Lucas

Linda Lucas appeals from a judgment in favor of respondent County of Los Angeles (County), Deputy Alexander Radovic, Deputy Randolph Goff, Deputy Stephen Landers, Lieutenant Robert Neil Sedita, Sergeant Warren Wright, and Does 1 through 50. She contends that the trial court’s judgment is procedurally improper and that the trial court erred in holding that the federal court’s conclusions of law were fatal to appellant’s state court claims. We determine that the trial court’s procedure, though irregular, was not improper. We determine further that the trial court erred in ruling that the federal court’s finding of qualified immunity in the civil rights action was res judicata on the issue of immunity in Government Code section 845.6 in the state court action. We reverse the judgment.

Facts and Procedural History

On March 31, 1991, at approximately 2:45 a.m., Jeffrey Lucas was a passenger in a vehicle stopped by campus police for a traffic violation at California Polytechnic University. Apparently, without the officers’ knowledge, Lucas swallowed a plastic bag of methamphetamine at the time of the stop. Lucas was arrested on an outstanding warrant. Lucas’s eyes were red…