Bivens action – Page 2

Ninth Circuit Rejects FTCA/Bivens Claims against Federal & Tribal Officers

February 10, 2014Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here is the unpublished opinion in Dupris v. McDonald.

An excerpt:

In 2006, Jesse Dupris and Jeremy Reed (the “Plaintiffs”) were arrested on tribal charges for assaults they did not commit. In 2008, they commenced this action against the members of the federal Task Force that arrested them and the United States under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971), and the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b)(1), 2671-2680. The district court granted summary judgment for the defendants and Plaintiffs have appealed. We affirm, concluding that: (1) the Plaintiffs’ claims against two members of the Task Force are barred by the applicable statute of limitations; (2) the remaining individual defendants were entitled to qualified immunity; and (3) the United States is immune from liability under the FTCA pursuant to the discretionary function exception.

Briefs and lower court materials here.

Federal Court Allows Leave to Amend Civil Rights Complaint against Salt River Police re: Medicinal Marijuana Confiscation

April 30, 2013Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the materials so far in Phillips v. Salt River Police Dep’t (D. Ariz.):

DCT Order

Phillips Complaint

Table Mountain Rancheria Prevails In Membership Dispute Before The Ninth Circuit

March 13, 2013Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Materials in Lewis v. Salazar here:

12 – Appellants’ Opening Brief

24 – Secretary Salazar’s Answering Brief

26 – Tribal Defendants Answering Brief

34.2 – Appellants Corrected Reply Brief

52.1 – Memorandum Opinion

NYTs Article on Oravec v. Cole

February 3, 2013February 3, 2013Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

An excerpt:

Two families from the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana can proceed with a lawsuit against an F.B.I. agent that accuses him of failing to properly investigate crimes against American Indians on and around the reservation, the United States Supreme Court has ruled.

Ninth Circuit materials here.

Cert Opposition Brief in Bivens Action against BIA Officer

December 28, 2012Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the cert opp in Oravec v. Cole:

Cole Cert Opp

Petition is here. I still expect a CVSG or something here.

BIA Agent Subject to Bivens Action Files Cert Petition

September 4, 2012Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here is the petition in Oravec v. Cole:

Oravec v Crane Cert Petition

The question presented:

Whether a motion to dismiss brought by a federal law enforcement officer asserting qualified immunity should be granted under Aschroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009), where the complaint alleges a Bivens claim through nothing more than a formulaic recitation of the elements of the cause of action, general and unsupported statistics and musings, and alleged policy problems having nothing to do with the particular officer.

Lower court materials here.

Hicks v. Fort Wingate School — Indian School Allegedly Outed and Humiliated Pregnant Student

March 7, 2012Matthew L.M. Fletcher

An excerpt from the ACLU site:

The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of New Mexico filed a lawsuit today on behalf of Shantelle Hicks, 15, who was initially kicked out of middle school and then publicly humiliated at an assembly by the school director and another staff member because she was pregnant.

The complaint alleges that school administrators violated Hicks’ constitutional right to equal protection under the law, Title IX’s prohibitions against sex and pregnancy discrimination and violations of her right to privacy.

“It was so embarrassing to have all the other kids staring at me as I walked into the gymnasium,” said Hicks. “I didn’t want the whole school to know I was pregnant because it’s not their business, and it wasn’t right for my teachers to single me out.”

***

Lawyers on this case include Klopfer, Alexandra Freedman Smith, Laura Schauer Ives and Maureen Sanders of the ACLU of New Mexico; and Sherwin and Lenora Lapidus of the ACLU Women’s Rights Project.

Read the full legal complaint: Hicks Complaint.

Ninth Circuit Allows Bivens Action against FBI Agent that Failed to Properly Investigate Murder of Indians

January 10, 2012Matthew L.M. Fletcher3 Comments

Here is today’s unpublished opinion in Cole v. Oravec. An excerpt:

Defendant-Appellant Matthew Oravec, an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, appeals from the district court’s denial of his qualified immunity motion in this Bivens action brought on behalf of two deceased Native American men. The Appellees are relatives of the two deceased men – Steven Bearcrane and Robert Springfield. The Appellees allege that Oravec violated their right to equal protection when he failed to conduct a sufficiently thorough investigation of the two deaths out of an alleged animus toward Native Americans.

Here are the briefs:

Oravec Appellant Brief

Cole Appellee Brief

Oravec Reply

Civil Rights Claim by Crow Indians against FBI Dismissed

June 24, 2010Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Mostly. One claim against an FBI officer remains.

The case is Cole v. FBI (D. Mont.): DCT Order Dismissing Cole Plaintiffs

The complaint is here: Cole Complaint.

Excerpts from news coverage here, via Pechanga:

Cebull agreed that the Coles and Springfield lacked standing to assert rights as individuals because they did not allege they had been the subject of discriminatory law enforcement. The link between injuries alleged by the plaintiffs and the alleged misconduct of the government employees was too weak to meet requirements for bringing a case, he said.

The court, however, held that the plaintiffs had standing to assert an equal-protection claim against Oravec and did not dismiss that claim.

Cebull agreed with Ostby that factual allegations “create an inference’’ that Oravec was “motivated by racial animus when conducting his investigation into the deaths of Steven Bearcrane and Robert Springfield.”

The plaintiffs alleged that Oravec had been heard to say that female American Indian victims of sexual assault “were asking for assault or words to that effect.” And, they claimed, Oravec tried to hinder crime investigations and that when the Coles visited the FBI offices to ask about the investigation into their son’s death, he attempted to intimidate Cletus Cole by taking him out of camera range and showing him his gun.

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