William Sepatis v. City and County of San Francis, et al, No. 09-16537 (9th Cir. 2010)
Annotate this Case
Download PDF
FILED NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS NOV 12 2010 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U .S. C O U R T OF APPE ALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT WILLIAM SEPATIS, Plaintiff - Appellant, No. 09-16537 D.C. No. 3:08-cv-02497-JCS v. MEMORANDUM * CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, et al., Defendants - Appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California Joseph C. Spero, Magistrate Judge, Presiding Argued and Submitted November 5, 2010 San Francisco, California Before: ALARCĂ N and RYMER, Circuit Judges, and KENNELLY, District Judge.** William Sepatis appeals the district court s grant of summary judgment in favor of the City and County of San Francisco and several police officers on his * This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3. ** The Honorable Matthew F. Kennelly, United States District Judge for the Norther District of Illinois, sitting by designation. claim that the officers towed his car in retaliation for his exercise of his First Amendment rights. We affirm. Sepatis s evidence of retaliatory motive was very weak at best, and the officers unquestionably had probable cause to tow his car for investigation of a hit-and-run accident involving property damage. Summary judgment is appropriate in a case like this one involving very strong evidence of probable cause and very weak evidence of a retaliatory motive. Dietrich v. John Ascuaga s Nugget, 548 F.3d 892, 901 (9th Cir. 2008). Because no reasonable jury could find in Sepatis s favor on his claim, we need not reach the question of whether the officers are entitled to qualified immunity. The district court s grant of summary judgment is AFFIRMED. -2-
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
