Client Successes

Delia v. City of Rialto

This action was filed by Rialto firefighter Nicolas Delia against the City, its former Fire Chief (Steven Wells), two current Battalion Chiefs (Frank Bekker and Mike Peel) and the City’s legal counsel (Steve Filarsky) alleging that Delia’s Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search was violated when Chief Wells issued a written order to Delia (based on Filarsky’s legal advice) that he show defendants some fiberglass building insulation that was located inside his house.  The question of whether the insulation was actually installed in Delia's house was important for a disciplinary investigation. 

On January 12, 2009, BB&K attorneys Howard Golds and Cynthia Germano filed a summary judgment motion on behalf of the City, Wells, Bekker and Peel in the Central District of California in which we argued that a Monell claim could not be maintained against the City because it had no policy or custom regarding the searching of employee homes and on behalf of the three individual City employee defendants based on the defense of “qualified immunity.”  The District Court ruled in favor of all defendants on March 9, 2009 finding not only that no Monell claim had been stated and that the individual defendants were entitled to qualified immunity but also that no Fourth Amendment violation had taken place.  On April 3, 2009, Delia appealed the District Court’s decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.  On September 9, 2010, the Ninth Circuit in a published decision unanimously upheld the District Court's granting of Summary Judgment in favor of the City and the three City employees.  The Court reversed as to the claim against Filarsky and that portion of the case will now be remanded back to District Court.