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Irwin v. City of Hemet2/10/1994
In an action for damages for wrongful death and deprivation of civil rights, the plaintiffs appeal from a summary judgment entered in favor of the defendants. The defendants appeal from the denial of their postjudgment motion for attorney fees. We reverse the judgment and dismiss the appeal from the postjudgment order.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
At approximately 5 p.m. on May 3, 1989, Officers Cain and Quinn of the Police Department of the City of Hemet were dispatched in response to a report of a man drunk in public. They located the subject of the report, Steven Irwin (Irwin), who was obviously intoxicated. They also determined that there was an outstanding traffic warrant for his arrest. The officers arrested him both on the charge of being drunk in public and on the outstanding warrant. Quinn then transported Irwin to the Hemet jail while Cain returned to patrol.
Quinn booked Irwin into the jail at approximately 5:20 p.m. and then went back to patrol. Initially Irwin was placed in a cell with Mr. John Diaz. However, because Irwin was continually yelling, he was moved into an empty cell by Watch Commander Montoya and Officer Whitener. Montoya made "full cell checks" at 5:40 p.m. and 6:03 p.m., and several "visual checks" thereafter. At approximately 6:40 p.m., when Whitener could not see Irwin when making a visual check through the cell door window, he opened the cell door and found Irwin hanging in the cell by a mattress cover around his neck. The officers cut him down, administered CPR, and called paramedics. However, Irwin never regained consciousness.
Within a year of Irwin's death, a complaint was filed on behalf of four plaintiffs: Irwin's two parents and his two surviving minor children. Named as defendants are the City of Hemet, Watch Commander Montoya, and Officers Cain, Quinn, and Whitener. The complaint is alleged in three counts: the first, for damages pursuant to 42 United States Code section 1983 (section 1983); the second, for damages for the "deprivation of federal constitutional rights"; and the third, for damages for wrongful death.
The defendants moved for summary judgment on May 30, 1991. At an initial hearing in July of 1991, the trial court granted summary adjudication
in favor of all defendants on the wrongful death count and on a prayer for punitive damages. As to the remaining issues, the hearing was continued to permit further discovery. (Code Civ. Proc., ยง 437c, subd. (h).) At the subsequent hearing in December of 1991, the motion was granted, and judgment was entered in favor of the defendants.
After the entry of judgment, the defendants moved for an award of attorney fees. The trial court denied the motion in part and took the remaining aspect under submission. While the record does not reflect any ruling, the defendants contend that the submitted portion of the motion was also denied.
The plaintiffs appeal from the summary judgment against them and the defendants appeal from the alleged denial of their postjudgment motion. We consolidated the two appeals.
In the unpublished portion of this opinion, we reject the defendants' contentions that federal procedural law governs the motion for summary judgment as to the federal civil rights claim, and that they had established that Irwin's parents had no standing to bring the wrongful death claim. We publish the remaining portion to give the trial courts guidance concerning the standards to be applied to section 1983 claims based upon jail suicides. In it, we conclude that the motion was properly granted on that claim as to the individual defendants but not as to th
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