FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION MAR 20 2013
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U .S. C O U R T OF APPE ALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
PAUL TAPIA, No. 11-55433
Plaintiff - Appellant, D.C. No. 2:09-cv-07624-VBF-SS
v.
MEMORANDUM *
HUNTINGTON PARK POLICE
DEPARTMENT, Erroneously Sued As
City of Huntington Park; CITY OF
HUNTINGTON PARK; MICHAEL
TREVIS; PAUL WADLEY; ELBA
GUERRERO,
Defendants - Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Central District of California
Valerie Baker Fairbank, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted January 9, 2013
Pasadena, California
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
Before: REINHARDT and WARDLAW, Circuit Judges, and BELL, District
Judge.**
Paul Tapia appeals the District Court’s grant of summary judgment to the
Huntington Park Police Department and the City of Huntington Park. We have
jurisdiction under § 28 U.S.C. § 1343(a)(3), and we affirm.
The district court correctly found that Tapia failed to provide adequate
probative evidence on his theory of Monell liability to defeat summary judgment
against him. See Monell v. Dept. of Soc. Serv’s., 436 U.S. 658 (1978). Tapia’s
§ 1983 action was based on his contentions that Mayor and City Council member
Elba Guererro pressured the Chief of Police to wrongfully terminate him from the
police department, and that the Mayor is a policymaker for whose actions
municipal liability attaches. Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati, 475 U.S. 469, 480
(1986).1 However, as permitted by California law, under the City of Huntington
Park’s municipal code neither the mayor nor any other individual council member
has independent policymaking authority over personnel decisions. Only the City
Council when sitting in a duly held meeting of the Council may give orders or
**
The Honorable Robert Holmes Bell, District Judge for the U.S.
District Court for the Western District of Michigan, sitting by designation.
1
The district court held that the City Manager may have been such a
policymaker. As the district judge noted, however, Tapia does not allege that the
City Manager was responsible for his termination.
2
instructions to the City Manager, who acts as the Council’s agent with respect to
such decisions. Huntington Park Muni. Code §§ 2-3.409, 2-3.411. The
Huntington Park Municipal Code § 2-3.411 specifically prohibits individual
council members from instructing the City Manager or employees under the City
Manager’s jurisdiction, which includes the Police Chief. Huntington Park Muni.
Code § 2-3.405(b). Tapia failed to adduce evidence that the Council as a whole
instructed anyone to terminate him or even that any council member other than
Guererro was aware of his termination.
AFFIRMED.
3