Williams v. County of Santa Barbara

ORDER RE MOTION OF MEYER ET AL. FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT OR SUMMARY ADJUDICATION AGAINST DALE AND LIA SCHADE.

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I.

INTRODUCTION

Harry David Williams, Janelle Hopps, Robert Dale Sehade and Lia Marie Sehade brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violation of their Fourth Amendment rights. Their suit arises from, but is not limited to, a series of search warrants that were executed beginning on January 20, 2000 for at least 16 locations. 12/20/02 Means et al. MSJ (Means Decl.) ¶ 7; Fourth Amended Complaint (“FAC”) ¶ 29. The warrants were the culmination of a wide-ranging investigation that began some 46 months previously, in March 1996. The warrants were based on an affidavit Detective Means of the Santa Barbara Sheriffs Department (“SBSD”) had prepared and were approved by Judge William McLafferty of the Santa Barbara Superior Court. The Defendants are Santa Barbara County (“SBC”); the SBSD; James Thomas (the Sheriff of SBC at the time of the acts alleged); James Auchincloss (an SBC Deputy District Attorney); Detective Means and various officers and other employees of the SBSD. The Fourth Amended Complaint also names as defendants an informant…