5 GERALD SINGLETON, State Bar No. 208783 SINGLETON LAW FIRM, APC 560 N. Coast Hwy 101, Suite 4A Encinitas, California 92024 Tel: (760) 697-1330 Fax: (760) 697-1329 Email: gerald@geraldsingleton.com 6 Attorneys for Plaintiff STEPHANIE JENNINGS 1 2 3 4 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 STEPHANIE JENNINGS, 12 13 Plaintiff, Case No. 13-cv-0322-LAB (NLS) PLAINTIFF’S NON-CONFIDENTIAL ENE CONFERENCE STATEMENT v. 14 LODGED WITH THE COURT efile_stormes@casd.uscourts.gov CITY OF SAN DIEGO; COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO; San Diego Police Chief 16 WILLIAM LANSDOWNE; Assistant Judge: 17 Chief BOYD LONG; Sergeant JAMES Date: MILANO; and DOES 1-50, inclusive, Time: 18 Filed: Defendants. 19 15 Hon. Nita L. Stormes October 8, 2013 2:30 p.m. December 19, 2012 20 21 TO: ALL PARTIES AND THEIR ATTORNEYS OF RECORD 22 Plaintiff, Stephanie Jennings, by and through her attorneys of record, 23 respectfully lodges the following Early Neutral Evaluation Conference Statement 24 for the conference currently scheduled for October 8, 2013, before the Honorable 25 Nita L. Stormes, United States Magistrate Judge. This statement is non-confidential 26 and has been served on Defendants. 27 // 28 // 1 P LAINTIFF ’ S N ON -C ONFIDENTIAL ENE C ONFERENCE S TATEMENT 1 I. 2 INTRODUCTION This case arises out of the unnecessary and unprovoked use of force against 3 4 Ms. Jennings by Defendant SDPD Sergeant JAMES MILANO. At the time 5 Defendant MILANO attacked Ms. Jennings, she had not broken any laws and did 6 not pose a threat to Defendant MILANO or anyone else. After violently shoving 7 Ms. Jennings to the ground, Defendant MILANO ordered his subordinate officers to 8 falsely arrest and imprison Ms. Jennings. 9 While at the County jail, Sheriff’s deputies and employees denied Ms. 10 Jennings access to her anti-rejection medication (which, as a kidney transplant 11 recipient, she needed to take at the same time every evening) and refused to provide 12 her with medical attention when she became violently ill and began vomiting in her 13 cell. 14 No charges were ever filed against Ms. Jennings. 15 II. 16 LIABILITY 17 A. Illegal Arrest 18 At the time of the incident, Ms. Jennings was a 51-year old mother, 19 community volunteer, and peace activist. She was also a kidney transplant recipient 20 and suffered from “atrial fibrillation,” a heart condition exacerbated by stress. 21 22 On the evening of January 7, 2012, Ms. Jennings had volunteered to help at her daughter’s junior theatre performance at Balboa Park. 23 After finishing up at Balboa Park, at approximately 6:15 p.m., Ms. Jennings 24 made her way downtown to the San Diego Civic Centre plaza, where she intended 25 to meet up with her a cappella group, the “Occuppellas”. The Occuppellas were a 26 group of middle-aged women who wanted to show the Occupy demonstrators (most 27 of whom were in their 20’s) that their message (to wit, that the bailout of the banks 28 which had caused the financial crises was unjust) resonated with people from other 2 P LAINTIFF ’ S N ON -C ONFIDENTIAL ENE C ONFERENCE S TATEMENT 1 demographic and socio-economic groups. The Occuppellas gathered in public 2 places to sing songs about social issues to the tune of familiar and popular songs. 3 That evening, they gathered and sang on public property near the Civic Theatre. 4 Around 6:45 p.m., shortly after Ms. Jennings arrived, a throng of “Occupy” 5 protestors marched by. Wishing to take a closer look, Ms. Jennings moved away 6 from the Occupellas and walked towards the protestors. Upon noticing that police 7 were unfurling police tape across the plaza, apparently in an attempt to separate the 8 singers from the protestors, Ms. Jennings stopped moving toward the protestors and 9 attempted to return to her singing group. 10 As she did so, Ms. Jennings felt someone bump into her rather aggressively, 11 to which she responded, “Excuse me!” in a loud, clear voice. Without warning, an 12 SDPD officer (later identified as Defendant MILANO) violently shoved Ms. 13 Jennings in the back. Ms. Jennings tumbled face-first onto the ground and was 14 narrowly able to prevent her face from crashing into the pavement. 15 Ms. Jennings turned, saw Defendant MILANO standing over her, and called 16 him a “fascist”. Defendant MILANO then yelled for nearby officers (believed to be 17 SDPD officers but who may have been Sheriff’s deputies) to arrest Ms. Jennings. 18 These as-yet-unidentified law enforcement officers seized Ms. Jennings and 19 dragged her across the plaza. 20 B. Illegal Detention 21 The DOE officers took Ms. Jennings to a police car and put handcuffs on her 22 so tightly that it caused immediate pain, discomfort, and subsequent bruising.1 Ms. 23 Jennings’ repeated requests to loosen the handcuffs were ignored. At no time did 24 any of the officers tell Ms. Jennings why she was being arrested, nor did they 25 1 The application of handcuffs in too tight a manner – and the refusal to loosen them – was a common tactic used by police and sheriff’s to punish Occupy 27 protestors. Dozens of individuals arrested for non-violent and trivial offenses 28 reported receiving the same treatment. 26 3 P LAINTIFF ’ S N ON -C ONFIDENTIAL ENE C ONFERENCE S TATEMENT 1 2 3 administer Miranda warnings. Bewildered, hurt, and terrified by these events, Ms. Jennings sobbed as she was transported to Las Colinas Detention Facility (“LCDF”). 4 While she was in the holding cell at LCDF, Ms. Jennings notified the 5 Sheriff’s Deputies and a nurse that she was a kidney transplant recipient and that 6 she was required to take anti-rejection medication at the same time every night (to 7 wit, between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m.). Ms. Jennings told the Sheriff’s deputies that the 8 medication was located in her purse, which the SDPD had seized at the time of her 9 unlawful arrest and which was now in the Sheriff’s possession. However, both the 10 deputies and the nurse refused either to provide her with her medication or to 11 transport her to a hospital where she could receive medical care. 12 Due to the stress she was under, Ms. Jennings developed an intense migraine 13 and began vomiting. Instead of providing medical attention, however, the Sheriff’s 14 deputies screamed at her for vomiting inside the holding cell. 15 Ms. Jennings received no medical treatment while being held at LCDF, 16 where she remained until her husband, a local physician, was able to bail her out 17 approximately seven hours after Ms. Jennings’ ordeal had begun. 18 For weeks after her arrest, Ms. Jennings suffered an array of mental, physical, 19 and emotional injuries. This included neck pain, severe headaches, vomiting, lower 20 back and hip pain, wrist pain and bruising (as a result of the overly constrictive way 21 the officers cinched the handcuffs on her wrists), and panic attacks. 22 No charges were ever filed against Ms. Jennings. 23 III. 24 DAMAGES 25 Ms. Jennings is a community-minded person who devotes her time to making 26 the world a better place for everyone. This incident has shaken her to the core. Ms. 27 Jennings was shocked, disturbed and highly embarrassed that she was arrested and 28 incarcerated while participating in peaceful political activity. She is still profoundly 4 P LAINTIFF ’ S N ON -C ONFIDENTIAL ENE C ONFERENCE S TATEMENT 1 disturbed both by the way Defendant MILANO assaulted her and the way the 2 SDPD and Sheriff’s deputies treated her after the assault. She did not believe 3 anything like this could actually happen to someone like her in America. 4 IV. 5 OFFER OF COMPROMISE 6 Defendant MILANO assaulted Ms. Jennings, had her wrongfully arrested, 7 and then held her in custody over seven hours. It appears that he did so solely 8 because he perceived Ms. Jennings as someone who was associated with the 9 “Occupy” movement. 10 The starting point for any settlement is (1) a written apology by Defendant 11 MILANO to Ms. Jennings, and (2) an explanation from the CITY regarding the 12 steps they are going to take to make sure this does not happen again. 13 If these terms can be worked out, Ms. Jennings is willing to forego punitive 14 damages against Defendant MILANO and the trebling provisions of the Bane Act 15 (California Civil Code §52.1) and settle for the following: 16 (1) $50,000 in compensatory damages to Ms. Jennings; 17 (2) Payment by Defendants of all attorney fees and costs incurred 18 by Ms. Jennings to date. If the parties cannot agree as to the 19 reasonable amount of these fees and costs, the parties agree to 20 have this amount be determined by the Court. 21 Respectfully submitted, 22 SINGLETON LAW FIRM, APC 23 24 25 Dated: October 7, 2013 By: /s/ Gerald Singletgon GERALD SINGLETON Attorneys for Plaintiff Stephanie Jennings 26 27 28 5 P LAINTIFF ’ S N ON -C ONFIDENTIAL ENE C ONFERENCE S TATEMENT