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Tenth Circuit Follows Jones v. Bock, Reverses Full-Exhaustion Predicate in § 1983 Cases
Article • December 15, 2008 • from PLN December, 2008
Filed under: Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Civil Procedure, Defenses, Complaints
Tenth Circuit Follows Jones v. Bock, Reverses Full-Exhaustion Predicate in § 1983 Cases by John Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg The Tenth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals realigned its jurisprudence to comport with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Jones v. Bock, 127 S.Ct. 910 (2007) [see: PLN, May 2007, …
BOP Administrative Tort Claims Fail to Satisfy PLRA’s Exhaustion Requirement
Article • November 15, 2008 • from PLN November, 2008
Filed under: Medical, Skeletal Injury, Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Defenses, Federal Tort Claims Act
BOP Administrative Tort Claims Fail to Satisfy PLRA’s Exhaustion Requirement by BOP Administrative Tort Claims Fail to Satisfy PLRA’s Exhaustion Requirement The Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that a federal prisoner’s administrative tort claims did not satisfy the administrative exhaustion requirement of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), but …
“Defense of Another” Not Applicable to Prison Disciplinary Defense
Article • August 15, 2008 • from PLN August, 2008
Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Failure to Protect (General), Defenses
“Defense of Another” Not Applicable to Prison Disciplinary Defense by The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that it is no defense to a prison disciplinary charge for battery that the blows were struck to prevent the further stabbing of a third person. Aaron B. Scruggs, an Indiana state prisoner, …
Eleventh Circuit Discusses Contempt Fines for Violation of Consent Decree
Article • August 15, 2008
Filed under: Transfers, Conditions of Confinement, Overcrowding, Defenses, Consent Decrees, Sanctions
Eleventh Circuit Discusses Contempt Fines for Violation of Consent Decree by A consent decree ordered the state prison system to remove state prisoners from a county jail within 30 days of the state's receipt of the conviction and sentencing transcript. In response to a contempt motion, the state said it …
Lack of Funding No Defense for Bad Prison Conditions
Article • August 15, 2008
Filed under: Overcrowding, Eighth Amendment, Civil Procedure, Defenses, Consent Decrees, Sanctions
Lack of Funding No Defense for Bad Prison Conditions by The defendants were held in contempt in an earlier opinion for massive violations of a consent judgment. The defendants have taken sufficient measures, mainly alleviation of crowding (which the court terms the "bad seed" of many constitutional violations) to the …
NY Prisoner’s Disciplinary Action Reversed for Failure to Consider His Mental Health Problems
Article • July 15, 2008
Filed under: Disciplinary Litigation, Staff Assistance, Defenses, Mental Health, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness)
NY Prisoner’s Disciplinary Action Reversed for Failure to Consider His Mental Health Problems by On August 15, 1989, Luis Rosado, a New York state prisoner, was referred to the psychiatric unit at the Clinton Correctional Facility. While en route, he cut a guard’s arm with a razor blade. The cut …
Massachusetts Correctional Institution's BX Unit Ruled Inhumane
Article • July 15, 2008
Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Showers, Toilets, Sanitation, Defenses, Special Masters
Massachusetts Correctional Institution's BX Unit Ruled Inhumane by Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Bridgewater (MCI) representative, Frank Hall, and other officials objected to a magistrates report finding unconstitutional conditions of confinement at MCl's BX Unit (Unit). The report was adopted and remanded for the magistrate's remedial instruction as Special Master. The …
Tenth Circuit OKs First Raising Qualified Immunity on Summary Judgment
Article • January 15, 2008
Filed under: Civil Procedure, Summary Judgment, Defenses, RLUIPA, Qualified Immunity, Denial of Religious Services
Tenth Circuit OKs First Raising Qualified Immunity on Summary Judgment by The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held that prison officials did not waive a qualified immunity defense by failing to raise it in responsive pleadings. The district court erred in failing to address the defense in the summary judgment …
Seventh Circuit Rejects Federal Prisoner’s Necessity Defense
Article • January 15, 2008 • from PLN January, 2008
Filed under: Discrimination, Gang Policies, Body Cavity Searches, Criminal Prosecution, Prison/Jail Murders, Defenses
Seventh Circuit Rejects Federal Prisoner’s Necessity Defense by Seventh Circuit Rejects Federal Prisoner's Necessity Defense The Seventh Circuit found that a federal prisoner had failed to prove the requisite elements of the "necessity" defense in a prison weapon possession prosecution. In 1992, David Sahakian was sentenced to 360 months in …
Self-Defense: A New Jersey Prisoner’s Right
Article • January 15, 2008 • from PLN January, 2008
Filed under: Written Findings, Civil Procedure, Defenses, Failure to Protect (Transgender)
Self-Defense: A New Jersey Prisoner’s Right by Self-Defense: A New Jersey Prisoner's Right A New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, has held that a prisoner has a right to self-defense while incarcerated. Thus, a hearing officer must make specific findings when a self-defense theory is asserted. The ruling came in …
Eighth Circuit Reverses Dismissal of Forced Religion Claim
Article • December 15, 2007
Filed under: Self Incrimination, Attorneys, Appointment of Counsel, Defenses, Discovery, Sex Offender Treatment, Required Religious Programming, Proselytizing
Eighth Circuit Reverses Dismissal of Forced Religion Claim by The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal of a prisoner?s Establishment Clause Claim as frivolous. In June 2000, Arkansas prisoner James Munson was granted parole, contingent upon completion of a year long sex offender treatment program called Reduction of …
Sixth Circuit Now Permits § 1983 Complaint to Proceed Even if Prisoner Did Not Initially Plead Exhaustion Below
Article • September 15, 2007 • from PLN September, 2007
Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Legality of Rules, Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Legal Materials, Defenses, Complaints
Sixth Circuit Now Permits § 1983 Complaint to Proceed Even if Prisoner Did Not Initially Plead Exhaustion Below by John Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has vacated its precedent which held that a prisoner had an affirmative burden to plead exhaustion of administrative …
New York Jail’s Juvenile Education Suit Returns to District Court
Article • June 15, 2007 • from PLN June, 2007
Filed under: Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Injunctions (PLRA), Prisoner Privileges, Education, Defenses, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
New York Jail’s Juvenile Education Suit Returns to District Court by New York Jail's Juvenile Education Suit Returns to District Court The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a federal court may only grant relief in a civil rights action filed by a prisoner on federal law claims …
Federal Prisoner’s Criminal Assault Conviction Reversed; Entitled to Raise Self-Defense
Article • June 15, 2007 • from PLN June, 2007
Filed under: Crime/Demographics, Criminal Prosecution, Defenses
Federal Prisoner’s Criminal Assault Conviction Reversed; Entitled to Raise Self-Defense by Federal Prisoner's Criminal Assault Conviction Reversed; Entitled to Raise Self-Defense The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a California federal district court failed to properly define the elements of a claim of self-defense when a prisoner was …
Supreme Court Defines Federal Officials Immunity for State Tort Violations
Article • May 15, 2007
Filed under: Summary Judgment, Defenses, State Law Claims, Immunity/Liability, Sovereign Immunity
Supreme Court Defines Federal Officials Immunity for State Tort Violations by The U.S. Supreme Court has held that federal officials are entitled to absolute immunity from state-law tort actions only when the federal official's conduct is within the scope of their official duties and the conduct is discretionary in nature. …
Case Remanded for Expungement of Seg Record and Damages Hearing
Article • May 15, 2007
Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Disciplinary Litigation, Notice of Charges, Sanctions (Disciplinary Hearings), Notice of Hearing, Defenses, Injunctions, Parties, Service, Ad-Seg Hearings
Case Remanded for Expungement of Seg Record and Damages Hearing by The Seventh Circuit court of appeals ruled that an Illinois federal prisoner was entitled to relief in the form of expungement of the record of his confinement to segregation where federal prison officials had been ordered to give the …
Default Denied Where Defendant Ignores Complaint
Article • May 15, 2007
Filed under: Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Civil Procedure, Defenses, Default Judgments
Default Denied Where Defendant Ignores Complaint by The plaintiff is not entitled to a default judgment against a defendant who has not answered because he has not exhausted. The court does not explain in its two-sentence reference to this issue why the defendant in question hasn't waived exhaustion, and also …
Supreme Court Clarifies Limitations on Removed State Law Claims
Article • May 15, 2007
Filed under: Civil Procedure, Defenses, State Law Claims, Limitations, Eleventh Amendment Immunity
Supreme Court Clarifies Limitations on Removed State Law Claims by The plaintiffs filed federal claims and state claims in federal court; the state claims were dismissed on Eleventh Amendment grounds and then refiled in state court, where they were dismissed on limitations grounds. 28 U.S.C. § 1367(a), the supplemental jurisdiction …
Exhaustion is an Affirmative Defense under PLRA
Article • May 15, 2007
Filed under: Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Civil Procedure, Defenses
Exhaustion is an Affirmative Defense under PLRA by Plaintiff wrote on the complaint form, where it asked whether he had filed a grievance, that he had not because "I did not know what to do." He never responded to defendants' motion to dismiss. The PLRA exhaustion requirement is not jurisdictional …
FBI Waived Timeliness Defense by Not Raising It in Administrative Proceedings
Article • May 15, 2007
Filed under: Civil Procedure, Defenses, Limitations, Rehabilitation Act
FBI Waived Timeliness Defense by Not Raising It in Administrative Proceedings by The plaintiff sued alleging employment discrimination under the Rehabilitation Act. His administrative complaint was arguably late, but the agency found that it was timely and did not assert a timeliness defense until after suit was filed. At 74: …
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