Facts

On Jan. 2, 2005, plaintiff Anthony Guy and his two friends, Steve Smith and Jerry Fields, went to the Tavern Bar in Pacific Beach, San Diego. Defendants, Officer David Maley, Officer Richard Garcia, and Sergeant Keven Freidman, were on patrol that night with a group of officers known as the "Beach Enforcement Team." The plaintiff and his friends left the Tavern Bar when it closed and observed two white males assaulting a single black male. The plaintiff got involved and attempted to break up the "fight." The plaintiff was grabbed from behind and began to struggle. The plaintiff did not realize that defendant Maley had grabbed him.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff contended that defendant Maley violated his civil rights and police department policy while Plaintiff was in his custody. Officer Maley failed to identify himself as an officer before he grabbed Plaintiff from behind. At the time Plaintiff was involved with the two men that had been assaulting the other man so he did not see Officer Maley before he was grabbed from behind. Believing that officer Maley was another combatant, Plaintiff moved to avoid Maley's grasp. The move propelled Officer Maley over Plaintiff's hip. Maley still had hold of Plaintiff's sweatshirt, which pulled up over Plaintiff's head as the officer was thrown forward. Plaintiff and officer Maley fell to the ground where Plaintiff, whose vision was blocked by the sweatshirt, punched Officer Maley. At that point Officer Maley identified himself as a "cop" and ordered Plaintiff to stop struggling. Plaintiff complied immediately and laid prone, face down on the ground. He offered no resistance to Officer Maley from that point forward.

Officer Maley then got on top of Plaintiff, put his knee in Plaintiff's back and handcuffed Plaintiff's hands behind his back. The handcuffs were put on as tight as possible. Officer Maley never loosened the cuffs. He pulled Plaintiff up off the ground by the handcuffs and led Plaintiff across the street to a parking lot where several other officers were waiting. During the walk to the lot, Officer Maley applied enough twisting pressure to Plaintiff's thumb to cause a sprain. Officer Maley leaned Plaintiff against one of the squad cars in the lot with his head/chest against the car and his feet spread shoulder width apart behind him. Maley went through Plaintiff's pockets, took his mobile phone and started to scroll through the contacts. When Plaintiff asked Officer Maley why he was looking through the contents of the phone the officer approached him and roughly kicked Plaintiff's feet back and further apart. Plaintiff responded by saying "Why don't you settle down tough guy," and Officer Maley went off, throwing Plaintiff down, face first, onto the asphalt lot. Plaintiff could not break his fall because his hands were still cuffed behind his back.

Maley then jumped on top of Plaintiff's back and put his knee behind Plaintiff's ear, using his body weight to pin plaintiffs head to the asphalt. Officer Maley began punching Plaintiff who yelled out for help from the other officers that were in the lot. Instead of help, Plaintiff felt other officers join in to kick and hit him. Plaintiff did not see these other officers but later learned through discovery that they were Officer Garcia and Sergeant Friedman. It was during this time that officer Maley, who still had Plaintiff pinned to the asphalt with his hands cuffed behind his back, directed a steady stream of pepper spray into Plaintiff's eyes. Plaintiff played dead and the beating stopped.

Officer Maley regained his composure and pulled Plaintiff up off of the ground, splashed some bottled water in his face, put him in the back of the squad car and drove him to police headquarters in downtown San Diego. During the trip Plaintiff complained that he was hurt and that he thought his thumb had been broken. Despite Plaintiff's complaints, Officers Maley and Garcia left Plaintiff alone in the car, with his hands still cuffed behind him for approximately 45 minutes after they arrived downtown. Thereafter, paramedics were called. They recommended that Plaintiff go to the hospital to have his injuries examined. Plaintiff could not afford to pay for the ambulance so Officers Maley and Garcia drove him to the hospital and released him from their custody at the hospital door.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
The defendants contended they attempted to stop the fight verbally by yelling. They further alleged that plaintiff swung at Maley and Maley attempted to restrain plaintiff. They claimed that plaintiff tried to head-butt Maley, after which plaintiff was pepper sprayed. They took plaintiff to jail but did not place him in containment. The defendants then took plaintiff to the hospital.

Damages

Plaintiff asked the jury to award him total compensatory damages of $100,000, including economic damages of $3,075, and punitive damages of $15,000 against each of the defendants. Plaintiff did not ask the jury to award any litigation costs or fees.

Injuries

The plaintiff suffered from lacerations, abrasions, bruises and a hurt thumb. Plaintiff's medical specials and lost earnings totaled $3,075.

Result

The jury found that defendant Maley used excessive force in violation of Plaintiff's Fourth Amendment civil rights and that Maley's use of excessive force proximately caused injury, damage, and/or loss to plaintiff Guy. However, the jury initially returned an award of $0.00 in damages. The court then drafted a special jury verdict form and instructed the jury to return to deliberations and award $1.00 in nominal damages in addition to punitive damages, if any. The jury complied with the court's request and returned a verdict assessing $1.00 in nominal damages. Plaintiff filed a motion for new trial (as to the issue of damages only) alleging that it was error to instruct the jury to return a verdict of nominal damages when it had already found that defendant's acts amounted to a constitutional violation that caused plaintiff's injuries, damages, or loss. The trial court denied the motion for new trial. Plaintiff has appealed.

Other Information

The complaint was filed in March 22, 2006 in the County of San Diego. The case was removed to the U.S. District Court on April 5, 2006.