Panaderia La Diana, Inc. v. Salt Lake City Corp.

342 F. Supp. 2d 1013, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22940, 2004 WL 2475486
CourtDistrict Court, D. Utah
DecidedNovember 3, 2004
Docket2:99-cv-00147
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 342 F. Supp. 2d 1013 (Panaderia La Diana, Inc. v. Salt Lake City Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Panaderia La Diana, Inc. v. Salt Lake City Corp., 342 F. Supp. 2d 1013, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22940, 2004 WL 2475486 (D. Utah 2004).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING SALT LAKE CITY DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN PART AND DENYING IN PART

CASSELL, District Judge.

This civil rights action arises out of the execution of a search warrant at Panadería La Diana, a Latino-owned tortilla factory, bakery, and restaurant in Salt Lake City. It is before the court on the Salt Lake City Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment. All of the initially-named defendants have been dismissed by prior orders of the court with the exception of Salt Lake City Corporation and various Salt Lake City officials and police officers, specifically: Russell Amott, James Blomer, DeeDee Corradini, Amy DeSpain, Tim Doubt, Wanda Gabbetas, Craig Gleason, Melody Gray, Greg Hagelberg, Marty Kaufman, Phil Kirk, Ruben Ortega, John Ritchie, Michael Ross, Morgan Sayes, Troy Siebert, Chad Steed, and Marty Vuyk.

After a thorough review of the pleadings, depositions, affidavits, and other materials submitted to the court, the court finds that genuine issues of material fact remain with respect to two claims against the City: First, whether the length of the seizure of the persons on the premises during the execution of the warrant was reasonable under all of the circumstances; and whether the warrant was executed in a reasonable manner. Accordingly, summary judgment is denied on these claims. The court GRANTS summary judgment in favor of the individually named officers in both their individual and official capacities on all claims. The court GRANTS summary judgment in favor of the City on all other issues.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs in this action are owners, employees, and customers of Panadería La Diana, a Latino-owned tortilla factory, bakery, and restaurant located at 56 West 900 South in Salt Lake City, Utah. On April 24, 1997, Salt Lake City police officers, in conjunction with officers from the INS, the DEA, and the FBI, aggressively executed a no-knock search warrant on the premises of La Diana. In executing the warrant, nearly every person on the premises was handcuffed and detained, some for as long as three hours. Plaintiffs have filed suit alleging various federal and state causes of action. 1 On the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, the court takes all facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs. Viewed in that light, the court finds the following facts have been sufficiently supported.

*1017 The Investigation

In April 1997, Salt Lake City police began an investigation into drug-related activities in and surrounding Panadería La Diana Restaurant and Tortilla Factory. Officer Troy Siebert of the Salt Lake City Police Department narcotics unit began the investigation after being approached by Dave Bancroft of the Utah Attorney General’s office. Mr. Bancroft had apparently been into La Diana and had seen the prescription drug Darvon being sold over the counter. Using a confidential informant, Mr. Bancroft made at least one controlled buy of Darvon from a La Diana employee. Mr. Bancroft arranged a meeting with members of the Salt Lake City police force to discuss furthering the investigation. At the meeting discussing the Darvon sales there was also apparently some discussion about possible drug activity in the parking lot of La Diana involving cocaine and heroin.

Officer Siebert of the Salt Lake City police department was assigned as the lead investigator and began to collect information about drug-related activity at La Diana. Officer Chad Steed informed Officer Siebert that he had received e-mails from the community support division that some citizens had reported possible drug activity around La Diana. It is possible that these calls came from the owners and employees of La Diana who had been concerned about the drug sales occurring in the parking lot of their facility. Officer Isaac Aten-eio testified at his deposition that the owner of La Diana, Rafael Gomez, had been trying to get police to take care of the drug dealers in the parking lot at La Diana since perhaps as early as 1994. Officer Ateneio was assigned to the Community Support Division patrolling an area which included La Diana. During his time in this assignment Rafael Gomez approached Officer Ateneio on more than one occasion requesting that the police do something about the drug dealers who were using the parking lot at La Diana. Officer Ateneio testified:

I know that there were some problems in that area, and I had spoken with Mr. Gomez on a couple of occasions about the drug dealers on his property, problems he was having with false I.D.s and social security cards being sold right there. We had talked about it. On one occasion, I think the last meeting I had with him prior to my being transferred or my requesting out of that assignment, was dealing with the fact that there were a lot of drug dealers on that property and also the bar just south of it, in the alleyways, the adjacent properties, they were using his parking lot. 2

It is not clear whether Officer Siebert was ever informed of the frequent calls from the owners of La Diana concerning the drug dealers in the parking lot. Instead, the investigation proceeded as though the activities in the parking lot were connected with La Diana.

Officer Siebert also spoke to Officer Tim Doubt during the investigation. Officer Doubt informed Officer Siebert that he had recently investigated possible drug dealing in the parking lot at La Diana. Officer Doubt had received a call from a secretary informing him that the manager of La Diana had called to report the presence of drug dealers in the parking lot. The manager, J. Dee Carlson, was told that the police would stop by. He then asked the secretary whether the police would be coming in cars or on bikes. The secretary was apparently a bit perplexed by the question and wondered why Mr. Carlson would be concerned about whether the police would be in cars or on bikes. Officer Doubt went to investigate the report and testified that as he approached *1018 the parking lot Mr. Carlson started whistling. Officer Doubt testified that it was a common practice for a lookout to warn drug dealers of approaching police by whistling. Officer Doubt approached Mr. Carlson to speak with him. Officer Doubt testified that Mr. Carlson told him that he was concerned about the drug dealers in the parking lot and that he had called because if the police were not going to take care of it, the owners of La Diana would. Officer Doubt also testified that Mr. Carlson told him that the owner of La Diana, Rafael Gomez, carried a gun with him and kept one in the office. Officer Doubt testified that he did not ask Mr. Carlson about whistling. Officer Doubt believed Mr. Carlson was being deceptive and that he had made the call only to find out when the police would be arriving.

Mr. Carlson’s testimony was that some months after he began working at La Diana, he and the owners became concerned about the increasing drug problem outside the factory. He had called the police a couple of months before the raid to report the activity. Mr. Carlson also testified that Rafael Gomez, the owner of La Diana, had called the police on four or five occasions to report the drug activity, as had another employee, Sergio Gomez.

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Bluebook (online)
342 F. Supp. 2d 1013, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22940, 2004 WL 2475486, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/panaderia-la-diana-inc-v-salt-lake-city-corp-utd-2004.