Wheatcroft v. Glendale, City of

Opinion

1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

9 Johnny Wheatcroft, et al., No. CV-18-02347-PHX-MTL

10 Plaintiffs, ORDER

11 v. NOT FOR PUBLICATION

12 City of Glendale, et al.,

13 Defendants. 14 15 The matter before the Court is Defendants’ Motion in Limine No. 14. Re: Minor 16 Plaintiffs’ State Law Claims. (Doc. 348.) Under Arizona common law, a law enforcement 17 officer is entitled to qualified immunity for exercising discretionary functions. 18 Chamberlain v. Mathis, 151 Ariz. 551, 557 (1986); Spooner v. City of Phoenix, 246 Ariz. 19 119, 124-25 (Ct. App. 2018). “Thus, an officer performing a discretionary act within the 20 scope of his public duties may be liable only if grossly negligent.” Merritt v. Arizona, 425 21 F. Supp. 3d 1201, 1231 (D. Ariz. 2019); accord Krause v. County of Mohave, CV-17- 22 08185-PCT-SMB, 2020 WL 2541728, at *16 (D. Ariz. May 19, 2020). 23 The Court finds that, during their encounter with Plaintiffs and their on-scene 24 investigation of Mr. Wheatcroft, the defendant police officers conduct involved the 25 exercise of discretion. Plaintiffs did not clearly plead that the defendant police officers 26 acted with gross negligence in violation of the minor Plaintiffs’ state law claims. At the 27 summary judgment stage, the Court concluded that the Plaintiffs appear to have 28 “abandon[ed] any gross negligence cause of action they might have.” (Doc. 294 at 33.) The || Court further found that Plaintiff did not offer any evidence that would lead a reasonable juror to find gross negligence. (/d.) 3 Accordingly, 4 IT IS ORDERED that Defendants’ Motion in Limine No. 14 Re: Minor Plaintiffs’ 5|| State Law Claims (Doc. 348) is granted. 6 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED precluding Plaintiffs from arguing at trial that the 7\| City of Glendale has liability for the minor Plaintiffs’ state law claims based on the conduct 8 || of Officers Schneider and Lindsay. 9 Dated this 17th day of September, 2022. 10 Wichal T. Hburde 12 Michael T. Liburdi 13 United States District Judge 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

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