Where the plaintiff identified four instances independent of his own experience where police officers used excessive force against individuals not resisting arrest or threatening officers, his practice or custom and failure to train claims against the City of Lynchburg may ...

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

Where an Alleghany County Sheriff’s Department’s sergeant relied on advice from the commonwealth’s attorney and findings of probable cause by a neutral magistrate in seeking arrest warrants, qualified immunity barred the § 1983 malicious prosecution claims. Background S. Travis Shrewsbury ...

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

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 ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Rights Judge Roger L. Gregory

Where the Virginia Student Power Network and several individual plaintiffs sued the city of Richmond and police agencies after non-lethal means were used to disperse a crowd that was protesting in response to the death of George Floyd, the court ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Judge Beverly W. Snukals Richmond Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

Because an inmate challenging a policy requiring him to cut his dreadlocks, which he kept in accordance with his Rastafarian faith, introduced evidence showing that his religious beliefs are sincere, the district court must consider whether the policy is “the ...

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

An individual who was acquitted of violating a Virginia law preventing non-citizens from owning a semiautomatic weapon with a magazine which holds more than 20 rounds of ammunition failed to show the police fabricated evidence during their criminal investigation. As ...

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

Where a Chesterfield county police officer executed a closed-handed strike to a driver’s face during a traffic stop, the driver’s excessive force claim survived the motion to dismiss as the crime was a misdemeanor, the driver posed no immediate threat ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Judge David J. Novak U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where petitioner was convicted of a sex crime that requires him to permanently register as a sex offender, the requirement precludes the restoration of his firearm rights. Background After a plea-based conviction of taking incident liberties with a child, petitioner ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Daniel E. Ortiz Virginia Circuit Courts

Where an inmate at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women sought damages and injunctive relief alleging that a guard ordered her to show him her genitals, that conduct did not amount to a constitutional violation within the context of § ...

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

A former student’s claim that Lees-McRae College did not sufficiently protect her against sex-based verbal harassment and other conduct was dismissed because the conduct, though “unsettling,” did not rise to the level of “severe or pervasive.” Moreover, the college took ...

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