Solis v. County of Los Angeles

• Decision Date: 29 January 2008
• Docket Number: No. 05-56637.,05-56637.
• Citation: 514 F.3d 946
• Parties: Salvador SOLIS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES; Los Angeles Sheriff's Department; Vargas, Los Angeles County Sheriff, Defendants, and Miguel Beltran, Los Angeles County Sheriff, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

514 F.3d 946

Salvador SOLIS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES; Los Angeles Sheriff's Department; Vargas, Los Angeles County Sheriff, Defendants, and Miguel Beltran, Los Angeles County Sheriff, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 05-56637.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted June 13, 2007.

Filed January 29, 2008.

Michael H. Dore. Leila C. Orr, and Mark E. Weber, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Los Angeles, CA, for the plaintiff-appellant.

Ali Reza Sabouri, Office of the County Counsel, Los Angeles, CA, for defendant-appellee Miguel Beltran.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California R. Gary Klausner, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-01-06425-RGK.

Before: DOROTHY W. NELSON, STEPHEN REINHARDT, and PAMELA ANN RYMER, Circuit Judges.

REINHARDT, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiff Salvador Solis ("Solis"), a former inmate at the Los Angeles County jail, brought this pro se¹ civil action alleging constitutional violations stemming from Solis's transfer into the jail's "gang module," where he was attacked and injured by three other inmates. Solis appeals the district court's verdict, following a bench trial, in favor of defendant Miguel Beltran, as well as the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the remaining defendants. We reverse the district court's grant of summary judgment on the ground that Solis was not given fair notice of the requirements and consequences of a summary judgment motion, as required by Rand v. Rowland, 154 F.3d 952 (9th Cir. 1998) (en banc). We also reverse the verdict in favor of Beltran because the district court erred in denying Solis a jury trial, and the error was not harmless.

I. Background

Solis is an ex-member of a gang known as the Mexican Mafia, or "La Eme." He is currently serving a sentence of life without parole as a result of his conviction of first-degree murder. Following his arrest on that charge, Solis was placed in the Los Angeles County jail.

According to Solis, he informed a female intake official during his processing at the jail that he was an ex-member of the Mexican Mafia and was therefore a "high control risk" in need of special protection. The official told him to notify the deputies at his cell block once he arrived. At that time, Solis was required to fill out a "Segregation Assessment" form so that his housing classification could be determined. He stated on the form that he had been affiliated with gangs and that he had, never served as a police informant or witness for the state. In response to the question, "Do you fear for your safety while in this facility?" Solis answered "No." According to Solis, he did fear for his safety but answered "No" because active gang members were present when he was filling out the form, and answering "Yes" would have drawn their attention to him. Solis was placed in Module 4700, which houses "general population" inmates who are not under protective custody and are not segregated from other inmates.

Solis asserts that, shortly after arriving in Module 4700, he spoke informally with Deputy Miguel Beltran ("Beltran"), an officer in the "Operation Safe Jail" ("OSJ") unit, which was responsible for gathering intelligence on gang activity in the jail. Solis claims that he told Beltran he was "in trouble" because he was an ex-gang member who should have been in protective custody, and that he showed Beltran several documents proving that he was a gang dropout. According to Solis, Beltran responded, "We'll interview you." Beltran denies ever having had such a conversation with Solis.

Solis asserts that on July 14, 1999, members of the OSJ unit interviewed him along with several other prisoners from Module 4700. He states that he believes that the primary interviewer was named "Vargas" but that Beltran was present as well. According to Solis, he told his interviewers that he was an ex-member of the Mexican Mafia and showed them the documents confirming his status. He claims that "Vargas" then asked him to be an informant for OSJ. Solis asserts that when he refused and requested placement in protective custody, "Vargas" threatened to put him in the "gang module," a unit that houses active gang members. Solis object ed, but was nevertheless transferred to the "gang module" that same day.²

Two weeks later, around July 28, 1999, Solis was assaulted by three inmates in the gang module. He asserts that during the beating, one of the assailants mentioned Beltran by name, stating, "Beltran was the one that gave you up, punk." On August 2, as Solis was walking to the shower area, he reported the assault to Deputy John Gutierrez. He explained that this was his first chance to report the beating because it was the first time he had not been in the presence of his assailants since the attack. Gutierrez observed that Solis had bruises on his torso, forearms, neck, and eye, and escorted him to the clinic for medical attention. That day, Solis was transferred out of the gang module to Module 3700.

On February 11, 2002, Solis filed a pro se complaint in federal court, against Beltran, "Vargas," Sheriff Lee Baca, the County of Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department ("Defendants"),³ alleging violations of his civil rights under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983, 1985, 1986, and 1988. He argued, inter alia, that the Defendants retaliated against him for refusing to "snitch" by placing him in the gang module with knowledge of the attendant dangers, and that such retaliation was a custom or practice of the County.⁴ In his complaint he demanded a jury trial, both in the caption and at the end of the pleading.

On September 20, 2004, the district court received the first of Solis's two requests for appointment of counsel. The court rejected the request on the ground that no proof of service was attached to the motion. On November 3, 2004, the court filed an Order for Jury Trial, which set a trial date of April 5, 2005, and contained instructions regarding discovery, pretrial settlement, and the submission of motions, instructions, and exhibits in preparation for trial. At the bottom of the section requiring the submission of jury instructions and special verdict forms, the order stated, "Failure of counsel to strictly follow the provisions of this section ... SHALL CONSTITUTE A WAIVER OF JURY TRIAL in all civil cases."

On January 19, 2005, the Defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, to which Solis filed an opposition on February 22. The Defendants then filed objections to Solis's summary judgment opposition, complaining that the opposition was filed nine days late, did not contain a separate statement of undisputed facts, and was supported only by hearsay or documents that had not been properly disclosed. The district court accepted Solis's untimely opposition and granted the Defendants summary judgment as to Solis's Monell claim and his § 1986 claim. It also dismissed Solis's claims against Sheriff Baca, noting that Solis had "not shown any evidence that Sheriff Baca should be held individually liable." The court did find, however, that Solis had presented enough evidence to create a genuine issue of material fact with respect to Beltran, and thus denied summary judgment on Solis's §§ 1981, 1983, and 1985 claims against him.

Two weeks later, during a March 21, 2005, pretrial conference at which Solis appeared telephonically, the district court stated that Solis "did not file a jury demand" and had waived jury trial "due to the non-submission of required pretrial documents." Noting that Solis's confinement was a "substantial barrier to his attendance at trial," the district court announced that it would conduct the trial as a "Court Trial by videotape depositions." Solis subsequently filed a second request for appointment of counsel, explaining that his education was limited to an eighth-grade level, that he had no legal education and limited access to legal materials, and that the case involved complex legal issues that required discovery of documents and depositions of a number of witnesses. He also reiterated his demand for a jury trial. The district court denied the request for counsel without explanation.

Having reviewed the videotaped depositions and corresponding transcripts of Solis, Beltran, and Gutierrez, the district court issued its "Statement of Decision" on July 14, 2005. Finding that there was "no question that an event occurred which changed [Solis's] cell assignment and directly led to [Solis's] injuries," the district court criticized Beltran for being "less than forthcoming with regard to the presentation of evidence" that should have been in his immediate control. The district court also concluded that Solis's "version as to many of the events seems more credible than that of Defendant's witnesses." Nevertheless, the district court ruled in Beltran's favor on the ground that Solis was "unable to provide sufficient evidence to sustain a finding of liability." There was no separate order setting forth the judgment apart from the Statement of Decision. The district court ordered Solis to pay a bill of costs in the amount of $1,115 for trial and deposition fees.

Solis filed a Notice of Appeal on October 18, 2005. He argues that (1) summary judgment was improper; (2) the district court deprived him of his right to a jury by adjudicating his claim against Beltran via a bench trial "by videotape depositions," and that, in any event, the district court's verdict in favor of Beltran was wrong on the merits; and (3) the district court abused its discretion in refusing to appoint Solis counsel. We address each issue in turn.

II. Discussion

A. Jurisdiction

As a preliminary matter, we reject the Defendants' contention that this Court lacks jurisdiction because Solis's notice of appeal was untimely. Notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days "after the judgment ... is entered," subject to certain exceptions. Fed. R.App. P. 4...