POLICE OFFICERS RETAIN THE
RIGHT TO SUE
On June 13, 2001, the
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals restored the right of California peace
officers to defend their good names in the face of defamatory complaints
filed against them. The court unanimously upheld the right of Long Beach
Police Officer Gordon Collier to bring suit against a complaining party
under California Civil Code §47.5. The case, handled by Legal Defense
Fund panel attorney, Larry Roberts, from the Law Office of James E.
Trott, reversed a previous order from the District Court.
On April 16, 1998,
Collier stopped and issued a traffic citation to Myron Gritchen for
speeding. Gritchen then filed a citizen’s complaint with the Long
Beach Police Department, alleging Collier was discourteous and
argumentative and that his breath smelled of alcohol. The department, in
its investigation, interviewed other individuals contacted by Collier,
just before and just after the time of the Gritchen stop. Nobody smelled
any odor of an alcoholic beverage on Collier’s breath. The department
cleared Collier of all charges.
Collier then proposed a
suit under Civil Code §47.5 which grants police officers the right to
sue for defamation against their accusers if the complaint was false,
and was made with knowledge that it was false and that it was made with
spite, hatred, or ill will. The ACLU took up Gritchen’s cause and
brought suit in the United States District Court to enjoin Collier from
suing. At the District Court level Gritchen prevailed. The lower court,
found the statute unconstitutional in that it treated citizen complaints
against police officers differently from complaints against all other
government officials.
The appellate court didn’t
even reach the substantive issue. Gritchen argued that a federal issue
was raised in that Collier, a police officer, was acting "under
color of law". The court ruled that while Collier was acting under
color of law when he made the traffic stop he was not doing so when he
proposed the lawsuit against Gritchen. It also found that the police
department had nothing to do with Collier bringing the action, and
nothing to gain by his doing so. Finally, the court determined that
protecting one’s reputation was personal in nature and not state
action. Accordingly, if Collier was not acting under color of law he
could not have deprived Gritchen of a constitutional right, and the
court dismissed the action for Gritchen’s failure to state a claim and
for lack of federal jurisdiction.
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