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Monday Morning Review: Local Governments in the Federal Appellate Courts

Posted in Monday Morning Review on October 20, 2014 By Kira Klatchko

Here are last week’s published decisions involving local governments:

Sixth Circuit

Cass v. City of Dayton, No. 13-4409 (Oct. 16, 2014): In 1983 action alleging that officer used excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment, the court affirmed summary judgment for defendants because officer’s conduct was objectively reasonable and did not violate Fourth Amendment.

Seventh Circuit

Swisher v. Porter County Sheriff’s Dept., No. 13-3602 (Oct. 15, 2014): The court reversed the judgment for defendants because Plaintiff, who brought 1983 action alleging he was denied proper medical care while he was a pretrial detainee, had no duty to exhaust administrative remedies at the jail because jail’s grievance procedure was not clear.

Ninth Circuit Continue reading →

Monday Morning Review: Local Governments in the Federal Appellate Courts

Posted in Monday Morning Review on August 11, 2014 By Kira Klatchko

Here are last week’s published decisions involving local governments:

Fourth Circuit

Cherry v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore City, No. 13-1007 (Aug. 6, 2014): In case brought by active and retired Baltimore police officers and fire fighters who participate in City’s pension plan, reversing district court’s decision that the City had violated the Contract Clause and affirming that the City had not violated the Takings Clause by changing how it calcualtes pension benefits.

Fifth Circuit

Thompson v. Mercer, No. 13-10773 (Aug. 7, 2014): In 1983 action against officer who shot and killed individual who had stolen vehicle and led police on a two-hour, high-speed chase, affirming grant of qualified immunity to officer because use of deadly force was not a constitutional violation.
Sullo & Bobbitt v. Milner, No. 13-10869 (Aug. 6, 2014): In unpublished decision, affirming dismissal of case brought by attorneys claiming First-Amendment right to access misdemeanor court records within one day of their filing.

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Monday Morning Review: Local Governments in the Federal Appellate Courts

Posted in Monday Morning Review on June 23, 2014 By Kira Klatchko

Here are last week’s published decisions involving local governments:

First Circuit

Thayer v. City of Worcester, No. 13-2355 (June 19, 2014) (affirming denial of preliminary injunction against enforcement of city ordinances prohibiting coercive or risky behavior by panhandlers).

Second Circuit Continue reading →

Monday Morning Review: Local Governments in the Federal Appellate Courts

Posted in Monday Morning Review on May 12, 2014 By Kira Klatchko

Here are last week’s published decisions involving local governments:

First Circuit

Jones v. City of Boston, No. 12-2280 (May 7, 2014) (in suit challenging police department’s drug-testing program as causing disparate impact based on race, reversing denial of summary judgment for plaintiffs on whether they had proved a prima facie case of disparate impact under Title VII).

Sixth Circuit

City of Pontiac Retired Employees Assoc. v. Schimmel, No. 12-2087 (May 5, 2014) (vacating order denying preliminary injunction and remanding on questions related to whether emergency manager could reduce and eliminate health-care benefits for retired City employees).

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Ninth Circuit: Local Government’s Tenant-Protection Program Is Constitutional.

Posted in Case Notes on September 11, 2013 By Kira Klatchko

9th Circuit: Landlords do not have a viable constitutional claim against City housing program

Your community’s housing conditions are in crisis. Too many landlords ignore codes. They disregard tenants’ concerns. And their properties are hardly habitable. But they continue to collect rent—from tenants with little capacity to protect themselves.

So your local government fashions an innovative program, one that empowers tenants. It allows tenants living in troubled properties to withhold a portion of their rent and to use it for needed repairs.

Landlords sue. They claim that your program violates their federal substantive due process rights. Do they have a winning constitutional argument?

Not according to the Ninth Circuit, which ruled Monday in Sylvia Landfield Trust v. City of Los Angeles, No. 11-55904, slip op. (Sept. 9, 2013), that the City of Los Angeles’s Rent Escrow Account Program is constitutional.

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