{"id":47067,"date":"2021-02-01T06:32:27","date_gmt":"2021-02-01T11:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=47067"},"modified":"2021-02-01T06:32:27","modified_gmt":"2021-02-01T11:32:27","slug":"wa-raiding-wrong-house-stated-claim-under-state-tort-of-negligent-law-enforcement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=47067","title":{"rendered":"WA: Raiding wrong house stated claim under state tort of negligent law enforcement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Police raided the wrong house based on an uncorroborated CI. Under Washington\u2019s tort of negligent law enforcement, plaintiff was awared $250,000 by the jury. Affirmed: \u201cwe hold that police executing a search warrant owe the same duty of reasonable care that they owe when discharging other duties.\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/www.courts.wa.gov\/opinions\/pdf\/975833.pdf\">Mancini v. City of Tacoma<\/a>, 2021 Wash. LEXIS 49 (Jan. 28, 2021):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u00b634 Indeed, \u201c[c]laims of negligent law enforcement are not novel. Washington courts have long recognized the potential for tort liability based on the negligent performance of law enforcement activities.\u201d Id. at 543. \u201c[A]s in the case of a private defendant charged with negligence, the determination whether a municipality has exercised reasonable care \u2018must in each case necessarily depend upon the surrounding circumstances.\u2019\u201d Bodin v. City of Stanwood, 130 Wn.2d 726, 734, 927 P.2d 240 (1996) (quoting Berglund v. Spokane County, 4 Wn.2d 309, 316, 103 P.2d 355 (1940)).<\/p><p>\u00b635 We have not, however, specifically addressed tort liability for negligence in the execution of a search warrant. Today we hold that police executing a search warrant owe the same duty of reasonable care that they owe when discharging other duties.<\/p><p>\u00b636 Our holding is compelled by several prior decisions. We have recognized a trespass claim for \u201cunnecessary damage to property caused by \u2026 law enforcement officers executing a search warrant.\u201d Brutsche v. City of Kent, 164 Wn.2d 664, 671, 193 P.3d 110 (2008); see also Goldsby v. Stewart, 158 Wash. 39, 41, 290 P. 422 (1930) (\u201cIn executing a search warrant, officers of the law should do no unnecessary damage to the property to be examined.\u201d). Although Brutsche sued the City of Kent for both trespass and negligence, we ruled only on his trespass claim because the alleged misconduct had been intentional. 164 Wn.2d at 674. We affirmed the summary dismissal of Brutsche\u2019s trespass claim because the officers\u2019 entry was supported by a valid warrant and, critically, because \u201c[t]he officers did not engage in unreasonable conduct in exercising their privilege to be on the property.\u201d Id. at 679.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Police raided the wrong house based on an uncorroborated CI. Under Washington\u2019s tort of negligent law enforcement, plaintiff was awared $250,000 by the jury. Affirmed: \u201cwe hold that police executing a search warrant owe the same duty of reasonable care &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=47067\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-warrant-execution"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47067"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47068,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47067\/revisions\/47068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}