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Bryan Cowan, et al. v. Masa Nathaniel Warden

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 20-17405 · judgment April 4, 2022


Certiorari denied · October 17, 2022
Pre-decision estimate: 5% cert probability (95% interval 3%–8%)

Before the decision, modestly above the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a circuit split argued in the petition, a Ninth Circuit decision below, and counsel who has filed here before, and down for a state or local-government respondent.

Questions presented

The questions presented are:

  1. Plaintiff pled no contest to California Penal Code §69 prior to bringing this §1983 action against all three officers who were involved in his arrest. Many federal circuits1 have adopted a rule which bars a claim under Heck if it is based on specific factual allegations that are inconsistent with the facts upon which his criminal conviction was based. Is a claim cognizable under Heck when Plaintiff would be required to disprove any part of the unqualified factual basis for his conviction in order to succeed in the tort action?

  2. Under Heck, can a §1983 action for excessive force be barred against officers who were not named in the criminal charge upon which Plaintiff was convicted,

  3. Thore v. Howe, 466 F.3d 173, 179-80 (1st Cir. 2006); O’Brien v. Town of Bellingham, 943 F.3d 514, 529 (1st Cir. 2019); Jacobs v. Bayha, 616 F. App’x 507, 513-14 (3rd Cir. 2015); Bush v. Strain, 513 F. 3d 492, 498 n. 14 (5th Cir. 2008); Okoro v. Callaghan, 324 F.3d 488, 490 (7th Cir. 2003); McCann v. Neilsen, 466 F.3d 619, 621-22 (7th Cir. 2006); Gilbert v. Cook, 512 F.3d 899, 902 (7th Cir. 2008); Beets v. Cnty. of Los Angeles, 669 F.3d 1038, 046 (9th Cir. 2012); Sanders v. City of Pittsburg, 14 F.4th 968, 970-71 (9th Cir. 2021); Galindo v. City of Orange, 678 F. App’x 559, 560 (9th Cir. 2017); Harrigan v. Metro Dade Police Dep’t Station #4, 977 F.3d 1185, 1196 (11th Cir. 2020); Ducksworth v. Rook, 647 F. App’x 383, 385- 86 (5th Cir. 2016) (citing Daigre v. City of Waveland, Miss., 549 F. App’x 283, 286 (5th Cir. 2013), citing DeLeon v. City of Corpus Christi, 488 F.3d 649, 656-57 (5th Cir. 2007)); Dodds v. City of Yorktown, 656 Fed. App’x 40, 43 (5th Cir. 2016).

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Patrick Leslie Deedon
Maire & Deedon

For respondent
Brian Curtis McComas
Law Office of B.C. McComas

Case

Subject area
Civil Rights (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Order
Order list, October 17, 2022 · Certiorari denied

Proceedings

  1. Oct 17 2022
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Sep 28 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/14/2022.
  3. Sep 21 2022
    Waiver of right of respondent Masa Nathaniel Warden to respond filed.
  4. Aug 25 2022
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 28, 2022)