by Douglas Ankney
On June 3, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit declined to join most sister circuits, which admit evidentiary challenges to class certification of a lawsuit. The Court called admissibility a “red herring” at such an early stage—before proceeding to find …
by Douglas Ankney
In 2016, University of Michigan Professor Heather Ann Thompson published Blood in the Water, a book about the 1971 uprising at New York’s Attica State Prison that claimed the lives of 33 prisoners and 10 guards. The book received numerous awards, including the 2016 Bancroft …
by Douglas Ankney
On June 6, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit released a mandate it earlier withheld, which in turn ordered the release of Louisiana prisoner Samuel K. Galbraith—nearly eight years after he was originally granted parole. However, the Court had subsequently withdrawn …
by Douglas Ankney
On February 5, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a grant of summary judgment to Defendant Hawaii Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR) officials accused by prisoner Dewitt Lamar Long of violating his First Amendment right to free exercise of …
by Douglas Ankney
On April 4, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed denial of qualified immunity (QI) to defendant Missouri Department of Corrections (DOC) guards in a transgender prisoner’s claims that they subjected her to retaliation and unreasonable search in violation of her …
by Douglas Ankney
On December 8, 2023, the Indiana city of Elkhart agreed to pay former state prisoner Andrew Royer, then 44, nearly $12 million to settle a lawsuit filed over his wrongful murder conviction and subsequent 17 years of unjustified imprisonment.
In October 2023, Royer filed …
by Douglas Ankney
When Kentucky prisoner Keith Bramblett complained about not receiving “good time credit” against his sentence for the class he took while incarcerated, an official with the state Department of Corrections (DOC) replied: “Sue me.” So Bramblett did. A dozen years later, the class-action has cost the state about $30 million to defend what one judge called a “severely mismanaged” program, which left thousands of prisoners like Bramblett confined months or years beyond their release dates.
In its most recent ruling on March 29, 2024, the federal court for the Eastern District of Kentucky likened the case to “an imposing kudzu vine that swiftly grew in its number of claims and its number of parties.” The Seventh Amended Class Action Complaint filed by Bramblett and fellow Plaintiffs—Brandon Biggs, Osiris Caise, James Coitrone, Quincy Dunn, Barbara Gordon, Lorenzo Lee, Tony Lutes, Lance Meacham, Walter A. Noland, Cedrick Lee Pollard, Donald Roberts and David Voyles—challenged the Commonwealth of Kentucky, its Justice and Public Safety Cabinet and DOC, on behalf of a certified class of prisoners allegedly denied sentence credits under KRS 197.045 “through completion of educational or behavioral modification programs” over the previous five years.
Plaintiffs …
by Douglas Ankney
On July 17, 2024, the Washington State Patrol (WSP) was accused of negligently arresting and jailing a woman for suspected DUI when in fact she was suffering a life-threatening brain bleed. Beyond the outrageous underlying facts, the case is instructive for those making similar claims, since Nicole McClure’s original complaint filed under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 was dismissed because of a pleading error.
Feeling ill on March 21, 2023, McClure, 40, left work early to drive back to her Olympia home. WSP Trooper Jonathan Barnes observed her vehicle traveling “at a noticeably slow rate of speed” and activated his lights and siren. But when McClure continued traveling, he deactivated his lights and siren and called for backup—just before McClure drove into a roundabout and collided with a concrete barrier in the center.
Dashcam footage from Barnes’ patrol care recorded him rushing to her vehicle, gun drawn, repeatedly screaming: “Get out of the car now!” McClure replied that she had left work early due to a severe headache. She felt dizzy, she added, and didn’t know what was going on. Barnes ordered McClure to drop her keys, but she didn’t. It was later revealed …
by Douglas Ankney
On April 5, 2024, the City of New York agreed to pay $28.75 million to settle a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint filed by Madeline Feliciano, whose grandson Nicholas Feliciano hanged himself in November 2019 at the city’s Rikers Island jail complex—after which city Department …
by Douglas Ankney
On May 3, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed denial of qualified immunity (QI) to Los Angeles County Jail nurse Trieste Turner in a civil rights claim brought after she cleared a detainee for release and he committed suicide. Turner …
