On Jan. 5, 2011, at about 9:25 a.m., plaintiffs’ decedent Rogelio Serrato, Jr., 31, an admitted gang member, was at a home in the 200 block of San Antonio Drive in Greenfield when the Monterey sheriff’s Special Weapons and Tactics team served the second warrant at his residence. Serrato was believed to be connected to a shooting that injured three men outside the Mucky Duck nightclub in Monterey in the early morning hours of Jan. 1, 2011. Monterey Police had obtained search warrants for two locations and for two individuals who had been identified as suspects in the triple shooting: Alejandro Gonzalez, the suspected shooter, and Serrato, an admitted gang member who also had two misdemeanor warrants for domestic violence and assault with a deadly weapon. As a result, members of the Monterey Peninsula Regional Special Response Unit served one search warrant on the Gonzalez residence and the sheriff’s SWAT team simultaneously served the second warrant at the Serrato residence. After about 20 minutes of hailing for Serrato to come out of his residence, a woman exited the home and claimed that no one else was inside. Despite the woman’s claim, authorities continued to wait outside until shortly before 10:30 a.m., when SWAT members performed a “break and rake” technique on a front window and deployed a flash diversionary device designed to make a loud explosion and emit smoke into the home. However, the “flash bang” device apparently rolled under a couch and ignited a fire. Despite encouragement from SWAT members for Serrato to exit the residence, he continued to conceal himself inside. As a result, once firefighters extinguished the fire at about 11:15 a.m., Serrato was found in a rear bedroom of the home and was pronounced dead at the scene. The decedent’s two minor children, Julian Serrato and Israel Serrato, acting individually and as successor-in-interest to their father’s estate, by and through their grandmother, Lisa Magdaleno, sued the involved members of the SWAT team, Commander Kevin Oakley, Sergeant Garrett Sanders, Sergeant Joseph Banuelos, Sergeant Randy Ragsac, Detective Al Martinez and Deputy Mark Sievers. The children also sued the SWAT team’s supervisors, Sheriff Scott Miller and Captain Charles Monarque; and their employer, Monterey County. The decedent’s mother, Rita Serrato; three of the decedent’s sisters, Elizabeth Serrato, Claudia Serrato and Diana Serrato; and another minor children of the decedent, “D. B.,” acting individually and as successor-in-interest to his father’s estate, by and through their guardian ad litem, Evelyn Beltran; filed a separate civil suit against the same defendants. The matters were ultimately joined. Plaintiffs’ counsel contended that the use of the flash bang device was unnecessary and excessive when used, since the decedent was inside the residence and posed no threat to anyone. Defense counsel contended that the defendants used all reasonable means in serving a valid search warrant in a violent shooting and that the decedent was responsible for his own fate by continuing his refusal to exit the residence even in the face of a fire. Counsel noted that it is unknown why the decedent did not exit the house, but toxicology tests revealed high levels of methamphetamine in his system., The Monterey County Coroner determined Rogelio Serrato died of asphyxiation from inhaling smoke and acute methamphetamine intoxication. He was 31. The decedent is survived by his three minor children, three sisters and his mother. Thus, the decedent’s family sought recovery of wrongful death damages. They also sought recovery of damages for the loss of the decedent’s society and the decedent’s children sought recovery of damages for the loss of their father’s parental guidance.