Estate of Leonard Brown v. Alameda County

Background

The plaintiffs moved to strike the County Defendants’ fourth, sixth, and seventh affirmative defenses. An affirmative defense is a defendant’s stated legal reason why a claim should fail even if the plaintiff’s allegations are accepted. The County Defendants agreed to withdraw the seventh defense, so the court addressed only the fourth and sixth defenses.

Fourth Affirmative Defense

The fourth defense asserted certain California Government Code immunities against the state-law claims. The County Defendants conceded that the immunities they identified were not available to every County Defendant, but they did not specify which immunity each defendant was asserting. The court held that plaintiffs should not have to guess which defendant was asserting a defense or which claim it applied to. Because the lack of detail also made it impossible to determine whether the defendants had provided a sufficient factual basis for the immunities, the court granted the motion to strike as to the fourth defense.

Sixth Affirmative Defense

The sixth defense asserted qualified immunity and “good faith” immunity. The County Defendants clarified that only the individual County employee defendants asserted these defenses, and that they asserted them against the constitutional claims brought under Section 1983, the federal civil-rights statute that permits claims against state or local officials acting under state law. Given that clarification, the court denied the motion to strike as to the sixth defense.

Disposition

The motion to strike was granted in part and denied in part. The County Defendants may file an amended answer within 14 days of the order. Judge Vince Chhabria signed the order on February 1, 2023.