Thomas v. Baca

• Decision Date: 21 September 2007
• Docket Number: No. CV 04-08448 DDP(SHX).,CV 04-08448 DDP(SHX).
• Citation: 514 F.Supp.2d 1201
• Parties: S.A. THOMAS, Plaintiff, v. Leroy BACA, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Central District of California

514 F.Supp.2d 1201

S.A. THOMAS, Plaintiff, v. Leroy BACA, Defendants.

No. CV 04-08448 DDP(SHX).

United States District Court, C.D. California.

September 21, 2007.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Stephen Yagman, Marion R. Yagman, Joseph Reichmann, Yagman & Yagman & Reichmann, Venice Beach, CA, Prof. Erwin Chemerinsky, Duke Law School, Durham, NC, and Dean University of California at Irvine Richard Bren School of Law, Irvine, for Plaintiffs.

David D. Lawrence, Paul B. Beach, Justin W. Clark, Franscell, Strickland, Roberts

& Lawrence, Glendale, for Defendant Baca in his official and capacities.

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART PLAINTIFFS' RENEWED MOTION FOR SUMMARY ADJUDICATION AND GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT, OR, IN THE ALTERNATIVE, SUMMARY ADJUDICATION

DEAN D. PREGERSON, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiffs' and Defendant's cross-motions for summary adjudication. After reviewing the papers submitted by the parties and considering the arguments raised therein, the Court grants in part and denies in part Plaintiffs' motion and grants in part and denies in part Defendant's motion, and adopts the following order.

I. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

S.A. Thomas and E.L. Gipson bring this class action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Sheriff Leroy Baca in his official and individual capacities. The class includes pre-trial detainees and post-conviction prisoners who allege that they were required to sleep on the floor of Los Angeles County jail facilities in violation of their constitutional rights. The class is defined as "individuals who, while in Los Angeles Sheriff Department ("LASD") custody, were required to sleep on the floor of a LASD facility with or without bedding." (Order (1) Granting Mot. Class Cert. and (2) Granting Mot. Order Permit Ident. 15, May 17, 2005 ("Class Cert. Order").)¹ The dated of class membership are limited from December 18, 2002, to May 17, 2005. (Order Denying Pls.' Mot. Class Not. 6-7, Dec. 20, 2005.) Individuals forced to sleep on the floor "between December 18, 2000, and December 17, 2002, and who remained in prison until at least December 18, 2002, are also included in the class." (Id. 6.)

Plaintiffs move for summary adjudication of three issues: (1) that there is a custom in the Los Angeles County jail system of requiring inmates to sleep overnight on the floor because there are insufficient available bunks; (2) that the custom is unconstitutional; and (3) that Sheriff Baca is legally responsible for the custom. (Pls.' Mot. for Summ. J. 1-2, May 24, 2006.) Defendant also moves for summary judgment or, in the alternative, summary adjudication. Defendant argues that he is entitled to summary judgment because (1) the conditions of confinement do not give rise to a constitutional violation; and (2) Defendant, in his individual capacity, is entitled to qualified immunity. (Def.'s Mot. for Summ. J. 1-2, June 28, 2006 ("Def.Mot.") 1.) The Court has concluded that Plaintiffs' are entitled to summary. adjudication that 1) there was a custom during the class period of requiring inmates to sleep on the floor at LASD facilities, and 2) that the custom violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United State Constitution. The Court grants summary adjudication to Defendant on the question of qualified immunity.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

A. Summary Adjudication

Summary adjudication of an issue, like summary judgment, is appropriate where "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law" on that issue. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). A genuine issue exists if "the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party," and material facts are those "that might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). In adjudicating a motion for summary judgment or summary adjudication, the court must draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party. Id. at 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505.

B. Monell Liability under § 1983

Plaintiffs seek summary adjudication of issues related to their official capacity claims against the defendant. Official capacity suits provide "another way of pleading an action against an entity of which an officer is an agent." Monell v. Dep't of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 690 n. 55, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978). Therefore, this suit against Sheriff Baca in his official capacity is to be treated as a suit against the County of Los Angeles.

The government as an entity is liable for the deprivation of a plaintiff's constitutional rights under § 1983 when "execution of a government's policy or custom, whether made by its lawmakers or by those whose edicts or acts may fairly be said to represent official policy, inflicts the [constitutional] injury." Id. at 694, 98 S.Ct. 2018. While a municipal entity may not be held liable through § 1983 under a respondeat superior theory, it may be found liable for a custom or persistent practice. Id. at 691, 694, 98 S.Ct. 2018.

Here, Plaintiffs seek to establish liability based upon a custom of requiring inmates to sleep on the floor. A practice that has not received formal approval by an appropriate decision-maker may fairly subject an entity to liability on the theory that the relevant practice is so "permanent and well settled as to constitute a custom or usage with the force of law." Id. at 691, 98 S.Ct. 2018 (internal quotation marks omitted). Because of the causation requirement implicit in § 1983, Plaintiffs must also establish that the custom is the "moving force" behind their constitutional injuries. Bd. of the County Comm'rs v. Brown, 520 U.S. 397, 404, 117 S.Ct. 1382, 137 L.Ed.2d 626 (1997).² A custom is the moving force behind a constitutional violation when it is "closely related to the ultimate injury" and when the plaintiff can "establish that the injury would have been avoided had proper policies been implemented." Long v. County of L.A., 442 F.3d 1178, 1190 (9th Cir.2006) (internal quotation marks omitted).

C. Constitutional Framework

Plaintiffs have asserted causes of action under both the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. This is because the Plaintiff class includes both pre-trial detainees and post-conviction inmates. Questions about the constitutionality of the conditions of pre-trial detainees "are properly addressed under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment" because such individuals have not yet been convicted of any crime. Or. Advocacy Center v. Mink, 322 F.3d 1101, 1120 (9th Cir.2003); see Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979). Questions involving the treatment of post-conviction prisoners are, by contrast, addressed under the Eighth Amendment. See Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 114 S.Ct. 1970, 128 L.Ed.2d 811 (1994). Because "the due process rights of pretrial detainees are `at least as great as the Eighth Amendment protections available to a convicted prisoner,'" the Ninth Circuit has held that, "even though the pretrial detainees' rights arise under the Due Process Clause, the guarantees of the Eighth Amendment provide a minimum standard of care for determining their rights." Mink, 322 F.3d at 1120 (quoting City of Revere v. Mass. Gen. Hosp., 463 U.S. 239, 244, 103 S.Ct. 2979, 77 L.Ed.2d 605 (1983)). As will be explained, the Court finds that the custom of floor sleeping in LASD facilities violates the Eighth Amendment. As the constitutional floor, an Eighth Amendment violation necessarily signifies a Fourteenth Amendment violation. Accordingly, the Court will rely on Eighth Amendment analysis.

The Eighth Amendment "prohibits the infliction of `cruel and unusual punishments' on those convicted of crimes." Wilson v. Seiter, 501 U.S. 294, 297, 111 S.Ct. 2321, 115 L.Ed.2d 271 (1991) (quoting U.S. Const. amend. VIII). The Supreme Court has held that this prohibition extends beyond physically barbarous punishments. Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 102, 97 S.Ct. 285, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976). Because the Eighth Amendment "embodies `broad and idealistic concepts of dignity, civilized standards, humanity and decency,'" it proscribes punishments that are "incompatible with the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.'" Id. (quoting Trop v. Dulles, 356 U.S. 86, 101, 78 S.Ct. 590, 2 L.Ed.2d 630 (1958)).

Establishing a violation has both an objective and a subjective prong. The objective prong requires that the "deprivation [be] sufficiently serious," because "only those deprivations denying the minimal civilized measure of life's necessities are sufficiently grave to form the basis of an Eighth Amendment violation." Wilson, 501 U.S. at 298, 111 S.Ct. 2321 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Such necessities include "adequate shelter, food, clothing, sanitation, medical care, and personal safety." Johnson v. Lewis, 217 F.3d 726, 731 (9th Cir.2000) (citing Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 832, 114 S.Ct. 1970, 128 L.Ed.2d 811 (1994)).

Under the subjective prong, Plaintiffs must show that "the prison officials had a `sufficiently culpable state of mind,' acting with deliberate indifference." Hearns v. Terhune, 413 F.3d 1036, 1040 (9th Cir.2005) (quoting Farmer, 511 U.S. at 834, 114 S.Ct. 1970). "`Deliberate indifference entails something more than mere negligence but is satisfied by something less than acts or omissions for the very purpose of causing harm or with knowledge that harm will result.'" Id. (quoting Farmer, 511 U.S. at 834, 114 S.Ct. 1970) (internal alterations omitted).³

III. DISCUSSION

A. Evidentiary Issues

Before reaching the merits of Plaintiffs'...