Section 1983 Cases

State courts may also properly hear section 1983 cases pursuant to the supremacy clause of article vi of the u s.

Section 1983 cases. 96 170 set out as a note under section 1343 of title 28 judiciary and judicial procedure. A section 1983 plaintiff is also required to prove that a federal right was violated and similar to tort law that the alleged violation was a proximate or legal cause of the damages that the plaintiff suffered arnold v ibm corp 637 f 2d 1350 9th cir. These actions may be brought in state or federal court.

The supremacy clause mandates that states must provide hospitable forums for federal claims and. Punitive damages are available against individuals but not municipalities in cases involving reckless or callous. Typical section 1983 claims.

Generally speaking a successful section 1983 plaintiff may collect typical state tort compensatory damages such as those for medical expenses lost income pain and suffering emotional distress reputational injury etc. 29 1979 see section 3 of pub. The damages can compensate the victim and punish the wrongdoer.

Victims can pursue monetary damages or an injunction. Cases brought under section 1983 may therefore be heard in federal courts by application of both jurisdictional statutes. Section 1983 claims and cases can be brought when the government creates or created the danger to an individual or a group of individuals.

A bivens action is comparable to a section 1983 case the key difference being that the person accused of wrongdoing is an official of the federal rather than a state or local government. One of the most notable examples of state created danger was the tuskegee syphilis study that began in october 1932 in macon county alabama and continued until 1973. Although passed in 1871 section 1983 did not come into use as a tool to prevent abuses by state officials until 1961 with the supreme court case of monroe v.

In a 1983 case for example the defendant might be a city police officer whereas the defendant in a bivens case could be a u s. A section 1983 lawsuit is a legal claim alleging a civil rights violation based on 42 u s c. Section 1983 outline originally written in 2002 by kent brintnall updated summer 2011 by office of staff attorneys united states court of appeals for the ninth circuit this outline is not intended to express the views or opinions of the ninth circuit and it may not be cited to or by the courts of this circuit.