8th Circuit

Jail officers could be held liable for failing to give prisoner prescribed medications for a back injury, attention deficit disorder, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and insomnia and would not be entitled to qualified immunity.

an NLG legal observer case was reported in the Actionable Conduct report of March 28. Plaintiffs petitioned for rehearing en banc, which was denied in Molina v. City of St. Louis, Mo., 65 F.4th 994 (8th Cir. 2023). There is a dissent by Colloton and Benton which will be of interest to those of you who represent protestors and NLG legal observers

Officer who pointed his Taser at a woman and told her to “get back” and to leave the area and go home had seized her within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, through a show of authority that restrained her liberty, despite the fact that she was not arrested or detained and was not told that she was not “free to leave”.

Pretrial detainee with back injury, attention deficit disorder, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and insomnia had serious medical needs; denial of prescription medications demonstrated deliberate indifference.

Court’s failure to instruct jury on punitive damages sua sponte did not amount to plain error.

Police power to declare that an assembly is unlawful and to order individuals to disperse is not limited to situations in which protestors are violating criminal laws; for example, police have authority to insure the free and orderly flow of traffic or to control entry by protestors onto state property not traditionally used as a public forum.

In case by NLG legal observers, court holds that observing and recording police-citizen interactions was not a clearly established First Amendment right in 2015, but there is a strong dissent by Judge Benton who finds right was clearly established; court rejects other theories that police who tear gassed NLG legal observers and others on private property did so in retaliation for exercise of First Amendment rights; court finds that wearing green hats that said “National Lawyers Guild Legal Observer” did not clearly convey a pro-protest message; third plaintiff who followed polic

Short burst of pepper spray against protestor was not excessive, where officer reasonably believed protestor entered police barricade and rapidly approached officers from behind and put his arms out toward officer’s bicycle, despite fact that video footage depicted plaintiff slowly backing away from officer; evidence insufficient to show that officer retaliated against protestor for speech.

False arrest claim accrued when arrestee was bound over for trial; unlawful seizure claim accrued at time of seizure.

Officer entitled to qualified immunity on unlawful seizure, malicious prosecution and First Amendment retaliation claims, because objectively reasonable for officer to believe arrestee was inciting violence or intending to provoke others to violence when he laughed loudly before standing and getting “nose-to-nose” with another and yelling at rallygoers and Trump, despite fact he was acquitted in criminal case on ground he had not used “fighting words”.