2,407 results for 'nos:"Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights"'.
J. Clarke dismisses the landlords' complaint that the county's code enforcement officer wrongfully accused the landlords of violating county code by not obtaining agricultural exemptions or structural permits for 20 greenhouse structures and not obtaining electrical permits for the same 20 greenhouses, leading to a citation for $40,000 fine. The landlords do not state a claim for wrongful use of civil proceedings because while they may have a valid defense for the legality of the structures that their tenant built on their property, they do not allege that the code enforcement officer did not have probable cause to issue the citation.
Court: USDC Oregon, Judge: Clarke, Filed On: May 9, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv1607, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Municipal Law, Due Process
J. Volk grants the deputy state auditor's motion for summary judgment in the deceased woman's civil rights suit. She claimed that her due process rights were violated when the deputy auditor conveyed deeds to two parcels of her property to a man who bought them at sales for unpaid taxes without first conducting an exhaustive search of publicly available records of her current address when prior right-to-redeem notices were returned as unclaimed. The deputy auditor is entitled to qualified immunity since "he could not have been expected to forecast the duty here imposed, which appears nowhere in the statute governing his authority nor decisional law."
Court: USDC Southern District of West Virginia, Judge: Volk , Filed On: May 9, 2024, Case #: 1:21cv328, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Government, Property
J. Suddaby dismisses the Second Amendment Foundation, a gun rights advocacy group with over 720,000 members across the country, from a civil rights lawsuit that claims a housing authority violates their members’ right to bear arms by prohibiting tenants from possessing any firearms as a condition of their Section 8 housing benefits. The court rules the advocacy group lacks representational and associational standing to bring suit under a 50-year legal precedent.
Court: USDC Northern District of New York, Judge: Suddaby, Filed On: May 9, 2024, Case #: 5:23cv1540, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Housing, Firearms
J. Wicks grants a Long Island village’s motion to stay discovery pending the outcome of its motion to dismiss in a case over land-use rights. A resident alleges the village violated his constitutional rights when it deliberately delayed his subdivision application for over five years. The court agrees with the village’s argument that its motion to dismiss will most likely be successful, primarily on the basis that the claims are time-barred.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Wicks, Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv4249, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Zoning, Discovery
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J. Chun denies the university president's motion to dismiss the retaliation claim in the school faculty member's complaint alleging that the university president wrongfully fired the faculty member for putting a statement in his class syllabus, emails and outside his faculty office door about the Coast Salish tribe's claim to land that read, "I acknowledge that by the labor theory of property the Coast Salish people can claim historical ownership of almost none of the land currently occupied by the University of Washington." The school faculty member plausible states a First Amendment retaliation claim, because the school faculty member's speech concerned a matter of public concern, and the court cannot employ the applicable Pickering balancing test at this stage.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Chun, Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv964, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Education, Employment Discrimination
J. Aiken denies the families' motion to exclude expert Jim Dimas from its complaint that Governor of Oregon Tina Kotek and others run an underresourced foster care system that removes children from their parents' homes and does not provide stable housing for them. Dimas has over 40 years of experience working in, managing and directing human services agencies and his testimony includes what an effective remedy for this situation might look like.
Court: USDC Oregon, Judge: Aiken, Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: 6:19cv556, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Experts
J. Stadtmueller finds that all of the claims in the citizen's pro se lawsuit against the Milwaukee County Clerk of Courts, the Milwaukee County Sheriff, judges and other court officials over his family law case, including those alleging false arrest, abuse of process and First Amendment violations, must be dismissed. All of the currently named defendants are dismissed and replaced with John Doe placeholders, and the citizen is given until May 29, 2024, to file a new amended complaint, or his entire lawsuit will be dismissed.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Wisconsin, Judge: Stadtmueller, Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1361, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Family Law
J. Kness partially grants the Illinois Department of Corrections’ motion for summary judgment on an older Black employee’s claims of age and race discrimination, and retaliation for union association. The employee, who oversees several parole officers, claims his spotty disciplinary record with the department is the result of systemic ageism and anti-Black racism and departmental retaliation for his efforts to unionize his office. The court finds most of the employee’s discrimination claims either untimely or lacking sufficient evidence, but also finds there is sufficient evidence to support his claim for union activity retaliation against several specific department personnel.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Kness, Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: 1:18cv282, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation, Labor / Unions
J. Means finds that county commissioners who established a regulation limiting electioneering on county property during elections have not violated a conservative group’s right to freedom of speech. The county property that is restricted by the regulation is not a traditional public forum and the county’s restrictions target electioneering activity broadly and are not designed to suppress a particular view. The conservative group’s request for a preliminary injunction is denied.
Court: USDC Northern District of Texas , Judge: Means, Filed On: May 7, 2024, Case #: 4:24cv328, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Government, Injunction
J. Orrick dismisses all civil rights claims from U.S. News against the San Francisco Attorney's Office over subpoenas that the office issued to the news agency looking for information related to what methodologies it used to rank the hospitals in the United States. U.S. News says the subpoenas infringe on its First Amendment rights. The attorney's office, having voiced concerns that the news agency might be in violation of California code regarding its ranking activities, has a legal interest in the information and any claims from the agency that the subpoenas will quell its free speech are speculative and without merit.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Orrick, Filed On: May 7, 2024, Case #: 3:24cv395, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, First Amendment
J. Sands partially grants the police sergeant's and deputy's motion to dismiss a civil rights and negligence action brought by the individual after he was told he would be arrested for trespassing if he continued holding a sign outside the Georgia Department of Economic Development reading "God Bless Homeless Veterans." The individual improperly used sheriff's deputies from the same sheriff's office as the sergeant and deputy to serve them. The individual is ordered to timely serve the officers within 21 days.
Court: USDC Middle District of Georgia, Judge: Sands, Filed On: May 7, 2024, Case #: 7:23cv120, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Procedure, Civil Rights
J. Schroeder remands this zoning dispute in which a group of property owners claim that the rezoning of a nearby lot in order to build a school violates their Second Amendment rights and state laws. The owners allege that based on state law, they would not be permitted to carry firearms on a private lane — which is their only entrance and exit to a public road — that divides the rezoned property. The parties request the court to use supplemental jurisdiction because, they argue, the state claims are similar enough to the Second Amendment claim that it is warranted. However, because the court does not have original jurisdiction over any of the claims, it cannot use supplemental jurisdiction and the claims must be remanded for a lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
Court: USDC Middle District of North Carolina, Judge: Schroeder, Filed On: May 7, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv797, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Property, Zoning, Jurisdiction
J. King partially grants the city's motion to stay the family's complaint alleging that the city's employees killed the decedent by placing a spit mask on him after they choked him. The police officers plan to assert their Fifth Amendment rights for the potential federal charges against them, and their depositions are the only identified discovery that the family does not have, so a stay is appropriate. Unless the stay goes on beyond six months, the parties shall notify the court when the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington decides whether to pursue federal criminal charges against the police officers within 30 days of notification.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: King, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 3:21cv5692, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Wrongful Death, Discovery, Police Misconduct
[Consolidated.] J. Thompson denies, in part, the attorney general’s motion to dismiss this lawsuit regarding the constitutionality of prosecuting anyone who assists in facilitating out-of-state abortions brought by an advocacy group, also on behalf of its clients, and a women’s center also on behalf of its staff. The group and center seek to prohibit the prosecution of those who assist pregnant women to obtain abortions where it is still legal in other states alleging it is a violation of the right to travel, freedom of speech, freedom of association, the right to fair-notice due process claims, and is overbroad. The attorney general cannot prevent people to travel to another state, “Alabama can no more restrict people from going to, say, California to engage in what is lawful there than California can restrict people from coming to Alabama to do what is lawful here.” Their overbreadth and the fair-notice due process claims are dismissed, but the advocates’ freedom of speech, right to travel, freedom of association and extraterritoriality claims survive the motion.
Court: USDC Middle District of Alabama, Judge: Thompson, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv450, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Government, Due Process
J. Morrison orders the former attorney, Andrew Plasse, in an excessive force lawsuit against New York City to transfer his client’s case file to the new counsel, Michael Walker, finding the Plasse is not entitled to either a retaining or charging lien after concluding he was discharged from the case with cause. Plasse was sanctioned by the court for failing to act in his client’s best interest, including withholding pertinent details of a proposed settlement agreement and by lying to the court about his client’s health in order to adjourn a scheduled conference.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Morrison, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 1:14cv680, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Sanctions, Attorney Discipline
J. Chun declines to dismiss the school faculty member's retaliation claim in his complaint alleging that the university president wrongfully fired the faculty member for putting a statement in his class syllabus, emails and outside his faculty office door about the Coast Salish tribe's claim to land that read, "I acknowledge that by the labor theory of property the Coast Salish people can claim historical ownership of almost none of the land currently occupied by the University of Washington." The school faculty member plausibly alleges a First Amendment retaliation claim as his speech “related to scholarship or teaching." While the university and its president cite the "Johnson v. Poway Unified School District" decision that allows discipline of speech on school grounds, that case's analysis focuses on secondary school education, not college education.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Chun, Filed On: May 3, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv964, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Education, Employment Retaliation, First Amendment
J. Kobayashi dismisses a complaint that accuses the state of providing pornography to minors through its public library system, finding that the woman’s claims that children have been sexually abused at state libraries are not detailed or backed up by facts. Other claims she made also do not relate to each other or the library. Further, she does not have standing to bring claims on behalf of unnamed minor children as she does not assert any relationship with them.
Court: USDC Hawaii, Judge: Kobayashi, Filed On: May 3, 2024, Case #: 1:24cv101, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Government
J. Lee denies in part a police officer's motion for summary judgment on claims including excessive force filed by a mother who was tripped to the ground, allegedly for resisting arrest, when visiting the courthouse to pick up her son. The mother gave sufficient evidence of her injuries to support the excessive force claim.
Court: USDC Southern District of Mississippi , Judge: Lee, Filed On: May 3, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv439, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Due Process, Police Misconduct
J. Winmill denies in part a police officer and her husband's motion for summary judgment regarding an individual's claims of false arrest and defamation after he was arrested for misdemeanor second-degree stalking of the police officer, her husband, and their 12-year-old daughter. The couple alleged that the individual would park outside their home, beside their daughter's school bus, and that he tried to enter their home. After he was arrested, the husband posted the individual's mugshot on NextDoor. The county prosecutor eventually dismissed the charges against the individual. Undisputed facts show that the sheriff's department officer had probable cause to arrest the individual and that the police officer who claimed he was stalking her did not participate in the investigation or arrest. It is up to the jury to decide whether the husband acted negligently in posting the individual's information to NextDoor.
Court: USDC Idaho, Judge: Winmill, Filed On: May 3, 2024, Case #: 1:20cv186, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Defamation
J. Coulson denies a former police officer’s estate’s motion for summary judgment seeking a ruling in their favor without a trial in this lawsuit brought by a retired police officer alleging violations of the United States Constitution, the Maryland Declaration of Rights, and Maryland common law. The retired officer alleges he was battered, falsely arrested with excessive and unreasonable force, and maliciously prosecuted by the decedent and fellow officers. The decedent alleged that the retired officer did in fact resist arrest and any reasonable jury could find it was excessive force during handcuffing. Therefore, the decedent is not entitled to qualified immunity, there are genuine disputes of material fact and adequate discovery needs to be developed. The estate may file another motion for summary judgment after the discovery is available.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Coulson, Filed On: May 3, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv2379, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Municipal Law, Police Misconduct
J. Surrick grants the treasurer of Pennsylvania’s motion to dismiss a class action suit alleging that Pennsylvania’s Disposition of Abandoned and Unclaimed Property Act, wherein the state treasurer takes custody of certain property deemed “abandoned and unclaimed,” violates the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The government does not need to compensate an owner for the consequences of their own neglect.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Judge: Surrick, Filed On: May 3, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv1852, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Government, Property