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Connecticut Guards Firing for Motorcycle Gang Membership Denied PI

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Gang Policies, Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Guards/Staff, Employee Litigation, Guard Unions

Connecticut Guards Firing for Motorcycle Gang Membership Denied PI by State correctional officers were issued "formal counseling" for violating the state's policy against engaging in conduct that constitutes or looks like a conflict of interest, engaging in unprofessional or illegal behavior that could reflect negatively on the agency, and acting …

Connecticut Police Officers' Liability in Beating Handcuffed Arrestee Generally Upheld

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Restraints, Damages, Police, False Arrest, Excessive Force (Police)

Connecticut Police Officers' Liability in Beating Handcuffed Arrestee Generally Upheld by Connecticut Police Officers' Liability in Beating Handcuffed Arrestee Generally Upheld The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals generally upheld a judgment on a jury verdict against New Haven, Connecticut police officers who beat and dragged a handcuffed Army captain …

Connecticut Prisoner's Suit Reopened

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Retaliation, Retaliation for Filing Grievances, Retaliatory Transfers, Settlements

Connecticut Prisoner's Suit Reopened by The U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, citing Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (Fed.R.Civ.Proc.) 60(b)(6), held that a Connecticut state prisoner could reopen his federal civil rights suit that had been previously dismissed. Stephen Smith, a prisoner in custody of the Connecticut Department …

636(b)(1)(B) Authorizes Nonconsensual Referral To Magistrate

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Guard Brutality/Beatings, Civil Procedure, Magistrates

636(b)(1)(B) Authorizes Nonconsensual Referral To Magistrate by The U.S. Supreme Court held that 28 U.S.C.A. § 636(b)(1)(B) authorized nonconsensual referrals to a magistrate both in cases involving challenges to ongoing conditions of confinement and cases where a specific instance of constitutional violations by prison officials is alleged. Petitioner John McCarthy, …

$385,000 Paid to Connecticut Prisoner for Guard's Sexual Assault

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Sexual Assault, Staff-Prisoner Assault

$385,000 Paid to Connecticut Prisoner for Guard's Sexual Assault by On April 15, 1991, a jury awarded a 34-year-old former prisoner of Connecticut's Women's Correctional Institution $385,000, which included $250,000 in punitive damages, against a prison guard who sexually assaulted her during incarceration. The guard was ultimately fired and criminally …

Remitted Damages Award Upheld in Excessive Force Claim

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Guard Brutality/Beatings, Civil Procedure, Damages, Jury Instructions

Remitted Damages Award Upheld in Excessive Force Claim by The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld damages awarded to a prisoner in a 42 U.S.C. §1983 claim against jail guards for using excessive force. The case was previously reported by PLN (September 1999, page 10). Facts of the case …

$41,000 Jury Verdict for Pepper Sprayed CT Motorist

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Excessive Force, Pepper Spray/Tear Gas, Excessive Force (Police)

$41,000 Jury Verdict for Pepper Sprayed CT Motorist by The plaintiff allegedly "confronted" police officers at a traffic stop and was sprayed in the face with capstun. She was yelling and kicking in the patrol car because she was having a strong reaction to the capstun, could not see and …

Juvenile Curfew Law Struck Down

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Juveniles

Juvenile Curfew Law Struck Down by The court invalidates a juvenile curfew ordinance insofar as it barred juveniles from being on the streets with parental consent. The court applies intermediate scrutiny to the claim. At 175: "Intermediate scrutiny typically is used to review laws that employ quasi-suspect classifications, . . …

Forbidding Prison Nurse From Leaving Work States False Imprisonment

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Sentencing, Wrongful Imprisonment, Employee Litigation

Forbidding Prison Nurse From Leaving Work States False Imprisonment by The plaintiff prison nurse alleged that, while suffering from a severe bout of poison ivy and trying to leave for medical treatment, she was "held hostage" by her supervisor and prevented from leaving the premises. The supervisor, by instructing an …

Lack of Investigations of Police Misconduct Make City Liable

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Misconduct/Corruption, Police Misconduct, Municipal Liability, Excessive Force (Police)

Lack of Investigations of Police Misconduct Make City Liable by The plaintiff's claim of municipal liability for excessive force is supported by evidence (at 199) that Hartford does not take civilian complaints of excessive force seriously, as shown by a pattern of allowing complaints to molder and gray without adequate …

Second Circuit Discusses Establishment of Law for Qualified Immunity Purposes

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Immunity/Liability, Qualified Immunity

Second Circuit Discusses Establishment of Law for Qualified Immunity Purposes by The Second Circuit continues the dance of recalcitrance begun in Horne v. Coughlin with the Supreme Court's repeated admonitions that in qualified immunity analysis, first courts determine if there was a legal violation, and second they decide if the …

Challenge to Legal Supplies Indigent Rule Dismissed

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Mandamus

Challenge to Legal Supplies Indigent Rule Dismissed by The plaintiff sought a writ of mandamus to order the state correction department to provide him and all other inmates legal materials on request, contrary to its policy that no one is considered indigent and eligible for free services until after 90 …

Connecticut: Suit Over Prisoner's Suicide Settles for $450,000

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Immunity/Liability, Municipal Liability, Suicides

Connecticut: Suit Over Prisoner's Suicide Settles for $450,000 by In this case published by the New England Jury Verdict Review & Analysis in February 1994, the estate and brother of a prisoner who committed suicide in the Southington, Connecticut, jail apparently settled their claims for $450,000. According to the plaintiffs, …

Dismissal and QI Denied in Cross-Gender Pat Searches

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Staff-Prisoner Assault, Staff-Prisoner Harassment, Retaliation for Filing Grievances, Pat Searches, Failure to Protect (General), Violence Against Women Act, Immunity/Liability, Qualified Immunity, Failure to Train/Supervise

Dismissal and QI Denied in Cross-Gender Pat Searches by The Federal District Court in Connecticut has found that fact issues remain regarding the constitutionality of cross gender pat searches and whether appropriate steps were taken to protect a female prisoner after she reported sexual assaults by a guard. Qualified immunity …

Prisoner's Transfer Enjoined Until Hearing to Determine Motivation

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Transfers, Retaliatory Transfers, Retaliation for Organizing, Civil Procedure, Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's

Prisoner's Transfer Enjoined Until Hearing to Determine Motivation by A federal district court issued a temporary injunction enjoining Connecticut state prison officials from transferring a prisoner, who was a reporter and columnist for a local newspaper. Prison officials contended the prisoner was not safe in administrative confinement or population from …

Prisoner's Records Request Tolls Statue of Limitations

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Police Misconduct, Civil Procedure, Limitations

Prisoner's Records Request Tolls Statue of Limitations by The Second Circuit Court of Appeals held a statue of limitations is tolled between the period a prisoner requests records and the time he receives them. This 42 U.S.C. §1983 action was dismissed by a Connecticut Federal District Court on statue of …

CT Prisoner Wins $5,500 in Suit for Damages Sustained in Transport Van Accident, Affirmed on Appeal

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Transportation, Damages, Jury Instructions

CT Prisoner Wins $5,500 in Suit for Damages Sustained in Transport Van Accident, Affirmed on Appeal by CT Prisoner Wins $5,500 in Suit for Damages Sustained in Transport Van Accident, Affirmed on Appeal Thomas Beverly, a Connecticut state prisoner, sustained back injuries when the Department of Corrections van he was …

CT Guard Denied Sovereign Immunity for Harassing Prisoner

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Conditions of Confinement, Failure to Protect (General), Sovereign Immunity

CT Guard Denied Sovereign Immunity for Harassing Prisoner by Anthony Torres, a Connecticut state prisoner, was repeatedly taunted, called a child molester and threatened with violence by a guard named John Zina at Connecticut's Northern Correctional Institute. When Warden Wayne Choinski wouldn't remedy the problem, Torres sued Zina and Choinski …

$5,500 Awarded in Connecticut Transport Accident

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Transportation

$5,500 Awarded in Connecticut Transport Accident by While being arrested for purse snatching, Thomas Beverly suffered severe abrasions on his knees while being apprehended. A Connecticut prison guard struck a stopped vehicle while transporting Beverly to a hospital. Beverly alleged he suffered a back injury that prevented him from permanently …

Attorney Sanction for Failure to Comply with Pretrial Orders Upheld

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Attorney Misconduct, Civil Procedure, Sanctions

Attorney Sanction for Failure to Comply with Pretrial Orders Upheld by Both plaintiff's and defendants' attorneys were sanctioned for failing to comply with the court's pre-trial order procedures, and plaintiff's attorney appealed (defense counsel's motion to vacate was still pending in the district court). At 125-26: A court has the …