Estate of Xander Mann v. County of Stanislaus ( 2022 )

1 Mark E. Merin (State Bar No. 043849) RIVERA HEWITT PAUL LLP Paul H. Masuhara (State Bar No. 289805) 11341 Gold Express Drive, Ste. 160 2 LAW OFFICE OF MARK E. MERIN Gold River, California 95670 3 1010 F Street, Suite 300 Tel: 916-922-1200 Sacramento, California 95814 Fax: 916-922-1303 4 Telephone: (916) 443-6911 Shanan L. Hewitt (SBN 200168) 5 Facsimile: (916) 447-8336 shewitt@rhplawyers.com E-Mail: mark@markmerin.com Jill B. Nathan (SBN 186136) 6 paul@markmerin.com jnathan@rhplawyers.com Attorneys for Plaintiffs, Attorneys for Defendants, 7 ESTATE OF XANDER MANN, COUNTY OF STANISLAUS, 8 AMY PICKERING, and JUSTIN MANN STANISLAUS COUNTY SHERIFF’S And for Cross-Defendant DEPARTMENT, and JEFF DIRKSE 9 ESTATE OF XANDER MANN 10 11 DONALD W. COOK, CSB 116666 PORTER SCOTT ATTORNEY AT LAW A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION 12 3435 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 2910 John R. Whitefleet, SBN 213301 13 Los Angeles, CA 90010 350 University Avenue, Suite 200 (213) 252-9444 / (213) 252-0091 facsimile Sacramento, California 95825 14 E-mail: manncook@earthlink.net TEL: 916.929.1481 Attorney for Plaintiff, FAX: 916.927.3706 15 HECTOR del ALTO, by guardian ad Attorneys for Defendant, 16 litem ADRIANNA SALGADO GERARDO ZAZUETA 17 18 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 19 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 20 ESTATE OF XANDER MANN, AMY ) CASE NO.: 1:21-cv-01098-AWI-SKO PICKERING, and JUSTIN MANN, ) 21 ) JOINT STIPULATION TO 22 Plaintiff, ) CONSOLIDATE CASES; ORDER v. ) CONSOLIDATING CASES 23 ) COUNTY OF STANISLAUS, ) (Doc. 53) 24 STANISLAUS COUNTY SHERIFF’S ) 25 DEPARTMENT, JEFF DIRKSE, ) GERARDO ZAZUETA, ) 26 and DOE 1 to 20, ) 27 ) Defendants. ) 28 ) 1 HECTOR del ALTO, by guardian ad ) CASE NO.: 1:22-cv-00384-DAD-SAB litem ADRIANNA SALGADO, ) 2 ) 3 Plaintiff, ) v. ) 4 ) COUNTY OF STANISLAUS, a local ) 5 government entity; STANISLAUS ) 6 COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT, ) a local government entity; GERARDO ) 7 ZAZUETA, an individual sued in his ) individual capacity; ESTATE OF ) 8 XANDER MANN; and DOES 1-10, all ) 9 individuals in both their individual and ) official capacities, ) 10 ) Defendants. ) 11 ) 12 13 TO THE ABOVE-ENTITLED COURT AND TO ALL PARTIES AND THEIR 14 COUNSEL OF RECORD: 15 The parties, ESTATE OF XANDER MANN, AMY PICKERING, and JUSTIN MANN, 16 Plaintiffs in the matter of Estate of Xander Mann, et al., v. County of Stanislaus, et al. Case No. 17 1:21-cv-01098-AWI-SKO, and HECTOR del ALTO, by guardian ad litem ADRIANNA 18 SALGADO, Plaintiff in the matter of Hector del Alto v. County of Stanislaus, et al., Case No. 19 1:22-cv-00384-DAD-SAB; and Defendants including COUNTY OF STANISLAUS, 20 STANISLAUS COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT, JEFF DIRKSE, and GERARDO 21 ZAZUETA, by and through their respective counsel of record, collectively known as the “Parties,” 22 have conferred and hereby stipulate to consolidate cases Estate of Xander Mann, et al., v. County 23 of Stanislaus, et al. and Hector del Alto v. County of Stanislaus, et al., pursuant to Rule 42(a) of 24 the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. 25 JOINT STIPULATION 26 WHEREAS, presently pending in this Court are two related actions identified below: 27 1. Estate of Xander Mann, e al., v. County of Stanislaus, et al. United States District Court, 28 Eastern District of California, Case No. 1:21-cv-01098-AWI-SKO (“Mann”); and 1 2. Hector del Alto, by guardian ad litem Adrianna Salgado v. County of Stanislaus, et al., 2 United States District Court, Eastern District of California, Case No. 1:22-CV-00384-DAD-SAB 3 (“del Alto”); 4 WHEREAS, both cases arise out of the same officer involved shooting which occurred on 5 May 18, 2021; 6 WHEREAS, on July 19, 2021, Decedent’s mother AMY PICKERING and Decedent’s 7 father JUSTIN MANN filed their Complaint for Damages for Violation of Civil and Constitutional 8 Rights against Defendants COUNTY OF STANISLAUS, STANISLAUS COUNTY SHERIFF’S 9 DEPARTMENT and GERARDO ZAZUETA alleging constitutional claims and torts claims on 10 their own behalf as well as constitutional, state law and survivorship claims on behalf of Xander 11 Mann (“Decedent”) as his mother and father. Plaintiffs also allege they have the right to recover 12 as co-successors in interest to Decedent; 13 WHEREAS, on March 31, 2022, HECTOR del ALTO, by guardian ad litem ADRIANNA 14 SALGADO filed his complaint for damages, alleging constitutional claims and tort claims on his 15 own behalf against the COUNTY OF STANISLAUS, STANISLAUS COUNTY SHERIFF’S 16 DEPARTMENT, GERARDO ZAZUETA and the ESTATE OF XANDER MANN; 17 WHEREAS, Rule 42(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure permits a court to 18 consolidate actions pending before it if those actions involve a “common question of law or fact.” 19 “The threshold issue is whether the two proceedings involve a common party and common issues 20 of fact or law.” Seguro de Servicio de Salud v. McAuto Sys. Group, 878 F.2d 5, 8 (1st Cir. 1989). 21 The single essential requirement is questions of law or fact common to the cases to be consolidated. 22 Enterprise Bank v. Saettele, 21 F.3d 233, 235 (8th Cir. 1994). 23 WHEREAS the Parties now seek to consolidate the above related actions pursuant to 24 F.R.C.P. 42 because each action asserts substantially the same claims and raise substantially the 25 same questions of fact and law regarding liability and damages; 26 WHEREAS, the instant actions of Mann and Salgado (del Alto) have both been properly 27 filed in the United States District Court, Eastern District of California and involve the same facts 28 and circumstances, share many of the same causes of action, would require the same legal analysis, 1 and as such, satisfy the only requirement for consolidation under Rule 42(a); 2 WHEREAS, consolidating these two cases would clearly serve the interests of justice: 3 increases judicial efficiency, avoids duplicative evidence, procedures, and inconsistent 4 adjudications, precludes waste, and alleviates potential burdens to the court and to all parties 5 involved. 6 STIPULATION 7 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED, by and between the Parties hereto through their respective 8 attorneys of record: 9 1. The Eastern District cases Estate of Xander Mann, et al., v. County of Stanislaus, et al. 10 Case No. 1:21-cv-01098, and Salgado (del Alto) v. County of Stanislaus, et al., Case No. 1:22-cv- 11 00384 will be consolidated. 12 IT IS SO STIPULATED. 13 14 Dated: July 6, 2022 LAW OFFICE OF MARK E. MERIN 15 /s/ Mark E. Merin 16 (as authorized on 7/6/22) _____________________________ 17 MARK E. MERIN PAUL H. MASUHARA 18 Attorneys for Plaintiffs 19 ESTATE OF XANDER MANN, AMY PICKERING, and JUSTIN MANN 20 21 22 Dated: July 8, 2022 RIVERA HEWITT PAUL LLP 23 _/s/ Jill B. Nathan________________ 24 SHANAN L. HEWITT JILL B. NATHAN 25 Attorneys for Defendants COUNTY OF STANISLAUS, 26 STANISLAUS COUNTY SHERIFF’S 27 DEPARTMENT, and JEFF DIRKSE 28 1 Dated: June 29, 2022 LAW OFFICE OF DONALD W. COOK 2 /s/ Donald W. Cook 3 (original signature retained by attorney) _ ____________________ 4 DONALD W. COOK 5 Attorney for Plaintiff HECTOR del ALTO, by guardian ad litem 6 ADRIANNA SALGADO 7 8 Dated: July 7, 2022 PORTER SCOTT A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION 9 10 /s/ John R. Whitefleet (as authorized on 7/7/22) 11 _______________________________ JOHN R. WHITEFLEET 12 Attorneys for Defendant 13 GERARDO ZAZUETA 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 ORDER 2 In view of the foregoing stipulation of the parties (Doc. 53), and pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. 3 P. 42(a), it is HEREBY ORDERED that: 4 1. The Clerk of Court shall consolidate Estate of Xander Mann, et al., v. County of 5 Stanislaus, et al. Case No. 1:21-cv-01098-AWI-SKO with Salgado (del Alto) v. County of 6 Stanislaus, et al., Case No. 1:22-cv-00384-DAD-SAB for all purposes; 7 2. All future filings and correspondence shall use Case No. 1:21-cv-01098-AWI- 8 SKO; 9 3. The Clerk shall move Doc. Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7–11 from the docket of 1:22- 10 cv-00384-DAD-SAB to the docket of 1:21-cv-01098-AWI-SKO; 11 4. The Clerk shall administratively close Salgado (del Alto) v. County of Stanislaus, 12 et al., Case No. 1:22-cv-00384-DAD-SAB1; and 13 5. The Clerk shall file a copy of this order in Case No. 1:22-cv-00384-DAD-SAB. 14 IT IS SO ORDERED. 15 Dated: July 13, 2022 /s/ Sheila K. Oberto . 16 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28