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can village in ohio be sued for police misconductohio

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dequeendistress

Senior Member
The prosecutor was also the villages lawyer
Interesting, who was the judge? Another employee?

The child was CROSS examined at the age of 13 and handicapped?

You did not report this to any outside agency, did you????
 
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hexeliebe

Guest
The first thing you need to do is tell your attorney to ask for an Attorney General opinion on the prosecutor/city attorney role as a conflict of interest.

Then your attorney needs to file a complaint with the State Bar association.

The Ohio Attorney General has offered several opinions regarding both city and state employees acting in the dual role of judge and alderman/councilman.

The Bar association also has very strict ethics guidelines of which I feel there have been several violations or at least 'bending' of the rules of professional conduct.

Also, have your attorney file a request with the Justice Department for a violation of civil rights.

The city CAN be included in any civil lawsuit. If your attorney is waiting for the same judge to make a ruling he would be better served to move the case out of the local court and into a District Court where the same people are not put into the role of both judge and defendant.
 
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hexeliebe

Guest
I thought I'd better come back and support my statements in the preceeding post.

The first decision on who and what can be sued is trying to determine whether the target of the lawsuit is an 'arm of the state' or a local government entity.

This distinction is important because an "arm of the state" can claim 11th Amendment immunity, while a local government entity (e.g., a county, municipal corporation, or other political subdivision of the state) generally cannot. Mt. Healthy City School Dist. Bd. of Educ. v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 280 (1977); Board of Trustees of University of Alabama v. Garrett, 531 U.S. 356, 369 (2001).

Factors for assessing whether an entity is an arm of the state are described in, among other cases, Hess v. Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corp., 513 U.S. 30 (1994); Mt. Healthy City School Dist. Bd. of Educ. v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 280 (1977), Chisholm, supra, 275 F.3d at 323; Williams v. Dallas Area Rapid Transit, 242 F.3d 315, 318 (5th Cir. 2001) and Brotherton v. Cleveland, 173 F.3d 552, 561 (6th Cir. 1999) .

You should also have your attorney look at "Circumventing the Eleventh Amendment in the Third Circuit," 43 Vill. L. Rev. 923, 937 n.83 (1998); Wright & Miller, Federal Practice & Procedure § 3524 at nn.30-45.4.


There are exceptions however. Some courts have granted 11th Amendment immunity to local governments when their actions were compelled by state law. See Wright & Miller, Federal Practice & Procedure § 3524 at nn. 251-253 (2001 Supp.).

Furthermore, other kinds of immunity may apply. For a case discussing the effect of judicial immunity on ADA and § 504 claims, for example, see Duvall v. County of Kitsap, 260 F.3d 1124 (9th Cir. 2001).

As to my OPINION, after reading several of the above citations, it seems that yes the village can be sued, but that the venu should be at the district court level or above so that the same conflict of interest concerns will not be an issue.
 
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hexeliebe

Guest
And one more little tidbit for your attorney .

The city will probably be arguing that they are not liable for the actions of the police and therefore should not be included in the suit.

However, that is a question of fact for a jury/judge to decide. The fact that the city can be sued is a question of law to be decided on the statutes both federal and state.
 

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