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Civil Rights

Aug 16, 2023

Civil Rights – FOIA Request – Charitable Organization – State Involvement – Private Schools – Exceptional Children

The South Carolina Educational Credit for Exceptional Needs Children Fund was set up by the General Assembly, and our Department of Revenue is minimally involved in operating the Fund. However, the money in the Fund comes from private sources and is distributed as scholarships for children with exceptional needs. The Fund is not a public […]

Jun 29, 2023

Civil Rights – Civil Practice – Statute of Limitations – General vs. Specific Statute

In a case arising out of a school resource officer’s sexual relationship with the plaintiff-student, S.C. Code Ann. § 15-3-555 would have set the statute of limitations at six years after plaintiff turned 21. However, plaintiff brought her claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and the limitation period for such a claim is borrowed from […]

Jun 21, 2023

Civil Rights – University Student Expulsion – Sexual Harassment Claim – Procedural Due Process

Plaintiff was expelled from defendant The Citadel for alleged sexual misconduct against a female cadet, “Roe.” Even if The Citadel’s treatment of plaintiff in the Title IX process was improper, he did not allege facts demonstrating that his sex was the but-for cause of any mistreatment. Plaintiff contends that The Citadel displayed a so-called “‘Believe […]

Jun 2, 2023

Civil Rights – Insurance – Covenants Not to Execute – Prisons & Jails

Although an Insurance Reserve Fund (IRF) policy and S.C. Code Ann. § 1-11-460 functioned to indemnify the defendant-corrections officers for the amounts they were liable to pay pursuant to a judgment for plaintiff, since plaintiff released the defendants from all liability, the IRF and the State Fiscal Accountability Authority were likewise no longer able to […]

Apr 18, 2023

Judge ends Hartford police consent decree despite concerns

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A judge has ended the nearly 50 years of federal oversight of police in Hartford, Connecticut, despite continued concerns the department still has not hired enough minority officers to reflect the city’s large Black and Hispanic populations. U.S. District Judge Kari Dooley in Bridgeport issued a 10-page ruling late Friday saying […]

Mar 28, 2023

Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt arrested in Texas protest

DALLAS (AP) — A prominent civil rights attorney was among a group of people arrested in a Dallas suburb during a demonstration in memory of a Black man who died in a struggle with guards at an area jail. McKinney police arrested lawyer Lee Merritt and two others on charges of obstructing a roadway during […]

Mar 13, 2023

Civil Rights – Domestic Violence Arrest – Probable Cause – ‘Omitted’ Facts

On his last shift before a day off, the defendant-police officer responded to a domestic disturbance call, took statements from both participants, was unable to determine who was the primary aggressor, submitted his warrant applications and incident report to the magistrate’s office, and asked a fellow officer to present his findings to a magistrate the […]

Feb 22, 2023

Civil Rights – Adoption – Abusive Parents – Private Agency – Delegation of State Duty

Where the State of Ohio terminated the parental rights of then four-year-old plaintiff’s biological parents, the state took on an affirmative constitutional duty not to make a foster placement that was deliberately indifferent to plaintiff’s right to personal safety and security. When the state contracted with the defendant-private adoption agency to place plaintiff, the state’s […]

Oct 12, 2022

Civil Rights – Search & Seizure – Arrest Warrant – Probable Cause – Security Footage 

At the time Officer Scott Hill sought a warrant for defendant’s arrest, Hill knew that tobacco products were kept behind the counter of a convenience store. When watching the store’s security footage, Hill saw the perpetrator climb over the counter to steal tobacco products. While police were on the scene, the store manager discovered and […]

Jul 29, 2022

Civil Rights – False Arrest – Probable Cause – Child Abuse – Acquittal 

Although plaintiff was eventually acquitted on charges that he had abused eight-week-old E.W., his only complaints about statements in the affidavit supporting the warrant for his arrest are directed at statements that his “admissions are consistent with the injuries reported by the examining medical personnel” and that, when he threw the baby, E.W.’s mother “heard […]

Jun 20, 2022

Civil Rights – Assault & Battery Arrest – Probable Cause – Conflicting Stories

Even though the arresting officer knew of the complainant’s history of aggression towards the plaintiff’s decedent, the statements of the complainant and her son gave the officer probable cause to arrest the decedent for assault and battery after her altercation with the complainant. We affirm summary judgment for the officer on plaintiff’s federal claims. However, […]

May 25, 2022

Civil rights suit settles for $450K 

A man who claims he was unlawfully seized by police based on untruthful statements made by an anonymous tipster has settled his civil rights and other claims for $450,000, his attorney reports.   Daniel Boles of Boles Law Firm in Charleston said that his client, a Black man, was at an outdoor Independence Day event in […]

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