A pro se prisoner’s claim that his rights were violated was supported by the failure of prison officials to explain the need to check his mail for contraband outside of his presence. Because the infringement of his First Amendment rights ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Rights Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

The plaintiffs could not claim the defendants conspired to obstruct justice by denying them access to the courts in violation of the First and 14th Amendments because the record shows that the plaintiffs previously filed two lawsuits—a bias suit against ...

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

A suit challenging the use of Confederate names and imagery at Lee-Davis High School and Stonewall Jackson Middle School was dismissed because the Hanover County Unit of the NAACP lacked standing to assert the First Amendment claims of its members ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Judge Robert E. Payne U.S. District Court - Eastern District

“This has to stop.” With just four words, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has laid down a marker. The court was reviewing the case of a black homeless man in West Virginia who was stopped by a police ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Rights Judge Henry F. Floyd Police

A reasonable jury could find a black homeless man who had been stopped for walking alongside, instead of on, the sidewalk, and who was shot 22 times by West Virginia police officers had been secured, or at a minimum was ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Rights Judge Henry F. Floyd

A cadet who was allegedly waterboarded, sexually assaulted and sexually harassed during first-year hazing at Virginia Military Institute failed to keep his suit in the Roanoke division, where he now attends Virginia Tech. Because virtually all of the events and ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Judge Glen E. Conrad U.S. District Court - Western District

Although the civil rights litigation helped set guiding precedent at the intersection of two constitutional rights, the attorney’s hourly rate was reduced to align with those in the district, travel time was compensated at 50% of the usual rate and ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Judge Michael F. Urbanski U.S. District Court - Western District

The owner of a gun range, his employee and their respective limited liability companies challenging the denial of a license to sell firearms waived arguments made on appeal that were not raised below. Background Charles Richard Alsop Gilbert Jr., Bryon ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Rights

An officer who allegedly tased a mentally ill man was unable to dismiss a § 1983 claim because it was not clear his use of the taser was proportional, and he was denied qualified immunity because he allegedly continued to ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Judge M. Hannah Lauck U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A ruling could not be made at this stage on whether the Baltimore police use of a cell site simulator constituted a warrantless search in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The case was remanded for information about the device and ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Rights Judge James A. Wynn Jr.