Perkins v. City and County of San Francisco et al
Filing
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ORDER by Judge Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr. GRANTING 24 MOTION TO BIFURCATE AND TO STAY DISCOVERY. (ndrS, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 4/28/2017)
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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JACOBIA PERKINS,
Plaintiff,
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v.
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CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN
FRANCISCO, et al.,
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Case No. 16-cv-06814-HSG
ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO
BIFURCATE AND TO STAY
DISCOVERY
Re: Dkt. No. 24
United States District Court
Northern District of California
Defendants.
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Pending before the Court is Defendants City and County of San Francisco (“San
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Francisco”), and Sergeant Sean Perdomo, Officer Michael Graham, Officer David Sands, Officer
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Brandon Rock, Officer Garth Sutton, Officer Jarron Cross, and Officer Jeffrey Camilosa’s (the
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“Officers”) (collectively, “Defendants”) motion to bifurcate Plaintiff Jacobia Perkins’ (“Plaintiff”)
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trial of his § 1983 claims against San Francisco, and to stay discovery related to those claims.
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Dkt. No. 24. Plaintiff has opposed, Dkt. No. 26, and Defendants have replied, Dkt. No. 27.
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Having read the parties’ papers and carefully considered their arguments, the Court finds the
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matter appropriate for decision without oral argument, see Civil L.R. 7-1(b), and GRANTS the
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motion for the reasons stated below.
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I.
BACKGROUND
Factual Allegations1
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A.
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“On November 26, 2014, Defendant Perdomo allegedly received a tip from an informant
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that someone was selling methamphetamine at the back of the Burger King located at the
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intersection of 16th and Mission Streets in San Francisco.” Dkt. No. 1 ¶ 14. The informant did
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This statement of facts is based on Plaintiff’s allegations set forth in the complaint, many of
which Defendants dispute. Compare Dkt. No. 1 ¶¶ 14-26 with Dkt. No. 24 at 3-4.
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not offer a physical description of the individual, though Plaintiff was sitting in the Burger King
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around the same time. Id. When Perdomo, Graham, and Sands arrived at the Burger King, they
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approached Plaintiff, and Perdomo “allegedly lifted up his shirt” “without saying a word.” Id.
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¶ 15. As Plaintiff began to stand up, Perdomo slammed Plaintiff onto a table before tackling him
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to the ground. Id. Graham then grabbed Plaintiff’s hand, and the three Officers placed Plaintiff in
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handcuffs. Id. As this was happening, Plaintiff began screaming and repeatedly telling the
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Officers “that he wanted to kill himself.” Id. ¶ 16. Plaintiff alleges that despite these “clear signs
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that he was experiencing a mental health emergency . . . [the officers] continued to handle him
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without any regard for his physical or mental well-being.” Id.
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Officers Rock and Sutton then arrived on the scene and carried Plaintiff to their patrol car.
United States District Court
Northern District of California
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Id. ¶ 17. Plaintiff allegedly began slamming his head against the car as the Officers watched,
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before placing Plaintiff in a spit mask that covered his entire head. Id. Rock and Sutton then
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transported Plaintiff to the Mission Police Station. Id. Plaintiff alleges that during the ride, Rock
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and Sutton did nothing as Plaintiff repeatedly slammed his head against the metal gate in the
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patrol car, causing his head to bleed “profusely.” Id. Plaintiff alleges that “[t]he Defendant
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officers on the scene and at the station failed to provide Plaintiff with adequate medical attention.”
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Id. ¶ 18. At the station, Plaintiff alleges that Cross and Camilosa “violently” removed Plaintiff
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from the patrol car and pinned him against it, before putting Plaintiff into a police wagon that
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transported Plaintiff to San Francisco General Hospital for treatment. Id.
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Plaintiff contends that Perdomo “wrongfully assumed that Plaintiff was a drug dealer,”
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“did not act [] in lawful performance of his duties when he detained and arrested him,” and that as
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a result of the incident, “Plaintiff suffered from an unlawful arrest . . . [and] gashes to his head and
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bruises all over his body.” Id. ¶¶ 20, 22, 23. Plaintiff further contends that “[t]he actions and
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omissions of [Defendants] w[ere] objectively unreasonable under the circumstances, without legal
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justification or other legal right, done under color of law, within the course and scope of their
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employment as law enforcement officers and/or public officials, and pursuant to unconstitutional
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customs, policies and procedures . . . .” Id. ¶ 25. Finally, Plaintiff contends that San Francisco
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“was also responsible for Plaintiff’s injuries through its own acts and omissions, negligent and
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otherwise, by failing to properly and adequately investigate, train, supervise, monitor, instruct, and
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discipline its law enforcement officers and/or employees and agents . . . .” Id.
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B.
Procedural History
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Plaintiff filed this action on November 25, 2016. Dkt. No. 1. The complaint asserts
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§ 1983 claims against various Officers for unlawful detention, unlawful seizure, excessive force,
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and denial of medical care, a § 1983 municipal liability claim against San Francisco for ratifying
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and/or tacitly authorizing unconstitutional customs and practices by the Officers, and a 42 U.S.C.
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§ 12132 Americans with Disabilities Act claim against all Defendants for San Francisco’s alleged
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failure to train officers in recognizing the symptoms of disability, exclusion of Plaintiff from
participation in or denial of benefits of services provided by San Francisco, or otherwise
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
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discriminating against Plaintiff. Id. Defendants filed the instant motion to bifurcate and to stay
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discovery and disclosures on March 1, 2017. Dkt. No. 24.
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II.
LEGAL STANDARD
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 42(b) provides that: “For convenience, to avoid prejudice,
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or to expedite and economize, the court may order a separate trial of one or more separate issues,
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[or] claims[.]” Rule 42(b) confers “broad authority,” Danjaq LLC v. Sony Corp., 263 F.3d 942,
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961 (9th Cir. 2001), and “giv[es] the district court virtually unlimited freedom to try the issues in
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whatever way trial convenience requires.” Charles A. Wright, et al., 9A Fed. Prac. & Proc.
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(Trials) § 2387 (3d ed. rev. 2015). The Ninth Circuit has held that implicit in the power of courts
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to bifurcate trial under Rule 42(b) is the “power to limit discovery to the segregated issues”
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because “[o]ne of the purposes of Rule 42(b) is to permit deferral of costly and possibly
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unnecessary discovery pending resolution of potentially dispositive preliminary issues.” Ellingson
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Timber Co. v. Great N. Ry. Co., 424 F.2d 497, 499 (9th Cir. 1970) (per curiam); accord Craigslist
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Inc. v. 3Taps, Inc., 942 F. Supp. 2d 962, 982 (N.D. Cal. 2013). When a party moves to stay only
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discovery and not the entire proceeding, the “good cause” standard of the protective order
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provision of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c) controls. Gray v. First Winthrop Corp., 133
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F.R.D. 39, 40 (N.D. Cal. 1990); see also Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c) (“The court may, for good cause,
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issue an order to protect a party . . . forbidding inquiry into certain matters, or limiting the scope of
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disclosure or discovery to certain matters[.]”). “A party seeking a stay of discovery carries the
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heavy burden of making a ‘strong showing’ why discovery should be denied.” Id. (quoting
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Blankenship v. Hearst Corp., 519 F.2d 418, 429 (9th Cir. 1975)).
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III.
DISCUSSION
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Exercising its discretion under Rule 42(b), the Court finds that it is appropriate to bifurcate
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trial of the individual claims and the Monell municipal liability claim in this case. Bifurcation will
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preserve substantial judicial and party resources in the event the Officers are not found
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individually liable. For the same reason, under Rule 26(c), the Court also stays any and all
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discovery that pertains exclusively to that derivative liability claim.
As other courts in this district have held under similar circumstances, “bifurcation is
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
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conducive to expedition and economy because a finding that the individual officers did not deprive
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[the plaintiff] of his constitutional or statutory rights . . . is dispositive of plaintiffs’ claims against
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the City[.]” Boyd v. City and Cnty. of San Francisco, No. C-0405459, 2006 WL 6800556, at *2
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(N.D. Cal. Mar. 14, 2006). This is because “neither Monell . . . nor any other of [the Supreme
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Court’s] cases authorizes the award of damages against a municipal corporation based on the
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actions of one of its officers when in fact the jury has concluded that the officer inflicted no
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constitutional harm.” City of Los Angeles v. Heller, 475 U.S. 796, 799 (1986); see also Fairley v.
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Luman, 281 F.3d 913, 916 (9th Cir. 2002) (“Exoneration of [the individual officer] of the charge
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of excessive force precludes municipal liability for the alleged unconstitutional use of such
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force.”); Scott v. Henrich, 39 F.3d 912, 916 (9th Cir. 1994) (holding, where individual officers
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were entitled to judgment on ground they did not use excessive force, municipality was entitled to
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judgment on claim municipality failed to adequately train officers). And there are no
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countervailing efficiencies.2 If the Officers are found liable, collateral estoppel will establish that
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fact in the second trial.
The same judicial efficiencies that warrant bifurcation also provide good cause for a stay of
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While Plaintiff argues that bifurcation would not be efficient, cost-saving, or just, he relies
almost entirely on out-of-circuit cases, by which the Court is not persuaded. See Dkt. No. 26 at 58.
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discovery under Rule 26(c) with respect to Plaintiff’s municipal liability claims until Plaintiff’s
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claims against the Officers are adjudicated. “[I]n order to prove the unlawful municipal policies
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alleged, [Plaintiff] may require discovery with respect to, inter alia, incidents involving non-party
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officers. Because such discovery has no apparent relevance to the claims against the individual
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officer defendants herein, a stay will conserve the resources of the parties and the Court by
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deferring such discovery until such time as one or more of the individual officers has been found
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liable or entitled to qualified immunity.” Boyd, 2006 WL 680556, at *3. To the extent that
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Plaintiff can show that discovery directly pertains to the individual claims, it may proceed.
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IV.
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CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, the Court GRANTS Defendants’ motion, BIFURCATES the
United States District Court
Northern District of California
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trial of the individual liability claims against the Officers (for unlawful detention, unlawful
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seizure, excessive force, denial of medical care, and violation of 42 U.S.C. § 12132), from the
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Monell claims against San Francisco, and STAYS discovery on any issues that pertain exclusively
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to the Monell claims until after Plaintiff’s individual claims are resolved.
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IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: 4/28/2017
______________________________________
HAYWOOD S. GILLIAM, JR.
United States District Judge
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