C. B. v. City of Sonora, et al., No. 11-17454 (9th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CaseThis case arose out of the handcuffing and removal from school of then eleven-year-old C.B. by Sonora Police officers. The district court rendered a verdict ostensibly in favor of defendants, but the district court concluded that the verdict was incomplete and inconsistent and directed them to re-deliberate. On appeal, the court concluded that the unscripted supplemental jury instructions, together with the problematic verdict form, gave the jury the misimpression that its initial answers to Questions 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8 were internally inconsistent and needed to be revised. The court also concluded that Officers McIntosh and Prock were entitled to qualified immunity with regard to plaintiff's claims under 42 U.S.C. 1983 because the law was, and still is, not "clearly established" that handcuffing and driving a juvenile from school to a relative's place of business implicated Fourth Amendment rights. Accordingly, the court vacated the verdict and judgments, remanding for further proceedings. The district court was instructed to enter judgment as a matter of law in favor of individual defendants McIntosh and Prock as to the 1983 claims. The court did not address whether defendants were entitled to an offset of the amount paid in settlement by the school district and one of the school's teachers.
Court Description: Civil Rights. The panel vacated a jury verdict and the district court’s judgment and remanded in an action arising out of the handcuffing and removal from school of then eleven-year-old C.B. by Sonora police officers. The jury rendered a verdict ostensibly in favor of defendants, but the district court concluded that the verdict was incomplete and inconsistent and, after extensive extemporaneous colloquies with the jurors, directed them to re-deliberate. The jury eventually returned a verdict in favor of C.B. The panel held that the verdict form and protracted unscripted discussions between the district judge and the jurors were so confusing and potentially misleading as to require a new trial. The panel further held that police officers were entitled to qualified immunity as to C.B.’s claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 because the law was, and still is, not clearly established that handcuffing and driving a juvenile from school to a relative’s place of business implicates Fourth Amendment rights. Concurring in part and dissenting in part, Judge McKeown stated that she concurred in the majority’s decision to remand this case for a new trial. She also concurred in the remand of the state law claims. She dissented from that part of the opinion which held that police officers were entitled to qualified immunity on C.B.’s Fourth Amendment claims because the facts demonstrated that C.B.’s prolonged detention was an obvious violation of the Fourth Amendment’s general proscription against unreasonable seizures.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on February 3, 2014.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on October 15, 2014.
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