Wills v. City of Monterey

District Court, N.D. California·Decided August 1, 2022·No. 3:21-cv-01998·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 CYNTHIA S WILLS, Case No. 21-cv-01998-EMC

8 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART CITY OF 9 v. MONTEREY’S MOTION TO DISMISS, AND DENYING CITY OF 10 CITY OF MONTEREY, et al., MONTEREY’S MOTION TO STRIKE 11 Defendants. Docket Nos. 76, 78

12 13 14 I. INTRODUCTION 15 Plaintiff Cynthia S. Wills brings suit against Defendants City of Monterey, Monterey 16 Police Department, and Monterey Harbor Patrol Health (collectively, the “City”) for allegedly 17 violating her civil rights. Ms. Wills alleges that the City violated the Eighth Amendment, the 18 Equal Protection Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Right to Travel, and the Due Process 19 Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Ms. Wills also brings state law claims against the City for 20 negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of emotional 21 distress. 22 Currently pending before the Court are the City’s motion to dismiss all of Ms. Wills’ 23 claims against it (Docket No. 76), the City’s Request for Judicial Notice (Docket No. 77), and the 24 City’s motion to strike specific allegations in the Second Amended Complaint (“SAC”) (Docket 25 No. 78). Ms. Wills has opposed all three motions. 26 For the reasons discussed below, the Court DENIES the City’s motion to dismiss the 27 Eighth Amendment claim because Ms. Wills has plausibly stated a claim under Martin v. Boise. 1 leave to amend. Should Ms. Wills wish to pursue this claim, Ms. Wills should clearly and 2 concisely describe any encounters with the Monterey Police Department officers and the Seaside 3 homeless man so that the Court can evaluate whether the City’s police officers affirmatively 4 engaged in conduct that increased the risk of harm to Ms. Wills. Ms. Wills’ other claims are 5 dismissed with prejudice. The Court DENIES the City’s motion to strike as moot. 6 II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND 7 Ms. Wills’ claims against the City are based on the following allegations in the SAC. In 8 2019, Ms. Wills began living out of her car after being unable to find any available 9 accommodation. SAC (Docket No. 75) at 7.1 Ms. Wills attempted to relocate to two neighboring 10 states but returned when she was unable to find housing or other accommodation. Id. She spent 11 many nights sleeping in her car in Seaside, California. Id. While she was in Seaside, she 12 encountered several homeless people. Id. at 8. One of these individuals (whom the SAC does not 13 identify by name) verbally and physically threatened her. Id. A friend of this man then threatened 14 to set fire to Ms. Wills and her belongings. Id. After this incident, Ms. Wills spoke to the Seaside 15 Police and decided to leave Seaside and return to Monterey. Id. The homeless man followed her 16 to Monterey and began stalking her there. Id. After Ms. Wills reported the stalking to Monterey 17 Police Department (“MPD”), Ms. Wills obtained a restraining order against the homeless man. Id. 18 The man had a long history of drug and alcohol abuse so Ms. Wills feared for her life. Id. at 59. 19 In the spring of 2019, MPD officers repeatedly refused to enforce the restraining order 20 against the Seaside homeless man who had threatened and stalked her. Id. at 9. The homeless 21 man followed Ms. Wills on his bicycle, followed her in Del Monte Park, stood behind her in a line 22 at a restaurant, sat at a table fewer than 20 feet from her, and stood closer than 20 feet from her at 23 a library. Id. at 59. Ms. Wills had many conversations with MPD officers and filed many written 24 complaints with MPD but the officers did not enforce the restraining order. Id. at 9–10. On one 25 occasion, Ms. Wills told an unidentified MPD officer that the man had come within 20 feet of her. 26 Id. at 60. Ms. Wills insisted that the MPD officer measure the distance between them, which 27 1 turned out to be 20 feet or fewer. Id. The MPD officer nonetheless refused to arrest the man. Id. 2 One night at the Coast Guard after midnight, Ms. Wills was awoken by two men who were 3 outside her tent and were attempting to set it on fire. Id. at 10. Ms. Wills heard a voice in the 4 distance yelling that “I told you not to go to those feeds [sic].” Id. Ms. Wills understood that this 5 incident was a form of retaliation against her because she had obtained the restraining order. Id. 6 She reported the incident to MPD but “nothing was done.” Id. Eventually, as Ms. Wills continued 7 to report the restraining order violations, at some point MPD Officer Welch informed Ms. Wills 8 that he had arrested the homeless man. Id. Although the homeless man ceased to violate the 9 restraining order, his friends then began stalking, threatening, and harassing Ms. Wills. Id. at 11. 10 In March of 2019, Ms. Wills tried to sleep in a tent in a park in Monterey near Del Monte 11 beach, but MPD officers instructed her not to set up a tent again in the area. Id. at 8–9. In the 12 spring of 2019, MPD Officers Brian Nino and Scott Collier approached Ms. Wills in a tent on Del 13 Monte Beach in Monterey and told her that if she did not pack up and vacate the tent, she would 14 be arrested. Id. at 9. Ms. Wills had informed the officers that she had no place else to go. Id. 15 Officer Nino handed Ms. Wills an eviction notice. Id. With MPD “harassing” her and with the 16 City of Monterey beachcombers driving by her tent on several occasions to deter campers from 17 staying on the beach, Ms. Wills decided to throw away her tent. Id. at 10. 18 On several occasions in 2019, MPD officers threatened Ms. Wills with citations for “illegal 19 camping.” Id. at 10–11. On one evening, Ms. Wills reported an incident to MPD where a 20 homeless man and another an unidentified man stood near Ms. Wills while she slept, but MPD did 21 not do anything about the incident and threatened Ms. Wills with a citation for illegally camping. 22 Id. at 11. On another evening, after reporting a separate incident to MPD that involved an 23 unidentified man, MPD Officers Nino and Collier did nothing but threatened Ms. Wills with a 24 citation for illegally camping. Id. On another occasion in the spring of 2019, an unnamed MPD 25 officer told Ms. Wills that she should not put up her tent on Del Monte Beach and threatened her 26 with a citation for “illegal camping.” Id. at 10. Ms. Wills alleges that she was told by an 27 unidentified person that it was illegal to camp anywhere in Monterey and that she would be 1 MPD officers continued to threaten Ms. Wills with citations after she vacated Del Monte 2 Beach. Id. at 11. Ms. Wills started to stay at the Custom House near the Monterey Wharf without 3 a tent and MPD Officer Scott Collier told her that if she did not vacate the premises, she would be 4 given a citation for “illegal camping.” Id. at 10–11. Ms. Wills vacated the area and moved to 5 another nearby area. Id. at 11. Ms. Wills then reported an incident to MPD where an “extremely 6 intoxicated” man approached her while she was sleeping, but MPD “refused to do anything” and 7 told Ms. Wills she could be cited for illegally camping. Id. at 11. On another evening, MPD 8 Officers Nino and Kris Richardson threatened Ms. Wills with a citation and/or arrest for illegally 9 camping near Cannery Row. Id. at 12. 10 Then, on an evening when Ms. Wills was sleeping at an art gallery nearby with the 11 permission of the gallery director, a Monterey Harbor Patrol (“MHP”) security employee 12 approached Ms. Wills and asked her what she was doing. Id. at 13. Ms. Wills told the MHP 13 employee that she was at the gallery with permission. Id. The MHP employee stated that he was 14 going to call the MPD. Id. Shortly thereafter, MPD officers arrived at the scene including 15 Officers Jesse Phillips, Richardson, and Collier. Id. Ms. Wills informed the officers that she had 16 the permission of the gallery director to be on the premises. Id.

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