On May 31, 2019, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its opinion in McGlothin v. State Farm Mutual Insurance Company and addressed the question of whether Mississippi law required State Farm to pay an uninsured motorist claim when the driver of the other vehicle enjoyed immunity under the Mississippi Tort Claims Act (“MTCA”). The [..]
On May 21, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued its opinion in Valderas v. City of Lubbock. The issue in that case was whether Valderas could maintain a Section 1983 claim for the use of excessive force by the police. Facts of the case. Lubbock police went to a [..]
We recently wrote about a Section 1983 claim when a person was arrested based upon a false affidavit signed by a law enforcement officer. Today, we discuss another situation in which a faulty affidavit can give rise to a constitutional rights violation. On September 18, 2018, United States District Judge Carlton W. Reeves issued an [..]
Here, we discuss a Section 1983 claim for malicious criminal prosecution. Recently, the Fifth Circuit issued its opinion in Winfrey v. Rogers, 901 F.3d 483 (5th Cir. 2018). In that case, Richard Winfrey (“Junior”) was arrested and charged with murder after a botched investigation and various alleged violations of Junior’s Fourth Amendment rights. The State [..]
Last year, the United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach. In its opinion, the Court addressed the interplay between lawful arrests and the use of government power to suppress free speech. As the Court said, “an arrest deprives a person of essential liberties, but if there is probable [..]
Today we discuss the defense of absolute immunity to a Section 1983 lawsuit alleging a violation of constitutional rights. We previously wrote here about the defense of qualified immunity. To recap, most government employees are immune from such a lawsuit unless the plaintiff proves that: The government employee violated a constitutional right of the plaintiff; [..]
We previously wrote here about Title VII, a federal law that prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. Today, we discuss the related concept of an employer’s retaliation against an employee who exercises her rights under Title VII. Under federal law, it is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against [..]
When an inmate is at risk of committing suicide, prison officials are obligated to take certain actions. Recently, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals addressed a Section 1983 constitutional claim arising from a prison suicide. In Arenas v. Calhoun (decided April 26, 2019), the facts were as follows: While patrolling a unit of a state [..]
Many written contracts contain a provision to this effect: No supplement, modification or amendment of this Agreement shall be binding unless executed in writing by both of the parties hereto. Is this type of provision enforceable? In many instances, the answer is “no”. In Mississippi, “an oral modification may be made even where the contract [..]
On April 16, 2019, the Fifth Circuit issued its opinion in Bourne v. Gunnels. Two issues addressed by the court were (i) whether Bourne’s excessive force claim was barred by the Heck v. Humphrey doctrine and (ii) whether the defendants were entitled to qualified immunity. We previously wrote about Heck here. In summary, Heck bars [..]
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