Sullivan v. County of Tehama ( 2024 )

Patrick L. Deedon, State Bar No. 245490 1 Tracey A. Werner, State Bar No. 315876 2 MAIRE & DEEDON 2851 Park Marina Drive, Suite 300 3 Redding, CA 96001-2813 (530) 246-6050 / 246-6060 (fax) 4 pdeedon@maire-law.com 5 twerner@maire-law.com 6 Attorneys for Defendants, COUNTY OF TEHAMA, TEHAMA COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE, 7 DAVE HENCRATT, JESSE BROWN, and DANIELLE GIBSON 8 Alexander Cabeceiras, State Bar No. 338857 9 DEREK SMITH LAW GROUP, LLP 633 W. 5th Street, Suite 3250 10 Los Angeles, California 90071 11 (332) 910-5631 / (212) 587-0760 (fax) alexc@dereksmithlaw.com 12 Attorneys for Plaintiff, 13 VIOLA SULLIVAN 14 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 15 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 16 17 VIOLA SULLIVAN, an individual, CASE NO.: 2:23-cv-02351-MCE-KJN 18 Plaintiff, STIPULATION AND ORDER TO STAY 19 MATTER PENDING 20 vs. UNAVAILABILITY OF PLAINTIFF’S COUNSEL AND FURTHER 21 COUNTY OF TEHAMA, a public entity, PROCEEDINGS IN PLAINTIFF’S TEHAMA COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE, UNDERLYING CRIMINAL MATTER 22 a public entity, DAVE HENCRATT, Tehama IN STATE COURT 23 County Sheriff, in his individual and official capacity as Sheriff, JESSE BROWN, Deputy, 24 an individual, DANIELLE GISBON, an individual, 25 DOES 1-25 inclusive, 26 Defendants. 27 ____________________________________/ 28 1 RECITALS 2 1. Plaintiff is Viola Sullivan (hereinafter, “Plaintiff”), represented by Alex Cabeceiras at 3 DEREK SMITH LAW GROUP, LLP. 4 5 2. Defendants are County of Tehama, Tehama County Sheriff’s Office, Dave Hencratt, Jesse 6 Brown, and Danielle Gibson (hereinafter collectively referred to as “Defendants”), 7 represented by Patrick L. Deedon and Tracey A. Werner, at MAIRE & DEEDON. 8 3. Plaintiff filed her First Amended Complaint on December 4, 2023 [ECF 13]. 9 4. Defendants filed their Answer to the First Amended Complaint on January 8, 2024 [ECF 10 11 17]. 12 5. Plaintiff brings this complaint for damages under 42 U.S.C. §1983, alleging that 13 defendants violated her Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The alleged 14 constitutional violations occurred during the course of Plaintiff’s arrest for a violation of 15 California Penal Code §148(a). 16 17 6. Plaintiff further alleges municipal liability against the County for failing to train and 18 discipline their law enforcement officers, for their alleged deliberate indifference with 19 respect to the conduct of their officers. 20 7. Following her arrest, the Tehama County District Attorney filed a criminal case against 21 the Plaintiff for the §148(a) misdemeanor violation, which case remains pending in 22 23 Tehama County Superior Court as case number 22CR002866. 24 8. There is a pretrial hearing in Plaintiff’s criminal matter on February 28, 2024, at which 25 time she is expected to ask the Court to grant her motion for pre-trial diversion. The trial 26 date is currently scheduled for April 24, 2024. 27 28 9. While Counsel for the parties mutually agree that not every criminal conviction for 1 2 resisting arrest under Penal Code §148(a) would bar a subsequent civil action against the 3 arresting officer for excessive force under §1983 pursuant to the Heck Doctrine1, Counsel 4 for the Defendants asserts that whether or not Heck applies cannot be evaluated until the 5 criminal case is formally concluded. In this case, the criminal matter will not be concluded 6 until either diversion is complete or trial is concluded, whichever occurs sooner. 7 8 10. Counsel for the parties spoke by telephone on January 24, 2024, to begin their Rule 26(f) 9 conference. 10 11. During the Rule 26(f) conference, Counsel for Plaintiff advised that he would be going out 11 on paternity leave beginning February 18, 2024, and continuing for approximately 4 12 weeks. 13 14 STIPULATIONS 15 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED and AGREED by and between Plaintiff and Defendants, 16 through their respective counsel of record, that: 17 12. The parties stipulated to a stay of this matter for all purposes, including all discovery and 18 Rule 26 obligations, until March 18, 2024; 19 20 13. It is anticipated that by March 18, 2024, Plaintiff’s Counsel will have returned from 21 paternity leave and the parties will have an answer on the ruling from the Tehama County 22 Superior Court as to Plaintiff’s motion for diversion; 23 14. The parties will meet and confer again after Plaintiff’s Counsel’s return from leave and, 24 within 30 days of March 18, 2024, will either file: (i) a joint status report including a Rule 25 26 26(f) discovery plan; (ii) a stipulation to further stay this matter pending final resolution 27 28 1 Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994) of the underlying criminal case; or (iii) a joint letter to the Court regarding any 1 2 disagreements pertaining to staying the civil proceedings any further; 3 15. Any changes to this Stipulation will require the express written consent of Counsel for all 4 parties; 5 16. This Stipulation shall be filed in the California Eastern District federal court; and 6 17. A violation of the Stay afford the wronged party a right to proceed with motion practice 7 8 and seek sanctions, including attorneys’ fees and costs. 9 10 Dated: February 29, 2024 MAIRE & DEEDON 11 12 _/s/ Patrick L. Deedon__________________ PATRICK L. DEEDON 13 TRACEY A. WERNER 14 Attorneys for Defendants, COUNTY OF TEHAMA, TEHAMA COUNTY 15 SHERIFF’S OFFICE, DAVE KAIN, JESSE BROWN, and D. GIBSON 16 17 Dated: February 29, 2024 DEREK SMITH LAW GROUP, LLP 18 19 __/s/ Alex Cabeceiras___________________ 20 ALEX CABECEIRAS Attorneys for Plaintiff, 21 VIOLA SULLIVAN 22 23 [Proposed] Order to follow on next page. 24 25 26 27 28 1 ORDER ON STIPULATION TO STAY MATTER PENDING UNAVAILABILITY OF PLAINTIFF’S COUNSEL AND FURTHER PROCEEDINGS IN PLAINTIFF’S 4 UNDERLYING CRIMINAL MATTER IN STATE COURT 3 For good cause appearing and based upon the stipulation of the parties, this matter is 4 hereby stayed as follows: 5 1. This matter is stayed for all purposes, including all discovery and Rule 26 obligations, until 6 March 18, 2024. 7 2. The parties are to meet and confer again after Plaintiff's Counsel’s return from leave and are ordered to file either a joint status report, including a Rule 26(f) discovery plan, a 10 stipulation to further stay this matter, or bring forth any disagreements over a continued 11 stay of this proceeding, no later than April 17, 2024. 12 IT IS SO ORDERED. 13 . Dated: February 29, 2024 14 A 4 □ _ LCS 15 MORRISON C. ENGLAND, JR)\(_) 16 SENIOR UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 PAGE 5 STIPULATION AND ORDER TO STAY MATTER PENDING UNAVAILABILITY OF PLAINTIFF’S COUNSEL AND FURTHER Marina Dr. Ste. 300 | | PROCEEDINGS IN PLAINTIFF’S UNDERLYING CRIMINAL MATTER IN STATE COURT ,CA 96001-2813