Two years ago, in Kingsley v. Hendrickson, 135 S. Ct. 2466, 2474 (2015), the U.S. Supreme Court held that only an objective reasonableness standard should apply to cases involving pretrial detainees, rather than the subjective deliberate indifference standard. The Kingsley case involved a pretrial detainee’s excessive force claim, but the Court’s language indicated that an…
Read MoreCooperation agreements between criminal suspects and the police are commonplace. But, what happens when the police arrest the suspect allegedly in breach of the cooperation agreement? Does the suspect have any civil remedies? In People v. Stapinski, 40 N.E.3d 15 (Ill. 2015), a police sergeant had promised not to arrest and file charges against Stapinski for illegal…
Read MoreIn Leyva v. Kankakee County, et al., a jail inmate, Giovanni Leyva, alleged that multiple officers used excessive force against him during a transport from his housing unit to a segregation unit. Leyva alleged that he was struck multiple times in the back, and that upon arrival to the segregation unit, he was placed in…
Read MoreJail inmate Richard Schweitzer filed suit pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that the jail medical staff refused to remove two cysts on his back, and failed to provide his medication in a timely manner. On summary judgment, the defense presented evidence that the jail physician assistant made a medical determination that the cysts were…
Read MoreEach year, the U.S. Supreme Court decides several cases affecting local governmental interests. Here is our year-end review of some of those important decisions plus a few cases yet to be decided in the months to come. Birchfield v. North Dakota, 136 S. Ct. 2160 (2016): State implied consent laws that criminalize a DUI driver’s refusal…
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