Opinion ID: 3168859
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Complaint, Pretrial Motions, and Prior Appeal

Text: In October 2006, the Bravos brought suit against Tanore, his supervisor Ralston, SMPD Chief of Police Danny Macagni, and the City of Santa Maria, as well as the counties of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara, their sheriff’s offices and county sheriffs, and the cities of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara and their police chiefs. The Bravos alleged violations of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments (due process and equal protection) and various state laws, and requested unspecified amounts of general, special, and punitive damages, a $25,000 civil penalty, and recovery of related costs. Plaintiffs stipulated to dismiss their claims against the County of San Luis Obispo and City of San Luis Obispo defendants early in the case. They settled with the City of Santa Barbara defendants for $360,000 after the City of Santa Barbara defendants appealed the district court’s denial of qualified immunity. The settlement amount consisted of $50,000 in damages for each plaintiff, $169,856.34 in attorney fees, and $16,208.95 in costs. BRAVO V. CITY OF SANTA MARIA 9 The district court then granted summary judgment for the County of Santa Barbara and the Santa Maria defendants. The Bravos appealed. In that appeal, we affirmed the grant of summary judgment for the County of Santa Barbara defendants, but reversed the grant of summary judgment in favor of the Santa Maria defendants. Bravo v. City of Santa Maria, 665 F.3d 1076, 1091 (9th Cir. 2011). We rejected the district court’s finding that the omission of Javier Jr.’s custody status was immaterial, concluding that if “Javier Jr.’s two-year sentence imposed over six months prior to the incident occasioning the search warrant” and his incarceration at the time of the shooting were included, the affidavit “could not establish probable cause for the search and especially does not meet the heightened standard of justification required for nighttime SWAT service.” Id. at 1084. Javier Jr.’s custody status “meant not only that he would not be present in the Bravo residence at the time of the search, but that he could not have been involved in the shooting or in concealing the evidence.” Id. We also rejected the conclusion that Tanore was “negligent at most” in omitting Javier Jr.’s custody status, concluding that the Bravos “presented sufficient evidence establishing a genuine issue as to whether [Tanore’s] omission of [Javier Jr.’s sentence and custody information from the affidavit] was intentional or reckless, as opposed to merely negligent . . . .” Id. at 1080.