Having recently won dismissal of most of the allegations filed against a Los Angeles Police Department sergeant by a Dodger fan who alleges he was wrongfully beaten by other security team members at Dodger Stadium on opening day 2018, the attorney for the sergeant is opposing the fan’s bid to add a new civil rights claim.
On June 21, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Jill Feeney tossed four of the five causes of action filed against Sgt. Mark Jackson by Francisco Rodriguez, leaving the plaintiff only with an allegation of negligence against the sergeant.
“The court finds that plaintiff has submitted admissible evidence demonstrating the existence of a triable issue of material fact as to whether Jackson acted affirmatively to protect plaintiff’s safety while he was on the Dodgers’ premises,” according to Feeney, whose decision dismissed Rodriguez’s causes of action for premises liability, assault, battery and false imprisonment.
The team and other individuals also are defendants in the lawsuit filed in July 2018, which is one of multiple cases brought by fans over the last several years alleging misconduct by Dodger Stadium security team members.
On June 22, Rodriguez’s attorney filed a motion asking Feeney to allow him to add a claim for violation of the Tom Bane Civil Rights Act, which forbids people from interfering with a person’s constitutional rights by force or threat of violence. Rodriguez’s attorney maintains in his court papers that based upon further evaluation of the evidence and case law relating to uniformed peace officers working for a private entity such as the Dodgers, the filing of the new claim is warranted.
But according to court papers filed Monday by Jackson’s attorneys, the sergeant would be prejudiced by the late filing of the motion given that trial is scheduled July 31.
“There is no good reason for the belated filing of this motion to amend,” Jackson’s lawyers argue in their court papers. “Whether or not the alleged force was under color of law, the availability of a … civil rights claim existed from the time of the filing of the original complaint.”
The trial should be delayed if Rodriguez’s motion to amend is granted, according to Jackson’s lawyers court papers. The Dodgers and the other individuals have joined Jackson in opposing Rodriguez’s motion, which is scheduled for hearing July 7.
In his suit, Rodriguez maintains security team members told him he was being ejected because he had asked about the way another fan was being treated during the March 29, 2018, game. One of the escorting guards on the way to the exit took him to the ground and punched him in the head, the plaintiff alleges.
One guard placed his knee on the plaintiff, who protested, “I can’t breathe,” the suit states.
Rodriguez later added Jackson as one of the individual security team defendants, but Jackson’s lawyers maintained the sergeant has no liability in the plaintiff’s case.