Lincoln v. Didak

THE COURT.

Plaintiff, who is also known as John G-. Oppenheimer, appeals from orders dismissing his complaint against various named defendants, being the City Attorney of the City of Los Angeles, three of his deputies, the Chief of Police of the City of Los Angeles, a member of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles and the Clerk of the Municipal Court of Los Angeles Judicial District.

The complaint which was directed not only against the defendants above named, who are respondents upon this appeal, but many others including judges of the Municipal Court of the Los Angeles Judicial District, the City of Los Angeles, the County of Los Angeles, the State of California and the People of the State of California, is in two counts. The first alleges that each of the defendants, “wilfully, unlawfully, wrongfully and maliciously, and with intent to oppress and injure the plaintiff, caused, instigated, directed and agitated the arrest and imprisonment of said plaintiff, without a warrant, and on or about December 26, 1956, did, in fact, arrest and imprison said plaintiff without a warrant, and detain him in overcrowded Lingering Heights jail, and continued to and did wrongfully and unlawfully and maliciously confine the said plaintiff in said jail, all without warrant or legal authority of any kind, whatsoever, until on or about January 2, 1957,

[627]

and without taking plaintiff before a magistrate, as requiréd by section 849, Penal Code,” to his damage in the sum of $10,000. The second count incorporates therein by reference the foregoing allegations and in addition alleges that “In doing the things herein alleged, defendants maliciously abused and exceeded their rights, power, authority and jurisdiction, if any, under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States; under Article I, sections 6, 7 and 13, of the California Constitution; under the provisions of 28 U.S.C.A., section 1450; under the provisions of section 591 of the Vehicle Code; under section 80.76 (1) of the Los Angeles Municipal Code, Ordinance No. 77,000, and section 80.73.2, of the Los Angeles Municipal Code, Ordinance No. 88,642, and lawlessly and maliciously and unreasonably enforced the provisions of each of said municipal ordinances against plaintiff by criminal process or pretense thereof, and maliciously abused said criminal process or purported process against the plaintiff for an improper purpose, and for a purpose for which it was not intended, and wilfully and unlawfully took and stole from, and deprived the plaintiff of, $1,000.00 cash, in lieu of bail, lawful money of the United States, and the sole property of the plaintiff, without warrant or authority of law so to do, and with intent to take it, so as to unjustly enrich themselves at plaintiff’s expense, and to oppress, injure, intimidate and damage the plaintiff, and to coerce and force him to pay tribute for baseless parking tickets, without defending against them, and to extort money from the said plaintiff, without notice of, or trial or hearing on, a parking ticket or citation.” This is followed by a copy of sections 80.76 and 80.73.2 of the Municipal Code of the City of Los Angeles which make it unlawful for any person owning or possessing or having the control of any vehicle to park the same upon any street or alley for more than 120 hours in the aggregate during any period of 121 consecutive hours, and provide a penalty for the first violation thereunder of a fine not to exceed $50 or by imprisonment in the city jail for a period not exceeding five days.