8th Circuit - Repackaged Appeals don't work - Law of the case So the lower court granted summary judgment to officers, the Plaintiff appealed. The Circuit panel concluded that the facts were in dispute as to whether probable cause existed. The case was remanded. The Iowa court decided a case addressing a section under which the Plaintiff was arrested and the defendants filed for summary judgment again based on the case and its clarification of the law. New appeal, reversed again - law of the case applies as the defendants conceded that no facts changed and the court saw the defendants' arguments as simply repackaged with the new case cited. Bates vs. Richardson, 222773P.pdf (uscourts.gov)<https://media.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/24/04/222773P.pdf> 6th Circuit - Takings - Terms of Office - 1st - 4th -14th Amendments Most of us know that politicians like to stay in office. In this case a Mayor who had served four terms when a charter amendment was passed setting mayoral term limits to coincide with those of the city council at three terms. The Mayor nevertheless filed to run for a fifth term. Having been excluded from the ballot, the mayor appealed through the state courts only to lose on the argument that the running of the terms could only begin after the amendment. Having lost in state court the mayor sought federal relief. "He brought claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that Defendants violated his First Amendment rights to free expression and association, his Fifth Amendment right to due process of law, and his Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection under the law." The lower court dismissed the suit for failure to state a claim. The panel affirmed writing a well reasoned decision that might easily have been reduced to the few words "You've got to be kidding me!" Clearly the courts take these cases seriously. Knowing when to step aside ought to be a requirement for leaders everywhere. Fouts vs. Warren City Council, 24a0072p-06.pdf (uscourts.gov)<https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/24a0072p-06.pdf> Charles W. Thompson, Jr. Of Counsel P: (202) 466-5424 x7110 M: (240) 876-6790 D: (202) 742-1016 [facebook icon]<https://www.facebook.com/InternationalMunicipalLawyersAssociation/>[twitter icon]<https://twitter.com/imlalegal>[linkedin icon]<https://www.linkedin.com/company/international-municipal-lawyers-association-inc./> [logo]<https://imla.org/> 51 Monroe St. Suite 404 Rockville, MD, 20850 www.imla.org<http://www.imla.org/> Plan Ahead! Plan Ahead! See IMLA's upcoming events<https://imla.org/events/>, calls and programming. Check out our On-Demand webinar library<https://netforum.avectra.com/eweb/shopping/shopping.aspx?site=imla&webcode=shopping&cart=0&shopsearchCat=Merchandise&productCat=Webinar> with 100+ webinars at your fingertips!