Irwin

—In an action for damages for wrongful death and deprivation of civil rights, the plaintiffs appeal from a summary judgment entered in favor of the defendants. The defendants appeal from the denial of their postjudgment motion for attorney fees. We reverse the judgment and dismiss the appeal from the postjudgment order.

Factual and Procedural Background

At approximately 5 p.m. on May 3, 1989, Officers Cain and Quinn of the Police Department of the City of Hemet were dispatched in response to a report of a man drunk in public. They located the subject of the report, Steven Irwin (Irwin), who was obviously intoxicated. They also determined that there was an outstanding traffic warrant for his arrest. The officers arrested him both on the charge of being drunk in public and on the outstanding warrant. Quinn then transported Irwin to the Hemet jail while Cain returned to patrol.

Quinn booked Irwin into the jail at approximately 5:20 p.m. and then went back to patrol. Initially Irwin was placed in a cell with Mr. John Diaz. However, because Irwin was continually yelling, he was moved into an empty cell by Watch Commander Montoya and Officer Whitener. Montoya made “full cell…