Wright v. Beck

• Decision Date: 01 December 2020
• Docket Number: No. 19-55084,19-55084
• Parties: Wayne William WRIGHT, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Charles L. BECK; Michael Nelson Feuer; Heather Aubry; Richard Tompkins ; James Edwards; City of Los Angeles, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

981 F.3d 719

Wayne William WRIGHT, Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.Charles L. BECK; Michael Nelson Feuer; Heather Aubry; Richard Tompkins ; James Edwards; City of Los Angeles, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 19-55084

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted April 1, 2020 Pasadena, California

Filed December 1, 2020

Anna M. Barvir (argued), C. D. Michel, Joshua R. Dale, and Scott M. Franklin, Michel & Associates P.C., Long Beach, California, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Matthew A. Scherb (argued), Deputy City Attorney; Blithe S. Bock, Managing Assistant City Attorney; Scott Marcus, Chief, Civil Litigation Branch; Kathleen A. Kenealy, Chief Assistant City Attorney; Michael N. Feuer, City Attorney; Office of the City Attorney, Los Angeles, California; for Defendants-Appellees.

Before: Richard A. Paez, Consuelo M. Callahan, and Lawrence VanDyke, Circuit Judges.

PAEZ, Circuit Judge:

Wayne Wright spent decades amassing a collection of over 400 firearms, which, according to him, was worth over half a million dollars. In 2004, officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) executed a search warrant and seized the collection. Wright spent the next decade trying to recover it, asserting he owned the firearms lawfully. The LAPD voluntarily returned approximately eighty firearms, but kept the rest because, in its determination, Wright had not submitted sufficient proof that he owned them.

While the parties were still negotiating, an LAPD officer applied to the Los Angeles County Superior Court for an order granting permission to destroy the firearms. The officer did not give Wright notice that he intended to seek such an order. Thus, Wright did not have an opportunity to contest the officer's application, and the court granted it. Having obtained the order, the LAPD destroyed the firearms by smelting them. Wright sued various parties under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, asserting, among other claims, a violation of his Fourteenth Amendment right to due process. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants sued in their individual capacities. Because Wright could not prevail against the individual defendants, the court also concluded that Wright could not maintain his Monell failure-to-train claim¹ against the municipal defendants and granted summary judgement in favor of those defendants as well.

We consider whether, on the facts alleged by Wright, his due process rights were violated and, if so, whether the law was clearly established at the time of the violation. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.²

I.

The saga begins after an LAPD sting operation in 2004.³ The LAPD obtained a search warrant from the Los Angeles County Superior Court (the "Los Angeles Court") and seized more than 400 firearms from Wright's residence and storage unit in Ventura County. In August 2006, Wright pled guilty to one count of possession of an unregistered assault weapon. The plea agreement, reduced to a court order imposing probation conditions, stated that Wright could not possess any firearms for thirty-six months. Under the terms of the agreement, the firearms would be destroyed or sold unless Wright could provide proof of ownership to the LAPD as required by its policy regarding the return of seized guns. LAPD policy provided:

The Department must accept any reasonable proof of ownership. Registration in the name of the lawful owner shall constitute proof of ownership. However, a lack of registration does not constitute a lack of proof of ownership unless registration is required by law for possession and/or ownership of the gun. Unless there is articulable probable cause to disbelieve a sworn declaration from the claimant/owner, a sales receipt, or other proof of ownership from the claimant shall constitute proof of ownership.

Manual of the LAPD, Vol. IV, at § 560.40⁴ . In other words, under departmental policy, Wright could prove he owned the firearms by either showing they were registered in his name or through a sworn declaration, sales receipt, or other proof of ownership, unless the LAPD had probable cause to disbelieve such evidence.

A few months after pleading guilty, Wright moved the Ventura County Superior Court (the "Ventura Court") for return of his seized property. The LAPD agreed to release twenty-eight firearms registered to Wright but opposed release of the remaining firearms. The court ordered release of the non-firearm property in a written order. The order, however, did not identify the twenty-eight firearms the LAPD conceded belonged to Wright, nor did it address the remaining firearms of which Wright sought release. According to Wright, the court delayed ruling on those matters to another day and, for unspecified reasons, removed the rescheduled hearing from its calendar.⁵ The record, however, does not indicate a further hearing was ever set.

After completing his term of probation, Wright and his then-counsel Joseph Silvoso ("Silvoso") spent the next seven years negotiating off and on with LAPD Detectives Richard Tompkins ("Tompkins") and James Edwards ("Edwards") and Deputy City Attorney Heather Aubry ("Aubry") about the kinds of records that Wright would need to furnish to obtain his firearms. In May 2010, Silvoso provided the LAPD with receipts for ninety-four firearms and explained the difficulty in obtaining records for the others because Wright had spent decades acquiring them. A few months later, the LAPD explained that it was "slowly" reviewing the records Wright provided but, for unexplained reasons, stated it required original receipts rather than the copies Wright provided. Silvoso explained he could not hand over the original receipts but invited Edwards and Aubry to inspect them in his office. In November 2010, Silvoso followed up with Edwards and Aubry asking if they needed anything beyond the original receipts and a sworn declaration to prove ownership of the firearms. Edwards and Aubry did not respond.

About a year later, in August 2011, Wright filed another motion in the Ventura Court for return of his firearms. In its opposition, the LAPD reiterated that it did not oppose releasing twenty-six firearms, all of which reflected a "Dealer Record of Sale" to Wright, but opposed releasing the remaining firearms.⁶ The LAPD also moved the Ventura Court for an order to destroy the remaining firearms. In reply, Wright filed a declaration asserting he owned all the seized firearms (save for forty) and attached the ninety-four receipts he previously had provided to the LAPD.

The court held a hearing the following month, in September 2011. At the hearing, the LAPD admitted it had delayed reviewing Wright's records and had not yet reviewed the receipts or Wright's sworn declaration. The department explained it needed additional time to review the records to determine whether Wright had provided reasonable proof of ownership. As a result of the LAPD's representation, the court, in a written order dated October 17, 2011, ordered the LAPD to release the twenty-six firearms it had agreed belonged to Wright.⁷ The court did not rule on the remaining disputed firearms. Instead, the court instructed the parties to meet and confer to determine whether the ownership status of the remaining firearms could be resolved informally and, if not, to return to court.⁸

Immediately after the hearing, Wright and Silvoso spoke with Aubry and Tompkins in the courthouse hallway. During that conversation, Aubry and Tompkins stated they would contact them if the LAPD believed they needed additional proof of ownership. In November 2011, Wright provided the original versions of the ninety-four receipts to the LAPD. Later that month, Tompkins emailed Silvoso stating that the LAPD was "still working [their] way through the receipts." A few months later, in March 2012, Tompkins reassured Silvoso that the LAPD was "making progress" with Wright's case and would contact Silvoso within a few weeks.

The parties continued to negotiate over email.

In April 2012, Edwards and Tompkins determined Wright had proved that he owned eighty of the ninety-four firearms for which he provided receipts, which included the original twenty-six that the LAPD already had released, as provided by the Ventura Court's order. The order permitting release of the twenty-six firearms did not reference or grant a request to destroy the remaining 300-plus firearms⁹ in the LAPD's custody. Nor did the officers tell Wright that they had completed their review process or had probable cause to disbelieve his sworn declaration as to the remaining firearms. In fact, no one informed Wright or Silvoso the review process had been completed, or that it was determined Wright did not prove he owned the remaining firearms. Wright assumed that Tompkins and Edwards were reviewing his records to determine whether he needed to provide additional proof. He assumed so because of their consistent representations that they were still reviewing the records. He also understood the court's statements at the September 2011 hearing required the parties to return to court once informal negotiations had failed.

Instead, in December 2013, Edwards applied ex parte to the Los Angeles Court—to the same judge who had approved the 2004 search warrant—for an order permitting destruction of the remaining firearms. In the request for destruction, Edwards represented to the court:

The evidence was seized in 2004. Items that have been identified as belonging to the [defendant] though [sic ] receipts, DROS and Etrace have been returned. No evidence of ownership by the [defendant] has been received in regard to the last remaining items of evidence. The time to appeal has long since passed.

Wright presents no evidence suggesting that Aubry knew about or instructed Edwards to seek the court order without providing Wright or his counsel notice. Similarly, Wright presents no evidence that Tompkins facilitated Edwards's efforts in seeking the court ord...