Roger Brass v. County of Los Angeles, Erroneously Sued as Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Rick Thurlo, Individually and as a Peace Officer

The appellant Roger Brass challenges the district court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of the County of Los Angeles (“County”) on his complaint that the County violated 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by continuing his incarceration for 39 hours after a state trial judge had ordered him released. We affirm. .

I

A. The relevant facts are undisputed. County Sheriff Deputy Thurlo was seeking to arrest James Nichols on a warrant for vehicular burglary. Brass’s house was shown in the warrant as Nichols’s address. Nichols reportedly had been seen near the house. Brass resembled Nichols’s physical description, and both men had missing left-hand finger joints. On Sunday, April 6, 1997, Thurlo arrested and incarcerated Brass in the mistaken belief that he was Nichols.

Later that day, after Thurlo had left the station house, it was determined that Brass was not Nichols. The Sheriffs Department, however, continued to hold Brass and did not present him for arraignment until April 9, 1997, when, at 11:20 a.m., a state court judge ordered him released. The order, on a printed form, was directed to the County Sheriff, and stated in pertinent part:

The court’s docket covering a case…