Norwood Price v. Los Angeles County

MEMORANDUM

Norwood Price, a retired attorney proceeding pro se, lived with and took care of his elderly mother, Margaret Price. When Margaret was hospitalized in June 2009, her frailty, dementia, and bedsores raised concerns as to the adequacy of Norwood’s care. Sasha Lala, a social worker, was assigned her case. Through meetings with Margaret’s caregivers and officials, Lala prompted the issuance of an emergency protective order prohibiting Norwood from removing Margaret from her nursing facility. Over Norwood’s objection a conservator was appointed. Eventually Norwood regained conservatorship of Margaret on the condition that he not remove her from the nursing home. Norwood then sued Lala and the other officials involved with the care of his mother, claiming that they had violated his constitutional rights. After some discovery, the district court granted summary judgment for the defendants. Norwood eventually appealed from the denial of his untimely Rule 59 motion and from the denial of his motion to re-tax costs. We affirm, as Norwood has failed to show that the district court abused its discretion in denying his untimely Rule 59 motion or in denying the motion to re-tax…