by David M. Reutter
On November 7, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that a Virginia prisoner successfully pleaded that a policy of the state Department of Corrections (DOC) substantially burdened his religious beliefs. That sent the case back to the district court to determine ...
by David M. Reutter
On May 3, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for defendant jailers in a lawsuit seeking damages for a Utah detainee’s suicide. Not only bad for the survivors of the unfortunate man, the case also offers a lesson in ...
by David M. Reutter
Technology giveth and technology taketh away – even in prison. That was the conclusion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on October 26, 2022, when it reversed dismissal of an Ohio prisoner’s civil rights action, finding a viable dispute regarding exhaustion of ...
by David M. Reutter
On December 16, 2022, the federal court for the Northern District of California entered final approval of a settlement agreement in a class-action suit alleging Santa Clara County continued to hold detainees in jail after the county District Attorney (DA) declined to prosecute them. The agreement ...
by David M. Reutter
The Supreme Court of Montana, in an opinion issued on October 18, 2022, held that the District Court for the state’s Seventh Judicial Circuit issued an illegal sentence when it failed to award credit for time served on two concurrent sentences. In its ruling, the Court ...
by David M. Reutter
On October 25, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed the dismissal of a civil rights complaint filed by a former Wisconsin prisoner, who alleged that in 2018 he defecated on himself after being unable to access the handicapped toilet at Racine ...
by David M. Reutter
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on November 14, 2022, reversed the decertification of a class in a lawsuit alleging that Division 10 of the Cook County Jail does not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. ch.126 § 12101 et ...
by David M. Reutter
On March 14, 2023, a federal judge in Georgia sentenced former Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill to an 18-month federal prison term for violating the civil rights of pretrial detainees in the county jail.
A jury in the federal court for the Northern District of Georgia ...
by David M. Reutter
On September 8, 2022, the federal court for the Eastern District of Missouri approved a settlement under which St. Louis County agreed to pay $1.2 million to resolve claims that a state prisoner detained in the county jail died due to denied medical care.
From his ...
by David M. Reutter
On November 11, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed dismissal of an Alabama prisoner’s civil rights action that alleged overlong delays in treatment for hernias and post-surgery complications. The case provides a lesson in the proper preparation of affidavits to support ...
