Shafer v. Cnty. of Santa Barbara

• Citation: 868 F.3d 1110
• Decision Date: 29 August 2017
• Docket Number: No. 15-56548,15-56548
• Parties: Jay Russell SHAFER, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA; Bill Brown, individually and as Sheriff of Santa Barbara County; Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department, Defendants, and Freddy Padilla, No. 2465, individually and as a peace officer, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (9th Circuit)

868 F.3d 1110

Jay Russell SHAFER, Plaintiff-Appellee,

v. COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA; Bill Brown, individually and as Sheriff of Santa Barbara County; Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department, Defendants,andFreddy Padilla, No. 2465, individually and as a peace officer, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 15-56548

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted April 6, 2017 Pasadena, California

Filed August 29, 2017

Mary Pat Barry (argued), Senior Deputy; Michael C. Ghizzoni, County Counsel; Office of County Counsel, Santa Barbara, California; for Defendant-Appellant.

Steven B. Stevens (argued), Los Angeles, California; Thomas E. Beck, The Beck Law Firm, Los Alamitos, California; for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Before: Milan D. Smith, Jr. and N. Randy Smith, Circuit Judges, and Gary Feinerman.^**

OPINION

N.R. SMITH, Circuit Judge:

College student Jay Russell Shafer refused to drop water balloons at the request of Santa Barbara Sheriff's Deputy Freddy Padilla. Deputy Padilla then used a leg sweep maneuver to take down and arrest Shafer. Shafer sued Deputy Padilla, asserting violations of his constitutional rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Deputy Padilla asserted the defense of qualified immunity.

The jury found that Deputy Padilla violated Shafer's Fourth Amendment constitutional right to be free from excessive force. The evidence adduced at trial was sufficient to sustain the jury's verdict. However, Deputy Padilla is entitled to qualified immunity, because, at the time this incident occurred, the law was not clearly established that an officer cannot progressively increase his use of force from verbal commands, to an arm grab, and then a leg sweep maneuver when a misdemeanant refuses to comply with the officer's orders and resists, obstructs, or delays the officer in his lawful performance of duties such that the officer has probable cause to arrest him in a challenging environment.

I. BACKGROUND

Students from the University of California, Santa Barbara ("UCSB") commonly congregate on Del Playa Drive, a street near the university campus. On October 4, 2009, hundreds to thousands of intoxicated students congregated on Del Playa Drive. There was loud music playing, and students were yelling, screaming, and running around.

Deputy Padilla and Sheriff's Deputy Todd LeFemine were on patrol that night on Del Playa Drive. Shortly after midnight, four students approached the deputies and said that they had just been hit with water balloons. This complaint caused Deputy Padilla concern, because water balloons had been a serious problem on Del Playa Drive and could cause injuries or start fights. Within one minute of hearing this report, Deputy Padilla identified two males—Shafer and his friend Domenico Gianola—walking with water balloons in their hands. The deputies approached Shafer and Gianola, and Deputy Padilla ordered them to drop the balloons. Gianola dropped his balloons, but Shafer did not. Instead, Shafer asked Deputy Padilla three or four times why he could not hold the balloons. Deputy Padilla continued to order Shafer to drop the balloons but did not answer Shafer's questions.

What happened next is disputed. According to Shafer, Deputy Padilla aggressively grabbed him by the arm and pulled him toward the curb. Shafer attempted to maintain his footing, but Deputy Padilla swung him toward the sidewalk. Shafer never tried to break free of Deputy Padilla's hold and never resisted Deputy Padilla. Once Deputy Padilla and Shafer reached the sidewalk, Deputy LeFemine grabbed Shafer's other arm. Deputy Padilla kicked Shafer's feet out from under him, and Shafer fell face first onto the pavement. The officers piled on top of him.¹ Shafer felt a knee go into his back and a boot push his head into the pavement. One of the officers handcuffed Shafer. The deputies pulled Shafer to his feet and informed him that he was going to jail.

Shafer received a minor abrasion on his face and a bruise on his back as a result of the takedown.

Deputy Padilla's version of the events is much different. He testified that after Shafer refused to drop the water balloons, Shafer attempted to walk past him. Deputy Padilla grabbed Shafer's arm and escorted him approximately ten feet to the curb. Shafer resisted Deputy Padilla's grasp by pulling his arm away from Deputy Padilla. When they got to the curb, Deputy Padilla guided Shafer to sit on the curb by applying pressure to Shafer's arms. Once Shafer sat on the curb, Deputy Padilla let go of Shafer. Instantly, Shafer attempted to stand up and run away from Deputy Padilla. Deputy Padilla quickly reached out and grabbed Shafer. Deputy LeFemine, who was on Shafer's other side, also reached out and grabbed Shafer. The momentum took Shafer, Deputy Padilla, and Deputy LeFemine to the ground. Shafer put his hands underneath his body and continued to try to get up. In an attempt to control Shafer, Deputy Padilla applied body weight pressure between Shafer's torso and legs. Two UCSB campus officers, Jeff Lupo and Christina Rauchhaus, witnessed this struggle and ran from the other side of the street to provide assistance. To control Shafer, Officer Raucchaus put her knee into Shafer's back and handcuffed him, and Officer Lupo applied pressure to Shafer's legs. After one of the officers handcuffed Shafer, they quickly pulled him off the ground. Deputy Padilla told Shafer that he was going to jail.

Trial testimony from the other witnesses varied slightly. However, the testimony was generally consistent that Deputy Padilla used a leg sweep maneuver to take down Shafer and Shafer resisted Deputy Padilla.

II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Shafer filed suit against Defendants pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The district court dismissed all of the Defendants from the suit except for Deputy Padilla. Before trial, Deputy Padilla filed, and the district court denied, a motion for qualified immunity. Shafer proceeded to trial on his claims against Deputy Padilla for (1) false arrest; (2) malicious prosecution; (3) violation of his First Amendment rights; and (4) violation of his Fourth Amendment rights. Before the jury's deliberation, Deputy Padilla filed a motion for judgment as a matter of law pursuant to Rule 50 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The district court denied the motion.

The jury exonerated Deputy Padilla on every claim except the Fourth Amendment claim for using excessive force. Specifically, the jury found that Deputy Padilla had probable cause to arrest Shafer for violations of California Penal Code section 148. The jury also found that Shafer's speech was not a substantial or motivating factor for Deputy Padilla's actions against Shafer and that Deputy Padilla did not maliciously prosecute Shafer. As to Shafer's Fourth Amendment claim, the jury found that Deputy Padilla used excessive force against Shafer and that Deputy Padilla "acted with malice, oppression, or in reckless disregard" of Shafer's rights. The jury awarded Shafer $45,000 in economic damages and $75,000 in non-economic damages, but did not award punitive damages.

Deputy Padilla renewed his motion for judgment as a matter of law based on qualified immunity or, in the alternative, insufficient evidence of excessive force. He moved in the alternative for a new trial. Deputy Padilla also argued the district court erred by admitting prejudicial evidence.² The district court denied the motions, and Deputy Padilla now appeals those decisions.

III. DISCUSSION

We review de novo a district court's qualified immunity determination denying judgment as a matter of law. C.B. v. City of Sonora , 769 F.3d 1005, 1022 (9th Cir. 2014). "In doing so, we ‘view all evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the non-mover, and disregard all evidence favorable to the moving party that the jury is not required to believe.’ " Id. (quoting Harper v. City of Los Angeles , 533 F.3d 1010, 1021 (9th Cir. 2008) ). A motion for judgment as matter of law may be granted if "the court finds that a reasonable jury would not have a legally sufficient evidentiary basis to find for the party on that issue," Fed. R. Civ. P. 50(a)(1), that is, "if, under the governing law, there can be but one reasonable conclusion as to the verdict," Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc. , 477 U.S. 242, 250, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Conversely, "[i]f reasonable minds could differ as to the import of the evidence," the motion should be denied. Id. at 250–51, 106 S.Ct. 2505. Because this appeal comes after the jury's verdict, we must "construe the facts in the light most favorable to the jury's verdict." Castro v. Cty. of Los Angeles , 833 F.3d 1060, 1064 n.1 (9th Cir. 2016) ; Escriba v. Foster Poultry Farms, Inc. , 743 F.3d 1236, 1245 (9th Cir. 2014). In this case, the jury's verdict was split. Thus, we draw all factual inferences and resolve all issues of credibility in favor of the jury's findings that Deputy Padilla had probable cause to arrest Shafer for resisting, delaying, or obstructing Deputy Padilla; that Shafer's protected speech was not a substantial or motivating factor for Deputy Padilla's actions; that Deputy Padilla did not maliciously prosecute Shafer; and that Deputy Padilla used excessive force against Shafer.

Qualified immunity affords limited protection to public officials faced with liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, " ‘insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.’ " Pearson v. Callahan , 555 U.S. 223, 231, 129 S.Ct. 808, 172 L.Ed.2d 565 (2009) (quoting Harlow v. Fitzgerald , 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982) ). To determine whether qualified immunity applies in a given case, we must determine: (1) whether a public official has violated a plaintiff's constitutionally protected right; and (2) whether the particular right that the official has violated was clearly established at the time of the violation....