Martinez v. City of Clovis ( 2022 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 DESIREE MARTINEZ, No. 2:15-cv-00683-JAM 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT HIGH’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT 14 KYLE PENNINGTON, et al., 15 Defendant. 16 17 Before this Court is Defendant Channon High’s motion for 18 summary judgment on Plaintiff’s § 1983 claim for violation of due 19 process, the sole remaining claim against her. Def.’s Mot. for 20 Summary J., (“Mot.”), ECF No. 206. The parties are familiar with 21 the facts and posture of this case, so the Court does not repeat 22 them here. 23 Despite Plaintiff’s objections, the Court finds the motion 24 to be procedurally proper. See Opp’n at 7. Defendant was under 25 no obligation to appeal this Court’s previous denial of summary 26 judgment on the issue of qualified immunity and the defense would 27 be available to her at trial. See Arrington v. City of Los 28 Angeles, CV 15-03759-BRO (RAOx), 2017 WL 10543403, at *6 (C.D. 1 Cal. June 30, 2017) (noting both the Supreme Court and Ninth 2 Circuit have recognized that qualified immunity may be decided at 3 trial). The Supreme Court has repeatedly “stressed the 4 importance of resolving immunity questions at the earliest 5 possible stage in litigation.” Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 6 223, 232 (2009) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). 7 This is because an officer should be permitted to avoid the 8 expense and burden of trial if her conduct is protected by the 9 doctrine. See Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 526 (1985). 10 Accordingly, the Court may resolve the issue now. 11 In light of the Ninth Circuit’s recent decision in this 12 case, see Martinez v. City of Clovis, 943 F.3d 1260 (9th Cir. 13 2019), the Court finds Defendant is entitled to qualified 14 immunity as it was not clearly established in 2013 that 15 Defendant’s conduct violated due process. This Court previously 16 relied on Okin v. Vill. of Cornwall-on-Hudson Police Dep’t, 577 17 F.3d 415 (2d Cir. 2009) in denying Defendant’s motion for summary 18 judgment on qualified immunity. However, the Ninth Circuit in 19 Martinez found that Okin could not be relied upon as it had not 20 been embraced by a consensus of courts. 943 F.3d at 1276. 21 Plaintiff’s reliance on Kennedy v. Ridgefield City, 439 F.3d 1055 22 (9th Cir. 2006) is also unpersuasive as it is factually 23 distinguishable and existed when the Ninth Circuit decided 24 Martinez. Likewise, Plaintiff’s citations to equal protection 25 cases, Opp’n at 17, do not advance her theory that it was clearly 26 established that Defendant’s conduct violated due process. 27 The Court finds Plaintiff has failed to demonstrate 28 Defendant’s conduct violated clearly established law at the time nee en eee een nnn ne on nn nn NE OEE ISIE IID OE 1 of her conduct. See Romero v. Kitsap Cnty., 931 F.2d 624, 627 2 (9th Cir. 1991) (“The plaintiff bears the burden of proof that 3 the right allegedly violated was clearly established at the time 4 of the alleged misconduct.”)}. Accordingly, Defendant Channon 5 High is entitled to qualified immunity and her request for 6 summary judgment is GRANTED. The hearing set for January 11, 7 2022 is hereby vacated. 8 IT IS SO ORDERED. 9 Dated: January 10, 2022 10 kA 1 teiren staves odermacr 7008 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28