Huntington Beach Police Officer, Eric Esparza, fatally shot Dillan Tabares after the two were involved in a physical altercation. The decedent’s mother sued the City and Esparza under 42 U.S.C. §1983 and California negligence law. Esparza brought a motion for summary judgment; the district court granted the motion on both the §1983 and negligence claims. […]

A Kansas Deputy Sheriff was on routine patrol when he observed a pickup truck. The Deputy ran a license plate check on the truck and discovered it belonged to Charles Glover (“Glover”). The Deputy also learned that Glover’s driver’s license had been revoked. The Deputy pulled the truck over solely because he assumed that Glover

In Nieves v. Bartlett, the Supreme Court considered whether individuals who allege they were arrested in retaliation for their speech, in violation of the First Amendment, are barred from seeking damages under 42 U.S.C. §1983, if there was probable cause to arrest for any crime. The Court held that probable cause to make an arrest

1. “Air Time” The Additional Retirement Service Credit (ARS) Prior to 2003, public employees who had performed military service prior to joining the CalPERS system were given the opportunity to increase their service credit under CalPERS by purchasing their “military time.” In 2003, the Legislature expanded the option to include “nonqualified” service, allowing employees to

Do officers enjoy immunity for a pursuit policy that contains language that the officers have received, read and understand the policy? Or must the public entity prove not only that it has imposed the requirement, but also that all of the entity’s peace officers complied with it? Police pursuing a suspect in the City of

Facts On May 30, 2012, Deputy Sheriff Martin Deiro was injured on duty. Following surgery, Deiro did not return to work and remained on leave. On May 1, 2015, Deiro applied to the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (LACERA) for service-connected disability retirement. The Department did not oppose the application. On July 17, 2015,

In this most recent case, the question was whether the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) had jurisdiction to hear claims brought by “employee organizations” comprised of Penal Code section 830.1 peace officers. The dispute involves the interpretation of Meyers Milas Brown Act (MMBA) which bars persons who are peace officers from filing unfair labor practice

While many areas of public employment law are under siege, the Public Employment Relations Board (“PERB”) recently decided two cases upholding the right of public employee unions to communicate directly with elected officials about workplace issues. PERB is a quasi-judicial agency charged with administering the provisions of the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA) (Gov. Code §§3500-3511), which

In 2014, Benjamin Zucker had been employed by the LAPD for 19 years. He held the rank of police sergeant, and was a traffic enforcement supervisor at West Traffic Division. At the time of this matter, the LAPD did not have a policy regarding the use of personal Facebook accounts, and Zucker had not received