Ninth Circuit Tag

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Posted 26 Jan 2015 in Case Notes, Commentary

Per the adoption of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), accommodating persons with disabilities is the norm.  Twenty-five years after the Act’s passage, the Supreme Court will decide whether it applies to police officers arresting a mentally ill suspect one who is armed and violent. In City & County of San Francisco v. Sheehan the Supreme Court will decide whether, pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), police must accommodate a suspect’s mental illness when arresting him or her.  The...

Posted 21 Dec 2014 in Monday Morning Review

Here are last week's published decisions involving local governments: Fourth Circuit Hudson v. Pittsylvania County, No. 13-2160 (Dec. 17, 2014): In appeal of district court order finding that County prayers violated Establishment Clause, the court found that County's  appeal was untimely. Fifth Circuit Bell v. Itawamba County Sch. Bd., No. 12-60264 (Dec. 12, 2014): The court ruled that school board violated student's freedom of speech by disciplining him for a song that he wrote off campus, that he posted to the Internet from his home computer, and that...

Posted 14 Dec 2014 in Monday Morning Review
Catching up on recent published decisions involving local governments:court collumn First Circuit
  • S. Kingstown Sch. Cmte v. Joanna S., No. 14-1177 (Dec. 9, 2014): The court ruled in Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act ("IDEA") case that settlement agreement relieved school committee of obligation to perform or fund evaluations, and remanded to determine whether Joanna S. is entitled to attorney's fees.
Second Circuit Fourth Circuit Fifth Circuit

Posted 03 Dec 2014 in Case Notes, IMLA Briefs
The Fourth Amendment applies to arrests, no question about it.  What about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?  Specifically, do individuals with mental illnesses have to be accommodated under the ADA when being arrested?  The Ninth Circuit said yes and the Supreme Court has agreed to review its decision in City & County of San Francisco v. Sheehan.Gavel When police officers entered Teresa Sheehan’s room in a group home for persons with mental illness she threatened to kill them with a knife she held, so they retreated.  When the officers reentered her room soon after leaving it, Sheehan stepped toward them with her knife raised and continued to hold it after the officers pepper sprayed and ultimately shot her. Title II of the ADA provides that individuals with a disability must be able to participate in the “services, programs, or activities of a public entity,” and that their disability must be reasonably accommodated. Sheehan argued that Title II of the ADA applies to arrests and that the officers should have taken her mental illness into account when reentering her room.  Her proposed accommodations included:  respecting her comfort zone, engaging in non-threatening communications, and using the passage of time to defuse the situation The Ninth Circuit agreed with Sheehan that Title II of the ADA applies to arrests.

Posted 25 Nov 2014 in Case Notes, Commentary, IMLA Briefs
The Supreme Court’s decision in Reed v. Town of Gilbert, Arizona could upset sign codes nationally.5554035521_f6b59ccafa_n  Most sign codes, like Gilbert’s, include different categories of temporary signs.  It makes sense, for example, to give people more time to remove thousands of election signs and less time to remove a few yard sale signs.  In this case the Court will decide whether local governments may regulate temporary directional signs differently than other temporary signs.  The Court could rule, practically speaking, that all temporary signs must have the same time, place, and manner requirements.  IMLA joined the State and Local Legal Center’s (SLLC) amicus brief asking the Court not to go that far. Gilbert’s Sign Code includes temporary directional signs, political signs, and ideological signs.  After being notified that its temporary directional signs announcing the time and location of church services were displayed longer than allowed, the Good News church sued Gilbert.  The church claimed Gilbert’s Sign Code violates the First Amendment because temporary directional signs receive the less favorable treatment (in terms of size, location, duration, etc.) than political signs and ideological signs.

Posted 17 Nov 2014 in Monday Morning Review
Here are last week's published decisions involving local governments:court collumn Fourth Circuit Sixth Circuit

Posted 17 Nov 2014 in Case Notes, Commentary

Even though there was no disagreements among the federal circuit courts of appeals at the time, Court watchers were shocked with the Supreme Court denied certiorari in a series of cases striking down same-sex marriage bans.  All eyes then turned to the Ninth and Sixth Circuits who had pending cases.  The next day the Ninth Circuit struck down Nevada’s and Idaho’s ban.  On November 6 the Sixth Circuit became the first federal circuit court to uphold bans in four states...

Posted 03 Nov 2014 in Case Notes
Cities and states from California to Maine have confronted the problem of hotels that are crime magnets. hotel One solution that some evidence suggests effectively deters crime is ordinances or state laws that require hotels to keep detailed information about guests that are subject to police inspection.  These ordinances and laws generally do not require police to obtain a warrant. In Los Angeles v. Patel a Los Angeles ordinance requires hotel and motel operators to keep specific information about their guests and allows police to inspect the registries without warrants.  Motel operators claim this ordinance is facially invalid under the Fourth Amendment. The first issue the Supreme Court will decide in this case is whether facial challenges to ordinances and statutes are permitted under the Fourth Amendment.

Posted 20 Oct 2014 in Monday Morning Review
Here are last week's published decisions involving local governments:court collumn Sixth Circuit
  • Cass v. City of Dayton, No. 13-4409 (Oct. 16, 2014): In 1983 action alleging that officer used excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment, the court affirmed summary judgment for defendants because officer's conduct was objectively reasonable and did not violate Fourth Amendment.
Seventh Circuit
  • Swisher v. Porter County Sheriff's Dept., No. 13-3602 (Oct. 15, 2014): The court reversed the judgment for defendants because Plaintiff, who brought 1983 action alleging he was denied proper medical care while he was a pretrial detainee, had no duty to exhaust administrative remedies at the jail because jail's grievance procedure was not clear.
Ninth Circuit

Posted 13 Oct 2014 in Monday Morning Review
Here are last week's published decisions involving local governments:court collumn First Circuit
  • Showtime Entn't v. Town of Mendon, No. 12-2121 (Oct. 8, 2014): The Town's adult-business-entertainment bylaws unconstitutionally infringe on Showtime's right to engage in a protected expressive activity; the regulations' underinclusiveness indicates that Town does not have substantial interest in regulating adult businesses to curb secondary effects.
Seventh Circuit Ninth Circuit