Arceo v. City of Roseville

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ALEJANDRO ARCEO, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF ROSEVILLE, et al., Defendants.

No. 2:20-cv-02334-DAD-DB

United States District Court, E.D. California

August 21, 2023

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS AND TO STRIKE, AND DENYING DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR A PROTECTIVE ORDER AS MOOT

(Doc. Nos. 59, 86)

This matter is before the court on a motion to dismiss and to strike filed on behalf of defendants Sheriff Devon Bell Captain David Powers, and the County of Placer (collectively “moving defendants”). (Doc. No. 59.) The pending motion was taken under submission without oral argument by the previously assigned district judge on May 24 2022.^[1] (Doc. No. 69.) For the reasons explained below, the moving defendants' motion to dismiss and to strike will be granted in part and denied in part.

BACKGROUND

This case arises from defendants' alleged failure to provide medical care for plaintiff Alejandro Arceo while he was suffering a psychiatric episode, which allegedly led him to pull out his own eye while detained in a Placer County jail. (Doc. No. 51.) In his operative first amended complaint (“FAC”), plaintiff alleges as follows.

A. The Named Defendants

Plaintiff names forty-eight defendants in his FAC, and those defendants generally fall into four broad categories.^[2] The first category includes defendants affiliated with the County of Placer and the Placer County Sherriff's Office. The three moving defendants fall into this first category. Specifically, defendant County of Placer (the “County”) is a public entity that operates and manages the Placer County Sheriff's Office and the South Placer Correctional Facility (“SPCF”). (Id. at ¶ 14.) Defendant Bell was the sheriff of the Placer County Sheriff's Office at the time of plaintiff's injury. (Id. at ¶ 31.) As sheriff, defendant Bell was responsible for the “administration of the South Placer Correctional Facility”; “the promulgation of the policies and procedures and allowance of the practices/customs” alleged in the FAC; and the “hiring, screening, training, retention, supervision, disciplining, counseling, and controlling all Placer Sheriff's Office custodial employees, agents, representatives and/or contractors.” (Id.) Defendant Powers was the Placer County Sherriff's Office's corrections commander assigned to SPCF at the time of plaintiff's injury. (Id. at ¶ 32.) As the corrections commander, defendant Powers was alleged to hold the same responsibilities as defendant Sheriff Bell. (Id.) In addition to the three moving defendants, plaintiff has named sixteen other defendants who were employed by the Placer County Sherriffs Office at the time of his injury.^[3] (Id. at ¶ 15-30.)

The second category of defendants are those who were employed by or represented defendant California Forensic Medical Group, Inc. (“CFMG”), with whom the County contracted with to provide medical, mental health, and dental services for its jails, including SPCF. (Id. at ¶ 34.) Thirteen named defendants are alleged to have been “employee[s], agent[s], and/or representative[s] of [defendant] CFMG” at the time of plaintiff's injury.^[4] (Id. at ¶¶ 35-47.)

The third category of defendants are those affiliated with defendant City of Roseville (the “City”), which is located in the County of Placer and operates and manages the Roseville Police Department. (Id. at ¶ 2.) Specifically, police officers employed by defendant City arrested plaintiff on November 27, 2019, brought him to Sutter Roseville Hospital to be medically cleared for incarceration and, after he received clearance, transported him to SPCF for booking. (Id. at ¶¶ 68-71, 74.) Plaintiff alleges that the City was “responsible for the actions and/or inactions and the policies, procedures, and practices/customs of the Roseville Police Department and its respective employees, agents, representatives and/or contractors.” (Id. at ¶ 2.) In addition, ten of the named defendants are alleged to have been employed by the Roseville Police Department at the time of the alleged incident giving rise to this action.^[5] (Id. at ¶¶ 3-12.)

The fourth and final category of named defendants are the medical defendants, which include defendants Sutter Roseville Medical Center (“Sutter Roseville”), Sutter Health, and CEP America-California, which plaintiff alleges are “a corporation, partnership, association, hospital, and/or other entity organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the State of California, and was at all times and places mentioned herein engaged in the ownership, operation, and maintenance of hospitals and other medical facilities open to the general public and to paying patients in and about the State of California, County of Placer.” (Id. at ¶¶ 50, 51, 52.) In addition, defendant Ashley Joel Pilgrim, M.D. was a “physician duly licensed by the State of California to practice medicine and surgery” at the time of the alleged incident. (Id. at ¶ 49.)^[6]

B. The Events of November 27-30, 2019

On November 27, 2019, plaintiff was at his home in the City of Roseville experiencing “mental distress” and “expressing suicidal ideations.” (Id. at ¶ 68.) Upon recommendations from plaintiff's medical providers, his mother called 911 at approximately 9:40 a.m. (Id.) Shortly thereafter, Roseville Police Department officers arrived at plaintiff's home and “found plaintiff to be paranoid, anxious, and fidgety, and restrained plaintiff.” (Id. at ¶ 69.) “Despite being dispatched for mental health issues and being told plaintiff was not under the influence or any substance, the Roseville Police Department officers failed to properly handle or de-escalate the situation, and instead arrested plaintiff and placed him in a police vehicle.” (Id.) The officers drove him to Sutter Roseville Hospital for medical clearance for incarceration. (Id. at ¶¶ 70-71.)

While plaintiff was at Sutter Roseville Hospital, defendants Sutter Roseville, CEP America-California, and Dr. Pilgrim “did not provide adequate medical, mental, and/or psychiatric evaluation of plaintiff,” and after a seven-minute evaluation, Dr. Pilgrim cleared plaintiff for incarceration. (See id. at ¶ 72.) Moreover, plaintiff alleges the Roseville police officers “knew or should have known” that defendants Sutter Roseville, CEP America-California, and Dr. Pilgrim did not perform an “adequate medical, mental, and/or psychiatric evaluation of plaintiff before providing medical clearance.” (Id. at ¶ 73.)

Roseville officers then transported plaintiff to SPCF. (Id. at ¶ 74.) At SPCF, a CFMG nurse responsible for medically evaluating plaintiff determined he was “fit for jail.” (Id. at ¶ 76.) However, plaintiff alleges that this nurse “did not perform an adequate medical, mental, and/or psychiatric evaluation and instead improperly authorized plaintiff to be put into a holding cell for ‘sobering,' when [plaintiff] was not under the influence of any substance.” (Id.)

On November 29, 2019, a representative from plaintiff's family informed a CFMG therapist that plaintiff was suicidal after discovering that the Roseville Police Department had not communicated this fact to SPCF. (Id. at ¶¶ 78-79.) Following receipt of this information, correctional officers and a deputy escorted plaintiff to medical staff for an evaluation. (Id. at ¶ 80.) The officers and deputy heard plaintiff express suicidal ideations and observed fingernail scratches on his wrist, where he had used his fingernails to attempt suicide. (Id.) A CFMG therapist likewise performed a medical examination, at which time she also heard plaintiff make suicidal statements and saw abrasions on plaintiff's wrists where he used his fingernails to attempt suicide. (Id. at ¶ 81.) A CFMG nurse placed plaintiff on suicide watch. (Id. at ¶ 80.) Jail staff transferred plaintiff to a safety cell and provided him with a suicide-prevention gown but left his hands unrestrained. (Id.)

Later that day, another CFMG employee “contacted plaintiff's family to drop off his psychiatric medication, but, when plaintiff's family arrived, [SPCF] refused to accept the medication.” (Id. at ¶ 82.) Plaintiff's family provided a copy of plaintiff's medical records to a Placer County Sheriff's Office employee as well as to a CFMG employee. (Id.) Approximately three hours after plaintiff was put on suicide watch, a CFMG nurse arrived to give plaintiff an antipsychotic medication, but plaintiff refused the medication. (Id. at ¶ 83.) Based on plaintiffs medical records, at no point did defendants give plaintiff his psychiatric medication. (Id.)

On November 30, 2019, a pair of correctional officers conducted checks on plaintiff and, despite witnessing plaintiff's attempt to pull out his eye, did not stop or restrain plaintiff until it was too late. (Id. at ¶ 84.) Plaintiff alleges “[he] needed medical, psychiatric, and/or mental care, including but not limited to a 5150 hold,” but did not receive adequate medical or mental health care. (Id. at ¶¶ 85-86.) Plaintiff also alleges that as a result of defendants' acts and omissions and violations of plaintiff's civil rights, “on Saturday, November 30, 2019, while jailed at [SPCF], plaintiff pulled his right eye out with his bare hands.” (Id. at ¶ 87.)

Based on the foregoing allegations in his FAC, plaintiff asserts the following claims against the moving defendants: a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim for deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs in violation of the Fourth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution (first claim); a § 1983 claim for failure to protect him against harm in violation of the Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution (second claim); a § 1983 claim for failure to train in violation of the Fourth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the...