In Barnes v. Felix, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that courts evaluating Fourth Amendment excessive-force claims in Section 1983 lawsuits against law enforcement officers must consider the “totality of the...more
The Supreme Court of the United States issued one decision today: Barnes v. Felix, No. 23-1239: This criminal procedure case concerns the proper scope of analysis for Fourth Amendment excessive force claims....more
Moore v. Oakland County, Michigan, 126 F.4th 1163 (6th Cir. 2025) - This § 1983 lawsuit was filed against a police officer after a confrontation during a traffic stop in which the plaintiff resisted compliance. Despite the...more
Back The Blue Act - This week, the Alabama House of Representatives passed the Back the Blue Protection Act, sponsored by Representative Rex Reynolds and Senator Lance Bell, which aims to expand legal immunity for law...more
In Thomas v. City of Harrisburg, et al., 2023 WL 8461096 (3d Cir. Dec. 6, 2023), the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently determined that police officers were not entitled to qualified immunity where...more
Akima v. Peca, 85 F.4th 416 (6th Cir. 2023) - The plaintiff, an Asian male in the U.S. on a visa, was pulled over for a broken headlight. The plaintiff attempted to exit the vehicle during the stop, allegedly a possible sign...more
Events from recent years related to alleged police misconduct raised major questions surrounding the protections afforded by qualified immunity to police officers in excessive force claims. Two recent Supreme Court decisions...more
Law enforcement critics have launched concerted attacks on the doctrine of qualified immunity in an effort to mischaracterize the doctrine as allowing police officers to escape liability for clearly unconstitutional conduct. ...more
In a 5-3 decision authored by Chief Justice Roberts, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Torres v. Madrid that a woman who was shot while fleeing from police officers was “seized,” even though she remained at large. ...more
Recent unrest has thrust the doctrine of qualified immunity into the spotlight. Many of those who oppose law enforcement frequently misrepresent the nature, extent, and intent of this limited immunity. Doing so fosters the...more
In Neftali Monzon v. City of Murrieta et al. (No. 19-55164, filed July 22/2020), Plaintiffs Neftali Monzon and Marylou Monzon sued the City of Murrieta and five individually named police officers (collectively “Defendants”)...more
Protestors across America have delivered a firm message in response to the deaths of black citizens at the hands of law enforcement: “This has to stop.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit used the same words on...more
In the days and weeks following the heinous killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, before the very eyes of the country, protests and cries that Black Lives Matter have been interwoven with calls for meaningful and lasting...more
A while back I wrote about the collateral order doctrine as discussed by the Fourth Circuit in Williams v. Strickland. Williams involved an alleged excessive force claim against a law enforcement officer and an...more
The US Supreme Court issued an Opinion April 2, 2018 (Kisela v. Hughes) that a Tucson Police officer was justified in shooting a woman who was holding a knife near her roommate after the woman was reported exhibiting...more
The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a Tucson police officer who shot a woman four times could not be sued for violating the woman’s Constitutional rights. The case is a significant win for government officials. It’s a...more
The Supreme Court of the United States issued two decisions today: Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro, No. 16-1362: The Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) requires that employers pay covered employees overtime compensation,...more
The Supreme Court of the United States issued three decisions yesterday: National Assn. of Mfrs. v. Department of Defense, No. 16-299: In 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers...more
The United States Supreme Court recently held that an officer’s use of deadly force by shooting an armed individual before issuing a verbal warning did not violate a clearly established Fourth Amendment right, and therefore,...more
Police Officers are often faced with unimaginable circumstances that most of society runs away from. However, police officers took the oath to protect and serve, and to run towards that danger. Sometimes, running towards...more
On May 18, 2015, the United States Supreme Court decided City and County of San Francisco v. Sheehan, No. 13-1412, holding that police officers were entitled to qualified immunity against a constitutional claim based on...more