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Mary Stewart, as Administrator of the Estate of Luke O. Stewart, Sr., Deceased v. City of Euclid, Ohio, et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, No. 18-3767 · judgment August 14, 2020
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Question presented
To hold a municipality liable under § 1983 for a constitutional violation by its employee, a plaintiff must prove the municipality acted with “deliberate indifference” toward the possibility of such a constitutional violation. City of Canton v. Harris, 489 U.S 378, 388-89 (1989). In this case, Petitioner sought to hold the city of Euclid, Ohio, accountable where a Euclid police officer shot and killed Luke Stewart in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Petitioner argued that Euclid’s official training—featuring clips from a Chris Rock sketch (sample “tip” for “how not to get your ass kicked by the police”: “get a white friend”) and cartoons of cops beating unarmed civilians— exhibited that “deliberate indifference.” The Sixth Circuit granted the police officer qualified immunity, holding that no clearly established law forbade his conduct. And in the Sixth Circuit—as in the First, Fifth, and Eighth Circuits, but unlike in the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits—the absence of clearly established law prohibiting an individual officer’s conduct entirely forecloses a finding of “deliberate indifference” for purposes of municipal liability. The question presented is: Where a municipal employee has violated the Constitution, must a plaintiff point to “clearly established law” (such as would overcome a defense of qualified immunity by an individual officer) in order to prove deliberate indifference for municipal liability purposes? (i)
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Easha Anand
Stanford Supreme Court Litigation Clinic
For respondent
Frank H. Scialdone
Mazanec, Raskin & Ryder Co.
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference
Proceedings
- May 24 2021Motion for leave to file amici brief filed by Legal Scholars GRANTED.
- May 24 2021Motion for leave to file amici brief filed by Professor Seth Stoughton, et al. GRANTED.
- May 24 2021Motion for leave to file amicus brief filed by Institute for Justice GRANTED.
- May 24 2021Petition DENIED.
- May 04 2021DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/20/2021.
- May 03 2021Reply of petitioner Mary Stewart, as Administrator of the Estate of Luke O. Stewart, Sr., Deceased filed. (Distributed)
- Apr 19 2021Brief of respondent City of Euclid in opposition filed.
- Mar 08 2021Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including April 19, 2021.
- Mar 05 2021Motion to extend the time to file a response from March 18, 2021 to April 19, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
- Feb 16 2021Motion for leave to file amici brief filed by Legal Scholars.
- Feb 09 2021Motion for leave to file amici brief filed by Professor Seth Stoughton, et al.
- Feb 08 2021Motion of Professor Seth Stoughton and Policing Scholars for leave to file amicus brief not accepted for filing. (February 09, 2021)
- Jan 28 2021Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including March 18, 2021.
- Jan 27 2021Motion to extend the time to file a response from February 16, 2021 to March 18, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jan 21 2021Motion for leave to file amicus brief filed by Institute for Justice.
- Jan 11 2021Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 16, 2021)