©2020 John Ryan, Attorney, Legal & Liability Risk Management Institute On January 3, 2020, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in Ybarra v. City of Chicago.[i] In Ybarra, the Court upheld the district court’s grant of summary judgment to a pair of defendant police officers who had shot and killed the driver of a vehicle that had just been involved in a drive-by shooting. Facts The Court set forth the relevant facts of the case as follows: During the early hours of August 29, 2015, Chicago Police Department Commander Francis Valadez and Officer Monica Reyes (collectively, "the [...]

©2020 John Ryan, Attorney, Legal & Liability Risk Management Institute LAWSUITS BEING FILED AGAINST JAIL AND CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES RELATED TO THE CORONA VIRUS – BE PREPARED WITH A REASONABLE RESPONSE By John Ryan, Attorney The impact of Coronavirus or COVID-19 has been seen throughout the United States and around the world. Correctional facilities have been especially susceptible to the COVID-19 outbreak and a result there have been a number of legal actions which have been filed in recent weeks. This article will provide an overview of some of the lawsuits which have been filed thus far. In Banks v. Booth, [...]

On August 22, 2019, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals decided Bracey v. Huntingdon County et al.[i], in which the court examined the process by which the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections obtained a non-consensual blood sample to test an inmate for HIV and hepatitis after he exposed a correctional officer to his blood during an altercation in prison.   The relevant facts of Bracy, taken directly from the case, are as follows: Bracey, a Pennsylvania state prisoner, was formerly incarcerated at SCI Huntingdon. On November 17, 2012, Corrections Officer Adam Park suffered a wound during an altercation between Bracey and SCI [...]

In 2019, a Philadelphia lawyer and her group of researchers published an online database called “The Plain View Project,” which exposed thousands of questionable social media posts selected from 3,500 verified accounts of current and former law enforcement officers throughout the United States.[1]  Public awareness and media reports about the database led to organized protests in some cities, and dozens of officers were investigated for improper content on their personal Facebook accounts.[2] As a result, some departments announced a range of discipline for offending officers, including thirteen that were fired in Philadelphia.[3]  Unfortunately, the harm to community relations from the [...]

In Day v. Wooten,[i] the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals considered whether police officers were entitled to qualified immunity where they kept a suspect handcuffed with his hands behind his back after the suspect complained of difficulty breathing. The suspect ultimately died in custody. The Seventh Circuit reversed the District Court’s denial of the defendant officers’ qualified immunity defense, and held that the defendant officers did not violate the plaintiff’s clearly established rights. The Court set forth the facts of the case as follows: Terrell Day was eighteen years old and weighed approximately 312 pounds at the time of his [...]

On August 14, 2019, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals decided Davis v. Edwards et al.[i], in which the court examined with a deputies were entitled to qualified immunity for the stop and shooting of an emotionally disturbed man who was armed with a realistic looking BB pistol.   The relevant facts of Davis, taken from the case, are as follows: This is a tragic case surrounding events which occurred near Dadeville, Alabama, on February 11, 2015, during which the officers were involved in the shooting death of local citizen Fletcher Ray Stewart ("Stewart"). Stewart was a 46-year-old lifelong resident of [...]