Mortimer v. Baca, 00 13002 DDP(SHX).

• Decision Date: 15 March 2007
• Docket Number: No. 00 13002 DDP(SHX).,00 13002 DDP(SHX).
• Citation: 478 F.Supp.2d 1171
• Court: U.S. District Court — Central District of California
• Parties: R.D. MORTIMER, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Leroy BACA, et al., Defendants.

478 F.Supp.2d 1171

R.D. MORTIMER, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Leroy BACA, et al., Defendants.

No. 00 13002 DDP(SHX).

United States District Court, C.D. California.

March 15, 2007.

Joseph Yagman, Marion R. Yagman, Stephen Yagman, Yagman Yagman & Reichmann, Venice, CA, Kathryn Sue Bloomfield, Kathryn S. Bloomfield Law Offices, Mira, LA, Richard H. Millard, Richard H. Millard Law Offices, Los Angeles, CA, for Plaintiffs.

David D. Lawrence, Michael D. Allen, Paul B. Beach, Franscell Strickland Roberts & Lawrence, Glendale, CA, Andrew Baum, Bryan M. Sullivan, Louis R. Miller; Christensen Glaser Fink Jacobs Weil & Shapiro, Los Angeles, CA, for Defendants.

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND MOTION FOR CLASS DECERTIFICATION AND DENYING PLAINTIFFS' RULE 56(f) REQUEST [Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment (filed October 30, 2006), Motion for Class Decertification (filed October 30, 2006), and Request for Rule 56(f) Continuance (filed January 8, 2007)]

PREGERSON, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on defendants' motions for summary judgment and to, decertify the class, as well as plaintiffs request for a Rule 56(f) continuance. Based on the papers submitted by both parties, the Court grants the motion for summary judgment and adopts the following order.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs are representatives of a class of individuals who were allegedly overdetained by the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department (LASD). Detainees in LASD custody must go through a series of administrative steps before their court-ordered releases can be effectuated. These steps include processing of paperwork and checking for holds from other agencies. This lawsuit involves the reasonableness of the length of time between the court's order and the actual release of the detainee from custody.

The named plaintiffs, Roger Mortimer, Anthony Hart, and Rodney Berry, originally brought suit in 2000 and 2001 alleging they were detained in excess of twenty-four hours following the court order of their release. As outlined in the facts and by the Ninth Circuit in Berry v. Baca, 379 F.3d 764, 766-67 (9th Cir.2004), the facts of the plaintiffs' case are as follows:

Mortimer's release was ordered when a jury returned a "not guilty" verdict at 11:45 a.m. On August 14, 2000. His paperwork was entered into the jail's Automated Justice Information System ("AJIS") at approximately midnight, and he was released from custody at 4:57 p.m. On August 15, 2000. Based on those times, Mortimer was detained twenty-nine hours after he was ordered released and seventeen hours after his paperwork was entered into AJIS.

Hart's release was ordered on August 17, 2000 at 9:30 a.m., but he was also ordered to appear in another matter that same day. The clerical staff at the Inmate Reception Center ("IRC"), which is the central processing facility for the jail, waited until the following day to confirm Hart had made the appearance and then entered his paperwork into MIS at approximately 8:30 a.m. On August 18, 2000; he was released at 2:02 p.m. that day. His release was twenty-nine hours after the court's order and five Tours after his information was entered into AJIS.

Berry's release was ordered when his case was dismissed at 11:30 a.m. on February 1, 2001. His file was entered into MIS at 9:30 p.m. that day and he was released from custody on February 2 at 2:02 p.m. Thus, twenty-six hours elapsed from the time of the order and sixteen hours from the time his information was entered into MIS until Berry was released.

The plaintiff class has been defined by the Court as "all LASD detainees who were not released within twelve hours of either (a) the expiration of the applicable sentence or (b) a court-ordered release, and who have no outstanding releases, warrants, or holds." Order Granting in Part Motion for Certification of a Damages Class, May 25, 2005 ("Certification Order") available at 2005 WL 1457743. Subsequently, the Court limited the applicable dates of the class from November 23, 2002 to May 25, 2005. Order Denying Plaintiffs' Motion for Class Notification, December 20, 2005 ("Notification Order") available at 2005 WL 3497817. This time limitation excludes all of the named plaintiffs from falling within the class. The only cause of action asserted by the plaintiffs not yet dismissed by the Court is that the alleged overdetentions violate the plaintiffs' rights under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

The Court has previously granted defendants summary judgment in this case on the grounds that the Ninth Circuit's holding in Brass v. County of Los Angeles, 328 F.3d 1192 (9th Cir.2003), precluded the policies in issue from violating the plaintiffs' constitutional rights. However, the Ninth Circuit reversed this ruling on the basis that the holding in Brass was distinguishable. See Berry, 379 F.3d at 768-70. The Court of Appeals held that there was a factual dispute as to whether the application of county policies which resulted in detentions was unreasonable under the circumstances, and thus amounted to a policy of deliberate indifference to the arrestees' constitutional rights that precluded summary judgment. See Id.

The Sheriff asserts that he is entitled to summary judgment because there is no evidence to support the plaintiffs claim that the over detentions were a result of an unconstitutional policy, practice, or custom. Plaintiffs counter that there is a triable issue of fact whether the defendants' policies constituted "deliberate indifference" with respect to overheld detainees.

The Sheriff has also filed a motion to decertify the class. He argues the class members' claims do not have the requisites of typicality or numerosity and that the representatives are improper because they do not fall within the outlined class itself. Plaintiffs respond that these issues were litigated previously and that the Sheriffs arguments are unsupported by evidence.

Also, the plaintiffs filed on January 8, 2007, a Rule 56(f) request with respect to both motions because plaintiffs' counsel has not yet deposed Deputy Craig Summers, a newly installed member of the Records Unit at the Inmate Reception Center. Plaintiffs' counsel Mr. Yagman has represented to the Court that he did not know of Deputy Summers until the defendants used his declarations in support of these motions. Defendants counter that plaintiffs' counsel had notice through a witness list of Deputy Summers' predecessor and did not depose her, and thus delay is not warranted. The Court addresses this matter first.

II. RULE 56(f) REQUEST

summary judgment is appropriate where there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(c). Rule 56(f) empowers the court to continue or deny a motion for summary judgment if the opposing party needs time to discover facts essential to justify the opposition. Hall v. Hawaii, 791 F.2d 759, 761 (9th Cir.1986); Fed. R. Civ. P 56(f). Rule 56(f) reads:

Should it appear from the affidavits of a party opposing the motion that the party cannot for reasons stated present by affidavit facts essential to justify the party's opposition, the court may refuse the application for judgment or may order a continuance to permit affidavits to be obtained or depositions to be taken or discovery to be had or may make such other order as is just.

Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(f).

To prevail under Rule 56(f), a party opposing a motion for summary judgment must make clear what information is sought and how it would preclude summary judgment. Hall, 791 F.2d at 761. To obtain postponement or denial for further discovery, the opposing party's declarations must show: (1) facts establishing a likelihood that controverting evidence may exist as to a material fact; (2) the specific reasons why such evidence cannot be presented at the present time; and (3) the steps or procedures that the opposing party intends to utilize to obtain such evidence. Terrell v. Brewer, 935 F.2d 1015, 1018 (9th Cir.1991) (emphasis added).

The Court finds that the plaintiffs have failed to present facts establishing a likelihood that controverting evidence may. exist as to a material fact, the specific reasons why such cannot be presented at the present time, and the steps or procedures that the plaintiffs intend to utilize to obtain such evidence. First, the Court notes that the discovery cut-off in this case occurred on July 13, 2006. Second, plaintiffs' counsel, Mrs. Yagman, has presented the Court with over 800 pages in twenty-one exhibits as an evidentiary basis for opposing the summary judgment motion. The declaration of Deputy Summers simply verifies statistical information kept in the course of business through a computer system. Based on the reasons set forth above, the Court is not persuaded that justice requires further delaying ruling on these motions. Thus, the Court denies the Rule 56(f) request.

III. EVIDENTIARY RECORD

The parties have submitted evidence for both motions in the form of exhibits and declarations describing how the jail functions, how records are kept, as well as providing some of the records themselves, and graphical interpretations of the raw data. Before addressing the substantive arguments of the motions themselves, some discussion of the evidentiary record is necessary.

A. The Sheriff's Evidence

The Sheriff submitted declarations describing how records of potential over detentions are kept. According to the declarations, the LASD maintains a series of sophisticated electronic databases to track the hundreds of detainees processed for release each day. The first system is the Automated Justice Information System ("AJIS"), which is the central database for information on all individuals in LASD custody. (Perry Decl. ¶ 3.) AJIS is the system LASD clerks must check to verify an individual has no additional holds once a release order...