Plaintiffs who sued a police officer for discriminatory traffic stops could not prove their selective-enforcement claim with statistics that failed to establish true comparator groups and to incorporate interracial base rates for committing the offenses at issue. Background Plaintiff Rodney ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Constitutional Equal Protection Evidence Judge Norman K. Moon U.S. District Court - Western District

In a selective law-enforcement case asserting claims of race discrimination, the plaintiffs could use arrest records to show the defendant officer’s intent to discriminate, but not to show a discriminatory effect on similarly situated individuals. In addition, the plaintiffs could ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Evidence Judge Norman K. Moon U.S. District Court - Western District

A former Marymount University student, who the University found guilty of sexually assaulting another student, stated a valid “erroneous-outcome” claim against the University for its adjudication of the accusation, which he said was marred by procedural defects designed to discriminate ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Judge T.S. Ellis III U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Appellant Douglas A. Hoglan, a Virginia inmate, appeals the district court’s order denying his motion for a preliminary injunction to stop the enforcement of certain provisions governing incoming prisoner mail. In particular, Hoglan challenges the institutional requirement that images with ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Procedure Civil Rights Per Curiam Opinion Prisons & Jails

Following a 2012 challenge to Virginia’s district lines, U.S. Congress members who intervened and drove extensive appellate litigation were not liable for any of the prevailing plaintiffs’ $1.35 million in attorneys’ fees. Appellate fees also were not shifted to the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Rights Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

An apartment management company could not categorically deny tenancy to an applicant with a prior conviction for indecent exposure, stemming from a period where he was not on medication for a mental-health condition. Background In 2016, Plaintiff Annette Simmons requested ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Judge Norman K. Moon U.S. District Court - Western District

A jury should decide whether Russell County Public Schools is liable for sustained abuse of its students perpetrated by an elementary school custodian, the court held. Although Plaintiff John Doe sued two former principals who supervised the custodian while he ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Judge James P. Jones U.S. District Court - Western District

The court upheld an administrative decision finding that Virginia Beach city schools had failed to provide appropriate education to a special-needs child for multiple years and, accordingly, her family was entitled to reimbursement for private placement as well as attorney ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr. U.S. District Court - Eastern District

The court held that a nonprofit group providing housing assistance did not fail to make reasonable accommodations and/or housing modifications at the request of a client who requested wheelchair-accessibility construction. Plaintiff Veda Evans is a disabled mother of three young ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Judge Mark Davis U.S. District Court - Eastern District

In this case involving a prisoner who was attacked and injured by another inmate, the district court instructed the jury, “Deliberate indifference is established only if the defendants . . . had actual knowledge of a substantial risk that Anderson ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Rights Judge Paul V. Niemeyer