A civil trial to decide whether Kansas City police officers improperly searched and seized items from a Midtown business will proceed next spring after federal judges rejected officers’ claim they were protected by qualified immunity.

In the 2014 lawsuit, Micah B. Riggs of Overland Park alleged that his civil rights were violated when the police officers unlawfully searched and took items from his former businesses, Coffee Wonk and Wonk Exchange, on three separate occasions in 2010 and 2012.

The businesses were located in space Riggs rented on two floors at 35th Street and Broadway. The eight officers asked the federal appeals court for a summary judgment based on a law that protects government officials and police officers from civil damages.

However, a three-judge panel from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the officers’ claim of qualified immunity, which protects government officials, including police officers, from civil damages as long as their actions did not violate a person’s constitutional rights.

The civil trial is scheduled to begin April 20 in U.S. District Court in Kansas City. The officers are Robert Gibbs, David Barbour, Michael Feagans, Alan Whaley, Brad Dumit, Chris Onik, Teddy Taylor and Christopher Toigo.

Police searched the business on three separate occasions in an effort to find synthetic marijuana and other narcotics they suspected were being sold there, according to court filings. The business sold coffee, herbal incense and potpourri.

The case began in September 2010 when Kansas City police officers were dispatched to 35th and Broadway to investigate a burglary that took place in a space next to the one rented by Riggs, according to court filings.

Once there, the officers did not find the burglar.

However, during their search, the building manager opened the door to the space rented by Riggs. Inside an officer saw lab equipment but did not see anything that led him to believe that the lab was illegal or an active meth lab.

The officer did recognize chemicals marked with a skull and cross bones, which he believed were dangerous, according to court records.

The officers asked the Metro Meth Drug Task Force to process the lab, which it did without Riggs’ consent, the lawsuit says. Investigators took several items, including incense, from the suite, the court records stated.

Police later received information that a business at 35th and Broadway with “coffee” in its name was selling K2, a synthetic cannabinoid.

In October 2012, an officer returned to the Coffee Wonk to buy synthetic marijuana as part of an undercover drug buy.

The store clerk told the officer they did not have the items he requested but sold him an item that was stored under the counter and out of sight. The officer believed the item he purchased was contraband because of its packaging and the way it was sold, court filings stated.

Other police vice and narcotic officers raided the store moments later and seized a number of items including an envelop full of money.

Jackson County prosecutors later charged Riggs with various drug offenses but he was never convicted.

In August 2014, Riggs filed a lawsuit against the officers involved in the 2010 search and the 2012 raid, claiming both searches were done without search warrants.

The officers later asked a federal district court to dismiss the lawsuit because qualified immunity protected them from civil liability.

“This is a move in the right direction of holding the police accountable for violating citizens’ constitutional rights,” said Henry Bell, an attorney representing Riggs.

“The police were totally out of hand; didn’t care about the constitution. In order for us to live in a free democratic society we have to make sure the police follow the constitution.”

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office is representing the police officers in the civil lawsuit. Chris Nuelle, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, declined to comment on the pending litigation.