Opinion ID: 471621
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Merits of Objections.

Text: 18 Maddox claims the jury was erroneously instructed to consider the defendant's state of mind in determining if the defendants violated the decedent's fourteenth amendment due process rights. Specifically, the court instructed the jury that 19 In determining whether the police officers crossed the constitutional line and violated the plaintiff's civil rights by using or not using as the case may be unreasonable force, you, in applying your judgment, should consider among other factors the amount of force used in relationship to the apparent need presented, the extent of the injury intended to be actually inflicted, and whether the motive of the officer was to exact punishment rather than arrest the defendant for trial. 20 When determining the constitutional due process line has been crossed, [sic] you may use state law as a guide to form your decision under the vaguer constitutional standard. For example, state and local rules about the reasonable use of force and the officer's knowledge of them may reflect on your judgment of the motive of an officer. 21 Maddox argues that this instruction is erroneous because the correct standard to determine whether defendant violated the decedent's due process rights under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 is negligence. 22 Maddox's argument fails. In Daniels v. Williams, --- U.S. ----, 106 S.Ct. 662, 663, 88 L.Ed.2d 662 (1986) and Davidson v. Cannon, --- U.S. ----, 106 S.Ct. 668, 670, 88 L.Ed.2d 677 (1986), the Supreme Court recently held that mere negligent conduct of a person acting under the color of state law may not be enough to state a claim under section 1983. Daniels and Davidson overruled Parratt v. Taylor, 451 U.S. 527, 101 S.Ct. 1908, 68 L.Ed.2d 420 (1981) to the extent that Parratt states that, mere lack of due care by a state official may 'deprive' an individual of life, liberty or property under the Fourteenth Amendment. Daniels, 106 S.Ct. at 665. Thus, negligent conduct by the state official is not enough to state a claim under section 1983 based on an alleged violation of the fourteenth amendment due process clause. See also Baker v. McCollan, 443 U.S. 137, 139-40, 99 S.Ct. 2689, 2692-93, 61 L.Ed.2d 433 (1979) (The question of whether an allegation of simple negligence is sufficient to state a cause of action under Sec. 1983 is more elusive than it appears at first blush. It may well not be susceptible of a uniform answer across the entire spectrum of conceivable constitutional violations). Under Daniels and Davidson, the court's instruction in this case was not in error. 1 23 Maddox's argument fails for another reason. Even prior to the recent decisions in Daniels and Davidson, it was established that section 1983 contains no state of mind requirement independent of that necessary to state a violation of the underlying constitutional right. Parratt, 451 U.S. at 534-35, 101 S.Ct. at 1912-13. This aspect of Parratt predates and survives the recent decisions in Daniels and Davidson. Daniels, 106 S.Ct. at 664. 24 In this case Maddox alleged the defendant officers deprived the decedent of life and liberty without due process when they applied a choke hold. State and local laws, which define when a police officer may use a choke hold, bear on the inquiry of whether, as a matter of federal constitutional and statutory law, the decedent was deprived of life or liberty without due process. Specifically, the Los Angeles Police Commission limits use of the choke hold unless death or serious bodily injury is threatened. Determining whether an officer on the scene is justified in applying a choke hold requires the evaluation of a number of factors. The officer's state of mind is certainly relevant to his evaluation of the urgency of the situation, the threat posed by the defendant to himself and others, the threat the defendant poses to the officers, and the need for the amount of force applied. See Williams v. Kelley, 624 F.2d 695, 697 (5th Cir.1980) (quoting Johnson v. Glick, 481 F.2d 1028, 1033 (2d Cir.) (Friendly, J.), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 1033, 94 S.Ct. 462, 38 L.Ed.2d 324 (1973)) (the constitutionality of the use of a choke hold on a prisoner depended upon such factors as the need for the application of force, the relationship between the need and the amount of force that was used, the extent of injury inflicted, and whether force was applied in a good-faith effort to maintain or restore discipline or maliciously and sadistically for the very purpose of causing harm), cert. denied, 451 U.S. 1019, 101 S.Ct. 3009, 69 L.Ed.2d 391 (1981); see also Tennessee v. Garner, --- U.S. ----, 105 S.Ct. 1694, 1699-1701, 1703-06, 85 L.Ed.2d 1 (1985) (applying a balancing test to determine if seizure obtained by use of deadly force was constitutionally reasonable; considering also the rules in individual states and police departments). 25 In this case the jury instructions allowed the jury to refer to state and local laws concerning when a choke hold may be reasonably used to determine whether plaintiff was deprived of his right to life or liberty without due process. It was also not error for the court to instruct the jury that if the officer's state of mind was such to inflict punishment or injury in excess of the need presented, then local rules regarding the application of the choke hold would have been violated, and the decedent may have been deprived of his fourteenth amendment due process rights. Assessing the jury instructions as a whole, we cannot conclude that they were in error.
26 Maddox claims the district court misstated the law when it instructed the jury, 27 [w]ith respect to medical care, the concept of due process of law requires the officers to take reasonable steps to secure medical care which they recognize as necessary for the decedent. The constitutional rights of the decedent are violated if the officers are deliberately indifferent to the necessity of medical care for the decedent. However, any failure by the officers themselves to render cardial pulmonary resuscitation is not a violation of the decedent's constitutional rights. 28 Because Wilson was a pretrial detainee and not a convicted prisoner at the time of the claimed wrongful act, Maddox's section 1983 action arises under the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment and not the eighth amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Jones v. Johnson, 781 F.2d 769, 771 (9th Cir.1986). While a convicted prisoner's eighth amendment rights are violated if prison personnel are deliberately indifferent to the prisoner's serious medical needs, Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 106, 97 S.Ct. 285, 292, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976), Maddox claims the court erred in instructing the jury that the deliberate indifference standard applies when the decedent was a pretrial detainee. 29 Although Maddox's claim arises under the fourteenth amendment due process clause, pretrial detainees' due process rights are at least as great as the eighth amendment protections available to convicted prisoners. Revere v. Massachusetts General Hospital, 463 U.S. 239, 244, 103 S.Ct. 2979, 2983, 77 L.Ed.2d 605 (1983); Jones, 781 F.2d at 771. While the Court in Revere declined to define the standard of care for alleged deprivation of medical care in the due process context, it specifically found that [w]hatever the standard may be, [the City] fulfilled its constitutional obligation by seeing that [the injured plaintiff] was taken promptly to a hospital that provided the treatment necessary for his injury. Revere, 463 U.S. at 245, 103 S.Ct. at 2983. 30 In this case the district court instructed the jury that, constitutional rights of the decedent are violated if the officers are deliberately indifferent to the necessity of medical care for the decedent. The court further instructed the jury that the decedent's due process rights were violated if the defendant officers failed to take reasonable steps to secure medical care. 31 We need not decide the precise standard which applies in determining whether a city fulfills its due process obligations to pretrial detainees who require medical attention. Here, as in Revere, the jury could reasonably have concluded that the defendant police officers fulfilled their obligation under the due process clause when they promptly took the defendant to the hospital to obtain medical care. We therefore conclude that taken as a whole the district court's instructions concerning the deprivation of medical care were adequate.
32 Maddox claims the district court erred when it instructed the jury that, any failure by the officers themselves to render cardial pulmonary resuscitation is not a violation of the decedent's constitutional rights. Maddox claims the fourteenth amendment due process clause requires officers to render CPR when a pretrial detainee in their custody is in need of CPR. 33 The due process clause requires responsible governments and their agents to secure medical care for persons who have been injured while in police custody. Revere, 463 U.S. at 244, 103 S.Ct. at 2983. We have found no authority suggesting that the due process clause establishes an affirmative duty on the part of police officers to render CPR in any and all circumstances. See Cartwright v. City of Concord, 618 F.Supp. 722, 729 (N.D.Cal.1985) (five to seven minute delay in starting CPR on prisoner found hanging in jail cell did not result in Sec. 1983 liability). But cf. Bass by Lewis v. Wallenstein, 769 F.2d 1173 (7th Cir.1985) (prison doctor's delay in reacting to cardiac arrest was a basis for a Sec. 1983 claim). Due process requires that police officers seek the necessary medical attention for a detainee when he or she has been injured while being apprehended by either promptly summoning the necessary medical help or by taking the injured detainee to a hospital. Revere, 463 U.S. at 245, 103 S.Ct. at 2983. 34 The district court's CPR instruction must be read in the context of the court's entire instruction on the duty to secure medical care for the injured detainee. When read in conjunction with the court's instruction that, the concept of due process of law requires the officers to take reasonable steps to secure medical care which they recognize as necessary for the decedent, the instruction at issue set forth the constitutional obligation of the officers in this case. We find no error.
35 Maddox claims the district court committed reversible error in failing to instruct the jury that violations of Cal.Gov.Code Sec. 845.6 and the Los Angeles Police Commission's moratorium on the use of the choke hold were negligence per se. Maddox's claim is without merit. As we have already noted, ordinary concepts of negligence are not necessarily applicable in a section 1983 claim based upon an alleged fourteenth amendment due process violation. See Daniels, 106 S.Ct. at 665 and discussion at p. 1413 supra. Even assuming, arguendo, that negligence concepts are applicable in this case, we cannot conclude that the district court did not adequately instruct the jury on the significance of violating Cal.Gov.Code Sec. 845.6 and the moratorium in determining whether the officers were guilty of misconduct. 36 With respect to the officer's alleged negligence in the use of the choke hold, the court instructed the jury that, 37 In determining whether the police officers crossed the constitutional line and violated the plaintiff's civil rights by using or not using as the case may be unreasonable force, you, in applying your judgment, should consider among other factors the amount of force used in relationship to the apparent need presented, the extent of the injury intended to be actually inflicted, and whether the motive of the officer was to exact punishment rather than arrest the defendant for trial. 38 When determining the constitutional due process line has been crossed, you may use state law as a guide to form your decision under the vaguer constitutional standard. For example, state and local rules about the reasonable use of force and the officer's knowledge of them may reflect on your judgment of the motive of an officer. 39 This instruction properly directed the jury's attention to the reasonableness of the officer's conduct in using the choke hold in determining whether the decedent's due process rights were violated. While the court did not use the exact language of the Los Angeles City moratorium, a plaintiff is not necessarily entitled to an instruction using specific words provided the instruction given adequately covers the issue before the jury. Here, the instruction was adequate. 40 With respect to medical care and the alleged violation of section 845.6, the jury was instructed that, 41 [t]he concept of due process of law requires the officers to take reasonable steps to secure medical care which they recognize is necessary for the decedent. The constitutional rights of the decedent are violated if the officers are deliberately indifferent to the necessity of medical care for the decedent. However, any failure by the officers themselves to render cardial pulmonary resuscitation is not a violation of the decedent's constitutional rights. 42 The instruction adequately reflects Cal.Gov.Code Sec. 845.6's mandate imposing civil liability when a public employee knows or has reason to know that the person is in need of immediate medical care and he fails to take reasonable steps to summon such care. 2 43 Maddox also apparently argues that she was entitled to a presumption instruction pursuant to Cal.Evid.Code Sec. 669, which provides that a person who violates a statute, ordinance, or regulation of a public entity is presumed negligent. Cal.Evid.Code Sec. 669(a)(1). In order for the section 669 presumption to operate, the jury first would have been required to find that the defendant officers violated Cal.Gov.Code Sec. 845.6 or the Los Angeles Police moratorium. 3 The court's failure to instruct the jury that the police officers should be presumed negligent if they were found to violate a state statute cannot be prejudicial error in this case because of the jury's specific finding that the police officers' conduct was reasonable under the circumstances and, therefore, not in violation of Cal.Gov.Code Sec. 845.6 or the Los Angeles Police moratorium. Any failure to give a presumption instruction could not have affected the verdict. See United States v. Valle-Valdez, 554 F.2d 911, 916 (9th Cir.1977) (nonconstitutional errors generally are measured against the more probable than not standard). 44