Source: http://ca.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.20091014_0014581.ECA.htm/qx
Timestamp: 2018-04-27 03:27:29
Document Index: 205968271

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983']

Plaintiff, a prisoner proceeding pro se, brings this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Pending before the court is plaintiff's first amended complaint (Doc. 6).
Plaintiff names as defendants the Anderson Police Department and Officer John Nevens.*fn1 Plaintiff claims that, on May 19, 2009, he was arrested on state drug charges by officers of the Anderson Police Department. According to plaintiff, the arresting officers placed him in the patrol car "with the heat turned up with the windows up." He states that, due to a psychiatric condition for which he takes medication, he could not breath. Plaintiff alleges that he was then pulled out of the car, hobbled, and choked by the officers. It can be reasonably inferred from the amended complaint that plaintiff asserts that defendant Nevens was one of the arresting officers.
Plaintiff states that he is suing for "destroying evidence, false imprisonment, unlawful arrest, cruel and unusual punishment." He asks the court to order the return of personal property and his transfer to a parole facility in San Francisco, as well as for an award of money damages.
Plaintiff's complaint appears to state a cognizable excessive force claim as against arresting officer defendant Nevens. The remainder of plaintiff's allegations, however, suffer from two essential defects as discussed below.
Plaintiff names as a defendant the Anderson Police Department. Municipalities and other local government units are among those "persons" to whom § 1983 liability applies. See Monell v. Dep't of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 690 (1978). Counties and municipal government officials are also "persons" for purposes of § 1983. See id. at 691; see also Thompson v. City of Los Angeles, 885 F.2d 1439, 1443 (9th Cir. 1989). A local government unit, however, may not be held responsible for the acts of its employees or officials under a respondeat superior theory of liability. See Bd. of County Comm'rs v. Brown, 520 U.S. 397, 403 (1997). Thus, municipal liability must rest on the actions of the municipality, and not of the actions of its employees or officers. See id. To assert municipal liability, therefore, the plaintiff must allege that the constitutional deprivation complained of resulted from a policy or custom of the municipality. See id. A claim of municipal liability under § 1983 is sufficient to withstand dismissal even if it is based on nothing more than bare allegations that an individual defendant's conduct conformed to official policy, custom, or practice. See Karim-Panahi v. Los Angeles Police Dep't, 839 F.2d 621, 624 (9th Cir. 1988).
B. Claims Relating to State Court Criminal Proceedings
Where a § 1983 action seeking monetary damages or declaratory relief alleges constitutional violations which would necessarily imply the invalidity of the prisoner's underlying conviction or sentence, or the result of a prison disciplinary hearing, such a claim is not cognizable under § 1983 unless the conviction or sentence has first been invalidated on appeal, by habeas petition, or through some similar proceeding. See Edwards v. Balisok, 520 U.S. 641, 646 (1987) (holding that § 1983 claim not cognizable because allegations of procedural defects and a biased hearing officer implied the invalidity of the underlying prison disciplinary sanction); Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477, 483-84 (1994) (concluding that § 1983 not cognizable because allegations were akin to malicious prosecution action which includes as an element a finding that the criminal proceeding was concluded in plaintiff's favor); Butterfield v. Bail, 120 F.3d 1023, 1024-25 (9th Cir. 1997) (concluding that § 1983 claim not cognizable because allegations of procedural defects were an attempt to challenge substantive result in parole hearing); cf. Neal, 131 F.3d at 824 (concluding that § 1983 claim was cognizable because challenge was to conditions for parole eligibility and not to any particular parole determination). If a § 1983 complaint states ...