Chiaramonte v. Cnty. of L. A.

CHARLES CHIARAMONTE, an Incompetent Person, etc., Plaintiff and Appellant, v. COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES et al., Defendants and Respondents.

B243215

COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION SEVEN

September 22, 2014

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

(Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. PC046611)

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Margaret L. Oldendorf and Stephen P. Pfahler, Judges. Affirmed in part and reversed in part with directions.

Law Offices of Garrotto & Garrotto and Greg W. Garrotto for Plaintiff and Appellant.

Hurrell Cantrall, Thomas C. Hurrell and Melinda Cantrall for Defendants and Respondents.

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INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Charles Chiaramonte, through his guardian ad litem, appeals the judgment entered against him and in favor of defendants County of Los Angeles, Dr. Julian Wallace, Dr. A. Haniffa Cassim, and nurses Rosendo Florentin and Patricia Kim, after the trial court granted the defendants' motions for summary judgment. We reverse the judgment in favor of the County, affirm the judgment in favor of Wallace, Cassim, Florentin, and Kim, and remand with directions.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. The Incident

On January 6, 2009 Chiaramonte was detained at the North County Correctional Facility, which the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department supervises. At approximately 5:00 p.m. another inmate observed Chiaramonte "on the floor, face up," and not moving. A group of inmates picked up Chiaramonte and placed him back in his bunk, but Chiaramonte "began shaking violently [and] he fell out of the bunk [and] struck the side of his head against the concrete floor." Chiaramonte continued shaking, and "blood was oozing out of his mouth . . . ."

Nursing staff and sheriff's deputies responded. Although how long it took the jail staff to respond was disputed, at some point the nurses were able to bring Chiaramonte to the infirmary, where the paramedics arrived and took him to the hospital.

B. The Lawsuit

In October 2009 Chiaramonte, through his guardian ad litem, filed this action against the County and various employees of the jail as Doe defendants. Chiaramonte asserted causes of action for (1) violation of his civil rights under 42 United States Code section 1983 (section 1983); (2) assault and battery; (3) intentional infliction of emotionaldistress; and (4) violation of Government Code section 845.6.¹ Chiaramonte alleged that defendants violated his constitutional rights by "failing to provide protection . . . from assaults and or other conditions that would in all probability result in injury to persons in a similar situation . . . or failing to provide medical services when there was knowledge or should been knowledge that immediate medical services were necessary." Chiaramonte also alleged that "once it was known that [he] sustained serious head injuries, . . . [d]efendants with deliberate indifference failed to provide immediate medical attention even though it was known that said medical care and treatment would be necessary to prevent serious and permanent injuries." Chiaramonte further alleged that he "had obvious signs of physical trauma" but that defendants "failed to summon or provide medical care to [Chiaramonte], who was in need of immediate medical care." Finally, Chiaramonte alleged that defendants "had reason to know that the administration of medical and custodial care at [the] jail facility was such that as structured it could not respond to inmates in the position of [Chiaramonte], who had immediate medical needs caused by known serious and obvious medical conditions."

The trial court sustained demurrers to the second cause of action for assault and battery and the third cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress without leave to amend. The court also denied the County's motion to strike the punitive damages allegations. Neither Chiaramonte nor the County challenges these rulings.

C. The County's Motion for Summary Judgment

In July 2010 the County moved for summary judgment, or in the alternative, summary adjudication. The County argued that it was immune from liability for Chiaramonte's section 1983 claim under the Eleventh Amendment of the United StatesConstitution because the county sheriff had final policymaking authority over the county jails and acted as a state officer in setting and implementing jail policies and procedures. The County also argued that it was not liable under Government Code section 845.6 because Chiaramonte could not establish that the jail employees failed to summon immediate medical care for Chiaramonte despite knowing or having reason to know that he needed such care. The County submitted the declarations of Custody Assistant Christian Young, Nurse Patricia Kim, and Deputy Luis Torres, all of whom were working the afternoon shift at North County Correctional Facility on January 6, 2009, as well as Dr. Julian Wallace, acting Chief Physician of the Medical Services Bureau.²

In opposition to the motion, Chiaramonte argued that the County, not the state, is responsible for providing medical care to the inmate population and that the sheriff does not act as a state official in providing medical care to inmates. Chiaramonte argued that, although the county sheriff might be immune from section 1983 claims for law enforcement activities, the sheriff was not immune from section 1983 claims based on the provision of medical care and prison safety, and that the sheriff "is a county official with regard to his responsibility to provide medical care to jail inmates." Chiaramonte argued that the delay in treatment violated his federal constitutional rights and his state rights under Government Code section 845.6.

In November 2010 the trial court granted the County's motion for summary adjudication on the first cause of action for violation of section 1983. The court ruled: "The County is not subject to suit for [Chiaramonte's] claims because the Los Angeles County Sheriff is protected by Eleventh Amendment immunity under the particular facts of the case. [¶] . . . [¶] . . . In this case, the Court finds that the functions being performed by the Sheriff that are the basis of [Chiaramonte's] claims (i.e., the allegedfailure to provide protection and/or medical services to prisoners) are performed in the context of the Sheriff's role as an official of the State of California, and not the County of Los Angeles. [Citations.] As a result, the Sheriff is immune from liability under . . . [s]ection 1983—as is the named Defendant, the County of Los Angeles. [Citations.]

The Court recognizes that some federal courts have concluded in other cases that the Sheriff is a 'local policymaker' when he performs certain activities relating to county jails and jail inmates. [Citations.] The Court is however obligated to base its decision on well-reasoned California precedent; and after much consideration and research, it concludes in this case that the California decisions mentioned above are controlling." The court denied the County's motion for summary adjudication on the fourth cause of action for violation of Government Code section 845.6, finding "that triable issues of material fact exists as to when Custody Assistant Christian Young knew (or had reason to know) that [Chiaramonte] was in need of medical care; and whether Young and the jail's nursing staff thereafter took reasonable action to summon such medical care."

D. The Second Amended Complaint

In June 2011, after several rounds of and challenges to amended pleadings, Chiaramonte filed a second amended complaint asserting causes of action for: (1) civil rights violations against Wallace, Cassim, Florentin, and Kim; (2) assault and battery against Doe defendants; (3) intentional infliction of emotional distress against Doe defendants; (4) violation of Government Code section 845.6 against the County, Cassim, Florentin, and Kim; and (5) medical negligence against Cassim, Florentin, and Kim. Chiaramonte alleged that, at the time of his medical emergency, Cassim was the medical officer on duty and "the only medical doctor on duty . . . in the entire Los Angeles County Jail System," and had the responsibility for "providing medical care and treatment to up to 150 inmates in the Twin Towers Jail Facility Medical Clinic and [being] available for medical consultation and the provision of orders regarding [the] care and treatment to all other jail inmates in the Los Angeles County Jail System including but not limited to in excess of three thousand inmates in the North County CorrectionalFacility." Chiaramonte alleged that "Cassim knew that he could not provide appropriate medical care to inmates who required medical treatment nor could he be available to provide medical orders and treatment to inmates who had a need for and required immediate medical treatment." With respect to Wallace, Chiaramonte alleged that, "[a]s Acting Chief Physician," he "was personally responsible for supervising the professional medical staff" at the jails, and "had responsibility for promulgating, amending, reviewing and approving the policies and procedures . . . relating to the provision of medical care to inmates in the Los Angeles County Jail System." Chiaramonte claimed that Wallace had created "a system of medical care" that failed to provide adequate emergency care at the jails, and allowed Cassim to serve as the medical officer of the day despite knowing that Cassim had a history of ignoring patients with medical needs in the jails.

Chiaramonte alleged in his fourth cause of action that nurses Kim and Florentin knew he needed immediate medical...