Vol. 26 No. 29 – A Police Chief Cannot Be Removed Without Notice and an Appeal
A Police Chief Cannot Be “Removed” Without Notice and an Appeal On December 27 2011, the California Court of Appeal, Fifth District, ruled in the case of Robinson v. City of Chowchilla, that, among other things, the city breached its statutory obligations, under the Public Safety Officers’ Procedural Bill of Rights Act (POBR), when it removed the police chief from office […]
Jones & Mayer to serve as special counsel to UC Davis in conducting an internal administrative investigation of the “pepper spray” incident.
Jones & Mayer has been retained by the University of California to serve as special counsel to UC Davis in conducting an internal administrative investigation of the “pepper spray” incident which has received international coverage. Name partner, Martin J. Mayer, was contacted by the UC Office of General Counsel and asked to provide legal advice […]
Senior Litigator Harold W. Potter successfully argued a motion for summary judgment, on behalf of a municipal client, in a lawsuit seeking over three million dollars in damages.
On February 17, 2012, Senior Litigator Harold W. Potter successfully argued a motion for summary judgment on behalf of the City of Westminster regarding a dangerous condition of public property case involving a minor struck by a vehicle while crossing a street opposite school grounds. The minor sustained life threatening injuries with residual horrific scarring, […]
Vol. 27 No. 7 – Qualified Immunity Is Available When Actions Are Objectively Reasonable
QUALIFIED IMMUNITY IS AVAILABLE WHEN ACTIONS ARE OBJECTIVELY REASONABLE On February 22, 2012, in the case of Messerschmidt et al. v. Millender et al., the United States Supreme Court reversed a decision from the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals which had denied officers qualified immunity from civil liability after they executed a search warrant issued […]
Vol. 27 No. 8 – Ninth Circuit Says It’s OK To Take DNA From Felony Arrestees
NINTH CIRCUIT SAYS IT’S OK TO TAKE DNA FROM FELONY ARRESTEES On March 1, 2012, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeal, in a 2-1 decision, in the case ofHaskell v. Harris, held that requiring persons, arrested on felony charges, to provide a DNA sample was not unconstitutional. In 2004, California’s DNA and Forensic Identification […]
Vol. 27 No. 14 – More Changes to PERS Rules Regarding Retired Annuitants
MORE CHANGES TO PERS RULES REGARDING RETIRED ANNUITANTS Pursuant to the Public Employees’ Retirement Law (PERL), once one retires from PERS, he/she can no longer work for a PERS agency, unless an exception applies. California Government Code 21220 states, in part, that “(a) A person who has been retired under this system, for service or for disability, may […]
Vol. 27 No. 13 – Constitutional Law (Pitchess Motions)
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW- PITCHESS MOTIONS Case Name – Rezek v. Superior Court (California Court of Appeal—2012 Cal. App. LEXIS 630—May 25, 2012) Summary – When a defendant seeks statements of witnesses to the charged incident that are contained in a peace officer’s personnel file, the officer’s privacy interests are implicated less than when the information sought pertains […]
Vol. 27 No. 12 – County Property, Gun Shows, and the Second Amendment
COUNTY PROPERTY, GUN SHOWS, AND THE SECOND AMENDMENT On June 1, 2012 the Ninth Circuit U. S. Court of Appeal, in a unanimous en banc decision, ruled in Nordyke v. Alameda County Board of Supervisors, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 11076, that Alameda County’s (modified) ban on guns being sold on county property did NOT violate the Second Amendment to […]
Senior Associate Paul Coble obtains a voluntary dismissal with prejudice in a civil action accusing a police department of imposing an unlawful arrest quota in violation of Vehicle Code §41602
An officer had an extraordinarily low level of arrest activity while working patrol, making only about 30 arrests in an entire year and with most of those being for outstanding warrants. Supervision recognized that, based on the collective experience of that department, a reasonably attentive officer would, with a modicum of effort, make many times […]
ADA/Medical Marijuana Case is Affirmed by Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal’s Published Opinion in favor of Jones & Mayer Attorneys Representing the City of Costa Mesa
James v. City of Costa Mesa, __ F.3d ___ (2012); 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 10168. Jones & Mayer was successful in urging the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm the denial of a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of the City of Costa Mesa’s prohibition of medical marijuana dispensaries in James v. City of […]