In Villarreal v. City of Laredo, Texas, a 2022 Fifth Circuit case, the plaintiff was prosecuted under a never-before used (and subsequently held-unconstitutional) state statute for publishing information she obtained from a police officer. The Fifth Circuit panel explained as follows in denying qualified immunity to the defendant police officers: “If the First Amendment means
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The Fifth Circuit Still Stands Alone In Refusing To Accept the State-Created Danger Theory
By Snahmod
Still playing it coy on the state-created danger exception to DeShaney v. Winnebago County, 489 U.S. 189 (1989), the Fifth Circuit ruled that the defendant public school officials were protected by qualified immunity when they failed to prevent the sexual assault on a disabled student by another student with “known violent tendencies.” The student alleged…
Recent and Forthcoming Supreme Court Section 1983-Related Cases: Author’s Note
By Snahmod
The 2024-25 Edition of my three-volume Treatise on section 1983 will be available in early September on West and Westlaw. The Treatise, first published in 1979, has been updated annually, I am pleased to say. In any event, I want to share the Author’s Note with you because it provides a current list of the…
Cert Granted in Williams v. Washington: State Court Section 1983 Claims and Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies
By Snahmod
It has been blackletter law since Patsy v. Fla. Bd. of Regents, 457 U.S. 496 (1982), and well before, that exhaustion of administrative remedies, like exhaustion of judicial remedies (see Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 473 (1961)), is not required as a condition precedent to filing a § 1983 claim in federal court. Even though…
Supreme Court Rules Homelessness Not Protected By Eighth Amendment: City of Grants Pass v. Johnson
By Snahmod
Suppose §1983 Eighth Amendment actions are brought by non-prisoners such as the homeless who allege that they are punished either because of their status–see Robinson v. California, 370 U.S. 660, 82 S. Ct. 1417, 8 L. Ed. 2d 758 (1962), or because of their involuntary acts–see Powell v. Texas., 392 U.S. 514, 88 S. Ct.…
Supreme Court Adopts Charge-Specific Rule for Section 1983 Fourth Amendment Malicious Prosecution Claims: Chiaverini v. City of Napoleon
By Snahmod
Where a § 1983 plaintiff asserts a Fourth Amendment malicious prosecution claim for damages against law enforcement officers, such a claim may be viable where the plaintiff alleges a seizure, the absence of probable cause, malice (presumed by the absence of probable cause) and favorable termination. See Manuel v. City of Joliet, 580 U.S. 357…
The Supreme Court Rejects a Too-Narrow Nieves First Amendment Retaliation Claims Exception: Gonzalez v. Trevino
By Snahmod
On June 20, 2024, the Supreme Court handed down Gonzalez v. Trevino, 144 S. Ct. — (2024), reversing 42 F.4th 487 (5th Cir. 2022), a § 1983 First Amendment retaliatory arrest case involving the meaning of the “objective evidence” exception of Nieves v. Bartlett, 139 S. Ct. 1715 (2019). Under this “narrow” exception, a First…
An Updated Section 1983 Primer (7): Introduction to Absolute Individual Immunity
By Snahmod
In honor of the 40th Annual Conference on Section 1983, which was recently held in-person at Chicago-Kent College of Law on April 18-19, 2024, I have been updating my popular “Primer” series on section 1983. Persons Who Are Not “Persons” The language of section 1983 makes “[e]very person” who deprives another of his or her…
Supreme Court Grants Certiorari in Attorney’s Fees/Preliminary Injunction Case: Lackey v. Holcomb
By Snahmod
The Supreme Court recently granted certiorari in Lackey v. Holcomb, 145 S. Ct. – (4-22-24)(No. 23-621), to deal with the following Questions Presented: (1) Whether a party must obtain a ruling that conclusively decides the merits in its favor, as opposed to merely predicting a likelihood of later success, to prevail on the merits under…
Rule 11 Sanctions Against Attorneys for Filing A Frivolous Election Conspiracy Lawsuit and for Persisting in Making Frivolous Arguments in a Section 1983 Case
By Snahmod
Two recent circuit court decisions, one from the Sixth Circuit and the other from the Fifth, are examples of the relatively few situations in which attorneys are sanctioned under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.. Rule 11 Sanctions Recall that Rule 11 imposes sanctions, including expenses and attorney’s fees, on attorneys and…