BOUGERE

The question presented in this civil rights case is whether the Los Angeles County Sheriff acts on behalf of the State of California or the County of Los Angeles in setting policies pertaining to the assignment of inmates within the Los Angeles County jail. The answer to this question depends on whether the sheriff’s action in this regard can be characterized as a law enforcement function, in which case the sheriff acts as a state official and is therefore immune from liability under title 42 United States Code section 1983 (section 1983), or whether it should be characterized as merely a custodial function, making the sheriff a local policymaker subject to suit under section 1983.

There is a clear split of authority on this issue between the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, finding that such action is only a custodial function (Streit v. County of Los Angeles (9th Cir. 2001) 236 F.3d 552 (Streit) and Cortez v. County of Los Angeles (9th Cir. 2002) 294 F.3d 1186 (Cortez)), and the California Supreme Court’s more recent decision (Venegas v. County of Los Angeles (2004) 32 Cal.4th 820, 829 [ 11 Cal.Rptr.3d 692 , 87 P.3d 1 ] (Venegas)), characterizing similar activity as a…