Hernandez

The plaintiffs in this negligence action are the parents, wife, seven minor children and estate of decedent George Hernandez who, while fleeing arrest, was shot 22 times by police officers of the City of Pomona. Defendants are the four officers involved in the shooting and the city.

Plaintiffs appeal from the judgment after the trial court sustained defendants' demurrer to their complaint without leave to amend. The issue is whether, in a civil rights action filed in federal court, the jury's special verdict in favor of the city and three of its police officers and the district court's Rule 50 judgment in favor of a fourth officer preclude the same plaintiffs from bringing a negligence action in state court against the same defendants based on the same facts. Under the circumstances here we conclude police officers cannot escape liability for negligence if they put themselves unnecessarily in harm's way and must then shoot their way out of it. [1]

Plaintiffs initially sued the police officers and the city in federal district court alleging causes of action for negligence under state law and violation of Hernandez's civil rights under federal law [2] —specifically…