The opinion of the court was delivered by: SUSAN ILLSTON, District Judge
NOTICE OF SETTLEMENT AND VERIFIED PETITION FOR APPROVAL OF
COMPROMISE OF CLAIMS OF MINOR PLAINTIFFS.
(FRCP.17(c).
Petitioner Christine Hallinan, a Plaintiff in the above
entitled action and the mother and legal custodian of the minor
Plaintiffs, Courtney Hallinan, Gavin Hallinan and Devon Hallinan,
hereby notifies the Court that the above matter has been settled
through voluntary mediation before the Honorable Eugene Lynch
(Ret.) on July 29, 2004. Petitioner requests that the Court
approve the settlement upon the terms described below, in the
best interests of the minor children.
This petition is brought under FRCP 17(c), which provides that
the Court may make "such order as it deems proper for the
protection of (an) infant or incompetent person". Under
California Probate Code Section 3500, the parent having the care,
custody or control of the minor, if the parents are living
separate and apart, has "the right to compromise, or to execute a
covenant not to sue on or a covenant not to enforce judgment on
the claim" unless the claim is against that parent. (Cal.Prob.C.
Section 3500(a)(2). Plaintiff Christine Hallinan was awarded sole
physical and legal custody of the three minor Plaintiffs by order
of dissolution of marriage dated March 27, 2002.
Cal.Prob.C.Section 3500(b) requires court approval of the
compromise or covenant where the plaintiff is a minor.
Cal.Prob.C.Section 3610 provides that in cases where money is to
be paid for benefit of a minor under a compromise, covenant,
order or judgment and there is no guardianship of the estate of
the minor, the court may make appropriate orders for the payment
of expenses and fees and disposition of the proceeds in
accordance with Cal.Prob.C.Section 3611. Subsection (c) states
that the court may order that if the balance of the money to be
paid after payment of expenses, costs and fees does not exceed
$20,000.00 in value, ". . . that all or part of the money and
other property be held on such other conditions as the court in
its discretion determines to be in the best interests of the
minor or incompetent person." Petitioner requests that the Court order that as the parent with sole legal and
physical custody of the three minor Plaintiffs in this action,
she be given the authority to use the proceeds from each child's
share of $12,500.00 of the total settlement amount of $50,000.00
for their benefit and for their basic needs.
The minor plaintiffs in this action are Courtney Ann Hallinan,
female, age 11 (birthdate June 18, 1993); Gavin Liam Hallinan,
male, age 9 (birthdate October 13, 1994), and Devon Vincent
Hallinan, male, age 7 (birthdate May 24, 1996). They reside in
the home of their mother, Christine Hallinan, located in El
Granada, California, as of March 2004. Prior to March 2004, the
children resided with the mother in the home of Plaintiffs
Gregory Hampton, Ajaye Hampton, and Gregory Hampton's daughter,
Kayleen Hampton.
Facts Underlying Plaintiffs' Claims
This case arose out of a domestic relations dispute between
Christine Hallinan and her former husband, Padriac Hallinan. They
entered into a marital settlement agreement on October 30, 2001,
which was incorporated into a March 27, 2002 judgment on the
dissolution of their marriage ending their marital status. As
part of this judgment the court awarded Christine Hallinan sole
legal and physical custody of their children, Courtney, Gavin and
Devon Hallinan who were, respectively, eight, six and five years
of age on September 30, 2002, the date of the incident.
The judgment on dissolution ordered that: "All issues relating
to custody, visitation or the general well being of any/all of
the children shall first be mediated by Family Court Services
prior to seeking court intervention. This shall include requests
for restraining orders against any member of Wife's household or
residence. If Husband violates this section it shall constitute
harassment of Wife." This provision was sought and obtained by Ms. Hallinan because
of problems related to Padraic Hallinan's repeated violation of
prior court orders, his criminal conduct (including his
conviction and incarceration in 2001 for child endangerment and
drug related offenses), and his repeated abuse of process by
obtaining (exparte) and threatening to obtain frivolous temporary
restraining orders to disrupt Ms. Hallinan and the Hallinan
children while they resided together with plaintiff Gregory
Hampton and his children at 530 Miramar Drive, in San Mateo
County.
Approximately one week prior to September 30, 2002, Ms.
Hallinan notified the Sheriff's Department that Padriac Hallinan
was once again threatening to obtain a restraining order against
Gregory Hampton, prohibiting him from being in the vicinity of
the Hallinan children without first participating in mediation,
in clear violation of the court order.
On September 30, 2002 at approximately 8:10 p.m., defendants
Conceicao and Navarro entered the property upon which plaintiffs'
two story residence was located. They walked up to the front door
at which time one of them then pounded on the door causing enough
noise to startle all inside. At the time, all of the plaintiffs
were upstairs in bed or getting ready to go to bed, except
Plaintiff Ajaye Hampton, Plaintiff Gregory Hampton's 15 year old
son, who was doing homework downstairs in the kitchen.
Defendant process servers Conceicao and Navarro misrepresented
themselves as "officers of the court" and told Mr. Hampton they
wanted to speak to him. Gregory was aware that Padriac Hallinan
had recently threatened to obtain a TRO and have it served on him
in violation of the above-mentioned March 27, 2002, court order
and as a result he suspected defendants Conceicao and Navarro
were then attempting to serve such an illegally obtained TRO
(which they were). He decided not to accept service of any papers
from the process servers and refused to open the door despite
their insistence that he do so. Because Conceicao and Navarro persisted in insisting that he
open the door, he told them to leave his property and when they
refused to do so told them he was going to call the Sheriff's
Office to have them removed for trespassing. Conceicao and
Navarro responded stating they would also contact the Sheriff's
Office.
Gregory Hampton called the Sheriff's Office a minute or so
later and explained process servers were on his property without
his consent and were refusing to leave. He was then advised by
the dispatcher that deputies were already on their way.
From the time that the process servers arrived at plaintiff's
residence until the time the defendant Deputy Sheriffs arrived,
all plaintiffs were inside their home and the front door remained
closed. The process servers waited for the deputies to arrive on
the street in front of the residence, which is approximately 60
feet from the front door of plaintiffs' home.
The two Deputy Sheriffs who responded spoke at some length with
the process servers, but refused to listen to Plaintiff Gregory
Hampton and/or Christine Hallinan. When Ms. Hallinan attempted to
explain to deputy Goulart that she had good reason for believing
that the process servers were attempting to serve Hampton with a
court order that had been illegally obtained, deputy Goulart cut
her off and continued to insist that Plaintiff Hampton come
outside. At the time Gregory Hampton was standing inside his home
at the front door with the door open. Hampton then told Goulart
he wanted the process servers off his property but Goulart was
unresponsive to him and simply returned to speak to the process
servers.
It soon became apparent to both Christine Hallinan and Gregory
Hampton that for whatever reason, the deputies were acting as
advocates for the process servers rather than neutral
investigators or peacekeepers.
Hampton refused to step outside his home but continued to speak
with deputy Goulart until he saw the process servers begin to approach
the front door. At that point he quickly closed the door. Deputy
Goulart then told Gregory Hampton he was under arrest. When
Hampton asked why, deputy Goulart did not respond verbally but
instead kicked in the door which struck Hampton, knocking him to
the floor.
Although Hampton had not resisted, Goulart proceeded to assault
him with pepper spray. Both deputies then jumped on Hampton and
one of them hit him with his night stick. They then arrested him
for making terrorist threats, threatening public officers,
interfering with public officers and resisting arrest. Deputy
Goulart took Hampton to San Mateo County General Hospital for
treatment, and then to San Mateo County jail, where he remained
until he was released the next day after posting bail. Gregory
was not prosecuted and all charges against him were discharged.
While Hampton was being arrested, both Christine Hallinan and
Ajaye Hampton, Gregory's 15 year old son, objected to Goulart's
use of excessive force as well as to the unreasonable manner in
which Goulart was conducting himself, including by refusing to
listen to what Christine Hallinan had been trying to explain to
them regarding the above-mentioned March 27, 2002, court order.
As a result both Ajaye Hampton and Christine Hallinan were
threatened by the defendant Goulart with arrest if they persisted
in complaining.
Once the deputies cleared the way for them, the process servers
entered the residence, gave the papers they wanted served on
Gregory Hampton to the deputies after which, according to the
deposition testimony of Defendant Louis Conceicao, one of the
deputies ...