No Absolute Immunity for Illegal Wiretap; Qualified Immunity Standard Issued by The U.S. Supreme Court held that status as a Cabinet Officer is not in itself sufficient to invest that officer with absolute immunity from suit. In 1970, Attorney General John Mitchell authorized a warrantless wiretap of William Davidson's telephone …
Pennsylvania Prisoner Not Required to File Grievance Before Suing Where Prison Regulations Preclude the Grievance by Pennsylvania Prisoner Not Required to File Grievance Before Suing Where Prison Regulations Preclude the Grievance Frederick Ray III, a Pennsylvania state prisoner, sued prison guards on several legal theories in federal district court under …
Pro Se Parole Suit for Damages Dismissed by The plaintiff claimed that he was held in prison too long. The parole agent defendant is granted summary judgment. At 613: ". . . [T]he law does not impose damages liability for a Section 1983 violation on an individual acting in her …
Cost of Prosecuting Prisoner Crimes In Pennsylvania Prisons Must Be Paid By State by Cost of Prosecuting Prisoner Crimes In Pennsylvania Prisons Must Be Paid By State The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has affirmed an appellate court ruling that the State must reimburse counties for prosecution costs related to crimes committed …
Conflict of Law Analysis Required in Multi State FTCA Litigation by Dana Maye El filed a pro se suit against the United States for unspecified torts under the Federal Torts Claim Act in New Jersey raising claims that occurred in New Jersey, Missouri, and Pennsylvania. The district court granted the …
Retaliatory Transfer Suit Dismissed by The plaintiff alleged that his custody level was increased, he was transferred to a prison where he could not be in general population, and denied parole in retaliation for his filing a private criminal complaint about actions by prison staff. In a heavily fact-based opinion …
Shackling Criminal Defendant Upheld by The petitioner's trial was not rendered unfair by his shackling, since he assaulted one of the prosecution witnesses when he left the witness stand in full view of the jury. His left hand was unshackled so he could take notes and assist counsel, and he …
Injunction in PA Re-Arrest Class Action Reversed by The Philadelphia DA has a practice of rearresting persons whose charges have been dismissed at a preliminary hearing without seeking a prior judicial determination of probable cause. The named plaintiff was rearrested on a new charge worded identically to the first one …
PA Female Lt. Awarded $37,234 in Faulty Sex Termination by A female Lieutenant at the Allegheny County Jail was awarded $37,234 and reinstated to her job after a County Personnel Board found she was improperly terminated for allegedly having sex with a prisoner. While in the Allegheny County Jail, prisoner …
Private Juvenile Sex Offender School Not a State Actor by The plaintiff alleged that he was physically abused by staff members of a private school specializing in the treatment and education of juvenile sex offenders. The school and its staff did not engage in state action, since the plaintiff's placement …
Court Vacates Default Judgments by The court relieves defendants from entry of default, since plaintiff shows no prejudice to his ability to present his case, the fault was counsel's rather than the parties' (he was awaiting service of all defendants before answering), defendants moved promptly to set the default aside …
Confiscation of Prisoner Property Upheld by The confiscation of the plaintiff's property did not deny due process because the state made post-deprivation remedies available in the form of a grievance procedure. At 515: "The mere fact that plaintiff has faced some difficulty in having his grievance heard, based on his …
Tight Handcuffs on Arrestee Violates Fourth Amendment by Placing excessively tight handcuffs on an Pennsylvania arrestee and needlessly failing to loosen them for ten minutes, resulting in permanent nerve damage, would constitute excessive force under the Fourth Amendment under the circumstances alleged, where the officer was not in a dangerous …
Pennsylvania DOC Rule Denying Sex Offenders Visits with Minors Upheld by The plaintiff, convicted of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse against his stepdaughter, was denied contact visits with his children pursuant to a prison regulation denying contact visits with minors to all prisoners ever convicted of sex offenses against minors, notwithstanding …
Supreme Court Sets Standard in Establishment Clause Suits by The United States Supreme Court held that state statutes from Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, which supplemented teacher's salaries in religious schools, violated the religious establishment clause of the First Amendment. A federal district court found that Rhode Island's provision, which provided …
Pennsylvania County Pays U.S. INS $16 Million for Detainee Housing Overcharges by John Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg On October 25, 2006, York County, Pennsylvania agreed to pay the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) $16 million to settle a dispute over alleged overcharges for INS detainees who were housed …
Pennsylvania Work-Release Program Criticized by Gary Hunter Some citizens of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania feel that county work-release prisoners are forfeiting too much of their salary to a greedy judicial system. Businessman Lewis Knepp employs work-release prisoners. He tells how one of his employees, who earns $10 an hour and takes …
1997 Changes in Pennsylvania Commutation Law Held Ex Post Facto by John Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania held that a 1997 state ballot constitutional amendment, which modified Pennsylvania?s commutation laws to require a unanimous vote rather than a simple majority …
$470,000 Paid in Pennsylvania Jail Prisoners Seizure Related Death by $470,000 Paid in Pennsylvania Jail Prisoner's Seizure Related Death The Estate of a Pennsylvania prisoner has settled its civil rights action alleging Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment violations for the wrongful death of Virginia Brejcak, 42, at the Bucks County Correctional …
Supreme Court: Banning Publications to Punish Recalcitrant Prisoners Trumps Their First Amendment Rights by John E Dannenberg Supreme Court: Banning Publications to Punish Recalcitrant Prisoners Trumps Their First Amendment Rights by John E. Dannenberg The U.S. Supreme Court held that the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PDOC) policy of banning its …
