuant to the general rule that contempt fines may be used to remedy the problem that underlies the contempt citation. See Local 28 of the Sheet Metal Workers’ Int’l Ass’n v. EEOC, 478 U.S. 421, 106 S.Ct. 3019, 92 L.Ed.2d 344 (1986); see also Palmigiano v. DiPrete, 710 F.Supp. 875, 887-88 (D.R.I.) (contempt sanctions collected in prison overcrowding cases may be used for programs to reduce the overcrowding), aff'd, 887 F.2d 258 (1st Cir.1989).

Defendants immediately filed a notice of appeal. Faced with the prospect of incurring the heavy fines provided for in the December 17 Order, defendants sought a stay of that Order. Following the dictate of Rule 8(a) of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, defendants initially brought their stay request to this Court; on December 30, 1991, this Court denied defendants’ motion for a stay. One day later, on December 31, 1991, the Ninth Circuit entered a stay of the December 17 Order. By order dated January 8, 1992, the Ninth Circuit extended the stay until such time as that court resolved defendants’ appeal.

The court of appeals expedited its consideration of the case and, on June 25, 1992, filed an opinion that affirmed this Court’s finding of contempt and order for the imposition of fines.3 See Stone, 968 F.2d at 865.

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Bluebook (online)
145 F.R.D. 553, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 797, 1993 WL 18622, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stone-v-city-county-of-san-francisco-cand-1993.