Jones v. Cnty. of L.A.

HELEN JONES, Individually and asPersonal Representative, etc., Plaintiff and Appellant, v. COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES et al., Defendants and Respondents.

B241333

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

Filed: January 31, 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NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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. BC 431634)

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Amy D. Hogue, Judge. Affirmed in part; reversed in part.

Law Offices of Lisa L. Maki, Lisa L. Maki, Christina M. Coleman and Jill McDonell for Plaintiff and Appellant.

Hurrell Cantrall, Thomas C. Hurrell, and Melinda Cantrall for Defendants and Respondents County of Los Angeles and Sheriff Leroy Baca.

Seki, Nishimura, & Watase, Gilbert M. Nishimura, J. Edwin Rathbun, Jr., Corinne D. Orquiola for Defendant and Respondent Christopher Kidder.

Plaintiff Helen Jones brought this action individually and as personal representative of the estate of her son, John Horton. Horton died in March 2009 while incarcerated at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Men's Central Jail. Plaintiff filed a complaint in February 2010 against the County of Los Angeles (County), Sheriff Leroy Baca, and doe defendants. She later identified and sued Deputy Christopher Kidder as a doe defendant. The County and Sheriff Baca filed a motion for summary judgment. Deputy Kidder filed a separate motion for summary judgment. The trial court granted summary judgment or judgment on the pleadings for all three defendants, and plaintiff appealed.

We affirm in part and reverse in part. The judgment for Sheriff Baca is affirmed. The judgment for the County on causes of action for wrongful death and negligence is reversed. As well, the judgment for Deputy Kidder on the causes of action for wrongful death, negligence, and violation of civil rights is reversed. In all other respects, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

1. Allegations of the Complaint

Jones's complaint alleged as follows. Horton was incarcerated in March 2009 in the custody of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (Department). On or about March 16, 2009, the court ordered that Horton be placed in the medical unit of the jail for at least the beginning of the two to three weeks it would take to transfer him to "fire camp." The court based its order on Horton's "obvious mental health state of distress and other medical factors." The Department failed to implement the court's medical order, and Horton never received the care and treatment ordered by the court. Instead, the Department "secret[ed]" Horton in solitary confinement for 30 days, where he spent his time in a closet-sized cell with no windows, no furniture except a bed, and a lamp that produced very little light. The Department denied plaintiff any visitation with her son, despite numerous attempts to see him. Horton was subjected to "ongoing harassment, physical abuse, mental harassment, emotional abuse and/or other outrageous conduct" by the deputies charged with his care. On or about March 30, 2009, deputies physicallyabused, assaulted, emotionally abused, and/or facilitated Horton's death by hanging while he was in solitary confinement.

The complaint alleged causes of action for wrongful death; violation of civil rights under Civil Code sections 43, 51, 51.7, and 52.1; negligence; negligent supervision; and intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED). Plaintiff alleged all causes of action against all defendants, except she did not allege the wrongful death cause of action against Sheriff Baca. She alleged she brought the action both individually and as a representative of Horton's estate. After the summary judgment proceedings, the court entered judgment for the County, Sheriff Baca, and Deputy Kidder on all causes of action.

In her opening brief, plaintiff states she is not appealing the court's ruling on all causes of action for Sheriff Baca or the court's ruling for all defendants on the IIED cause of action. She also states she is not appealing the ruling for the County on her causes of action "as an individual," except for the wrongful death cause of action. Moreover, she limits her appeal to (1) the court's ruling for the County on the wrongful death, violation of civil rights, negligence, and negligent supervision causes of action; and (2) the court's ruling for Deputy Kidder on the wrongful death, violation of civil rights, and negligence causes of action.¹ Our summary of the facts and procedure is therefore limited to that information necessary to evaluate her contentions on appeal.

2. The County's Motion for Summary Judgment or Summary Adjudication

The County filed a motion for summary judgment or summary adjudication in October 2011 and argued, in pertinent part, the causes of action plaintiff brought onbehalf of Horton against the County were barred because the County was statutorily immune to liability for injuries to prisoners.

In support of its motion, the County submitted the declaration of Dennis Burns, chief of the custody operations division of the Department. Chief Burns had overall administrative responsibility for the custody operations division, which was responsible for the operation of the County's jail system and the care, custody, security, and rehabilitation of all inmates housed in the County's jails. He was involved in the investigation into Horton's death. He had read the reports prepared by the different investigative units (the Department's homicide bureau, the internal affairs division, and the men's central jail investigative unit) regarding Horton's death and had reviewed the evidence gathered. The investigations revealed the following, according to Chief Burns:

• Horton entered the County jail system on February 24, 2009. During intake, he reported having a history of alcohol abuse. Medical intake personnel did not observe any signs of substance abuse or withdrawal at the time. He denied a history of mental problems and denied any suicide attempts or ideation.

• On February 27, 2009, upon his return from court, Horton appeared to be under the influence of narcotics. He admitted to a deputy that he had smuggled Ecstasy and PCP into the jail and had taken the narcotics at court that day. As a result, a discipline report was prepared for Horton, and after a hearing, he was housed in a disciplinary unit with a loss of privileges for 30 days.

• On March 2, 2009, Horton fought with another inmate. Nursing staff did not observe any physical injury on him at the time.

• On March 4, 2009, a deputy found Horton roaming a hallway, claiming he was returning from a pass. Horton refused the deputy's orders to face the wall while the deputy determined Horton's correct housing location. Horton also refused to get on the ground when the deputy ordered. The deputy pepper sprayed Horton and additional deputies arrived to subdue him. Horton was transported to the clinic where he was videotaped saying he had ingested 11 "Blue Dolphins" (acombination of Ecstasy and PCP), which were part of the narcotics he had earlier smuggled into custody. Horton was transported to the hospital for treatment.

• When he returned to the jail from the hospital on March 5, 2009, medical personnel screened him again, and he again denied any mental health problems, suicide attempts, and current thoughts of suicide, and he had no obvious signs of mental illness.

• Due to the incident with the deputy and being under the influence of narcotics, Horton's classification was changed on March 5, 2009, to "K-10," meaning he would be housed in a single-man cell and waist chained during movement, with all movement accompanied by deputies.

• A disciplinary review board hearing was held on March 7, 2009, relating to the March 4 incident. Horton was charged with creating a disturbance, fighting, and insubordination. The board found the charges substantiated and gave Horton 29 days of disciplinary segregation with loss of privileges.

• On March 30, 2009, Horton was in discipline module 3301 in a single-man cell. At approximately 3:59 a.m. that day, deputies found Horton hanging with a noose around his neck in his cell. Following the investigation by homicide detectives and an autopsy, it was determined Horton had committed suicide by hanging.

• During a subsequent investigation, it was discovered the deputy responsible for monitoring module 3301, Deputy Kidder,² had left his station for a three-hour period prior to Horton' s being found dead. During that three-hour period, Deputy Kidder failed to perform half-hour security checks of the cells as required by Department policy. He also failed to arrange for another deputy to perform those checks.

• In 2007, the Department installed a barcode scanning system to ensure deputies were timely conducting welfare checks of the cells and to deter efforts to doctor welfare check logs after an adverse event. The system uses permanent barcode plaques mounted at each end of every cell row in the jail. Deputies are supposed to scan each of the plaques as they walk the rows performing their checks. The scanner records each barcode and the time at which the scan is performed.

• Deputy Kidder did not make any barcode scans and faked handwritten records of row checks for his three-hour absence. The deputy responsible for module 3300, however, made one scan of module 3301 during Deputy Kidder's absence. The deputy responsible for module 3300 used a barcode "cheat sheet" to fraudulently scan his welfare checks when he did not actually walk the rows and conduct the checks. In using that cheat sheet, the deputy mistakenly scanned the barcode for module 3301 during the time Deputy Kidder was absent. The...