By John Midgley
A tool used in many prison and jail cases, especially by defendants, is a summary judgment motion under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56. If you lose a summary judgment motion brought by the defendant, you have lost your case (unless you can get the summary judgment ...
What A Consent Decree Is
This column discusses so-called "consent decrees" in prison cases. I briefly address the advantages of trying to get a consent decree in certain cases, and current issues regarding consent decrees. This column assumes that either you have filed a case under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ...
One form of remedy available in federal court, including in some prison cases, is a "declaratory judgment." This column discusses what a declaratory judgment is, why you might want one in some cases, and the requirements for getting one.
What Is A Declaratory Judgment And When Should I Ask For ...
In many cases in which a prisoner or group of prisoners is suing over bad prison conditions or practices, the prisoners want an injunction, that is, an order to require state officials to stop violating constitutional rights. This column briefly discusses what "injunctive relief" is, the basic standards for getting ...
Prisoners who challenge jail or prison conditions or practices in a pro se lawsuit should be aware of the possibility of turning the case into a class action. In deciding whether to seek class treatment, you should consider both whether your case meets the legal requirements for becoming class action ...
In the June issue of PLN, I discussed the defense of so-called "qualified immunity" that is available to public officers and employees sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. This companion column discusses the other kind of immunity you may run into, so-called "absolute immunity" from a § 1983 suit. I ...
This column discusses the defense of so-called "qualified immunity" that is available to public officers and employees sued under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983. I will first discuss what an "immunity" is, then what "qualified" immunity is as distinguished from "absolute" immunity, and finally how the issue of qualified immunity is ...
[Editor's Note : With this issue of PLN we would like to introduce a new feature that our readers should find useful. John Midgley is an attorney with the Institutional Legal Services Project of Columbia Legal Services in Tacoma. He has been doing prison and criminal litigation in Washington state ...
This is to update you on recent developments in the Powell case on retroactive application of SHB 1457 to mandatory life term prisoners.
As you know, earlier this year the Ninth Circuit refused to rehear the case. So, on April 10, 1995, we filed a petition for Writ of Certiorari ...
This is a further update on developments in the Powell litigation. The Attorney General's office recently filed in the Ninth Circuit a document in which they claimed that the Indeterminate Sentence Review Board will treat superintendents' recommendations for parole under RCW 9.95.052 just as they would have treated a superintendent's ...
