Rodriguez

Appellant Freddy Rodriguez sued respondents the County of Los Angeles and the County of Orange (collectively county defendants) as vicariously liable under Government Code section 815.2 for false imprisonment by sheriff’s deputies, after he was held in custody for 11 days pursuant to a bench warrant issued for another person. Relying on Venegas v. County of Los Angeles (2004) 32 Cal.4th 820 [ 11 Cal.Rptr.3d 692 , 87 P.3d 1 ] (Venegas), the trial court found that appellant’s claims were barred because a sheriff acts as a state agent as a matter of law in determining whether to hold someone in custody. Because Venegas dealt with federal claims under the Civil Rights Act of 1871 ( 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ) (section 1983), and we are confronted with a state law claim, we follow Sullivan v. County of Los Angeles (1974) 12 Cal.3d 710 [ 117 Cal.Rptr. 241 , 527 P.2d 865 ] (Sullivan), which held that a county can be held vicariously liable for false imprisonment by county employees.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The Second Amended Complaint

The operative second amended complaint (SAC) alleges the following: On October 23, 2009, around 7:30 p.m., appellant was stopped by police for…