Asgari v. City of Los Angeles

• Decision Date: 02 June 1997
• Docket Number: No. S051825,S051825
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: , 16 Cal.4th 89B, 937 P.2d 273, 97 Daily Journal D.A.R. 6909 Ardeshir ASGARI, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. CITY OF LOS ANGELES et al., Defendants and Appellants.

Page 842

63 Cal.Rptr.2d 842

15 Cal.4th 744, 16 Cal.4th 89B, 937 P.2d 273,

97 Daily Journal D.A.R. 6909

Ardeshir ASGARI, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. CITY OF LOS ANGELES et al., Defendants and Appellants.

No. S051825.

Supreme Court of California.

June 2, 1997.

As Modified on Denial of Rehearing March 17, 1997.

As Modified July 16, 1997.

James K. Hahn, City Attorney, Thomas C. Hokinson, G. Daniel Woodard and Katherine J. Hamilton, Assistant City Attorneys, and Lisa S. Berger, Deputy City Attorney, for Defendants and Appellants.

Ruth Sorensen, Manning, Marder & Wolfe and Robert S. Wolfe as Amici Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Appellants.

Marjorie G. Fuller, Fullerton, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

GEORGE, Chief Justice.

Plaintiff Ardeshir Asgari was arrested and later charged with a criminal offense. He remained in custody for more than seven months, until he was acquitted following a jury trial. He sued the arresting police officers, and the city that employed them, for false arrest and related causes of action and, following a jury trial, obtained a judgment against the city and one of the officers in the amount of $1,327,000.

We granted review to decide whether the trial court erred in instructing the jury that a police officer's liability for false arrest may include damages sustained by the arrestee after the filing of formal charges where, for example, the officer knowingly presented false evidence to the prosecutor. In so instructing the jury, the trial court relied upon a federal decision, Smiddy v. Varney (9th Cir.1981) 665 F.2d 261, that determined the appropriate measure of damages in an action alleging that an improper arrest constituted an intentional invasion of civil rights under 42 United States Code section 1983. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the Smiddy decision does not reflect the applicable California law, and that the jury should have been instructed that the immunity from liability for injury caused by malicious prosecution, provided to public employees by Government Code section 821.6, precludes a plaintiff in a false arrest action from recovering damages that are attributable to the period of the plaintiff's incarceration that follows his or her arraignment on criminal charges.

I

Plaintiff Ardeshir Asgari sued the City of Los Angeles and several of its employees and agents, including Los Angeles Police Detective Ruperto V. Sanchez, for false arrest and related causes of action. Plaintiff had been arrested and prosecuted for possession for sale of a pound of heroin as the result of an undercover narcotics investigation, and was acquitted following a jury trial.

Plaintiff testified that he was born in Iran and became a member of that country's national wrestling team. On July 24, 1982, he defected from Iran while traveling in Venezuela with the wrestling team and eventually came to the United States. Plaintiff's father and uncle were officials in the Iranian government and had vowed to kill plaintiff because he had defected.

In 1986 and 1987, plaintiff became a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) All-American wrestler, finishing in the top six nationally in his weight class, and was invited to the Olympic trials. The top two finishers would make the team.

Several weeks before he was arrested, plaintiff met Mahmoud Bassir outside the gymnasium at the college plaintiff attended. Plaintiff did not know that Bassir was a police informant. Bassir introduced himself as Mohammed Hussein, and they had a conversation in Farsi. After plaintiff's wrestling practice concluded, plaintiff encountered Bassir outside the gym, and Bassir walked home with plaintiff. They met several times after that and became friends.

Bassir told plaintiff he was in the diamond business and had been "ripped off" by a woman named Sylvia Reyes (who, unbeknownst to plaintiff, also was a police informant) and wanted to recoup his loss by selling her dirt rather than diamonds. At Bassir's behest, plaintiff telephoned Reyes and said he wanted to do business. Bassir had instructed plaintiff to refer to diamonds as "medicine." Reyes expressed interest and later met plaintiff at a Holiday Inn. Plaintiff told her he had medicine to sell, and Reyes said she would pay $35,000. Plaintiff was shocked at this figure. Bassir later told him that $35,000 was the exact amount Reyes owed him. Bassir asked plaintiff to arrange to meet Reyes once more, but told plaintiff that Bassir would conduct the transaction himself.

On December 15, 1987, plaintiff met Reyes and drove her to his apartment complex to meet Bassir. They walked around looking for Bassir. Reyes said she was tired and leaned against an automobile. Reyes noticed a briefcase underneath the vehicle, picked it up, and carried it to the third floor. Reyes opened the briefcase, and plaintiff looked inside. Reyes then shut the briefcase and went back downstairs with it.

When plaintiff and Reyes reached the parking lot, several men began running toward them. Reyes dropped the briefcase, and plaintiff kicked it underneath an automobile. The men were undercover police officers working with Detective Sanchez. Sanchez and his fellow officers arrested plaintiff and placed him in handcuffs. Plaintiff's wallet, containing his driver's license, was in his pocket. Plaintiff was placed in jail, where he remained for seven months and six days, missing the Olympic trials.

The evidence introduced by defendants provided a dramatically different version of the events leading to plaintiff's arrest. In September 1987, Los Angeles Police Detective Charles Uribe arrested Bassir for possession of heroin for sale and arranged for Bassir to become a police informant. Bassir subsequently provided reliable information leading to the arrest of two drug dealers.

In December 1987, Bassir telephoned Detective Uribe, stating he had met an Iranian man who desired to sell a pound of Persian brown heroin. Because it appeared the alleged dealer was located in Orange County, Detective Uribe contacted Detective Sanchez, who assumed responsibility for the investigation. ¹ Detective Sanchez provided Bassir with the telephone number of Reyes, a reliable paid informant with whom Detective Sanchez had worked for more than 10 years.

Bassir passed on Reyes's telephone number to plaintiff, and on December 14, 1987, plaintiff called Reyes and said he wanted to conduct some "business" concerning brown "medicine" (which Reyes took to mean brown heroin), setting the price at $35,000. They met at a Holiday Inn to discuss the transaction.

Plaintiff telephoned Reyes the following day, December 15, 1987, and stated he was ready to complete the deal. Plaintiff and Reyes met at 8 p.m. and, after plaintiff asked to see the money, they drove to the parking lot of a nearby movie theater where Detective Sanchez, posing as Reyes's brother, approached the vehicle and showed plaintiff the money. After plaintiff produced a small sample of heroin, plaintiff drove Reyes to plaintiff's apartment complex. Sanchez and other detectives followed surreptitiously.

Plaintiff parked his vehicle, and he and Reyes exited and walked around the complex. Plaintiff entered an apartment and returned with a briefcase. He opened the briefcase in a hallway on the second floor and removed two plastic bags containing heroin, but quickly closed the briefcase and began walking rapidly toward the staircase when he noticed one of the undercover detectives nearby.

The other undercover detectives pursued plaintiff and found him walking in the parking lot, carrying the briefcase. Just before one of the detectives reached him, plaintiff slid the briefcase under a parked automobile. The detectives placed plaintiff under arrest and retrieved the briefcase, which contained plastic bags of heroin, plaintiff's driver's license, and various "school papers." A search of plaintiff's apartment did not reveal any evidence of drugs or drug dealing. Sanchez seized the heroin, but left the briefcase and papers at plaintiff's apartment.

On December 16, 1987, the day following plaintiff's arrest, Los Angeles Police Department Detective Thomas Thompson obtained a warrant pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 11470, which provides that all proceeds of drug transactions are subject to forfeiture, and seized the assets in plaintiff's bank account. These funds were returned to plaintiff following his acquittal of criminal charges. ²

In closing argument at the conclusion of the trial in the present civil proceedings, plaintiff's attorney argued that Detective Sanchez, Bassir, and Reyes were "damn liars" who intentionally had framed plaintiff. Counsel urged the jury to award damages to compensate plaintiff for spending more than seven months in jail.

At plaintiff's request, the trial court instructed the jury in accordance with the decision in Smiddy v. Varney, supra, 665 F.2d 261, as follows: "Where police officers act maliciously or with reckless disregard for the rights of an arrested person, they are liable for damages suffered by the arrested person even after the district attorney files charges if the presumption of independent judgment by the district attorney is rebutted. [p] An example of facts which would support such a rebuttal are: 1. A showing by plaintiff that the district attorney was pressured or caused by the defendant investigating officers to act contrary to his independent judgment. [p] 2. A showing by plaintiff that the defendant officers presented information to the district attorney that they knew to be false. [p] Such a showing will rebut the presumption of independent judgment by the district attorney and further the police officers will not be immunized from plaintiff's false arrest damages after the filing of the criminal complaint. These examples are not intended to be exclusive."

The jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff, awarding him $1,262,000 from the City of Los Angeles and Detective...