On July 29, 2015, the ACLUs of Northern and Southern California, along with family members of criminal defendants who were declared incompetent to stand trial, filed this lawsuit in California state court. The plaintiffs sued the State of California under Article I, §§ 7 and 15 of the California Constitution, the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and Cal. Code Civ. Pro. §526a. The plaintiffs, represented by private counsel and ACLU attorneys sought declaratory and injunctive relief, a writ of mandate, and attorneys’ fees and costs. The plaintiffs claimed that the State of California has failed to adequately and timely transfer criminal defendants, who have been found incompetent to stand trial, to appropriate treatment facilities. Specifically, the plaintiffs claimed that some individuals with mental disorders had been waiting for transfer for up to 258 days. The average time between the dates of commitment and admission for the most recent 25 persons admitted California treatment facilities as of February 9, 2015 had been more than 75 days. Plaintiffs alleged that the wait was even longer for those defendants with developmental disabilities. They claimed that as of April 2, 2015, 11 individuals had been waiting for more than nine months following their commitment, two for over a year. Two of the plaintiffs alleged that due to the lack of proper treatment in Sutter County Jail, their father committed suicide, while another claimed that her son was subjected to sexual abuse multiple times by another inmate while awaiting transfer.

On October 1, 2015, the defendants moved to dismiss and filed a demurrer to the plaintiffs’ complaint. Judge Winifred Y. Smith, on April 26, 2016, overruled the demurrer on all four of the plaintiffs’ actions as well as their mandamus claim, but also dismissed the State of California as a defendant. Judge Smith agreed with the defendants that some of the taxpayer allegations should be dismissed, but only in regards to one plaintiff who had no taxpayer allegations in the complaint.

On October 16, 2015, the defendants filed a motion for a stay of the discovery hearing, but Judge Evelio Grillo denied this motion on November 18, 2015.

As of June 7, 2016, this case is open and ongoing.

Matt Ramirez - 06/15/2016


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