“Challenging Someone Equipped With A Badge, Handcuffs, And A Gun To ‘Arrest Me’ Was Unwise.” The Ninth Circuit.

This is the situation.  It’s a busy juvenile court in L.A. County, and the deputy public defender [P.D.] went back to her office. The judicial officer had 53 cases to be heard and wanted the P.D. there, but the P.D. did not answer her pages or pick up her phone, even though she heard them. A courtroom deputy was dispatched with an order to retrieve the P.D. He went to her office where the P.D. was talking with her supervisor. When she was told she was needed in court, she responded: “If you want me to come right now, you’ll have to arrest me.”  “Click, click,” went the handcuffs.  The P.D. brought an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and the trial judge held in favor of the defendants, ruling the arrest violated the P.D.’s Fourth Amendment rights but that the deputy was protected by qualified immunity. The Ninth Circuit reversed, finding the deputy was not protected by qualified immunity. But the appeals court was underwhelmed with the importance of the situation, mentioning the cost to the taxpayers for all this litigation, and stating the dispute should have been settled with mutual apologies and a handshake.  (Demuth v. County of L.A. (Ninth Cir.; August 14, 2015) 612 F.App’x 475.)