Dale E. Kraus and Rosetta M. Kraus, Husband and Wife Cindy D. Kraus, Individually and Todd W. Montgomery, Individually v. County of Pierce

This is a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action against several Pierce County Sheriff’s Deputies and the County of Pierce for damages arising out of an allegedly unlawful seizure of the plaintiffs and search of their home. This appeal is from the district court’s denial of defendants’ motion for summary judgment.

Because denials of motions for summary judgment are ordinarily unappealable interlocutory orders, see Wright, Miller & Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil 2d § 2715, at 636 (1983), this appeal presents a threshold question of our jurisdiction. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 , 1292. We hold, following the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Mitchell v. Forsyth, — U.S. -, 105 S.Ct. 2806 , 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985), that we have limited jurisdiction to consider the defense of qualified immunity raised by the individual defendants in their motions for summary judgment. We affirm the district court’s denial of summary judgment as to the claimed unlawful seizure, and reverse the district court’s denial as to the claimed unreasonable search.

FACTS

Our review of rulings on summary judgment is de novo and we view the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, in this case the…