In Wright v. Beck, published December 1, 2020, the 9th Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part summary judgment granted to the defendants in a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 lawsuit asserting violation of substantive due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. (A separate unpublished decision affirmed summary judgment, based on qualified immunity, as to the…
In Rodriguez v. City of San Jose, published July 23, 2019, the 9th Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the defendant city, its police department, and a police officer in a lawsuit brought under 42 U.S.C. section 1983. Officers responded to the plaintiff's 911 call for a welfare check on her husband. The husband was ranting, mentioned…
In Pearl v. City of Los Angeles, published June 18, 2019, the Second District Court of Appeal, Division 7 affirmed a trial court's grant of conditional new trial. The plaintiff, an employee of the defendant city, put on evidence that one of his high-ranking managers doctored a photo to show the male plaintiff and a male…
In Timbs v. Indiana, published February 20, 2019, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court reversed an Indiana Supreme Court ruling on a civil forfeiture related to a criminal conviction. The petitioner pleaded guilty to heroin dealing and conspiracy to commit theft. The state limit on the fine for the offenses was $10,000. The state sought civil forfeiture…
In Estill v. County of Shasta, published July 31, 2018, the Third District Court of Appeal reversed an order granting new trial after the trial court granted the defendant county summary judgment. The plaintiff, a jail employee, was the subject of an internal affairs investigation in 2009. In September 2009, the sheriff's office served the plaintiff…
In Lam v. City of San Jose, published September 5, 2017, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court's denial of a police officer's new trial motion after an $11.5 million verdict against her based on excessive force. There were competing factual versions of what happened during the defendant officer's shooting of the plaintiff.…
In Lynch v. California Coastal Commission, published July 6, 2017, the California Supreme Court affirmed a lower appellate court decision reversing an administrative mandamus writ issued by a trial court. The plaintiff homeowners sought a permit from the California Coastal Commission permitting them to build a seawall to protect their blufftop properties, replacing a damaged seawall,…
In Ramirez v. Tulare County District Attorney's Office, published March 15, 2017, the Fifth District Court of Appeal reversed the dismissal on demurrer of multiple trial court petitions for writ of mandate seeking recovery of cash and other personal property that police officers seized from suspects under Health & Safety Code section 11469 et seq. Those forfeiture…