I had two separate federal civil rights lawsuits where excessive force incidents were captured on video by the exact same camera. One of them resulted in an epic legal drama, which established law still used today. Continue reading
As was reported in the Charleston Gazette today, on Friday, together with Ron and Scott Windom of Windom Law Offices in Harrisville, WV, we filed a lawsuit against Ritchie County, including the Sheriff of Ritchie County, and the Chief Administrator. … Continue reading
I just went back through the Sawyer v. Asbury opinion in this post on the Use of Force Source. If you have followed the case on this blog, it’s interesting to take a step back and analyze the Court’s ruling … Continue reading
There was a nice article on the front page of the Charleston Gazette this morning about the Sawyer Case. Ruling Against Wood Deputy in Assault Stands “Today the citizens of West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia North Carolina and South Carolina have … Continue reading
We won the Sawyer case at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The audio from the oral arguments is one post down. Here is the opinion. I have been unable to discuss the case for about a … Continue reading
I know that many people have been following this case, so here is an update. On Monday I was ordered by the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to respond to a Petition for Writ of Prohibition filed by the … Continue reading
Unfortunately we lost at jury trial. But we just received an order from the Federal Judge overturning the jury verdict and granting judgment in our favor. There will be a new trial to determine damages. Yes! Update: Link to newspaper … Continue reading
Today we received the Judge’s memorandum opinion and order denying the defendant’s motion for summary judgment, finding that the defendant police officer is not entitled to qualified immunity on our primary claim. This means that we are going to have … Continue reading
We are currently litigating the defendants’ motion for summary judgment in Sawyer v. Asbury, et al. Our response contains a fairly thorough walkthrough of excessive force law for most types of excessive force claims. Of course this is tailored to … Continue reading
This week we filed yet another federal excessive force and civil rights lawsuit in Parkersburg, West Virginia. This one is a little bit different though, because city officials, as well as the City of Parkersburg, are included as defendants. See … Continue reading
