California Court of Appeal

In this case, plaintiffs threw a Halloween party for hundreds of partygoers during which Special Weapons and Tactics officers raided the residence with a warrant, intending to seize illegal gaming equipment. Plaintiffs contend that defendant violated their right to be free from unlawful seizure by prolonging their detention beyond the conclusion of the search of the residence. Defendant questioned each of the plaintiffs before deciding that they were free to go, but plaintiffs assert that the jury could infer the officers and concluded the search well before defendant began her interrogations. Judgment of the trial court granting a directed verdict in favor of defendant is reversed as to plaintiffs' 42 U.S.C. section 1983 prolonged detention claims, where: 1) as a factual matter, a jury could reasonably conclude that the search had ended before defendant's questioning began; and 2) Terry v. Ohio is inapplicable, as plaintiffs' detention lasted as long as 14 hours, and much as 7 hours beyond defendant's own estimate of when the warrant search ended, which does not remotely resemble the "brief" detention authorized in Terry.

Appellate Information

• Decided 01/16/2015
• Published 01/16/2015

Judges

• Aronson

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel