Liston

dissenting from Section B.3:

I think that Section B.3. is both unnecessary and undesirable. It makes little sense *982 to segment, and attempt to analyze with such particularity, each aspect of the search, when the search in general will in any event be carefully examined in its entirety in subsequent proceedings in the district court. I also do not believe that we are in a position at this point to make the factual determination that is necessary to support a conclusion that the officers are entitled to qualified immunity with respect to any “ransacking” that occurred prior to the time they observed that they were in the wrong house; this is particularly true because the district court made no such factual determination itself, but relied instead only on its inability to determine which of the officers was responsible for the “ransacking.” I would, therefore, let the fact-finder determine the officers’ liability with respect to the entire search.

Opinion by Judge REINHARDT and Judge HALL; Dissent by Judge REINHARDT.

Early in the morning on March 29, 1991, law enforcement officers armed with a search warrant raided a small, single-story private residence at 8293 Saddlecreek Drive, Glen Avon, California. The intended target of the search was James “Rocky” Hill, whom investigators believed to be involved in a large-scale methamphetamine manufacturing and distribution network. Unfortunately, for everyone involved, at the time the warrant was executed Hill no longer resided at the Sad-dlecreek Drive address. Plaintiffs-appellants, Jim and Venice Liston, had bought the house from him and, with their three minor children, Danny, Andrew, and Elishia, had moved into it three days earlier. According to the Listons, the officers who conducted the search broke down the front door with a battering ram, tackled and injured Jim Liston, ransacked the house and yard, willfully destroying property, and detained the entire family for approximately an hour and a half, well beyond the time when it had become apparent that they had made a serious mistake.

The Listons brought an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 , Bivens, 1 and state law, alleging…