Anderson v. Warner

• Decision Date: 26 June 2006
• Docket Number: No. 04-15505.,04-15505.
• Citation: 451 F.3d 1063
• Parties: Thomas ANDERSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Charles WARNER; County of Mendocino; County of Mendocino Sheriff's Department, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

451 F.3d 1063

Thomas ANDERSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Charles WARNER; County of Mendocino; County of Mendocino Sheriff's Department, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 04-15505.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted October 21, 2005.

Filed June 26, 2006.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

William E. Weiss, San Francisco, CA, for the appellant.

Duncan M. James, David M. Kindopp, Ukiah, CA, for appellee Charles Warner.

Douglas L. Losak, Office of the County Counsel, Ukiah, CA, for appellee County of Mendocino.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California; Marilyn H. Patel, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-01-03471-MHP.

Before THOMAS and W. FLETCHER, Circuit Judges, and JAMES C. MAHAN,^* District Judge.

WILLIAM A. FLETCHER, Circuit Judge.

In this § 1983 suit, Thomas Anderson appeals from the district court's grant of summary judgment to individual defendant Charles Warner, as well as defendants Mendocino County Sheriff's Office and County of Mendocino (collectively "the County"). Anderson contends that Warner assaulted him while acting under color of state law. Anderson also contends that the County negligently hired and supervised Warner, and conducted an inadequate investigation into the assault by Warner. We reverse as to Warner and affirm as to the County.

I. Background

On the morning of July 30, 2001, Anderson and Warner were slowly driving their own vehicles toward the Redwood Valley Parade. Anderson was momentarily distracted and accidentally rear-ended Warner's vintage pickup truck. Warner got out of his truck, went back to Anderson's vehicle, opened Anderson's door, and began hitting Anderson in the face and neck. Warner's wife, who had been a passenger, also got out of the truck. A probation officer and friend of Warner, Thomas Cropp, was driving the vehicle in front of Warner. Cropp got out of his vehicle and came back to join Warner and his wife. At the time of the assault, Warner was employed by the Mendocino County Sheriff's Department as the jail commander. On the day of the assault, Warner was off duty and out of uniform.

Recounting the assault in his declaration, Anderson stated:

I heard someone yell t[o] call the police and then a woman I later learned was Mr. Warner's wife yelled, "he is a cop". I then said to Mr. Warner, "You're a cop?" and something to the effect that this was another Rodney King. He replied that he was and I heard him tell witnesses he was a cop and to stay back. I also heard a person who I now know is named Thomas Cropp tell people he was a probation officer and that this was police business. He told people to move on. Mr. Warner did not contradict him.

In his deposition, Anderson recounted that he had briefly been rendered unconscious by the assault. He then described what he saw after he regained consciousness:

Well, what happened after I came to, I sat up and noticed Mr. Warner and this other guy and this lady holding their hands up, telling the crowd to disperse — that it's a police matter, and that Warner was an officer[.]

"This other guy," described by Anderson as having gray hair and a "small gray beard," was Thomas Cropp. "This lady" was Warner's wife. The deposition continued:

Q: Tell me what you heard the man with gray hair and a beard say?

A [by Anderson]: I heard him say that for the crowd to disperse.

Q: Did he use the word "disperse"?

A: Yes.

Q: What were his actual words if you can remember?

A: He was just telling the crowd to back up, to disperse, this is police business.

. . .

Q: Now did you also hear some other person make some comment ...?

A: Yes.

Q: Who was that?

A: This big woman on the right-hand side of Mr. Warner, on the right-hand side of the crowd. And she was saying that he was a cop.

Q: What do you recall her actual words to be?

A: "He's a cop. Let him alone. Look what he did to his truck."

Later in the deposition, Anderson stated that fire department personnel came to the scene:

Mr. Warner looked and seen that the fire department was running down the road. He went — he slid back behind my seat and held my head, and he was telling me ... that he was a police officer, not to say anything, that he'll fix it. He'll work it out.

Tony Maples was a witness to the assault. He provided a sworn declaration to which he attached a transcript of a taped interview with the police after the event. Maples stated in the interview:

I yelled "Somebody call the cops[.]" And[the lady in the red shirt] goes, "He is a cop". And I went, "Oh my gosh" . . . and then ... I started yelling, "Then what is he doing this for?" ... And the lady goes, "Well look at his — look what that guy did to my — did to his truck. Let him be — let him hit him."

Ginerva Chandler, another witness, provided a sworn declaration to which she attached a transcript of her taped interview with the police. She stated that she had passed the scene of the accident on her bicycle:

And we could hear them yelling and we assumed the guy in [Anderson's car] was hurt and they were going to try and get him out of the car.... And then what I heard was a woman yelling, you'll have to excuse the language, "Fucking caused the accident," and then yelling, "He's a cop. He's a cop," and we saw them reaching in the car to get the gentleman in the car out and we just kept rolling.

Anderson filed a complaint in federal district court alleging violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 as well as various state law claims. Defendants Warner and the County moved for summary judgment. The district court granted Warner's motion on the ground that he had not acted under color of state law. It granted the County's motion on the ground that Anderson had not presented any evidence of a causal connection between his injuries and either the asserted deficient training and supervision or the asserted failure to investigate. The district court dismissed the state-law claims without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c)(3).

Anderson timely appealed. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

II. Standard of Review

We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. See Buono v. Norton, 371 F.3d 543, 545 (9th Cir.2004). Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, we must determine whether there are any genuine issues of material fact and whether the district court correctly applied the relevant substantive law. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Olsen v. Idaho State Bd. of Med., 363 F.3d 916, 922 (9th Cir. 2004).

III. Discussion

Section 1983 provides:

Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injury in an action at law[.]

Section 1983 does not create any substantive rights, but is instead a vehicle by which plaintiffs can bring federal constitutional and statutory challenges to actions by state and local officials. Cholla Ready Mix, Inc. v. Civish, 382 F.3d 969, 978 (9th Cir.2004) (internal quotation marks omitted). "The purpose of § 1983 is to deter state actors from using the badge of their authority to deprive individuals of their federally guaranteed rights." McDade v. West, 223 F.3d 1135, 1139 (9th Cir.2000).

We discuss the claims against Warner and the County in turn.

A. Warner

Anderson claims that Warner violated § 1983 when he invoked his law enforcement status in order to keep others from interfering with the assault. To state a claim under § 1983, a plaintiff must both (1) allege the deprivation of a right secured by the federal Constitution or statutory law, and (2) allege that the deprivation was committed by a person acting under color of state law. West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42, 48, 108 S.Ct. 2250, 101 L.Ed.2d 40 (1988). Our focus is on the second requirement.

At the time of the assault, Warner was an employee of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Department. He was the county jail commander with the rank of lieutenant. Earlier in his career, as a lower-ranking officer, Warner had frequently worn a uniform while on duty. In his position as jail commander, he rarely wore a uniform even while on duty. Warner was entitled, by virtue of his position, to carry a gun while performing his duties in the jail and while transporting prisoners outside the jail. He was not entitled to carry a gun while off duty.

As a county jail commander, Warner's status under California law was that of a "custodial officer." Under California Penal Code § 831.5(a), "a custodial officer is a public officer, not a peace officer, employed by a law enforcement agency [of a county] ... who has the authority and responsibility for maintaining custody of prisoners . . . ." Section 831.5(f) provides that custodial officers may make warrantless arrests only while on duty: "A custodial officer may use reasonable force in establishing and maintaining custody of persons delivered to him or her by a law enforcement officer; may make arrests for misdemeanors and felonies within the local detention facility pursuant to a duly issued warrant; [and] may make warrantless arrests pursuant to Section 836.5 only during the duration of his or her job...."

Warner did not have the status of "peace officer" under California law. "Peace officers," as defined in California Penal Code § 830.1, have considerably broader powers than "custodial officers." For example, under § 836.5(a), peace officers may make warrantless arrests "whenever the officer or employee has reasonable cause to believe that the person to be arrested has committed a misdemeanor in the presence of the officer or employee that is a violation of a statute or ordinance that the...