Pierce v. Cnty. of Marin

291 F.Supp.3d 982

Jillian L. PIERCE, Plaintiff,

v.COUNTY OF MARIN, et al., Defendants.

Case No. 17–cv–03409–SI

United States District Court, N.D. California.

Signed February 14, 2018

Andrew Chan Kim, Belmont, CA, Sanjay S. Schmidt, Law Office of Sanjay S. Schmidt, San Francisco, CA, for Plaintiff.

Kerry Laiw Gerchow, Renee Giacomini Brewer, San Rafael, CA, for Defendants.

ORDER DENYING DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS THE FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT; DIRECTING PLAINTIFF'S COUNSEL TO SERVE DEFENDANT PENDER WITH FAC (U.S. MARSHALS NO LONGER REQUIRED TO EFFECT SERVICE)

Re: Dkt. No. 48

SUSAN ILLSTON, United States District JudgeOn February 2, 2018, the Court held a hearing on the Marin County defendants' motion to dismiss the first amended complaint. For the reasons set forth below, the Court DENIES defendants' motion.

BACKGROUND

I. Factual Background

This lawsuit arises from plaintiff Jillian L. Pierce's repeated arrests and detentions based on a warrant issued for another individual named Arin Emily Huggard. First Amended Complaint ("FAC"), Dkt. No. 41 at ¶ 26. Huggard is "[w]hite, 5' 6? tall, and has distinctive tattoos ...." Id. ¶ 25. The FAC alleges that plaintiff "does not appear to be white and, in fact, she is of mixed ethnicity, including Filipino, and her skin complexion is dark," and that "Huggard's distinctive tattoos are unique to her." Id.

According to the FAC, on or around July 15, 2013, Huggard was arrested in the County of Marin and was booked into the Marin County Jail ("MCJ"). Id. ¶ 19. Huggard was fingerprinted and photographed (from the front and both sides), and identifying information about her, including any distinctive characteristics, was documented. Id. At least by the time of the 2013 booking, Huggard was assigned a unique CII number.¹ Id. The same day, Huggard was charged in a complaint filed in Marin County Superior Court Case No. SC185382A with felony and misdemeanor drug possession charges, as well as one count of a misdemeanor violation of California Penal Code section 148.9(a) (representing a false identity to a California peace officer). Id. The next day, Huggard was arraigned in the Marin County Superior Court, and she entered a plea of not guilty. Id. ¶ 21.

The FAC alleges that between July 16 and 22, 2013, Huggard's case was continued four times, and "inferably, Huggard was transported by COUNTY OF MARIN Sheriff's Deputies each time back and forth from the Marin County Jail, to court, and then back to MCJ." Id . On July 23, 2013, Huggard pled guilty to one count of felony drug possession, after which a Marin County Sheriff's Office ("MCSO") Deputy took Huggard's thumbprint and placed a copy in the court file for Case No. SC185382A. Id. ¶ 22. Following the guilty plea, Huggard was placed on probation and released from custody. Id. ¶ 23. In February 2014, proceedings were held at the Marin County Superior Court in Case No. SC185382A as a result of Huggard's violation of probation. Id. ¶ 24. Huggard did not appear in court, and the judge issued a bench warrant for her arrest. Id.

Plaintiff alleges that on May 21, 2014, she was arrested in San Francisco, California, "and at some time thereafter was believed to be Huggard, the subject named in the above-referenced bench warrant out of the COUNTY OF MARIN, in Case NO. SC185382A." Id. ¶ 26. Plaintiff spent two days in the San Francisco County jail, and then on May 23, 2014, she was delivered to the County authorities on the warrant in Case No. SC185382A. Id. ¶ 27. At the MCJ, plaintiff went through a booking process, which included being fingerprinted, having her booking photo taken, and being subjected to a visual body cavity search. Id. ¶ 29. The booking photographs clearly depicted all of plaintiff's distinctive features, including her tattoos "which are different from those of Huggard," and her dark complexion. Id. After plaintiff was in custody at the MCJ for several hours, the MCSO deputies discovered that neither plaintiff's fingerprints nor her CII number matched those of the subject of the warrant, Huggard. Id. ¶ 30. After learning that Huggard must have used plaintiff's name previously, and that Huggard was in-custody in a different county, the MCSO released plaintiff. Id. ¶¶ 30–31.

The FAC alleges that in June 2014, another bench warrant was issued in Case No. SC185382A, and the warrant was served. Id. ¶ 32. In August 2015, a probation violation hearing was held in Case No. SC185382A, and Huggard failed to appear. Id. ¶¶ 33–34. Thereafter, another bench warrant naming Huggard was issued. Id. ¶ 34.

In February 2016, California Highway Patrol ("CHP") officer Matthew Pender pulled over plaintiff and arrested her pursuant to the warrant for Huggard. Id. ¶ 35. The FAC alleges that the name in the warrant as well as other identifying information of the subject of the warrant, including distinctive physical features, distinctive tattoos, height, CII number and fingerprint, were those of Huggard and not of plaintiff. Id. Despite plaintiff's protestation of mistaken identity, plaintiff was booked into Santa Rita Jail, where she was subjected to a strip search and visual body cavity search. Id. The FAC alleges that the "warrant abstract" listed a telephone number for the County of Marin's Sheriff's Office, "which is inferably a Warrants and Wants division," but that Pender did not contact the Sheriff's Office or the County of Marin Probation department. Id. Plaintiff spent about 2 days at Santa Rita Jail, and then she was issued a citation, signed a promise to appear, and given a March 4, 2016 court date to appear in the County. Id. ¶¶ 35–36.

Plaintiff then contacted the County of Marin's Public Defender's Office, and was represented by Ms. Bryna Holland. Id. ¶ 36. On March 4, 2016, People v. Huggard (Case No. SC185382A) was called in Marin County Superior Court and "the warrant was apparently stayed by the Court until March 9, 2016 based on correspondence that had been submitted." Id. ¶ 37. The matter was continued to March 25, 2016. Id. On March 25, Deputy Public Defender Holland appeared on behalf of plaintiff and informed the court that plaintiff had previously been falsely arrested as a result of the warrant for Huggard. Id. ¶ 38. The judge noted that when Huggard pled guilty in July 2013, the MCSO fingerprinted her and that her fingerprint was in the court file, and the deputy district attorney stated that there were "identifying tattoos of the actual person who committed this crime and who suffered the conviction and that is different from Miss Holland's client." Id. The court issued another warrant for Huggard. Id.

On or about March 29, 2016, a County of Marin employee, working in the Marin County Sheriff's Office Warrant Division was working on the warrant in Case No. SC 185382A, and mailed a notice of the warrant to an address in Antioch, California. Id. ¶ 39. The FAC alleges that despite having readily available information to indicate that plaintiff was not Huggard, and having constructive knowledge that plaintiff had already been wrongfully booked into the MCJ on a warrant in Huggard's case, this employee failed to take any corrective action, such as correcting the date of birth, or adding information unique to Huggard relating to her physical description. Id.²

In April 2016, the bench warrant in Case No. SC185382A was recalled and re-issued by Judge Boren, who "ordered that Arin Huggard's date of birth be placed on the warrant." Id. ¶ 40. The new warrant "was issued for Arin Huggard, the defendant in Case No. SC185382A, with bail being set at $25,000.00." Id. Later, the MCSO Warrant Division "peculiarly and inexplicably sent correspondence to the home of a friend of Plaintiff, in Antioch, California, which was a ‘COURTESY NOTICE OF WARRANT’ concerning a warrant for the arrest of Arin Huggard." Id. ¶ 41. The warrant did not name plaintiff, but her date of birth appeared on the warrant. Id. Plaintiff immediately notified Ms. Holland, who in turn took steps to notify the County employees and agents in order to correct the continued erroneous association of plaintiff's birthday and physical description with Huggard's. Id.

On May 10, 2016, Ukiah Police Department ("UPD") officers were called to the scene of a domestic disturbance, where plaintiff was the victim of domestic violence. Id. ¶ 42. Plaintiff, who was about five months pregnant, was "extremely distraught and crying," and told the UPD officers that her boyfriend "had struck her." Id. The UPD officers learned of the warrant under Case No. SC185382A in Huggard's name. Id. Plaintiff protested that she was not the subject named in the warrant and explained that it was a mistake as a result of identity fraud. Id. The UPD officers contacted the County to investigate the issue through their dispatcher. Id. Shayna Orr, an employee of the MCSO working in the warrant division, told the dispatcher that the subject of the warrant was extraditable or citable. Id. When asked for Huggard's photograph, Orr sent the booking photos of plaintiff from May 23, 2014, despite having Huggard's photograph from her 2013 booking. Id. Based on the photographs the UPD officers received from Orr, the officers arrested plaintiff pursuant to the warrant under Case No. SC185382A, and sent plaintiff to the Mendocino County Jail. Id.

The FAC alleges that as a result of this wrongful unavoidable arrest, plaintiff had to pay $2,500 for bail in order to be released from custody, and had to return to court to continue to deal with the issue of being mistakenly arrested under the warrant naming Huggard. Id. ¶ 43.

Plaintiff alleges that on a different occasion she was detained and searched under the pretense that she was Huggard, but she was eventually released. Id. ¶ 44. Plaintiff alleges another instance in 2016 where a CHP officer pulled her over, and over her protestation of mistaken identity, detained her and searched her vehicle pursuant to the warrant for Huggard. Id. at ¶¶ 1, 45. At the time, plaintiff was "still...