Dismissal of Drug Raid Lawsuit Sought : Courts: DEA, Sheriff’s Department ask federal judge to throw out claim. Family claims officers conspired to violate slain millionaire’s civil rights.

Attorneys for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department have asked a federal judge to dismiss a civil rights lawsuit filed against them by the estate of reclusive Ventura County millionaire Donald Scott, who was shot to death in a drug raid at his ranch near Malibu last fall.

U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian is expected to rule Friday on whether to dismiss the second amended complaint filed by the Scott estate, the judge’s office said Monday.

The DEA and Los Angeles County argued in court filings that attorneys for Scott’s estate failed to support their claim that the officers conspired to violate his constitutional rights against unlawful searches and unreasonable force. They also argued that the estate failed to clearly outline a claim for the $200 million in damages the suit seeks.

Scott, 61, heir to a European chemicals fortune, was killed in an early morning raid when he emerged sleepy and drunk from his bedroom and allegedly pointed a pistol at sheriff’s Deputy Gary R. Spencer, who shot him twice.

No drugs were found in the raid.

An investigation by Ventura County Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury’s office ruled that although Spencer was justified to shoot Scott in self-defense, Spencer should not have been on the ranch in the first place.

Scott’s estate filed suit in federal court in Los Angeles in March, alleging that drug agents killed Scott after conspiring to seize his $5-million ranch through drug-forfeiture laws.

Judge Tevrizian dismissed the first version of the complaint on June 7. But he left room for Stephen Yagman and Marion Yagman, attorneys for the Scott estate, to file a second amended complaint, which they did several weeks later.

Attorneys for the DEA, the Sheriff’s Department and the city of Los Angeles--which provided police dogs for the raid--have since asked the court to dismiss the second complaint.

They argue that the second version of the suit, like the first, failed to prove that there was a conspiracy to kill Scott and take his ranch.

So far, the Scott estate has dropped its claims against the city and DEA agents, except for those against DEA Agent Charles Stowell, whose report of seeing marijuana plants on the Scott property during a helicopter flyover led to the raid.

However, the estate argues in court filings that the conspiracy charge against the remaining defendants is valid because the drug task force raided Scott’s ranch “knowing that they had a bogus warrant and conducted a search in spite of that.”

Yagman declined to comment directly on the case, as did Assistant U.S. Atty. James R. Sullivan. Dennis M. Gonzales, the attorney for Los Angeles County, could not be reached for comment.