Is Hands Free Driving Risk Free? Not According to Most States
Do you talk or text while driving? If so, you better check out the status of the law in your state. Here are two links that will give you important information on these laws. And local governments are...
View ArticleSeventh Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment Where Officers Rely on Emergency...
Seventh Circuit affirms summary judgment for officers acting on emergency detention statement who force their way into home, take woman inside to psychiatric hospital, and seize her gun and...
View Article9th Circuit Reverses Summary Judgment for Officers Where Automatic License...
The Ninth Circuit issued a decision in Green v. City and County of San Francisco, Case No. 11-117892 (9th Cir. May 12, 2014) this week, a case arising out of a vehicle stop made by San Francisco police...
View Article42 U.S.C. § 1981 Does Not Create Private Action against State Actors in...
As a matter of first impression, the Seventh Circuit has held that 42 U.S.C. § 1981 does not create a private right of action against state actors. Campbell v. Forest Pres. Dist. of Cook Cnty., Ill.,...
View Article11th Circuit Admonishes Officer and Denies Qualified Immunity for Warrantless...
In Morris v. Town of Lexington, Ala., Dkt. No. 13-10434, the Eleventh Circuit examined the interplay between the Fourth Amendment and a warrantless home entry (which was not entitled to qualified...
View ArticleVideo Evidence Discredits Plaintiff's Section 1983 Claim
In a recent unpublished[1] opinion from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals (decided on May 21, 2014), the court relied on video evidence in affirming summary judgment for the defendant in a Section...
View ArticleIs There Malicious Prosecution Claim Under the Fourth Amendment?
At Thursday's weekly conference, SCOTUS will discuss the petition for writ of certiorari in Myers v. Koopman. The issue raised in this case has two parts: "(1) whether a malicious prosecution claim...
View ArticleHarris v. Quinn
In Harris v. Quinn, 11-681, the United States Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote, struck down an Illinois law requiring home healthcare workers paid with Medicaid funds to belong to a public employee union...
View ArticleSeventh Circuit Finds Heck v. Humphrey Does Not Bar Two Section 1983 claims
On June 27, 2014, the Seventh Circuit found that two Fourth Amendment excessive force claims were compatible with Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994), reversing the court below on this issue. In...
View ArticleSeventh Circuit finds Indiana’s Marriage Solemnization Statute Unconstitutional
Yesterday, the Seventh Circuit ruled that Indiana’s statute regarding who may solemnize a marriage violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as well as the First Amendment,...
View ArticleSecond Circuit Affirms Attorney’s Fees Award to Prevailing Defendants
An attorney's fees award to prevailing defendants under 42 U.S.C. 1988 is relatively uncommon, at least more uncommon than fee awards to prevailing plaintiffs. But this week in Carter v. Inc. Village...
View ArticleSeventh Circuit Affirms Decisions Concerning Jury Selection
On Monday, the Seventh Circuit affirmed two jury-selection decisions in a Section 1983 wrongful arrest lawsuit. In Marshall v. City of Chicago, No. 13-2771, 2014 WL 3892562 (7th Cir. Aug. 11, 2014),...
View ArticlePresumption of Public Access to Documents Filed with a Court Limited by the...
The Seventh Circuit has issued an opinion in City of Greenville, Illinois, v. Syngenta Crop Protection LLC, which limits the presumption of public access to non-privileged documents filed with a court...
View ArticleSection 1981 Does Not Prohibit Religious Discrimination, Holds Seventh Circuit
On Thursday, the Seventh Circuit held that 42 U.S.C. 1981 does not protect against religious discrimination. In Lubavitch-Chabad of Ill., Inc. v. Nw. Univ., No. 14-1055, 2014 WL 5762937 (7th Cir. Nov....
View ArticleOfficers Entitled to Qualified Immunity for Detaining Police Sergeant
On Wednesday, the Seventh Circuit held that officers who detained a police sergeant without a warrant were entitled to qualified immunity. In Mucha v. Jackson, No. 14-3619, 2015 WL 3397026 (7th Cir....
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