32 results for 'cat:"Civil Rights" AND cat:"Equal Protection"'.
J. Robinson denies a civilian's motion to stay proceedings pending the outcome of a decision from a Supreme Court concerning claims of viewpoint-discrimination against a county commission. The county commissioners sufficiently showed in court that the civilian, who referred to them as "child abusing motherfuckers," is not entitled to relief based on qualified immunity.
Court: USDC Kansas, Judge: Robinson, Filed On: April 17, 2024, Case #: 5:24cv4005, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Constitution, equal Protection
J. Kahn preserves a high school student’s equal protection claim against his school’s varsity baseball coach, who allegedly denied him a spot on the team on the basis that he is biracial. The litigant, in an attempt to establish an inference of discrimination, proffered a selection of white players who were selected for the team despite lower athletic scores, but the court is unable to conclude whether those players are sufficiently comparable and leaves that question to a jury. The court dismisses the district’s superintendent and athletics director from the case, finding they were not personally involved in the decision not to select him for the team.
Court: USDC Northern District of New York, Judge: Kahn, Filed On: April 17, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv756, NOS: Education - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Education, equal Protection
J. Robinson rules a civilian may pursue retaliation claims against a board of City commissioners. The civilian, a Republican candidate for County Commissioner, sufficiently showed in court that the board chilled his speech by interrupting him during public commentary.
Court: USDC Kansas, Judge: Robinson, Filed On: April 1, 2024, Case #: 5:23cv4107, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Elections, equal Protection
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J. Crabtree grants a City's motion to dismiss a former employee's equal protection claims. The employee, a municipal judge who underwent monthly infusions for an illness, failed to sufficiently show in court that she could assert a "class of one" claim in the public employment arena.
Court: USDC Kansas, Judge: Crabtree, Filed On: March 25, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv2043, NOS: Amer w/Disabilities - Other - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Employment, equal Protection
J. Kahn denies in part summary judgment to a New York County sheriff’s department and preserves claims alleging it discriminated against a disabled Black and Puerto Rican corrections officers when it arrested, charged and issued disciplinary charges against her after discovering she had brought her personal cellphone into the county prison, which the prison considers contraband. The court finds a jury could conclude that because a white, non-disabled cook who violated the same policy was not reprimanded to the same degree, a jury could find the prison acted with discriminatory intent. However, her claim for malicious prosecution was dismissed because the prison had reasonable cause to arrest and charge her.
Court: USDC Northern District of New York, Judge: Kahn, Filed On: March 22, 2024, Case #: 1:18cv941, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, equal Protection, Employment Discrimination
J. Huffaker denies a legal advocacy nonprofit’s motion for a preliminary injunction in this civil right lawsuit against the Alabama governor for considering race when appointing members to professional boards and commissions. The group, which files lawsuits opposing other race-based criteria in grants, scholarships and other programs, says this practice is discriminatory, demeaning, patronizing and unconstitutionally resulted in a white woman not receiving a seat on the Alabama Real Estate Appraisers Board. The court finds the woman did suffer an injury and that the nonprofit has standing to sue for equal protection, but does not find that an injunction is necessary to prevent an irreparable injury.
Court: USDC Middle District of Alabama, Judge: Huffaker, Filed On: March 19, 2024, Case #: 2:24cv104, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Government, equal Protection
J. Cochran partially reverses the district court's denial of the customer's motions for judgment as a matter of law or a new trial on her claims against her local pharmacy and its head pharmacist, who refused to fill her prescription for emergency contraception. A refusal to dispense a valid prescription for emergency contraception is business discrimination under the Minnesota Human Rights Act, and the district court erred in instructing jurors that the customer needed to show a "material disadvantage" or "tangible change in conditions" to support a public-accommodations discrimination claim. The district court also erred in denying the motion for a new trial on the customer's claim against the pharmacy and aiding-and-abetting claims against the pharmacist for public-accommodations discrimination, but not in denying judgment as a matter of law or a new trial on the customer's business-discrimination claim against the pharmacy. Reversed in part.
Court: Minnesota Court Of Appeals, Judge: Cochran, Filed On: March 18, 2024, Case #: A23-0374, Categories: civil Rights, equal Protection
J. Johnson partially reverses the district court's grant of summary judgment to the transgender weightlifter on her discrimination claims against the powerlifting competition sponsor, affirms its grant of summary judgment to the competition sponsor's purported Minnesota branch and reverses its orders for injunctive relief. Issues of material fact remain as to whether the competition sponsor excluded the weightlifter from its competitions because she was transgender, as well as whether it excluded her for a legitimate business purpose, namely its argument that having gone through male puberty, she would have an unfair competitive advantage due to increased bone density and muscle mass. No questions of material fact remain, however, as to the non-existence of the purported Minnesota branch of the sponsor. Reversed.
Court: Minnesota Court Of Appeals, Judge: Johnson, Filed On: March 18, 2024, Case #: A23-0373, Categories: civil Rights, equal Protection
J. Woodcock denies in part a town’s motion to dismiss claims brought against it by a property owner, after the town’s code enforcement officer gave the property owner instructions on how to make his property up to code, and then claimed the property owner made the property more dangerous by following those instructions. The property owner sufficiently substantiates his federal and Maine Civil Rights Act claims.
Court: USDC Maine, Judge: Woodcock, Filed On: February 20, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv162, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Municipal Law, equal Protection
[Consolidated.] J. Pallmeyer partially grants the Cook County Sheriff’s Office’s motion to dismiss three related suits which claim the office did not do enough to protect jail workers from county detainees’ sexual harassment. Female workers brought two of the cases while a group of male workers brought a third; collectively, over 300 workers said they faced detainees’ threats of sexual violence, unwanted advances and public masturbation. The court dismisses three individual female plaintiffs from the case but otherwise allows all three suits to stand.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Pallmeyer, Filed On: January 24, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv1390, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Employment, equal Protection
J. Gibbons finds the trial court improperly found for a high school on a student victim's deliberate indifference claim. The reporting of more than 1,000 instances of sexual misconduct at the school prior to the assault put the school on notice of a pervasive sexual harassment problem and allows her to bring the claim for the school's conduct before her assault. Furthermore, the lower court properly found for the victim on her Title IX claims related to the school's failure to discipline any of those involved or ensure the victim had access to education, as the administrators were aware of the numerous threats against the victim and her family following the release of a video of her sexual assault, which prevented her from attending school and resulted in lasting psychological harm. Affirmed.
Court: 6th Circuit, Judge: Gibbons, Filed On: November 15, 2023, Case #: 22-5125, Categories: civil Rights, Education, equal Protection
J. Whelan mostly grants the county's motion to dismiss civil rights claims brought by a civilian who says that a group of police officers in an unmarked vehicle yanked him from his car in a line at a drive thru prescription pickup, handcuffed him, and then pointed their guns in his face without prior explanation. The civilian fails to show that the officers' conduct was because of his race, nor does he identify any specific county policies that led to the deprivation of his rights. However, the civilian's Bane Act claim can continue against one officer based on the officer's alleged use of excessive force.
Court: USDC Southern District of California, Judge: Whelan, Filed On: October 4, 2023, Case #: 3:23cv823, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, equal Protection, Police Misconduct
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. Ruiz denies, in part, the city officials' motion for judgment on the pleadings, ruling no provision in the police officer's CBA covers his Family and Medical Leave Act retaliation claim and, therefore, this court has jurisdiction over the claim, which is not time-barred and was not mooted by a state court settlement.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Ruiz, Filed On: September 29, 2023, Case #: 1:20cv2568, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, equal Protection, Employment Retaliation
J. Davila allows some civil rights claims to continue against San Jose from a former owner of a hookah lounge who says local officials unfairly targeted his business with citations and occupancy reductions for alleged code violations. The complaint has properly shown that the lounge was hit with violations regarding their parking lot to which other businesses around the lot were not subjected, leaving enough plausibility that the business was being targeted for some of the equal protection claims to survive. Several individual officials and attorneys being sued are dismissed from the action, however, due to prosecutorial immunity.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Davila, Filed On: September 20, 2023, Case #: 5:20cv8808, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Immunity, equal Protection
J. Wormuth grants, in part, the female student's motion for summary judgment, ruling the former teacher's sexual harassment, including grabbing the student's butt on several occasions, touching her thigh inappropriately while she slept on a school bus, and hugging her excessively, meets the level of behavior required under the conscience shocking standard and entitles the student to judgment on her substantive due process claim. However, despite the teacher's guilty plea to criminal charges that stemmed from his behavior, he did not admit to engaging in the conduct for the purposes of sexual gratification and so the student is not entitled to judgment on her Equal Protection sexual harassment claim.
Court: USDC New Mexico, Judge: Wormuth, Filed On: August 17, 2023, Case #: 2:20cv276, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Due Process, equal Protection
J. Smith finds the district court improperly entered summary judgment in favor of the airline in this suit brought by passengers whose flight was cancelled because the flight attendant alerted the crew to her concerns over the “Arab-looking” passengers, who were U.S. citizens. The passenger “preemptively agree[d] to assist in an emergency” before the flight attendant iterated exit row instructions, being that he was a frequent flyer and knew the instructions. His travelling partner, a first-class passenger, was the last to board the plane, which the crew found unusual being that first-class passengers usually board first. Another passenger complained and the pilot delayed takeoff until the flight was cancelled, rebooking all passengers on another flight. That certain conversations between the crew and other passengers entered into evidence indicated that race was a significant issue prior to any suspicious activity, and that those activities could equally be interpreted as being non-suspicious creates a genuine dispute of material fact. Reversed and remanded.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Smith, Filed On: August 16, 2023, Case #: 22-10686, Categories: civil Rights, equal Protection, Aviation
J. Brann permits a Penn State athlete to pursue certain gender discrimination claims against the university and her fencing coach because, even though she sufficiently stated claims against the school and her coach, she failed to prove the coach acted in his professional capacity when he tormented her about her weight and belittled her due to her gender.
Court: USDC Middle District of Pennsylvania, Judge: Brann, Filed On: August 11, 2023, Case #: 4:22cv529, NOS: Education - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Education, equal Protection
J. Gruender finds a lower court improperly granted a County's motion for summary judgment concerning a civilian's civil rights claims. The County argued that it was not obligated to assign the sheriff department to investigate claims that his daughter's boyfriend accosted him on his property. However, the civilian presented sufficient evidence in court that his daughter's boyfriend had connections to employees of the County's clerk of court. Reversed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Gruender, Filed On: July 12, 2023, Case #: 22-3002, Categories: civil Rights, Constitution, equal Protection