RLUIPA Found Unconstitutional by Sixth Circuit by The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act violates the Establishment Clause because it favors religious rights over other fundamental rights without any showing that religious rights are at any greater risk of deprivation. It is not necessary to avoid an Establishment Clause …
Attack on White Supremacist Prisoner States Claim by The plaintiff, in a segregation unit, was beaten during his one hour out of cell by another prisoner, and alleged that it must have resulted from an officer's actions, since the cells were supposed to be locked with only one prisoner out …
Ohio Prison Officials Not Liable for TB Exposure by The plaintiff tested positive for TB in prison and alleged that various actions of prison officials had exposed him to it. There was an outbreak of TB after prisoners had filed numerous grievances based on rumors about an active case of …
Sexual Predator Statute Cannot Be Challenged in Habeas Corpus Proceeding by The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that an Ohio prisoner could not use habeas corpus, 28 U.S.C. § 2254, to challenge the constitutionality of Ohio's sexual predator law, Ohio Revised Code (O.R.C.) § 2950.01, et. seq. Oliver …
Dismissed Retaliation Claim Reversed by The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded an Ohio U.S. District Court decision dismissing claims against prison officials accused of retaliating against prison guards for exercising their First Amendment rights. Carlos Goad and Robert Wuchich sued officials of Ohio's Mansfield Correctional Institution …
Summary Judgment Against Sexually Assaulted Prisoner Denied in Part by The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio granted in part and denied in part Ohio officials' motion for summary judgment against a prisoner who was sexually assaulted by a guard. While a prisoner at the Ohio Reformatory …
Waiver of Right to Sue Questioned in Prisoner's §1983 Claim by Waiver of Right to Sue Questioned in Prisoner's §1983 Claim The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed dismissal by the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio, in a state prisoner's dental care suit and ordered the lower …
Deposition Sufficient to Present Testimony by An imprisoned attorney petitioned the Ohio Supreme Court for the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus ad testificandum compelling his conveyance to a hearing of the State Bar to answer a complaint filed against him. Absent a showing that his personal appearance outweighed …
$4.1 Million Settlement Approved in Deadly Ohio Riot Litigation by An Ohio Federal District Court approved a settlement agreement and awarded attorney fees and costs from a common fund in litigation in the third- deadliest prison riot in recent United States history, during which nine prisoners and one guard were …
Sixth Circuit Explains Attorney Fee Awards in Brutality Cases by The court of appeals for the Sixth circuit held that a district court erred when it added a multiplier to the base attorney fee award, reduced it and then added another multiplier. The underlying case involves Ohio prisoner activist, jailhouse …
Warden Denied Qualified Immunity in Guard's Race Discrimination Suit by The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed an interlocutory appeal from a district court's denial of summary judgment to an Ohio prison warden. Richard Parks was a guard at Warren Correctional Institution (WCI), where Anthony Brigano was warden. Parks …
Ohio: Wrongfully Convicted Man Awarded $641,858 Against Attorney by On August 22, 2002, an Ohio jury awarded a man who spent four years in prison $641,858 against the attorney who represented him in his criminal trial. Plaintiff Michael Javorina had been charged with, among other things, attempted murder and felonious …
Ohio Court Of Appeals Awards Injured Prisoner $100,000 by On June 4, 1988, the Ohio Court of Appeals, Tenth Appellate District, awarded a state prisoner $100,000 for severe burns to his leg, reversing a Court of Claims judgment awarding the prisoner $20,000. While working to unplug a drain at the …
OH Prison Guards Liable for Destroying Prisoner's TV by Anthony Mayfield, a state prisoner, exchanged his personal 11-year-old television for one owned by the prison that worked better. Guards destroyed Mayfield's TV without documented authorization. Mayfield filed a negligence claim against the guards in the Court of Claims of Ohio. …
Black Prison Guards Discrimination Suit Dismissed by The plaintiff, an African-American correction officer, was reprimanded while a probationary officer. That action was not sufficiently adverse to support a Title VII suit, and his claims of disparate treatment with respect to white staff fail because they were not probationary and therefore …
BOP Prisoners Bunk Injury Dismissed Under FTCA by The plaintiff fell out of a bunk bed and injured his knee. He had an order to be placed in a lower bunk but didn't tell anybody about it. The order was in the prison computer but the responsible employee didn't look …
Ex Post Facto Parole Claim Can Be Brought Under § 1983 by The plaintiff challenged the retroactive application of new parole eligibility regulations under the Ex Post Facto Clause. That claim is not barred by Heck and Balisok since a challenge to eligibility rules does not "necessarily imply" the invalidity …
Resisting Arrest Doesn't Bar Excessive Force Suit against Police by It is clearly established that using substantial force without any prior inquiry against an already subdued unarmed and unresisting individual violates the Fourth Amendment. The plaintiff's conviction for resisting arrest does not foreclose the possibility of a finding of excessive …
Parole Retaliation Suit Dismissed by The plaintiff alleged that prosecutors reneged on a plea bargain by failing to submit favorable letters to the parole board and instead submitting unfavorable letters, and that the parole board retaliated against him for having filed federal court litigation. The plaintiff's claim for breach of …
Ohio Religious Grievance Process Doesn't Exhaust Claim by The plaintiff, who declared himself Jewish in prison, was denied various religious accommodations on the ground that he was "not Jewish enough." He used the general inmate grievance procedure, rather than the separate religious accommodation grievance procedure, and consequently did not exhaust. …
