Explosive opinion

You know an opinion is going to be good when it starts out this way: "Some people enjoy collecting baseball cards or rare coins. Dr. Allen Zarnow enjoyed collecting weapons and explosives." And so goes Zarnow v. City of Wichita Falls, a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals qualified-immunity decision involving a suit the good doctor filed against the city of Wichita Falls and some of its police officers after they took a bunch of his guns and ammo, returned most of them, but lost some of them, he alleged. Some of the weapons were seized in 1999, after employees in his clinic became alarmed when Zarnow went on vacation and they discovered "a gun, magazine, box of shells, .50 caliber armor-piercing ammunition, blasting caps, and fuses" in Zarnow's office desk. The staff called police and told them in addition to being a doctor that Zarnow was an "gun expert and salesman" who had talked about "purchasing a rocket launcher and often launched rockets and blew up stumps on his land in Oklahoma." The police seized rifles, revolvers and machine guns at his office and home. Zarnow was subsequently no billed by a Wichita County grand jury (likely on weapons charges, but the opinion doesn't say), and the police returned most of his guns. But some of them were "lost or unaccounted" for, according to the opinion. He sued the city and individual police officers for damages associated with losing his guns and violating his civil rights. A district court threw out much of Zarnow's case, except his illegal search and seizure claims against the city and the police officers. The city and the police officers asserted qualified immunity against the claims, which the district court denied. The city and the police officers appealed. The 5th Circuit ruled that it did not have the jurisdiction to consider the city's appeal but reversed the district court's denial of qualified immunity for the police officers. It's a small victory for Zarnow --- one he won't be able to enjoy. He died. His wife is now pursuing the case, according to the opinion.
-- John Council