354 results for 'cat:"Civil Rights" AND cat:"Police Misconduct"'.
J. Stewart finds the district court properly entered summary judgment in favor of the police officers. Armed protesters opposed to a city ordinance preventing unauthorized firearm carry were arrested after aggressively refusing to comply with officers' lawful orders. Though a Taser was used, causing one of the subjects to fall and hit his head, the officers are entitled to qualified immunity. The protesters have pointed to no clearly established law showing excessive force was used. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Stewart , Filed On: February 26, 2024, Case #: 22-50915, Categories: civil Rights, Constitution, police Misconduct
J. Martinez-Olguin allows some civil rights claims to continue against the City of Antioch regarding the death of Angelo Quinto, who died after being placed in a prone restraint hold by police during a domestic dispute call. Officials are shielded by immunity regarding some of the denial of medical care claims, but the bulk of the wrongful death claims proceed because conflicting testimony and other uncertain details on the record make it unclear if the officers' use of force was justified.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Martinez-Olguin, Filed On: February 25, 2024, Case #: 3:21cv6094, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Immunity, police Misconduct
J. Hernandez grants the city's modified motion to reduce the punitive damages award of the driver's claim that the officer did not have probable cause to arrest him for stealing his own vehicle. The punitive damages award is reduced from $2 million to $650,000 because the driver used improper evidence about the officer's use of force without clarifying how much force he used in other encounters to improperly influence the jury, and the driver does not cite other cases with a similar punitive damages award and comparable facts. The driver is to notify the court on whether or not he will accept remittitur of the punitive damages award or if he will request a new trial on punitive damages within 14 days of this order.
Court: USDC Oregon, Judge: Hernandez, Filed On: February 22, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv721, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Damages, police Misconduct
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J. Hurd grants summary judgment to the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Department on a woman’s false arrest, unlawful search and seizure and municipal liability claims stemming from charges that she used counterfeit money to buy groceries at a Wegmans supermarket. It was later discovered that she obtained the fake bills from an ATM installed at the grocery store and was soon after released from police custody. The officer had probable cause at the time to arrest her following a review of in-store surveillance footage and after she admitted to using the counterfeit money.
Court: USDC Northern District of New York, Judge: Hurd, Filed On: February 22, 2024, Case #: 5:18cv837, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, police Misconduct
J. Dever grants a police officer’s motion to dismiss due process and state law tort claims brought by the husband of a woman who died after the officer crashed into her car. The husband argues that the investigator who arrived on the scene, seeing the officer as a fellow law enforcement official, systematically tampered with evidence and evaded the husband’s questions. However, state law prohibits a private citizen to challenge the criminal investigation of another person.
Court: USDC Eastern District of North Carolina, Judge: Dever, Filed On: February 21, 2024, Case #: 5:22cv381, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Vehicle, police Misconduct
J. Pitman grants a law firm’s motion for leave to intervene in a civil rights lawsuit brought by relatives of a two people who were killed or injured in a police shooting. That law firm, which was previously retained by the relatives, has a legal right to intervene because it is seeking to recover funds allegedly promised in a prior contingency fee agreement with the relatives.
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Pitman, Filed On: February 20, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv655, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Attorney Fees, police Misconduct
J. Marmolejo denies two deputies' motion to dismiss an individual's civil rights claims arising from his arrest. The deputies are not immune from the claims, and the individual sufficiently alleges his claims for false arrest, excessive force, unlawful property seizure and denial of medical care.
Court: USDC Southern District of Texas, Judge: Marmolejo, Filed On: February 20, 2024, Case #: 5:23cv48, NOS: Assault, Libel, & Slander - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: civil Rights, Immunity, police Misconduct
J. Pulliam dismisses most claims in a lawsuit brought by a citizen against San Antonio and several police officers after the citizen was shot multiple times with sponge rounds during George Floyd protests in 2020. While the citizen’s claims overall do not survive qualified immunity, and he has “abandoned” some of them by failing to brief them, he can bring excessive force claims against the officer who shot him twice. Video footage of the scene “does not unambiguously support” the officer’s explanation for why he fired a second time, and the San Antonio Complaint and
Administrative Review Board found the citizen’s allegations about the second shot are “justified.”
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Pulliam, Filed On: February 20, 2024, Case #: 5:21cv837, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Constitution, police Misconduct
J. Kocoras denies Chicago and its police officers’ motion for summary judgment on a resident’s claims of unreasonable seizure, false arrest, and malicious prosecution, finding the resident has sufficiently alleged that police entered his home without a warrant and arrested him without probable cause.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Kocoras, Filed On: February 15, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv1564, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Malicious Prosecution, police Misconduct
J. Wood rules in favor of the county and the police officers in a civil rights, excessive force and battery action brought by the individual arising after one of the officers tased him during his arrest. The officers' use of force was not excessive because they believed the individual was holding his girlfriend hostage. A reasonable officer could have believed that the individual posed an immediate threat of harm because he refused to cooperate with the officers and actively resisted their efforts to arrest him. The officers' use of force was proportionate and the individual did not suffer any long-term injuries. The officers are entitled to qualified immunity.
Court: USDC Southern District of Georgia, Judge: Wood, Filed On: February 15, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv94, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Immunity, police Misconduct
J. Estudillo dismisses the homeowner's complaint alleging that the officer repeatedly punched the homeowner in the face while he was handcuffed to the point that he needed to go to the hospital for his injured eye, and then the officers arrested the homeowner once he left the hospital. Among other deficiencies, the homeowner recites his causes of action without specifying any actual policies, practices or customs that violated his rights during the police encounter.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Estudillo, Filed On: February 15, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv5782, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, police Misconduct
J. Gettleman partially grants an Illinois village and its mayor’s motions to dismiss numerous civil rights allegations brought by a community activist. The activist claims the mayor had a personal vendetta against her after she led protests over the police killing of a community member, and that the mayor also took steps to chill village residents’ free speech rights — up to and including deploying police in riot gear on peaceful protestors. The court dismisses the activist’s claim that the village violated the first six articles of the Illinois Constitution, and also dismisses the possibility of Monell damages against the mayor specifically. The rest of the activist’s claims stand.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Gettleman, Filed On: February 14, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv5670, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Constitution, police Misconduct
[Consolidated.] Per curiam, the circuit finds that the district court properly declined to dismiss excessive force claims brought against three municipal police officers who claimed qualified immunity. Questions remain unresolved as to whether officers used an unreasonable degree of force in abruptly pulling plaintiff from her home when she agreed to cooperate and sending her, handcuffed and head-first, into the back seat of a police cruiser, causing head injuries. Affirmed.
Court: 2nd Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: February 14, 2024, Case #: 22-3162 (L), Categories: civil Rights, Immunity, police Misconduct
J. Wood partially grants the sheriff's, deputies and county's motions to dismiss a civil rights, excessive force and wrongful arrest action brought by the father and son. The action arose after the father was arrested for obstruction and the son was bitten by a K-9 officer and beaten by deputies. The county is not the deputies' employer, therefore the claims against the county for negligent training and supervision are dismissed. The sheriff is entitled to sovereign immunity from the negligent training and supervision claims. Although the father failed to sufficiently state a claim for wrongful arrest against three deputies, the claim may move forward against another deputy.
Court: USDC Southern District of Georgia, Judge: Wood, Filed On: February 13, 2024, Case #: 4:24cv6, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, police Misconduct
J. Chambers grants summary judgment to the commission and seven deputy sheriffs in a couple's complaint alleging the deputies violated their constitutional rights after they were dispatched to the couple's home in response to two brief 911 calls. After the husband was charged with domestic battery and interfering with a 911 call, deputies returned to the home in April 2022 to execute a search warrant and check on the two daughters' welfare when the mother failed to answer subpoenas to testify. The couple failed to establish the deputies engaged in any unlawful activity during their investigations.
Court: USDC Southern District of West Virginia, Judge: Chambers, Filed On: February 12, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv277, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Government, police Misconduct
J. Richard Nelson grants the police officers' motion for summary judgment in the prisoner's suit against them alleging that they violated his civil rights during his arrest for domestic assault and criminal property damage. The prisoner has yet to identify the specific officer who allegedly seized him from his room without consent, and such specificity is required to support his claims at this stage.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Richard Nelson, Filed On: February 7, 2024, Case #: 0:22cv187, NOS: Civil Rights - Habeas Corpus, Categories: civil Rights, police Misconduct
J. Wilder-Doomes denies a request by the parish government of Baton Rouge to halt multiple civil rights suits alleging city police officers used a warehouse to strip-search and humiliate citizens during purported searches for illegal drugs. The parish has not established a stay of civil proceedings against officers of the street crimes unit at the so-called “BRAVE Cave” is warranted. No criminal charges have been filed and there is no information regarding the nature or extent of the overlap with any federal criminal investigation. However, the parish may re-urge its request for a stay, “if appropriate, as additional information develops.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Wilder-Doomes, Filed On: February 7, 2024, Case #: 23cv1313, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Emotional Distress, police Misconduct
J. Rosenthal denies, in part, two deputies' motion to dismiss a driver's civil rights claims following his arrest. He has sufficiently alleged his claims for excessive force and punitive damages.
Court: USDC Southern District of Texas, Judge: Rosenthal, Filed On: February 5, 2024, Case #: 4:23cv302, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Damages, police Misconduct
J. Hartz finds that the lower court properly tossed civil rights claims from a man who was suing, pro se, the U.S. Marshal Service based on alleged excessive force during an arrest. The man rests his claims on a 1971 Supreme Court ruling in "Bivens v. Six Unknown Agents," which found that federal agents could be held liable for damages in the event of unreasonable force during an arrest, but that ruling has since become a "relic of the 20th century." Under current precedent, there is no avenue for the individual in this case to recover damages. Affirmed.
Court: 10th Circuit, Judge: Hartz, Filed On: February 5, 2024, Case #: 23-7008, Categories: civil Rights, police Misconduct
[Consolidated.] J. Bumb finds for one plaintiff in claims contending a police officer used unapproved jiu jitsu takedown moves on two women during separate arrests. One plaintiff weighed less than 100 pounds and thus posed no credible threat, and certain testimony bolsters the argument that plaintiff's resistance to arrest had been no more than passive. Meanwhile, supervisors had been on notice that an excessive force violation could occur in light of the officer's frequent use of force during arrests. However, counsel for one plaintiff conflated "use of force" during arrests with "excessive force," and issues of fact remain in dispute concerning allegations against the city.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Bumb, Filed On: January 30, 2024, Case #: 1:19cv12002, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Negligence, police Misconduct
J. Schiltz partially grants the law enforcement officers' motion for summary judgment in the Los Angeles Times journalists' suit alleging that they were unconstitutionally targeted by police while covering civil unrest following the murder of George Floyd in 2020. Claims stemming from an incident in which a tear gas canister struck one of the journalists' legs are dismissed, since the journalists have not produced evidence that any of the named defendants were responsible for the canister. A failure-to-intervene claim is voluntarily dismissed as to one of the officers, but survives as to the others. Supervisory-liability claims are also dismissed, but all other claims survive.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Schiltz, Filed On: January 29, 2024, Case #: 0:21cv1282, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, First Amendment, police Misconduct