Guerrero v. Gates

• Decision Date: 29 January 2004
• Docket Number: No. 02-56017.,02-56017.
• Citation: 357 F.3d 911
• Parties: L. GUERRERO, in his individual capacity, and in his capacity as representative of the classes described fully below, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Daryl F. GATES; Honey A. Lewis; Ward G. McConnell; John T. Neville; James Pearson; Philip Sugar; Flora Trostler; G. Daniel Woodard; Don W. Vincent, II, all as current or former members of the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office; Roger Adez, # 25934; Armando Amezcua, # 31399; Salvador Apodaca; Heriberto Arangure, # 31707; Evanury Arocho-Witman, # 27267; Robert Arroyo, # 25851; Frank Arujo, # 27101; Judith Lynn Barham, # 22952; Antonio S. Bautista, # 32919; Mauricio Bautista; Ron Berdin, # 31958; John Bertino, # 27839; Edward Brehm, # 30982; Steven W. Brown, # 25366; Michael Buchanan, # 32055; Todd Burns, # 31549; Unknown Burrola; Kenneth Buscarino, # 20949; Paul Byrnes, Sgt., # 24578; Osbaldo Camacho, # 33903; Campbell, # 25216; Randy Canister, # 26107; Kevin Carney, # 10983; James D. Carroll, # 34456; Martin Chalupa, # 21890; Danny N. Chau, # 30087; Manuel Chavez, # 30544; Thomas Chinappi; Joshua N. Closson, # 32252; David Cochrane, # 26545; Ethan Cohan, # 30614; John M. Collard, # 27376; Christopher Coppock, # 31801; Armando Coronado, # 14710; Bobby B. Crees, # 32061; John Curiel, # 17992; Robert Donaldson, # 20848; Michael Donnelly, # 31974; Raquel Duarte, # 30349; Nino Durden, # 31106; Brian Eldridge, # 32071; Donald J. Eldridge, # 31353; James A. Erwin, III, # 33017; William Ferguson, # 33323; John Robert Flowers, # 25547; Brad Foss; Herman Franz Frettlohr, # 31420; David M. Friedrich, # 30946; John Futrell, # 17253; Frank Galindo, # 30764; Joe Garcia, # 32362; Richard Ginelli; Teresa Golt, # 26562; Shawn Gomez, # 30855; Jeffrey L. Graham, # 27201; Greenfield, Detective; Paul D. Harper, # 30320; Richard Harper, # 14170; Harper, # 14710; Harper, # 13228; Harper, # 30770; Harper, # 16795; Harper, # 24195; Harper, # 10868; Ross Y. Hay, # 30771; Margarita Hermosillo, # 25178; Susan E. Herold, # 24732; Herrera, Detective; Brian K. Hewitt, # 27602; Daniel Hills, # 17826; George Hoopes, Sgt., # 26967; Connie Howell, # 23994; Cesar Huezzo, # 33787; Alfred Hitchings, # 25970; Alex Izquierdo, # 26873; Robb Johnson, # 25362; Ronald Kitzmiller, # 31907; Arturo Koenig, # 30289; Klotz; Andrew Lassak, # 30835; Brian Liddy, # 27515; Liddy, # 27315; Daniel Lujan, Jr., # 26973; Frank Lyga, # 25051; David Mack; Charles Markel, # 21866; John Patrick Marquez, # 2667 # 26670; Mario Marquez, # 32875; Samuel T. Martin, # 26058; Lawrence Martinez, # 27319; Thomas Martinez, # 31746; Patrick McCarty, # 30182; Shands McCoy, # 25578; William S. McGee, # 21277; Scott F. McNeil, # 31438; Unknown Mejia; Ruben Mendoza, Ofcr. # 31360; Richard Meraz, # 12052; Camerino Mesina, # 30907; John Mumma, # 26492; James Muniz, # 30963; David Navarro, Sgt., # 23155; David Negrete, # 26682; Howard Ng, # 30405; Thomas O'Grady, # 30328; Steven O'Neal, # 33740; Ernest Orona, # 25243; Edward Ortiz, Sgt., # 23230; Dennis O'Sullivan, # 27237; Owens, Officer, # 27878 (no such number); Kulin Patel, # 27150; Arthur Pelt, # 15790; Armando Perez, # 25581; Rafael A. Perez, # 26905; John Peters, Sgt., # 25750; Robert Pionowski, # 15722; Jill Poe, # 27438; Diane Ponce, # 6413; Robert Pulley, # 17805; Unknown Quirk, # 33352; Manuel Redruello, # 25667; Peter Repovich, # 23078; Donna Reyes, # 34432; Mark Richardson, # 26995; Michael Richardson, Sgt., # 26159; Arturo Rico, # 27811; Mario Rios, # 32123; Jeffrey Robb, # 33804; Terrance Rochon, # 26696; Arthur Rodriguez, # 26255; Rossello; Edward Ruiz, # 27158; Jasmine Saade, # 22635; Nick Salicos, Captain; Johnny Sanchez, # 26513; Ruperto Sanchez, # 13953; Dustin Sclater, # 31933; Matthew Sibayan, # 30196; Addis Simpson, 330011; Christopher Soldo, # 26003; David Solis, # 32315; Doyle Stepp, # 31143; Jeffrey Stewart, # 25593; Stephanie Sutherland, # 30571; Jon Taylor, # 30974; Andrew Teague, # 21972; Unknown Tomeo, # 33087; Humberto Tovar, # 30492; Melissa Town, # 30305; Michael Tyus, # 23886; Robert Valdez, # 27352; Roger Vanoverstracten, # 30860; Omar Veloz, # 30740; David Vinton, # 31085; Voeltz, # 33292; Michael Wang, # 30805; Terry Wessel, # 14680; Mark Andrew Wilbur, # 30636; Melissa Zak, # 30305; Zamora, # 27267; Mike Zych, # 23892 all as current or former members of the Lapd; Christian Abdelkerim, # 33542; Willie L. Williams; Bernard C. Parks; Richard Alarcon; Richard Alatorre; Hal Bernson; Marvin Braude; Laura Chick; John Ferraro; Michael Feuer; Ruth Galanter; Mike Hernandez; Nate Holden; Mark Ridley-Thomas; Joel Wachs; Ernani Bernardi; Joan Flores; Gloria Molina; Joy Picus; Arthur Snyder; Michael Woo; Zev Yarolslavsky, all as present or former Los Angeles City Council members; Herbert F. Boeckmann, II; Gerald Chaleff; Rochelle De La Rocha; Raymond C. Fisher; James G. Fisk; Stephen Gavin; Maxwell E. Greenberg; Dean Hansell; Deirdre Hughes Hill; Warren Jackson; Melanie Lomax; Art Mattox; Edith Perez; Enrique Hernandez; Barbara Schlei; Robert Talcott; Reva Tooley; Robert I. Weil; Stanley Scheinbaum; Michael Yamaki; Stephen Yslas; Mary Burwell Cooper; Ellen M. Fawls; Jeffrey Gallagher; James Kenneth Hahn; Katherine J. Hamilton; Richard Helgeson; Thomas Hokinson; Stuart D. Hotchkiss; Helen Annette Keller, Defendants-Appellees. Richard Riordan, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

357 F.3d 911

L. GUERRERO, in his individual capacity, and in his capacity as representative of the classes described fully below, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Daryl F. GATES; Honey A. Lewis; Ward G. McConnell; John T. Neville; James Pearson; Philip Sugar; Flora Trostler; G. Daniel Woodard; Don W. Vincent, II, all as current or former members of the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office; Roger Adez, # 25934; Armando Amezcua, # 31399; Salvador Apodaca; Heriberto Arangure, # 31707; Evanury Arocho-Witman, # 27267; Robert Arroyo, # 25851; Frank Arujo, # 27101; Judith Lynn Barham, # 22952; Antonio S. Bautista, # 32919; Mauricio Bautista; Ron Berdin, # 31958; John Bertino, # 27839; Edward Brehm, # 30982; Steven W. Brown, # 25366; Michael Buchanan, # 32055; Todd Burns, # 31549; Unknown Burrola; Kenneth Buscarino, # 20949; Paul Byrnes, Sgt., # 24578; Osbaldo Camacho, # 33903; Campbell, # 25216; Randy Canister, # 26107; Kevin Carney, # 10983; James D. Carroll, # 34456; Martin Chalupa, # 21890; Danny N. Chau, # 30087; Manuel Chavez, # 30544; Thomas Chinappi; Joshua N. Closson, # 32252; David Cochrane, # 26545; Ethan Cohan, # 30614; John M. Collard, # 27376; Christopher Coppock, # 31801; Armando Coronado, # 14710; Bobby B. Crees, # 32061; John Curiel, # 17992; Robert Donaldson, # 20848; Michael Donnelly, # 31974; Raquel Duarte, # 30349; Nino Durden, # 31106; Brian Eldridge, # 32071; Donald J. Eldridge, # 31353; James A. Erwin, III, # 33017; William Ferguson, # 33323; John Robert Flowers, # 25547; Brad Foss; Herman Franz Frettlohr, # 31420; David M. Friedrich, # 30946; John Futrell, # 17253; Frank Galindo, # 30764; Joe Garcia, # 32362; Richard Ginelli; Teresa Golt, # 26562; Shawn Gomez, # 30855; Jeffrey L. Graham, # 27201; Greenfield, Detective; Paul D. Harper, # 30320; Richard Harper, # 14170; Harper, # 14710; Harper, # 13228; Harper, # 30770; Harper, # 16795; Harper, # 24195; Harper, # 10868; Ross Y. Hay, # 30771; Margarita Hermosillo, # 25178; Susan E. Herold, # 24732; Herrera, Detective; Brian K. Hewitt, # 27602; Daniel Hills, # 17826; George Hoopes, Sgt., # 26967; Connie Howell, # 23994; Cesar Huezzo, # 33787; Alfred Hitchings, # 25970; Alex Izquierdo, # 26873; Robb Johnson, # 25362; Ronald Kitzmiller, # 31907; Arturo Koenig, # 30289; Klotz; Andrew Lassak, # 30835; Brian Liddy, # 27515; Liddy, # 27315; Daniel Lujan, Jr., # 26973; Frank Lyga, # 25051; David Mack; Charles Markel, # 21866; John Patrick Marquez, # 2667 # 26670; Mario Marquez, # 32875; Samuel T. Martin, # 26058; Lawrence Martinez, # 27319; Thomas Martinez, # 31746; Patrick McCarty, # 30182; Shands McCoy, # 25578; William S. McGee, # 21277; Scott F. McNeil, # 31438; Unknown Mejia; Ruben Mendoza, Ofcr. # 31360; Richard Meraz, # 12052; Camerino Mesina, # 30907; John Mumma, # 26492; James Muniz, # 30963; David Navarro, Sgt., # 23155; David Negrete, # 26682; Howard Ng, # 30405; Thomas O'Grady, # 30328; Steven O'Neal, # 33740; Ernest Orona, # 25243; Edward Ortiz, Sgt., # 23230; Dennis O'Sullivan, # 27237; Owens, Officer, # 27878 (no such number); Kulin Patel, # 27150; Arthur Pelt, # 15790; Armando Perez, # 25581; Rafael A. Perez, # 26905; John Peters, Sgt., # 25750; Robert Pionowski, # 15722; Jill Poe, # 27438; Diane Ponce, # 6413; Robert Pulley, # 17805; Unknown Quirk, # 33352; Manuel Redruello, # 25667; Peter Repovich, # 23078; Donna Reyes, # 34432; Mark Richardson, # 26995; Michael Richardson, Sgt., # 26159; Arturo Rico, # 27811; Mario Rios, # 32123; Jeffrey Robb, # 33804; Terrance Rochon, # 26696; Arthur Rodriguez, # 26255; Rossello; Edward Ruiz, # 27158; Jasmine Saade, # 22635; Nick Salicos, Captain; Johnny Sanchez, # 26513; Ruperto Sanchez, # 13953; Dustin Sclater, # 31933; Matthew Sibayan, # 30196; Addis Simpson, 330011; Christopher Soldo, # 26003; David Solis, # 32315; Doyle Stepp, # 31143; Jeffrey Stewart, # 25593; Stephanie Sutherland, # 30571; Jon Taylor, # 30974; Andrew Teague, # 21972; Unknown Tomeo, # 33087; Humberto Tovar, # 30492; Melissa Town, # 30305; Michael Tyus, # 23886; Robert Valdez, # 27352; Roger Vanoverstracten, # 30860; Omar Veloz, # 30740; David Vinton, # 31085; Voeltz, # 33292; Michael Wang, # 30805; Terry Wessel, # 14680; Mark Andrew Wilbur, # 30636; Melissa Zak, # 30305; Zamora, # 27267; Mike Zych, # 23892 all as current or former members of the Lapd; Christian Abdelkerim, # 33542; Willie L. Williams; Bernard C. Parks; Richard Alarcon; Richard Alatorre; Hal Bernson; Marvin Braude; Laura Chick; John Ferraro; Michael Feuer; Ruth Galanter; Mike Hernandez; Nate Holden; Mark Ridley-Thomas; Joel Wachs; Ernani Bernardi; Joan Flores; Gloria Molina; Joy Picus; Arthur Snyder; Michael Woo; Zev Yarolslavsky, all as present or former Los Angeles City Council members; Herbert F. Boeckmann, II; Gerald Chaleff; Rochelle De La Rocha; Raymond C. Fisher; James G. Fisk; Stephen Gavin; Maxwell E. Greenberg; Dean Hansell; Deirdre Hughes Hill; Warren Jackson; Melanie Lomax; Art Mattox; Edith Perez; Enrique Hernandez; Barbara Schlei; Robert Talcott; Reva Tooley; Robert I. Weil; Stanley Scheinbaum; Michael Yamaki; Stephen Yslas; Mary Burwell Cooper; Ellen M. Fawls; Jeffrey Gallagher; James Kenneth Hahn; Katherine J. Hamilton; Richard Helgeson; Thomas Hokinson; Stuart D. Hotchkiss; Helen Annette Keller, Defendants-Appellees Richard Riordan, Appellee.

No. 02-56017.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted October 8, 2003.

Filed January 29, 2004.

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Stephen Yagman, Yagman & Yagman & Reichmann & Bloomfield, Venice, CA, for the plaintiff-appellant.

Janet G. Bogigian, Deputy City Attorney, Los Angeles, CA, for the defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California Gary A. Feess, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-00-07165-GAF.

Before BRUNETTI, T.G. NELSON, and SILVERMAN, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

T.G. NELSON, Circuit Judge:

Louie Guerrero pleaded guilty to two separate charges of possession of narcotics. He now attempts to bring claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 that are barred by Heck v. Humphrey.¹ The claims stem from Guerrero's allegations of wrongful arrest, malicious prosecution, and a general conspiracy of "bad behavior" among Los Angeles officials in connection with his arrests, prosecutions, and incarceration. Based on the same incidents, he also attempts to bring time-barred excessive force claims under § 1983 and claims for which he lacks standing under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ("RICO").² We affirm the district court's dismissal of this case.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Guerrero's claims arise from two separate encounters with members of the Los Angeles Police Department ("LAPD"). On November 29, 1995, Officer Zamora and another unidentified officer of the LAPD stopped and searched Guerrero. Guerrero alleges that the officers planted narcotics on him during the course of the search. Charged with possession of the narcotics, Guerrero pleaded guilty, and the court placed him on probation.

Two years later, on November 14, 1997, Officer Martinez and two unidentified LAPD officers stopped and searched Guerrero a second time. According to Guerrero, the officers "grabbed him, punched him, choked him, and kicked him" and again "caused false narcotics charges to be made against" him. Guerrero pleaded guilty to these second narcotics charges and was incarcerated until August 1999.

Nearly three years after his second encounter, Guerrero filed this lawsuit on June 30, 2000. Alleging violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and RICO, his complaint named approximately 231 defendants, including former LAPD police chiefs, numerous police officers, several city attorneys, the mayor of Los Angeles, and a former district attorney. Although Guerrero's complaint asserts somewhat amorphous claims, his allegations can be characterized as claims of excessive force, wrongful arrest, and malicious prosecution. He also avers that a conspiracy of "bad behavior" existed among the defendants. Prior to June 2000, Guerrero had never contested his arrests, convictions, or sentences.

The district court initially denied a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss³ brought by one of the 231 defendants, Bernard Parks. Shortly thereafter, the case was transferred to a new judge along with other similarly situated cases, all part of the LAPD Rampart scandal. Defendants, including Parks, filed further Rule 12(b)(6) motions to dismiss. The court granted these motions in a series of decisions, properly treating Parks' second Rule 12(b)(6) motion as a request for reconsideration.⁴ Guerrero timely appealed.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review de novo dismissals under Rule 12(b)(6), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.⁵ Dismissal is appropriate only when the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claims that would entitle him to relief.⁶ All allegations of material fact are taken as true and construed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party.⁷ Review is generally limited to the contents of the complaint, but if support exists in the record, a dismissal may be affirmed on any proper ground.⁸

III. DISCUSSION

A. Heck v. Humphrey Bars Majority of Guerrero's § 1983 Claims

Under Heck v. Humphrey:⁹

When a state prisoner seeks damages in a § 1983 suit, the district court must consider whether a judgment in favor of the plaintiff would necessarily imply the invalidity of his conviction or sentence; if it would, the complaint must be dismissed unless the plaintiff can demonstrate that the conviction or sentence has already been invalidated.¹⁰

The Court specifically stated:

We hold that, in order to recover damages for allegedly unconstitutional conviction or imprisonment ..., a § 1983 plaintiff must prove the conviction or sentence has been reversed on direct appeal, expunged by executive order, declared invalid by a state tribunal authorized to make such determination, or called into question...