Background
Deborah Moller, as successor-in-interest to her son Bret Breunig, sued San Bernardino County and Deputy Breana Fite under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 and California law. Breunig had been in the deputy’s custody during a courtesy ride and was subsequently dropped off near a train crossing, where he attempted to board the train and was fatally struck. The district court granted summary judgment on the constitutional claims and judgment as a matter of law on the negligence claim.
The court’s reasoning
The panel exercised discretion to address qualified immunity at the second step, concluding that no controlling precedent clearly established the asserted rights. The court distinguished Lum v. County of San Joaquin because a brief car ride does not constitute the incarceration or institutionalization required for a special relationship. Regarding state-created danger, the court found that unlike Munger or Ostrander, it was not a known and obvious consequence that Breunig would attempt to board a train. The court also affirmed the dismissal of the municipal liability claim due to insufficient evidence of a longstanding custom and rejected the Bane Act and negligence claims based on the lack of threats and the absence of a legal duty to prevent the decedent’s own reckless conduct.
The dissent
Deputy Fite’s actions exposed Breunig to a danger which he would not have otherwise faced.
Mendoza, Jr.
What it means going forward
The ruling reinforces the high bar for establishing state-created danger claims in the Ninth Circuit when the harm results from a victim’s own subsequent voluntary actions, even after state actors leave them in a precarious situation.