Smith v. Madruga

• Decision Date: 03 July 1961
• Citation: 193 Cal.App.2d 543,14 Cal.Rptr. 389
• Parties: Bennie Lee SMITH, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Allen MADRUGA, Tommy Robson, John A. Nejedly, Walter F. Young, et al., Defendants and Respondents. Civ. 19744.
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

Page 389

14 Cal.Rptr. 389

193 Cal.App.2d 543

Bennie Lee SMITH, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Allen MADRUGA, Tommy Robson, John A. Nejedly, Walter F. Young, et al., Defendants and Respondents.

Civ. 19744.

District Court of Appeal, First District, Division 1, California.

July 3, 1961.

Reaves & Watson, Richmond, by Francis A. Watson, Jr., Richmond, for appellant.

John A. Nejedly, Dist. Atty., by Charles R. Mack, Deputy Dist. Atty. of County of Contra Costa, Martinez, for respondents.

HOYT, Justice pro tem.

This is an appeal from a judgment entered after an order sustaining a demurrer to plaintiff's first amended complaint. Plaintiff brought an action for false arrest and false imprisonment. His complaint was against several people but this appeal is concerned only with the plaintiff's cause of action against Tommy Robson.

So far as Tommy Robson is concerned, the complaint alleged that at all times herein mentioned Tommy Robson was a deputy sheriff employed by Contra Costa County, California; that on or about the 8th day of April, 1958, a complaint was issued against Bennie Leon Smith for failure to provide for his minor children, and a warrant was issued for his arrest; that during the years 1956, 1957 and 1958, 'one Bennie Leon Smith was arrested in the San Francisco Bay Area fifteen times and was on the 20th day of December, 1958, sentenced to the California Department of Corrections for a period of one year to life on a charge of second degree robbery'; that at all times while plaintiff was arrested and imprisoned as hereinafter set forth 'said Bennie Leon Smith' was held in the state prison in Tracy, California; that all of such matters appeared in the records of the Contra Costa County sheriff, 'all of which facts were well known to all of the defendants'; that about October 18, 1959 plaintiff was arrested in the County of Los Angeles, California, pursuant to a warrant for a traffic violation and held in jail; that on or about October 23, 1959, on the basis of teletype information from the Los Angeles police department, a deputy sheriff flew to Los Angeles and arrested plaintiff; that he then flew defendant to Contra Costa County and booked him at the county jail in Martinez, California; that, 'Immediately thereafter plaintiff was fingerprinted by defendant Tommy Robson and imprisoned in said jail. At all times during said arrest, booking, fingerprinting, and imprisonment plaintiff protested his arrest and advised defendants that he was not Bennie Leon Smith and that he was Bennie Lee Smith, but defendants ignored said advice and protests, * * *'; that notwithstanding plaintiff's demand to be released, 'defendants refused to release plaintiff from custody'; that plaintiff was released from custody on October 27, 1959; that, 'During all of the period plaintiff was wrongfully arrested and imprisoned, defendants well knew from the fingerprints taken from plaintiff and from their own records and files that Bennie Leon Smith was incarcerated in the state prison at Tracy, California, that plaintiff was not Bennie Leon Smith and that plaintiff was wrongfully arrested and imprisoned, and notwithstanding this knowledge, defendants refused to release plaintiff'; that as a direct result of his wrongful arrest and imprisonment plaintiff suffered damages in specified amounts; that, 'In doing the things herein alleged the defendants, and each of them, acted maliciously and were guilty of wanton disregard of the rights and feelings of plaintiff * * *.'

On appeal from a judgment entered after an order sustaining a demurrer, the allegations of the complaint must be regarded as true. Carruth v. Fritch, 36 Cal.2d 426, 224 P.2d 702, 24 A.L.R.2d 1403; Speegle v. Fire Underwriters, 29 Cal.2d 34, 172 P.2d 867; Dept. of Water & Power v. Inyo Chem. Co., 16 Cal.2d 744, 108 P.2d 410; Katenkamp v. Union Realty Co., 6 Cal.2d 765, 59 P.2d 473. A demurrer admits all of the facts well pleaded however improbable. Hitson v. Dwyer, 61 Cal.App.2d 803, 143 P.2d 952; Lee v. Hensley, 103 Cal.App.2d 697, 230 P.2d 159

Appellant contends that all persons participating in an unalwful arrest, including a jailer, are liable, citing Oppenheimer v. City of Los Angeles, 104 Cal.App.2d 551, 232 P.2d 30. In the Oppenheimer case the complaint alleged the arrest of plaintiff without a warrant for a misdemeanor not committed in the presence of the arresting officers, and plaintiff's imprisonment in the county jail. That while plaintiff was so imprisoned the defendant Greenbaum, "wilfully refused to let plaintiff secure his release on bail, upon demand therefor, but that said defendant continued to hold plaintiff in confinement * * *." 104 Cal.App.2d at page 552, 232 P.2d at page 30. The court held that the pleading sets forth the essential elements necessary to sustain a cause of action for false imprisonment against Greenbaum, 'namely, (1) the unlawful arrest without process, (2) the imprisonment, and (3) damages.' 104 Cal.App.2d page 553, 232 P.2d at page 31. The court stated, 'All who take part in or assist in the commission of a false imprisonment are joint tort-feasors, and may be joined as defendants without an allegation or proof of a conspiracy.' 104 Cal.App.2d at page 553, 232 P.2d at page 31.

In the instant case the arrest was unlawful if the arresting officer failed to use reasonable prudence and...