Franklin

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 7 VERNON FRANKLIN, CASE NO. 1:18-CV-0824 AWI SKO

Plaintiff ORDER RE: MOTION TO DISMISS

v.

CITY OF KINGSBURG; TIM RAY; and DOES 1 through 20 inclusive 12 Defendants 13 I. Background Plaintiff Vernon Franklin was a firefighter/EMT with the Kingsburg City Fire Department between 2006 and 2017. Franklin was the first and only African American member of the Fire Department. Tim Ray was the Fire Chief at the time. Defendants are Chief Ray and the City of Kingsburg. In 2014, Franklin got into an altercation with a white co-worker. Franklin was written up while the co-worker was not. At an unspecified time in the past, Franklin had also been written up for unsafe driving and put on six-month paid leave while the incident was investigated. Franklin was responsible in part for maintaining self-contained breathing apparatus (“SCBA”) equipment used by the Fire Department. In September 2015, Franklin asked Chief Ray if he could take a 24 …