Vol. 37 No. 4 PLAINTIFF POLICE CHIEF’S EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT CREATED A HYBRID EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CITY AND PLAINTIFF WHERE EMPLOYMENT AS CHIEF WAS AT WILL BUT EMPLOYMENT AS LIEUTENANT WAS NOT AT WILL
In Joseph v. City of Atwater, 74 Cal. App. 5th 974 (5th Dist. 2022), the Court of Appeal held that an employment agreement created a hybrid employment relationship between a city and a plaintiff employed as a chief of police. In reaching its conclusion, the Court found that under the terms of the agreement, plaintiff’s […]
Vol. 37 No. 3 DISTRICT COURT CORRECTLY APPLIED THE PURPOSE-TO-HARM TEST BECAUSE POLICE OFFICERS DID NOT HAVE TIME TO DELIBERATE BEFORE SHOOTING DECEDENT
In Ochoa v. City of Mesa,[1] the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that because officers who shot and killed a decedent did not have time to deliberate before firing, the District Court correctly applied the purpose-to-harm test to determine if the officers’ conduct shocked the conscience under the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court of Appeals […]