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City of Stockton, California, et al. v. Francisco Duarte

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 21-16929 · judgment February 16, 2023


Certiorari denied · June 26, 2023
Pre-decision estimate: 21% cert probability (95% interval 14%–29%)

Before the decision, about 5× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a state or local-government petitioner, a Ninth Circuit decision below, and a petition filed soon after the judgment below.

Question presented

Whether the “Heck Bar,” which this Court created in Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994), bars a 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 claim where the plaintiff is a criminal defendant who pled nolo contendere (no contest) as part of a plea deal where he agreed to perform terms through the criminal justice system in exchange for the criminal charges being dismissed upon successful completion of the terms.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Dana Alan Suntag
Herum/Crabtree/Suntag, LLP

For respondent
Easha Anand
Stanford Supreme Court Litigation Clinic

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
2 cert-stage

Proceedings

  1. Jun 26 2023
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Jun 06 2023
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/22/2023.
  3. Jun 05 2023
    Brief amici curiae of International Municipal Lawyers Association, et al. filed. (Distributed)
  4. May 31 2023
    Waiver of right of respondent Francisco Duarte to respond filed.
  5. May 31 2023
    Brief amici curiae of California State Sheriffs' Association, et al. filed.
  6. May 02 2023
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due June 5, 2023)