Nelson v. Superior Court

Fowler v. Superior Court (1984) 162 Cal.App.3d 215 [ 208 Cal.Rptr. 408 ], a criminal case, holds that a county’s obligation to preserve “recordings of telephone and radio communications” for more than 100 days arises only when the county has actual notice that such recordings “are evidence in any claim filed or any pending litigation.” (Gov. Code, § 26202.6.) In this civil case, we hold that a government tort claim filed with the county in conformance with section 911.2 constitutes actual notice to the county that a “claim” is pending within the meaning of section 26202.6.

Facts

On September 13, 1998, Dwayne Nelson was arrested by Deputies Steven Trammell and David Porter of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (who were responding to “several 911 calls” about “a man with a gun”). According to the deputies, Mr. Nelson was placed in a patrol car, then “removed” from the vehicle because he was kicking and banging at the doors and windows. To keep Mr. Nelson from injuring himself or a deputy and to prevent damage to the vehicle, the deputies placed Mr. Nelson face-down on the ground and applied a Total Appendage Restraint Procedure (TARP or, as it is sometimes…