Teresa Perkins v. City of Anaheim

CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedDecember 2, 2019
Docket8:19-cv-00315
StatusUnknown

This text of Teresa Perkins v. City of Anaheim (Teresa Perkins v. City of Anaheim) 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
Teresa Perkins v. City of Anaheim, (C.D. Cal. 2019).

Opinion

6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 TERESA PERKINS, as Successor-in- Case No.: 8:19-cv-00315-JLS-JDEx 11 Interest to Decedent Justin Perkins; and DAVID MICHAEL PERKINS, Assigned to: Hon. Josephine L. Staton 12 Dept.: 10A Plaintiffs, 13 v. STIPULATED PROTECTIVE 14 ORDER CITY OF ANAHEIM, a municipal 15 corporation; SHIAO WANG, individually [DISCOVERY DOCUMENT: 16 and in his capacity as a police officer for REFERRED TO MAGISTRATE the City of Anaheim; KENNY LEE, JUDGE JOHN D. EARLY] 17 individually and in his capacity as a police 18 officer for the City of Anaheim; Action Filed: 2/16/2019 KENNETH EDGAR, individually and in Pretrial Conf.: 10/9/2020 19 his capacity as a police officer for the City of Anaheim; RICKY REYNOSO, 20 individually and in his capacity as a police 21 officer for the City of Anaheim; CASEY MORRISON, individually and in his 22 capacity as a police officer for the City of 23 Anaheim; and DOES 1-50, inclusive, individually and in their official capacities 24 as Police Officers for the City of Anaheim Police Department, 25 Defendants. 26

27 Based on the parties’ Stipulation (Dkt. 37), and good cause appear therefor, 28 the Court makes the following findings and order: 1 2 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 3 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, 4 proprietary or private information for which special protection from public 5 disclosure and from use for any purpose other than pursuing this litigation may be 6 warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to 7 enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this 8 Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to 9 discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends 10 only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment 11 under the applicable legal principles. 12 2. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 13 This action is likely to involve information which may be privileged or 14 otherwise protected from disclosure under state or federal statutes, case decisions 15 or common law. Specifically, this action concerns an incident on October 27, 16 2018, in which plaintiffs allege Anaheim police officers used excessive force and 17 caused the in custody death of an arrestee. Defendants have denied the material 18 allegations. Current and anticipated future discovery requests include personnel 19 and disciplinary file materials that were acquired in confidence by public 20 employees in the course of their duties and have not been officially disclosed or 21 made open or available to the public. Defendants contend that there is good cause 22 and a particularized need for a protective order to preserve the interests of 23 confidentiality and privacy in peace officer personnel file records and associated 24 investigative or confidential records for the following reasons. 25 First, Defendants contend that peace officers have a federal privilege of 26 privacy in their personnel file records: a reasonable expectation of privacy therein 27 that is underscored, specified, and arguably heightened by the Pitchess protective 28 procedure of California law. See Sanchez v. Santa Ana Police Dept., 936 F.2d 1 1027, 1033-1034 (9th Cir. 1990); Halton v. City of Stockton, 2012 U.S. Dist. 2 LEXIS 14665, *2-3, 12-13 (E.D. Cal. 2012) (concluding that "while "[f]ederal law 3 applies to privilege based discovery disputes involving federal claims," the "state 4 privilege law which is consistent with its federal equivalent significantly assists in 5 applying [federal] privilege law to discovery disputes"); Soto v. City of Concord, 6 162 F.R.D. 603, 613 n. 4, 616 (N.D. Cal. 1995) (peace officers have 7 constitutionally-based "privacy rights [that] are not inconsequential" in their police 8 personnel records); cf. Cal. Penal Code§§ 832.7, 832.8; Cal. Evid. Code§§ 1040- 9 1047. Defendants further contend that uncontrolled disclosure of such personnel 10 file information can threaten the safety of non-party witnesses, officers, and their 11 families/associates. 12 Second, Defendants contend that municipalities and law enforcement 13 agencies have federal deliberative process privilege, federal official information 14 privilege, and federal law enforcement investigatory privilege interests in the 15 personnel files of their peace officers – particularly as to those portions of peace 16 officer personnel files that contain critical self-analysis and internal 17 deliberation/decision-making or evaluation/analysis - potentially including but not 18 limited to evaluative/analytical portions of Internal Affairs type records or reports, 19 evaluative/analytical portions of supervisory records or reports, and/or reports 20 prepared at the direction of counsel, or for the purpose of obtaining or rendering 21 legal advice. See Sanchez, 936 F.2d at 1033-1034; Maricopa Audubon Soc'y v. 22 United States Forest Serv., 108 F.3d 1089, 1092-1095 (9th Cir. 1997); Soto, 162 23 F.R.D. at 613, 613 n. 4; Kelly v. City of San Jose, 114 F.R.D. 654, 668-671 (N.D. 24 Cal. 1987); Tuite v. Henry, 181 F.R.D. 175, 176-177 (D. D.C. 1998); Hamstreet v. 25 Duncan, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 89702 (D. Or. 2007); Admiral Ins. Co. v. United 26 States Dist. Ct., 881 F.2d 1486, 1492, 1495 (9th Cir. 1988). 27 Defendants further contend that certain investigative and personnel file 28 records are restricted from disclosure pursuant to applicable California law, 1 including Cal. Penal Code 832.7(b)(5), and that uncontrolled release is likely to 2 result in: needless intrusion of officer privacy; impairment in the collection of 3 third-party witness information and statements and related legitimate law 4 enforcement investigations/interests; and a chilling of open and honest discussion 5 regarding and/or investigation into alleged misconduct that can erode a public 6 entity's ability to identify and/or implement any remedial measures that may be 7 required. Accordingly, Defendants contend that, without a protective order 8 preventing such, dissemination of confidential information and records in the case 9 can and will likely substantially impair and harm defendant public entity's interests 10 in candid self-critical analysis, frank internal deliberations, obtaining candid 11 information from witnesses, preserving the safety of witnesses, preserving the 12 safety of peace officers and peace officers' families and associates, and protecting 13 the privacy of peace officers. 14 The defendants have also asserted claims of privilege with respect to 15 aspects of the subject police officers’ background files that contain their respective 16 social security numbers, and sensitive personal information such as private contact 17 information, credit checks, family history information, DMV records, birth 18 records, DMV and educational records, and medical and/or mental health records. 19 The Anaheim Police Department has scrupulously maintained the confidentiality 20 of such information, and has invoked the official information privilege with respect 21 to such information. 22 Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt 23 resolution of disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately 24 protect information the parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the 25 parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of such material in preparation for 26 and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end of the litigation, and 27 serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such information is justified in this 28 matter.

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Teresa Perkins v. City of Anaheim, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/teresa-perkins-v-city-of-anaheim-cacd-2019.