In Hernandez v. City of Vancouver, Mark Tanninen, No. 06-35713, filed April 14, 2008, the Ninth Circuit issued a memorandum opinion reversing summary judgment for the employer. Hernandez, a native and citizen of Mexico, asserted claims of disparate treatment, retaliation, and hostile work environment under 42 U.S.C. Sections 1981 and 1983. He also alleged city […]
Alaska Statute 23.10.430 provides:
An employer shall permit an employee or former employee to inspect and make copies of the employee’s personnel file and other personnel information maintained by the employer concerning the employee under reasonable rules during regular business hours.
8 AAC 15.910(d) implements the statute by defining “personnel file and other personnel information.”
Neither the statute nor […]
Daniel Mahoney sued several police officers for violating his constitutional rights through use of excessive force, assault and battery, false arrest, and false imprisonment, all arising from his wife’s 911 call reporting domestic violence. Mahoney relied on 42 USC § 1983. Judge Timothy Burgess has granted part of the defendants’ motion for partial summary judgment based on qualified […]
Property law in Victorian literature: Ilya Somin’s post on fee tails in Austen novels brought up great comments on similar issues in works by Trollope, Hardy, etc. Apropos of absolutely nothing except the connection with English novels, I recommend Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time, a 12-volume roman fleuve. […]
Judge Timothy Burgess has issued a major (44-page) opinion resolving multiple FMLA issues, including several left open by the 9th Circuit. He also addressed claims under the 1866 Civil Rights Act and the state Whistleblower Act. Burgess granted summary judgment in part for the employee and in part for the employer, Ilisagvik College in Barrow.
Plaintiff Bobbi Wade […]
Duty to confer typically requires face-to-face meeting
In an excessive force case, Judge John Sedwick has resolved a number of discovery issues that commonly arise in civil litigation, including employment cases.
Defendant’s discovery obligations: Sedwick granted the plaintiff’s motion to discover information about defendant’s insurance policies; other complaints, internal investigation reports, and lawsuits against the officer for excessive force; and training […]
Recent opinions from the Alaska Supreme Court and the 9th Circuit have questioned the wisdom of the “order of battle” dictated by Saucier v. Katz (2001)(in constitutional tort cases, decide liability first, then qualified immunity). The U. S. Supreme Court has now granted cert and directed the parties to brief whether that part of Saucier should be […]
A police detective secretly video-taped several officers’ locker room, investigating the theft of a flashlight. The Ninth Circuit now holds that the officers had both a subjective and objective reasonable expectation of privacy, and that no reasonable supervisor could have believed that the search was constitutional. The detective, thus, had no immunity to a damage claim […]
In deciding a motion for summary judgment in a section 1983 action we are bound to look first to whether there was a constitutional violation and then to whether defendants have qualified immunity, even if the qualified immunity inquiry would resolve the case more easily. See Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 201 (2001); Meyers, […]
The Juneau School District defendants continue to try to collect $4,961.67 in court-awarded costs from the student who sued in the Bong Hits 4 Jesus case that went to the U. S. Supreme Court. Federal Magistrate Judge Mary Guss has now granted the defendants’ Motion to Compel and ordered plaintiff Joseph Frederick to answer Interrogatories and to respond to […]
Retaliation for earlier litigation: An employer’s retaliation against an employee because the employee earlier sued the employer violates § 1983 rights under the 1st Amendment only if the subject matter of the earlier lawsuit was a matter of “public concern.” Mason v. Univ. and Comm. College Sys. of Nevada, 2008 WL _______ (9th Cir. Jan. […]
The 9th Circuit has now issued its en banc opinion in the social worker immunity case, previously discussed here. It reversed earlier 9th Circuit precedent and held that social workers are not immune under § 1983 for investigatory conduct and other discretionary decisions about whether to pursue dependency proceedings. This is the issue that was before […]
A law enforcement officer alleged that his department transferred him in retaliation for public positions he took during an election, and sued under 42 USC § 1983. The panel reversed several trial court rulings adverse to the employee.
Undesired duties as adverse employment action: The panel held that the transfer was an adverse employment action, though it apparently […]
Manual instruction to “enforce all laws” doesn’t satisfy Garcetti
In Garcetti v. Ceballos, 126 S.Ct. 1951 (2006), the Supreme Court held, generally, that the 1st Amendment doesn’t protect public employee speech required by the employee’s job responsibilities. That holding triggered fears that public employers could immunize themselves from retaliation claims by drafting needlessly broad job descriptions. The […]
Sedwick dismisses several § 1983 claims
Impermissible search: Back in July, Judge Sedwick dismissed an acquitted criminal defendant’s civil rights claims against two state prosecutors arising from a marijuana search later held improper under state, not federal law. Mahle v. Mun. of Anchorage, 2007 WL 2021814 (D.Alaska Jul. 10, 2007). Now Sedwick has dismissed Mahle’s claims against the […]
Same issue was recently before the Alaska Supreme Court
The 9th Circuit has referred the issue of social worker immunity from § 1983 claims to an en banc panel.
In Beltran v. Santa Clara County, 491 F.3d 1097 (9th Cir. 2007), earlier this summer, a three-judge panel held that a social worker who allegedly submitted a […]
Doug Mertz says that Frederick may appeal state issue
Judge John Sedwick on Wednesday issued his final order in the “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” case, unless the plaintiff takes an appeal and is successful.
Sedwick’s October 10th Order dismissed Frederick’s state law claim under Article I, § 5 of the Alaska Constitution (”Freedom of Speech”). He found […]
What is proper standard: “deliberate indifference” or “shocks the conscience”?
Judge John Sedwick has held that parents stated a claim under 42 USC § 1983 against a State Trooper who shot their adult son. The son was in a stopped car in a pull-out on the Sterling Highway. After the son refused to get out of the car, […]
The 9th Circuit this morning held that the Alaska Right to Life PAC did not present a justiciable controversy when it sued members of the Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct and the Disciplinary Committee of the Alaska Bar Association concerning questionnaires the PAC distributed to Alaskan judges up for retention in 2002.
Twelve judges or justices were […]
In two opinions issued Friday, the Alaska Supreme Court discussed the relationship between state law and federal civil rights claims under 42 USC § 1983.
1) Prentzel v. State. The first opinion put an end to Thomas Prentzel’s wrongful arrest claims (both state and federal) against several Alaska State Troopers. On remand from an earlier opinion, […]
Court of Appeals Affirms Judge Sedwick; Result may Differ under Alaska Law
The City of Mesa, Arizona, required Christine Nilsson, an applicant for a police position, to waive any claims arising out of the City’s pending investigation of her background. After she complied, the investigation proceeded and revealed an EEOC dispute with a previous employer, workers comp claims, […]
The State successfully prosecuted Gerald Mahle for in-home possession of marijuana, but lost on appeal after the state Court of Appeals issued State v. Crocker, 97 P.3d 93 (Alaska App. 2004)(court should not issue a search warrant for home unless it has probable cause to believe that the resident’s possession of marijuana exceeds Ravin limits). […]
Today’s opinion in Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Ass’n v. Brentwood Academy, 2007 WL 1773196 (June 21, 2007), resolved two issues: Did the Ass’n violate the 1st Amendment when it enforced its rule barring high school coaches from recruiting middle school athletes (Answer: No)? and Did the Ass’n violate Due Process when its hearing panel, during deliberations, […]
In today’s opinion in Sole v. Wyner, 2007 WL 1582904, the U S Supreme Court addressed this issue:
Does a plaintiff who gains a preliminary injunction after an abbreviated hearing, but is denied a permanent injunction after a dispositive adjudication on the merits, qualify as a ‘prevailing party’ within the compass of [42 USC] § 1988(b)?
The unanimous Court, […]
