Alabama Corporations Serving Municipalities Ordered to Comply With Open Records Act by The Water Works and Sewer Board (Board) of the City of Talladega, Alabama, appealed its court ordered subjection to records disclosure under the State's Open Records Act (Act). Consolidated Publishing, Inc. (Publisher), appealed the same ruling as to …
Alabama Jail Dispatcher Awarded $250,157 for Sexual Harassment/Retaliation by A female jail dispatcher who was sexually harassed and retaliated against was awarded $250,157. Melissa Hunter was a jail dispatcher for the Barbour County, Alabama, Sheriff. In 2002, her supervisor, George Parham, subjected her to sexual harassment. Beginning in November, 2002, …
Alabama Prisoners Must Be Afforded Access To The Courts by The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals ruled a lower court abused its discretion when it dismissed a prisoner's civil action for failure to prosecute, despite pending motions moving for three alternatives for the prisoner to access the court. Alabama state …
Prison Drinking Water and Wastewater Pollution Threaten Environmental Safety Nationwide by John Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg Aging infrastructure concerns are not limited to America's highways, bridges and dams. Today, crumbling, overcrowded prisons and jails nationwide are bursting at the seams -- literally -- leaking environmentally dangerous effluents not just …
Confidential Settlement for Alabama Prisoners Killed in Road Work Crew by A confidential settlement has been reached in the death of one prisoner and injury to another. The prisoners, John Nicholas Shoultz and David McKee, were prisoners of the Alabama Department of Corrections. They were picking up trash in the …
Notice of Appeal Deemed Filed When Presented to Prison Officials; Burden on State to Refute by The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a prisoner's notice of appeal is considered filed on the date it is given to prison officials, and the state has the burden of proof …
Quadriplegic California Prisoner Baked to Death in Transport Van by A California state prisoner being transferred in 109-degree weather from a Central Valley prison to a remote desert facility baked to death in the back of a transport van after the air conditioning in the passenger section of the vehicle …
Prison Officials Must Support Mail Policy With Evidence by The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held in an Alabama case that "Alabama must show how applying its sweeping regulation [prohibiting prisoners in segregation from sending or receiving mail from other prisoners] . . . furthers its legitimate penological objectives. Alabama's …
Failure to Ascertain Arrestee's Identity Creates Liability for False Imprisonment by Failure to Ascertain Arrestee's Identity Creates Liability for False Imprisonment The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that a Macon County, Alabama Sheriff's deputy who failed to make an attempt to obtain information from an arrestee for purposes of …
United States District Court Rules Alabama Department of Corrections Violates Prisoners' Fourteenth Amendment Rights with Its Segregation Policies by United States District Court Rules Alabama Department of Corrections Violates Prisoners' Fourteenth Amendment Rights with Its Segregation Policies Alabama state prisoner Robert McCray filed a §1983 suit against state prison officials …
Sex Offender Must Meet Stigma-Plus Test to Sue for Reputation Damage by The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that reputational damage alone is insufficient to constitute a protected liberty interest. This 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action was brought by a minor against nine employees of the Hale County Department …
U.S. Supreme Court Holds There Is No Interlocutory Appeal on Municipal Liability by U.S. Supreme Court Holds There Is No Interlocutory Appeal on Municipal Liability The U.S. Supreme Court held that municipalities are not entitled qualified immunity from suit, and that appellate courts do not have authority to review unrelated …
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. …
Counsel Required before Misdemeanor Imprisonment by The United States Supreme Court has ruled that persons convicted of misdemeanors cannot be subjected to imprisonment unless they have been afforded counsel at the time guilt or innocence is decided. LaReed Shelton was convicted of misdemeanor assault after his failed attempt at self-representation. …
$90,000 Settlement for Alabama Prisoners Raped by Jail Guards by In June 2002, the City of Homewood, Alabama, paid a total of $90,000 to settle with two unidentified women who claimed they were forced to provide sexual favors to guards while imprisoned at the city jail. The plaintiffs, Jane Doe, …
Monetary Sanctions Against DOC Commissioner Violates Alabama Constitution by The Alabama Supreme Court held that a trial court's imposition of monetary contempt sanctions against the Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections (DOC), in his official capacity, violated Section 14 of the Alabama Constitution. In the early 1990s the Alabama …
$641,000 Settlement In Beating Death Of Alabama Jail Prisoner by Following the death a man who was allegedly beaten by jailers in a Montgomery, Alabama, jail, the City settled with the man's estate for $641,000. The decedent was arrested in June 1997 for fondling a 10-year-old girl and imprisoned in …
Supreme Court Holds Private Parties Cannot Litigate Title VIII Disparate Impact Claims by Supreme Court Holds Private Parties Cannot Litigate Title VIII Disparate Impact Claims There is no private right of action to enforce disparate-impact regulations promulgated under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The statute prohibits …
Requesting Party May Be Required to Pay Discovery Copying Costs by An African-American state trooper alleged employment discrimination. The magistrate judge should not have required defendants to produce photocopies of five years worth of personnel files of other officers; it was sufficient to produce two years' worth for review. Rule …
$1.45 Million Settlement in Mentally Ill Alabama Jail Prisoner's Death by Fifteen days after he entered Alabama's Mobile Jail, James Carpenter died of an infection from a flesh-eating bacteria. During his period of incarceration, Carpenter was kept in solitary confinement, naked and shackled on his hands and wrists. Abrasions from …
