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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- An appeals court has upheld dismissal of claims by 10 of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit over the 1997 police raid of a Salt Lake City tortilla factory and restaurant because the 10 refused to give depositions.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver agreed Wednesday that the plaintiffs, who alleged their civil rights were violated by officers who held them at gunpoint while they searched Panaderia La Diana, had forfeited their right to bring suit by failing to show up for the depositions.
"Absent deposition testimony or other competent evidence of what occurred, it was incumbent upon these plaintiffs to provide -- at the very least -- affidavits detailing what happened to them. None of these 10 plaintiffs did," the court said in upholding the 2004 decision by U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell to throw out the claims.
In November 2004, a settlement was reached with the remaining 18 plaintiffs, who were customers and employees of Panaderia La Diana. The city agreed to pay then $290,000.
Law enforcement officials said they organized the raid after an informant told them the owner was a major drug supplier and undercover officers bought heroin and cocaine near the parking lot at Panaderia La Diana.
About 80 people were ordered to the floor after officers kicked down the doors, handcuffed and held for up to three hours. However, the task force of 75 local and federal officers found no weapons or street drugs at the business. Officers did find a small quantity of common medicines that require a prescription in the United States but not in Mexico, from which they had been imported.
Panaderia La Diana is no longer in operation.
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Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
