Headwaters Forest Defense v. County of Humboldt
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Pregerson, J.
Opinion by Judge PERGERSON; Concurrence by Judge BRIGHT.
Nine environmental activists, along with an entity called Headwaters Forest Defense, brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 , alleging that the use of pepper spray on the activists during three protests in Humboldt County constituted excessive and unreasonable force in violation of their Fourth Amendment rights. The named defendants included Humboldt County and its Sheriffs Department; Humboldt County Sheriff Dennis Lewis and Chief Deputy Sheriff Gary Philp, who authorized the use of pepper spray; the City of Eureka and its Police Department; *1126 as well as each law enforcement officer who participated in the protesters’ arrests. The district court granted summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds in favor of all individual defendants, except for Sheriff Lewis and Chief Deputy Sheriff Philp. 2 A jury trial in this case consumed nine days. At the close of plaintiffs’ casein-chief, the district court ruled that Lewis and Philp were also entitled to qualified immunity as a matter of law and dismissed the case against them. After deliberating for six hours on the remaining claims, the jury announced that it was…
Concurring Opinion
Bright, J.
concurring separately:
I concur but add these comments.
Now that this court has established that the use of pepper spray in the eyes and on the faces of nonviolent, passive protestors may amount to an unreasonable use of force in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, *1144 the most important issue in the case has been resolved.
This is a close case. I would urge the parties to compromise the respective positions of each and settle this case rather than hazard a second trial that may well result in another tie. If retried, this judge entertains great doubt that a second jury will be any more successful than the hung jury in the first case. The protestors suffered no permanent injury. Whether the protestors, as a matter of fact, can recover damages against defendants is highly uncertain.