Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Re: arrested, jailed without bail,charges dropped

Thank you for your posting to LawGuru. The answer to your question depends on some additional facts.

The police can only be sued under the California Government Torts Claim Act or under the civil rights statutes if they acted in bad faith and wrongfully took some action against you without excuse.

As a result, the results of the criminal proceedings are especially important, since if you pled guilty to anything, the police can claim that they were acting under their duties to enforce the law, and there was a violation of the law.

If you were found not guilty by the court, then the police might be sued if you can show that they did not act in good faith given the information provided. Note that to sue under the tort claims act, you must file a claim first, within six months of the act (the arrest), so you don't have much time.

Likewise, your son's mother might be sued if she caused the damages and if she intentionally did some unlawful act causing your losses.

Best of luck.

Re: arrested, jailed without bail,charges dropped

I am confused by your question. You say you had a visitation agreement with the mom. You say a warrant was issued before the visitation [agreed time] was up. But then you say you informed her you could not return the child as agreed. So it sounds like that before you were to return the child you told the mom that when the time would come to return the child you would not have the money to do so, but before that date ever came you were arrested and jailed.

If this is the case, then it appears you have a lawsuit against the mom for causing false arrest and imprisonment. She voluntarily gave you custody of the child for a specified period of time. You therefore had not kidnapped the child. However, it sounds like this "agreement" may have been verbal, in which case, the mother's version may be different than yours.

It appears you do not have a case against the police because they were acting on a court issued warrant, and therefore were acting in good faith.

Re: arrested, jailed without bail,charges dropped

I agree with Mr. McCoy. Your facts are very confusing. Please answer some of Mr. McCoy's questions and resubmit.

Re: arrested, jailed without bail,charges dropped

Sorry. My advice, forget it and get on with your life.