Where the South Carolina Lottery Commission denied a request for information, which would identify certain lottery winners, on the basis that the release of information would put the lottery winners in danger, there is a question of fact as to ...
Read More »Civil Rights – Prior notice of segregation hearings not established
Where decisions from the Supreme Court and this court hold that inmates are entitled to some level of procedural protection, but none of those cases definitively require prior notice of administrative segregation hearings, a prison official sued for not providing ...
Read More »Civil Rights – Immunity denied on deliberate indifference claim
Where a 911 caller requested medical care for the decedent because of his consumption of alcohol and prescription drugs, and the officers knew the man was substantially inhibited in his ability to talk, walk or sit and they witnessed his ...
Read More »Civil Rights – Officer lacked reasonable suspicion for stop
Where a Stafford County deputy initially offered to assist the plaintiff with his disabled vehicle, but then demanded the plaintiff produce identification, that demand converted the voluntary encounter into an investigatory stop for which the officer lacked reasonable suspicion of ...
Read More »Civil Rights – Necessity of pepper spray a jury question
A jury will decide if a prison official’s decision to pepper spray an inmate after he head-butted an officer and was lying on his back in handcuffs was “clearly necessary” to respond to a threat to officer safety or to ...
Read More »Civil Rights – Public Records Act – No Private Right of Action – FOIA
Even though the defendant-county’s failure to maintain its emails violated the Public Records Act, there is no private right to enforce the PRA. Furthermore, a public body’s failure to retain public records is not a violation of the Freedom of ...
Read More »Civil Rights – Complaint fails to show pat down was not consensual
Where a man voluntarily left a restaurant with a police officer to be patted down outside, the officer did not brandish a weapon, use restraint, accuse him of wrongdoing or make a show of authority, and thus the man failed ...
Read More »Civil Rights – Civil Practice – Evidence – Preliminary Injunction – Prior Litigation – Racially Charged Messages
A 2005 preliminary injunction required the City of Myrtle Beach to use the same traffic patterns for both Harley Week and Black Bike Week. In this subsequent litigation, that preliminary injunction is relevant, but its probative value is outweighed by ...
Read More »Civil Rights – Summary judgment wrongly granted in jail segregation case
Where the inmate plausibly suggested he was placed in administrative segregation for impermissible reasons the day after he accused a correction officer of sexual assault and argued his segregation was arbitrary, it was improper to grant summary judgment to the ...
Read More »Civil Rights – Speeding officer not entitled to immunity
Where a police officer who was no longer responding to an emergency but continued to drive on a dark, curved road at nearly twice the speed limit without emergency lights or siren when he struck another vehicle, causing severe orthopedic ...
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