In re Lugo
| Decision Date | 21 July 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. A114111.,No. A118706.,A114111.,A118706. |
| Citation | 80 Cal. Rptr. 3d 521,164 Cal.App.4th 1522 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | In re INEZ TITO LUGO on Habeas Corpus. |
Bill Lockyer and Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorneys General, Mary Jo Graves and David S. Chaney, Chief Assistant Attorneys General, Julie Garland and Frances T. Grunder, Assistant Attorneys General, Jennifer A. Neill, Thomas J. Patterson, Rochelle C. East, Patricia Webber Heim and Damon G. McClain, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Appellant.
Prison Law Office, Donald Specter; UnCommon Law and Keith Wattley for Defendant and Respondent.
The proceeding giving rise to these consolidated appeals began simply enough with a habeas corpus petition filed by a prisoner who claimed his parole suitability hearing had not been conducted within the time specified in the Penal Code.1 From that modest beginning, the proceeding transmogrified into something unprecedented under California law—a habeas corpus class action on behalf of parole-eligible life prisoners in which the trial court has assumed a role as overseer of the Board of Parole Hearings (Board) on a range of matters far afield of the simple complaint that motivated the original petitioner to seek relief.
On appeal, the Board claims the trial court erred by improperly limiting the Board's inherent discretion and requiring the Board to state "a significant change in circumstances" justifying a decision to deny parole for more than one year following a prior one-year parole denial. The Board further contends the trial court erred by requiring it to provide inmates with transcripts of their parole hearings within 30 days of the hearing date or face sanctions of $10 per day for each delayed transcript. Finally, the Board claims the trial court abused its discretion when it chose to multiply the fees awarded to class counsel by a factor of 1.5.
We affirm the order awarding attorney fees but reverse the trial court's orders as they relate to multiyear denials and hearing transcripts.
On May 26, 2004, Jerry Rutherford filed an in propria persona habeas corpus petition in the Marin County Superior Court. Rutherford, a prisoner at San Quentin State Prison who was serving a seven-year-to-life sentence, complained that he had been given a one-year denial of parole on February 25, 2003, but that the Board had failed to conduct his subsequent parole consideration hearing within one year of that date, in violation of his due process rights and section 3041.5, subdivision (b)(2). The trial court issued an order to show cause, directed the Board to file a return, and appointed the Prison Law Office to represent Rutherford in connection with his petition.2
The Attorney General filed a return on behalf of the Board. Among other things, the Attorney General contended the action should be dismissed as moot because, at the time the return was filed, Rutherford's next parole consideration hearing had already been scheduled.
Rutherford filed a reply to the Board's return along with a notice of motion and motion for class certification. Because his parole hearing had yet to take place, Rutherford denied the issue presented in the petition was moot. He further argued that, even if his hearing took place as scheduled, the court should still address the issue of untimely parole hearings because it was capable of repetition while evading judicial review. With respect to the class certification issue, Rutherford contended the court was required to issue "broad prospective" relief on behalf of him and all similarly situated life prisoners entitled to a timely parole consideration hearing. He argued that the "current piecemeal approach to resolving disputes over hearing timeliness" was insufficient and a waste of judicial resources.
The Board opposed the class certification motion, arguing among other things that habeas corpus proceedings are not appropriate for class treatment, judicial intervention was unwarranted in light of legislative action intended to reduce the parole hearing backlog, and the putative class did not meet the criteria for certification. In its opposition, the Board cited an order denying relief in another, similar habeas corpus petition that came before a different trial judge on the Marin County Superior Court. That trial judge offered the following observation, which might well apply to this action: "The administrative problems and delays and the statutory scheme which makes the operations of the [Board] clearly a function of the executive branch of government, have created a morass uniquely inappropriate for judicial resolution."
The trial court granted Rutherford's motion for class certification on November 29, 2004. The court defined the class as all prisoners serving indeterminate terms of life with the possibility of parole who have approached or exceeded their minimum eligible parole dates without receiving their parole hearings within the time required by sections 3041 and 3041.5. In this opinion, we shall refer to the certified prisoner class collectively as petitioners.
Following certification of the class, the Board stipulated that it was not providing timely parole consideration hearings as required by the Penal Code. After the Board attempted but largely failed to reduce the hearing backlog, the court granted petitioners' application for a writ of habeas corpus by order dated February 15, 2006. The trial court found that the hearing backlog was "increasing at an alarming rate" and cited testimony attributing the delays to antiquated procedures and inadequate staffing. The court concluded that "the remedy of individual judges granting individual applications for writs of habeas corpus cannot adequately address this problem." The court ordered the Board to "take immediate measures to comply with the statutory time limits for holding parole hearings," appointed the Prison Law Office as class counsel for petitioners, directed class counsel to prepare and give notice to the class, and expressed its intention to adopt a remedial plan that would be "as minimally intrusive as possible" in light of the substantial deference given to the Department. The court's order also directed class counsel to file a noticed motion for reasonable fees.
On March 22, 2006, the parties filed a joint statement of disputed issues, stipulated procedures, and a remedial plan. The court approved the stipulated procedures the following day. The stipulated procedures provide in relevant part that the Board shall file a progress report on compliance with the remedial plan at least once every 90 days. Under the stipulated procedures, petitioners are authorized to move "for any relief permitted by law or equity" to the extent they are not satisfied with the Board's response to any issue raised about its compliance with the remedial plan. The procedures specify that the court retains jurisdiction to enforce the terms of its orders and further indicate the matter will not be dismissed until the hearing backlog had been reduced to not more than 5 percent of monthly hearings and remained at or below that level for twelve consecutive months.
The proposed remedial plan required the Department to eliminate the backlog of parole hearings within 18 months of the court's approval of the plan and to develop and implement a statewide, networked scheduling and tracking system for parole suitability hearings.
One of the disputed issues identified by the parties concerned multiyear denials of parole following a previous one-year denial of parole.3 Petitioners took the position that the Board should not deny further parole consideration for two, three, four, or five years in cases in which inmates had previously received a one-year parole denial, absent a significant change in circumstances. The Board's position was that individual parole decisions should be left to the discretion of the hearing panel, which should not be bound by decisions of prior panels. The parties submitted further briefing on the issue of multiyear denials following a one-year denial.
Petitioners argued that the Board "seems to be using" multiyear denials to reduce the hearing backlog. As support for its position, petitioners claimed that some prisoners who had been denied parole for one year in the past were receiving multiyear denials.4 In opposition, the Board pointed out there was no evidence that any of its commissioners had ever given a multiyear denial in order to reduce the hearing backlog. Further, the Board argued the issue of multiyear denials was not related to the timeliness of parole consideration hearings and therefore was not properly before the court. The Board also contended that requiring it to state a significant change in circumstances justifying a multiyear denial following a one-year denial would improperly restrict the Board's discretion.
On April 14, 2006, class counsel filed a motion for an award of attorney fees. Class counsel sought $58,460 as reasonable attorney fees, an amount that class counsel argued should be multiplied by a factor of at least 1.5 in light of factors described in Serrano v. Priest (1977) 20 Cal.3d 25, 49 [141 Cal.Rptr. 315, 569 P.2d 1303], that would justify a fee enhancement. Although the Board opposed the fee motion, it did not contest class counsel's contention that $58,460 constituted reasonable fees for the services provided. Instead, the Board contended that no multiplier was justified and that any fee award should be limited to $58,460.
By order dated May 5, 2006, the trial court ruled on a number of disputed issues, including the handling of multiyear denials and class counsel's request for attorney fees. On the issue of multiyear denials, the court ordered the Board "not to deny further parole consideration for more than one year in the case of prisoners who have formerly been...
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