UC, FBI Reach Settlement in Berkeley Raid Suit

The FBI and University of California have agreed to pay $100,000 and destroy computer files to settle a lawsuit stemming from a raid on the offices of two groups in Berkeley.

Long Haul Inc. and East Bay Prisoner Support were raided in 2008 by federal agents and university police after authorities said threatening messages to animal researchers at the University of California, Berkeley had been sent from a computer at the storefront the two groups occupy.

Long Haul has public computer terminals and meeting rooms that attract people involved in left-wing causes.

Lawyers for Long Haul say officers seized all 14 of the group’s computers. No evidence of criminal wrongdoing was found.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the university will pay three-fourths of the settlement. UC Berkeley officials maintain that their officers acted properly.