Grant

Two city police officers appeal a judgment for damages following a jury verdict in a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action brought against the city and the individual officers. We affirm.

I. Introduction and Procedural History

Jeffrey Allen Grant was arrested and charged with a series of highly publicized rapes and related felonies (the “Belmont Shores rapes”) that occurred over eighteen months in the City of Long Beach. When forensic evidence found at several crime scenes failed to match Grant’s DNA, the prosecutor dropped all charges and released Grant from jail, where he had been sitting for over three months awaiting trial. Grant then sued the City of Long Beach, the Long Beach Police Department, and the two police officers that spearheaded the investigation under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for false arrest and false imprisonment. He alleged, inter alia, that defendants’ conduct violated his Fourth Amendment protection from arrest without probable cause and his Fourteenth Amendment right to due process.

The district court bifurcated the trial, separating Grant’s claim against the individual officers from his claim against the City and Police Department. The trial proceeded against the…