249 results for 'cat:"Civil Rights" AND cat:"Constitution"'.
J. Lange grants officers' motion for summary judgment to determine that no constitutional violations occurred from a traffic stop culminated in the arrest of an individual. The individual alleged that officers used excessive force in the altercation in which police attempted to stop the individual for driving with a suspended license. The individual then led police on a low-speed chase, leading up to the arrest.
Court: USDC South Dakota, Judge: Lange, Filed On: October 11, 2023, Case #: 3:21cv3021, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution
J. Grasz finds a lower court improperly dismissed a journalist's unlawful seizure claims. A police officer argued that he was entitled to pepper spray the journalist in the face while tackling him to the ground. However, the journalist, who was covering a protest, presented sufficient evidence in court that he disclosed to the officer that he was a member of the press, which he backed up with press credentials. Reversed in part.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Grasz, Filed On: October 11, 2023, Case #: 22-2600, Categories: civil Rights, constitution
J. DeGravelles denies a request by the secretary of Louisiana’s correctional department to exclude an email he wrote in 2016 from a class action alleging Louisiana has been unlawfully overdetaining thousands of prisoners each year and that the Secretary has known about the state’s misconduct since at least 2012. The secretary unsuccessfully argues that the email is irrelevant, has not been authenticated and that its late production is untimely and unfair. The state official’s objection “rings exceedingly hollow.” Not only did the secretary turn over the email in discovery, he authored the letter which is relevant in that it tends to show that there was an overdetention problem in Louisiana which he and the state recognized before a former inmate filed suit in 2020.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: October 4, 2023, Case #: 3:20cv233, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, Discovery
J. Moses grants summary judgment for several officers who were sued by an arrested man following a report of a suspicious vehicle at an abandoned property. The man, who arrested in the vehicle and ultimately charged with driving while intoxicated, was later determined to have had permission to be on the property. The man argued that his Fourth Amendment rights were violated, but he had “parked in an ‘open field’ rather than parking his truck within the house’s curtilage” and therefore did not have the same Fourth Amendment rights as if he had been fully within private property.
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Moses, Filed On: October 2, 2023, Case #: 2:21cv4, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, Police Misconduct
Want access to unlimited case records and advanced research tools? Create your free CasePortal account now. No credit card required to register.
Try CasePortal for Free
J. Stadtmueller partially grants a motion to dismiss from the school district, high school and former school board members in a lawsuit from two former high school students who in the 1980s were sexually abused by a math teacher about whom allegations of such abuse were known among students and faculty. The former students' federal claims alleging 14th Amendment due process and equal protection violations, negligent hiring, training and supervision and civil conspiracy are dismissed with prejudice, in part because they fail to prove municipal policymakers were "constructively aware" of a widespread pattern of abuse such that they are liable for deliberate indifference which created a risk of abuse. Individual and supervisory liability claims against the former board members also fail, as evidence of their actions upon learning of the abuse in 1983 show they did not facilitate or ignore it. Jurisdiction is not exercised over the former students' 11 remaining state-law claims, which are dismissed without prejudice.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Stadtmueller, Filed On: September 29, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv819, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, Equal Protection
J. Bennett finds that the district court improperly entered summary judgment denying qualified immunity to police officers in an action alleging First Amendment retaliation arising from the investigation of two arsons. A couple alleges that in retaliation for remaining silent during police questioning, detectives opened criminal investigations against them. The couple failed to show that the detectives’ conduct violated clearly established law. Reversed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Bennett, Filed On: September 29, 2023, Case #: 22-16236, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, Immunity
J. Jackson denies summary judgment to an eastern Louisiana police department and a parish sheriff’s office on state-law claims filed on behalf of the minor child of a car passenger shot to death by two lawmen, during a traffic stop for a failed license plate light. The same video evidence that creates a genuine dispute regarding the constitutional excessive force claim against the police officer and the sheriff’s deputy also establishes a genuine dispute as to these claims to state-law claims excessive force, assault and battery.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Jackson, Filed On: September 28, 2023, Case #: 3:20cv221, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, Police Misconduct
J. Shea denies, in part, the police officers' motion for summary judgment, ruling disputes of fact regarding the traffic stop of the black driver for use of his cell phone, including whether he actually used his phone while driving and how much activity the officers observed before initiating the stop, prevent judgment in their favor or the application of qualified immunity on the driver's Fourth Amendment claim.
Court: USDC Connecticut, Judge: Shea, Filed On: September 28, 2023, Case #: 3:21cv452, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, Immunity
J. Cogburn grants a police officer’s motion for summary judgment in a suit brought against him by a driver alleging he used excessive force after he pulled her over for suspected drunk driving. Although the officer applied a breathalyzer and field sobriety tests, which were positive for alcohol content, the charges of driving while impaired and reckless driving were dropped. When he tried to arrest her for drunk driving, she refused until he used an arm-bar takedown technique to get her on the ground to handcuff her. The driver claims she suffered multiple injuries as a result, including herniation of spinal discs, a black eye, and cuts and bruises all over her face, breasts, legs, and back. Although the driver invokes her Fourth and Eighth Amendment rights, they fail in the face of the officer’s state sovereign and qualified immunities.
Court: USDC Western District of North Carolina, Judge: Cogburn, Filed On: September 27, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv166, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, Tort
J. Hittner enjoins state officials from enforcing a law touted as the "Drag Ban," which bans sexually oriented performances, carries civil and criminal penalties, and grants counties and cities the ability to regulate the performances. The law is unconstitutional.
Court: USDC Southern District of Texas, Judge: Hittner, Filed On: September 26, 2023, Case #: 4:23cv2847, NOS: Constitutionality of State Statutes - Other Suits, Categories: civil Rights, constitution
J. Africk denies a request by the New Orleans District Attorney to dismiss a wrongful conviction claim against his office by a former criminal defendant who spent 26 years in prison following his conviction in 1995 for first-degree murder based on the acknowledged unconstitutional suppression of favorable evidence by prosecutors under a former D.A. The current district attorney’s contention that the freed defendant has no claim against his office because the state is responsible for the parish district attorneys’ actions is “without merit.”
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: September 21, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv1922, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, Malicious Prosecution
J. Houston rules that a hemp farm company may pursue Fourth Amendment claims against San Diego County officers related to the search of its farm and the destruction of $3 million worth of crops. The search warrant was defective because it did not mention the possibility that the company was legally cultivating hemp on its property and not marijuana. The officers also unreasonably dismissed the farm tenant's offer to show physical proof that the farm had a valid registration permit to grow hemp.
Court: USDC Southern District of California, Judge: Houston, Filed On: September 19, 2023, Case #: 3:20cv2082, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution
Per curiam, the circuit finds the district court properly denied the Texas prisoner's motions for appointment of counsel in his civil rights action brought against prison officials who he alleges retaliated against him by turning off his water, denying him food, and making false disciplinary charges against him. A district court is not required to appoint counsel for an indigent civil rights plaintiff unless the case presents “exceptional circumstances,” which the prisoner has failed to show. The case doesn't present complex issues, so appointment of counsel is unlikely to shorten the trial or assist in resolution. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: September 19, 2023, Case #: 21-10931, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, Prisoners' Rights
J. Albright grants a preliminary injunction to a group of booksellers and publishers who sued Texas over a new law restricting children's access to so-called "sexually explicit" books. While the state no doubt has a strong interest in protecting children from "obscene content," this new law imposes "a web of unconstitutionally vague requirements," including by "abdicating its responsibility" to regulate obscenity and instead placing the burden on third parties like booksellers. Texas is temporarily barred from attempting to enforce the bill, HB 900.
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Albright, Filed On: September 18, 2023, Case #: 1:23cv858, NOS: Constitutionality of State Statutes - Other Suits, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, First Amendment
Per curiam, the court of appeal finds that the circuit court improperly denied a minor judicial waiver of statute requiring her legal guardian to consent to her abortion on grounds that the pregnancy had gone beyond six weeks of fetal gestation because the proposed law had not yet become effective, and the court must consider the petition on the merits. Reversed.
Court: Florida Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: September 15, 2023, Case #: 5D23-2754, Categories: civil Rights, constitution
J. Dishman grants the defendant officer's dismissal motion in this civil rights action stemming from an individual's arrest, after the individual was allegedly stopped for failing to wear a seatbelt. The driver was cited for the seatbelt violation, along with attempting to elude police and illegal tag display. However, he fails to establish his claim that the officer "violated his constitutional right to travel" or that the subsequent impoundment and search of his car were unconstitutional.
Court: USDC Western District of Oklahoma , Judge: Dishman, Filed On: September 14, 2023, Case #: 5:22cv12, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution
J. Meyer grants the sex offender's motion for summary judgment, ruling the Connecticut law requiring released sex offenders to disclose all email addresses and other forms of online communication to the state police violates the First Amendment and does not advance a compelling government interest. Although the state has an interest in deterring sex offenders from using the internet to commit additional crimes, requiring disclosure of all internet-based forms of communications prevents released offenders from speaking freely and anonymously on the internet, while the state failed to provide any evidence the law has been used to prevent or detect crimes in the 15 years since its passage; therefore, the state will be permanently enjoined from enforcing the law against him.
Court: USDC Connecticut, Judge: Meyer, Filed On: September 14, 2023, Case #: 3:19cv1240, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, First Amendment
[Consolidated.] J. DeGravelles denies requests by the city and several police officers to dismiss negligence claims by a protester they arrested during a demonstration against the police killing of Alton Sterling in 2017. The lasting impact of the woman’s unlawful arrest is significant. As a licensed professional, she was required to notify licensing agencies about a pending felony charge for “inciting a riot” for the years between her arrest and the expiration date for her prosecution. Also, she says she "has not wanted to protest and has a heightened sense of distrust and fear.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: September 11, 2023, Case #: 3:17cv179, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, constitution, Police Misconduct