Court Opinion

ID: 9549929
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:26:38.77969+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:21:04.261020
License: Public Domain

Springer, J.,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I concur with the majority opinion affirming the $50,000.00 battery judgment and reversing the award of attorney’s fees; however, I disagree with the reversal of the false imprisonment judgment and dissent on this point.
Simpson’s false imprisonment claim is based on Officer Yada’s having lodged a number of unfounded and unsupportable criminal charges against Simpson which resulted in his being required to post an unreasonable and inappropriate bail of $8,750.00 in order to effect his release after his being arrested for disturbing the peace and resisting arrest. Simpson claimed that he would have been able to meet a reasonable bail, but that he was unable to post $8,750.00. Because of this Simpson claims that he was unreasonably and unnecessarily detained as a result of Officer Yada’s maliciously overcharging him to prevent him from being released on bail. The jury agreed and returned a verdict favoring Simpson.
Simpson’s false imprisonment claim arose out of an incident at the apartment house complex where Simpson lived. The police were called because of some boisterousness among a group of people near the jacuzzi. The facts are very much in conflict, with the police charging that Simpson was unruly and uncooperative and with Simpson claiming that Officer Yada unnecessarily beat him and injured him very severely. The highlight of this event was that Simpson and Officer Yada (in full police regalia and armament) fell together into the jacuzzi.
*259Simpson’s false imprisonment charge is based upon Officer Yada’s filling out a “declaration of arrest” form in a manner that resulted in an inappropriately high bail requirement that prevented Simpson from being released on bail. It is the practice of LVMPD on misdemeanor arrests to release the arrestee on bail in accordance with a pre-formulated bail-schedule. This schedule is designed as a convenience for arrestees who are able to make bail and who are appropriate subjects for release with bail without specific action being taken by a magistrate in each instance. All agree that this is an acceptable and indeed a necessary practice. Because of the manner in which these bail-schedule releases are employed, the sole determinant of the bail amount is the manner in which the arresting officer makes out the “declaration of arrest” form. If, for example, an arresting officer were to elect to state ten or twenty charges arising out of a given arrest situation, the possibility of making bail under the described bail-schedule arrangement would steadily decrease as the number of charges were piled on. It is called “throwing the book” at the arrestee.
Appellants argue in their brief that because Simpson was ultimately convicted of resisting arrest, he cannot maintain a false imprisonment action against the police. Whether or not Simpson was convicted of resisting arrest has nothing to do with whether Officer Yada maliciously caused Simpson to be detained for an unreasonable and unnecessary period of time by stacking charges in the declaration of arrest in a manner that he knew would result in preventing what would have otherwise been a routine release.
This is a unique case because of the special kind of bail proceedings initiated by the magistrate for the release of “weekend misdemeanants.” There appears to be in this record ample evidence upon which a jury could have come to the conclusion that Officer Yada improperly, and contrary to the actual or implied intentions of the magistrate, “stacked up” a $8,750.00 bail based on what was essentially one incident. The jury could very well have concluded under these circumstances that Officer Yada was maliciously causing the false (legally unjustified) imprisonment of Simpson. Under these circumstances I would let the false imprisonment judgment stand.