Two Wrongfully Imprisoned Michigan Men Receive $2.75 Million Partial Settlement by Two Wrongfully Imprisoned Michigan Men Receive $2.75 Million Partial Settlement On November 2, 2001 two Michigan men who were wrongfully imprisoned for eight years before their convictions were overturned reached a $2.75 million partial settlement with the prosecuting county. …
Summary Judgment Denied to Doctor Who Failed to Act Promptly by The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan granted summary judgment to a prison warden and deputy warden but denied it in part to a prison doctor in a medical deliberate indifference claim. Alfred Scicluna was convicted …
U.S. Supreme Court Resolves Split Over Heck v. Humphrey, §1983 by U.S. Supreme Court Resolves Split Over Heck v. Humphrey, §1983 On February 25, 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a per curiam decision, resolved a split among U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal regarding the applicability of Heck v. Humphrey, …
IAD's 180 Day Period Commences Upon Receipt by State Officials that Lodge Detainer by IAD's 180 Day Period Commences Upon Receipt by State Officials that Lodge Detainer The United States Supreme Court held the 180-day time period to commence trial in Article III (a) of the Interstate Agreement on Detainers …
Deceased Michigan Prisoner's Estate States Eigth Amendment Claim by The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan held that the estate of a prisoner who allegedly died as a result of indifference to his medical needs sufficiently stated an Eighth Amendment claim and that individual defendants were …
Psychological Coercion Not Legal Component Of Involuntary Servitude by The U.S. Supreme Court held that the use of psychological pressure did not violate U.S. statutes prohibiting involuntary servitude. After two mentally retarded individuals were found laboring on a farm for up to 17 hours a day with no pay due …
Several Necessary Components Of Involuntary Servitude by The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that several factors were necessary to create a state of "involuntary servitude" and that expert testimony had not been shown to be scientifically-recognized. After two mentally retarded men were found laboring on a …
Dismissal of Assault Claim Affirmed by The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a Michigan federal district court's dismissal of a state prisoner's civil rights suit claiming that a Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) official was deliberately indifferent to prisoner safety. Michigan prisoner Prince Varmado-El got into an argument …
Jury Awards $136,501 to Handicapped Michigan Prisoner Sent to Virginia Prison by Dwayne Hubbard, a one-legged Michigan state prisoner was sent to a Virginia prisoner due to overcrowding. The Virginia prison had no accommodations for his handicap. He fell and injured his back in the shower. The Virginia guards made …
MI Prisoner's § 1983 Action Dismissed for Claiming Only Emotional Injury by MI Prisoner's § 1983 Action Dismissed for Claiming Only Emotional Injury Bobbie Adams, a Michigan state prisoner, claimed the Melanic Palace of the Rising Sun as his religion. Melanics were designated as a security threat group in the …
$145,000 Verdict in Retaliatory Transfer Case by While at a Michigan prison work camp, prisoner Gerald L. Petrowski committed a major infraction, resulting in transfer to a high security level prison. Petrowski had a preexisting foot deformity that prevented him from wearing regulation prison shoes. At the new prison Petrowski …
$1,000 Verdict in Religious Freedom Case by Michigan prisoner David Marsh is a follower of Wicca. He had previously prevailed in a lawsuit requiring the Michigan Department of Corrections to recognize Wicca as a religion. Despite that order, prison officials refused Marsh the opportunity to practice a part of his …
$105,000 Verdict in Michigan Illegal Imprisonment by Three to four months after completing their Michigan prison sentences in 1994, Willie Thomas, Jr., Larry Reed, and Edward Grant were picked up and imprisoned in Jackson prison without a hearing. The defendant prison officials believed they had miscalculated the time served by …
Class Certification Explained by As to numerosity (at 286): "Numbers alone are not dispositive when the numbers are small, but will dictate impracticability when the numbers are large." Here there are at least 168 members, far more than necessary to establish numerosity. Other factors supporting certification include that most class …
Jail Not Liable for Arrestee's Cocaine Overdose Death by The decedent died in jail of a cocaine overdose after denying that he had ingested cocaine (though there was an empty plastic bag with drug residue around it at the scene of his arrest) and refusing medical treatment. At 686-87: ". …
Snitch's Assault Claim Dismissed by The plaintiff was assaulted after he was named as an inmate informant in a disciplinary report. The court refuses to reconsider summary judgment for the hearing officer, since plaintiff shows no facts indicating that the hearing officer was aware of a significant risk before including …
Title VII Requires Class Wide Administrative Change for Certification by Under Title VII's exhaustion requirement (151-52), a class action must be supported by at least one representative charge, timely brought by one of the named plaintiffs, which adequately identifies the collective, class-wide nature of the claimed discrimination. . . . …
Michigan County Settles Suicide Suit For $150,000 by In January 1997, Eaton County, Michigan, paid $150,000 to settle with the estate of a woman who committed suicide in the county jail. While imprisoned in the Eaton County Jail in January 1995, Mullins, a wife and the mother of four minor …
Federal Court Reaches Merits of Michigan Disciplinary Habeas by The petitioner challenged a disciplinary proceeding in which he lost good time after exhausting state judicial remedies. Under AEDPA, a federal court in habeas is bound by state court determinations unless they are contrary to or involve an unreasonable application of …
No Total Exhaustion Rule for Michigan District Court by The author of the opinion in Jenkins v. Toombs adheres to his "no total exhaustion" position, with some acerbity, in a case wherein the magistrate judge adopted the "yes total exhaustion" position of a different judge in the same district who …
