U.S. District Court Judge Sue E. Meyerscough granted summary judgment in favor of Vermillion County Jail and jail nurses in Jones v. Hartshorn, et al., No. 15-cv-2032. Inmate Walter Jones claimed that defendants were deliberately indifferent to a litany of medical conditions while he was detained at the jail in 2011 and 2013. Judge Myerscough…
Read MoreBecause of the breadth and scope of the federal Civil Rights Act, citizens frequently attempt to assert constitutional claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for all sorts of wrongs – even mundane matters which would appear at first blush not to involve a citizen’s constitutional rights. There are many reasons why citizens attempt to invoke §…
Read MoreOn September 18, 2017, the Seventh Circuit in Orlowski v. Milwaukee County, 872 F.3d 417 (7th Cir. 2017), reversed a District Court that had previously awarded summary judgment for a Milwaukee County Corrections Officer and Sergeant in a claim brought by the Estate of an inmate that died of a methadone overdose in the Milwaukee…
Read MoreLaw enforcement is taking a beating these days in the media and the courts. For that reason, it’s good to report on a case where the good guys win. In Patterson v. Remer, Case No. 15 C 8852 (N.D. Ill. Nov. 14, 2017), three Joliet police officers were accused of falsely arresting the plaintiff for…
Read MoreThe Seventh Circuit recently presented a refresher in what kinds of claims public employees may bring against their employers. In Forgue v. City of Chicago, a retired police officer sued his former employer, the City of Chicago, and co-workers alleging that they violated three of his constitutional rights: freedom of speech, equal protection, and procedural…
Read More