Radcliffe

Opinion by Judge CANBY; Partial Concurrence and Partial Dissent by Judge REINHARDT.

This appeal is an outgrowth of a dispute over the right of union representatives to visit the construction sites of a non-union general contractor in order to inspect for unsafe conditions or violations of prevailing wage policies applicable to governmental construction contracts. The plaintiffs are four representatives of the Bay Counties District Council of Carpenters (“Carpenters Union”) located in Northern California. The plaintiffs entered the construction sites of the defendant, Rainbow Construction Company, and refused to depart when asked by Company officials. Rainbow’s president effected citizen’s arrests of three of the plaintiffs, and all four plaintiffs were subsequently prosecuted for trespass and acquitted.

The plaintiffs then brought this action against Rainbow, its president, the Mendocino County District Attorney, a local school official, and other defendants no longer in issue. The plaintiffs asserted claims for violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 , on a theory that the private defendants had conspired with the County District Attorney to bring unfounded prosecutions in violation of…

concurring in part and dissenting in part:

I fully agree with Judge Canby’s analysis as to all defendants and causes of action save the § 1983 claim against Richardson. I would hold that the plaintiffs have presented sufficient evidence to raise a triable issue of fact as to whether Richardson and Massini formed an agreement at their meeting in September 1995 to deprive the union officials of their constitutional rights by prosecuting them without probable cause.

To establish a conspiracy, a plaintiff must demonstrate the existence of “an agreement or meeting of the minds” to violate the plaintiffs’ civil rights. United Steelworkers v. Phelps Dodge Corp., 865 F.2d 1539, 1540-41 (9th Cir.1989) (en banc). We have recognized that “[d]irect evidence of improper motive or an agreement among the parties to violate a plaintiffs constitutional rights will only rarely be available.” Mendocino Envtl. Ctr. v. Mendocino County, 192 F.3d 1283 , 1302 (9th Cir.1999). It will therefore almost always be necessary to infer such agreements from circumstantial evidence such as the actions of the defendants. Id. For example, a showing that the alleged conspirators have committed acts that are…