Boalt Hosts Arguments In Fajitagate Appeal

UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law served as a temporary home to the 9th District Court yesterday, as attorneys presented oral arguments to appeal the original ruling on Fajitagate, a 2002 San Francisco case involving a street fight over a bag of fajitas.

While Boalt law and political science undergraduates took notes, attorneys argued on behalf of San Francisco residents Jade Santoro and Adam Snyder, who filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city of San Francisco after being allegedly being assaulted by three off-duty police officers over a bag of steak fajitas.

Boalt was randomly chosen as one of the locations in the state that district court rulings are held, said San Francisco Deputy City Attorney Sean Connolly.

In addition to the official hearing, students were also invited to participate in a question-and-answer session between the judges and law students.

Connolly said the discussion in the courtroom was a good way for students to be exposed to the nature of law.

"I'm glad to see there is an exchange between students and the high court," he said.

During the hearing, the plaintiff's attorney Dennis Cunningham stated that the police officers' assault resulted from the failure of the police department to adequately discipline on-duty officers.

"We're arguing that the city has an unwritten custom and practice of turning a blind eye to wrongful use of force and because they do that all the time, it would extend all the way to an off-duty incident," Cunningham said.

The original ruling in 2005 by the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California determined the incident did not merit a constitutional or valid lawsuit, Connolly said.

But the attorneys said officer Alex Fagan Jr., one of the three officers involved, had a history of belligerence and using force. He added that one police record showed 16 use-of-force incidents in the 13 months of his career.

According to Scott, Fagan was given special treatment since he was the son of then San Francisco Police Department chief Alex Fagan.

"He was protected," Scott said. "He was treated like a sacred cow."

Scott added that there were other officers who also never got treated for misconduct by the police department.

"In this case, we have citizens in San Francisco living in a city where this custom (of not disciplining officers) makes things worse," Scott said.

San Francisco Deputy City Attorney David Newdorf argued on behalf of the city and county of San Francisco and said the incident involving the officers was not within the scope of their employment.

"The confrontation was not a result of any police action, but a run-in with individual citizens," Newdorf said. "If one of the officers had flashed a badge or a police ID, then this would be a different case because you would have state action."

He added that the 14th Amendment does not create a duty for the government to protect members of the public from harm caused by other individuals, including off-duty officers.

The district court will issue written rulings at a later date.

Tags: FAJITAGATE