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7th Circuit - Medical Marijuana, Wrongful arrest, Probable cause,

Chuck Thompson

Thu, Mar 23, 2023 2:48 PM

7th Circuit - Probable Cause - Wrongful Arrest - Qualified Immunity
So a guy walks into a liquor store and gets into an argument with the clerk. The guy walks next door through an alley and while doing so claims the clerk came out and pointed a gun at him and called him racial epithets. A friend, next door, hearing the story tells him to call 9-1-1. He does. The police respond, interview him, and immediately believe he's lying about the incident. They go to the store and the clerk denies that he did any such thing as alleged and the police view videotape from the store supporting the clerk's story, but do not review other videotape available or walk outside the back door (because when they opened the door they felt that it was such a mess the clerk wouldn't have gone out that way). The officers arrest the guy for making a false report. He spends a couple weeks in jail. Charges dismissed, so begins the 1983 lottery. The lower court denied qualified immunity to the officers (but dismissed the claim against the city and a detective who reviewed the reports and forwarded the complaint to the prosecutor). 7th Circuit panel affirms in what I frankly believe proves once again that law schools fail to teach analytical thinking. Here's the court's analysis - officers don't believe the guy as soon as they arrive at the scene. Therefore, there couldn't have been probable cause because the follow up investigation only sought to prove their initial conclusion that the guy was lying. To me that might make sense if the clerk's story wasn't borne out by the video or if they ignored evidence to the contrary. Pretty scary to think that someone cand claim a lack of probable cause simply because initial assumptions are supported by investigation before an arrest is made. Because this case involves Saginaw, I'm wondering if the 7th Circuit after its ludicrous tire chalking decision has something against the city.
Harris vs. City of Saginaw 23a0047p-06.pdf (uscourts.gov)https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/23a0047p-06.pdf

Charles W. Thompson, Jr.
Of Counsel
P: (202) 466-5424 x7110
M: (240) 876-6790
D: (202) 742-1016
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7th Circuit- Drug Free Zone - Land Use -Medical Marijuana Dispensary A hopeful purveyor of medical marijuana sought a permit to operate in Detroit, but the city denied the permit because the location was within a "drug free zone". Imagine the horror of such a result to those investors especially when they saw some of their competitors receive licenses to operate in similar zones. Well, said the city, you need to understand that one of the competitors was not in a drug free zone when the permit was granted and the other was mistakenly thought to be outside the zone due to a rather inconspicuous strip of land. The 7th Circuit reviewed the dismissal of the suit and affirmed in an opinion that those not knowing Detroit might find illuminating for its description of the history of the city and its allure - including: "Among other recognitions, the City has been named one of world's greatest places to explore. See Sarah Bence, Detroit: Newfound Glory, Time (July 12, 2022, 7:10 AM), https://time.com/collection /worlds-greatest-places-2022/6194455/detroit/<https://time.com/collection%20/worlds-greatest-places-2022/6194455/detroit/>". The City added evidence that other comparators were similarly treated and any disparities had idiosyncratic facts to support the different treatment. Thus, substantive due process claims failed as did the equal protection claims. From afar, I have to say it seems as though the Detroit legal team did a remarkable job handling this case. Congratulations! Green Genie vs. Detroit 23a0050p-06.pdf (uscourts.gov)<https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/23a0050p-06.pdf> 7th Circuit - Probable Cause - Wrongful Arrest - Qualified Immunity So a guy walks into a liquor store and gets into an argument with the clerk. The guy walks next door through an alley and while doing so claims the clerk came out and pointed a gun at him and called him racial epithets. A friend, next door, hearing the story tells him to call 9-1-1. He does. The police respond, interview him, and immediately believe he's lying about the incident. They go to the store and the clerk denies that he did any such thing as alleged and the police view videotape from the store supporting the clerk's story, but do not review other videotape available or walk outside the back door (because when they opened the door they felt that it was such a mess the clerk wouldn't have gone out that way). The officers arrest the guy for making a false report. He spends a couple weeks in jail. Charges dismissed, so begins the 1983 lottery. The lower court denied qualified immunity to the officers (but dismissed the claim against the city and a detective who reviewed the reports and forwarded the complaint to the prosecutor). 7th Circuit panel affirms in what I frankly believe proves once again that law schools fail to teach analytical thinking. Here's the court's analysis - officers don't believe the guy as soon as they arrive at the scene. Therefore, there couldn't have been probable cause because the follow up investigation only sought to prove their initial conclusion that the guy was lying. To me that might make sense if the clerk's story wasn't borne out by the video or if they ignored evidence to the contrary. Pretty scary to think that someone cand claim a lack of probable cause simply because initial assumptions are supported by investigation before an arrest is made. Because this case involves Saginaw, I'm wondering if the 7th Circuit after its ludicrous tire chalking decision has something against the city. Harris vs. City of Saginaw 23a0047p-06.pdf (uscourts.gov)<https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/23a0047p-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! IMLA's 2022 Mid-Year Seminar<https://imla.org/seminars/>, April 8-11, 2022 in Washington, D.C.! IMLA's 2022 Annual<https://imla.org/annual-conference/> Conference, October 19-23, 2022 in Portland, OR! 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.

Chuck Thompson

Thu, Mar 23, 2023 6:57 PM

From: Chuck Thompson
Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2023 10:49 AM
To: cityattorneys@lists.imla.org; counties@lists.imla.org; Landuse@lists.imla.org; Federal Law List Serve federal@lists.imla.org; IN-IMLA Listserve (IN-IMLAattorneys@lists.imla.org) IN-IMLAattorneys@lists.imla.org
Cc: Erich Eiselt eeiselt@imla.org; Ravinder Arneja rarneja@imla.org
Subject: 7th Circuit - Medical Marijuana, Wrongful arrest, Probable cause,

Sorry folks, dementia has clearly set in, the cases I reported on today were from the 6th Circuit. The lousy Saginaw case decision should have alerted me to the fact I had the wrong circuit, but thanks to those of you who read these and who let me know the error. Hopefully, I'll do better in the future. Chuck 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! IMLA's 2022 Mid-Year Seminar<https://imla.org/seminars/>, April 8-11, 2022 in Washington, D.C.! IMLA's 2022 Annual<https://imla.org/annual-conference/> Conference, October 19-23, 2022 in Portland, OR! 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. From: Chuck Thompson Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2023 10:49 AM To: cityattorneys@lists.imla.org; counties@lists.imla.org; Landuse@lists.imla.org; Federal Law List Serve <federal@lists.imla.org>; IN-IMLA Listserve (IN-IMLAattorneys@lists.imla.org) <IN-IMLAattorneys@lists.imla.org> Cc: Erich Eiselt <eeiselt@imla.org>; Ravinder Arneja <rarneja@imla.org> Subject: 7th Circuit - Medical Marijuana, Wrongful arrest, Probable cause, 7th Circuit- Drug Free Zone - Land Use -Medical Marijuana Dispensary A hopeful purveyor of medical marijuana sought a permit to operate in Detroit, but the city denied the permit because the location was within a "drug free zone". Imagine the horror of such a result to those investors especially when they saw some of their competitors receive licenses to operate in similar zones. Well, said the city, you need to understand that one of the competitors was not in a drug free zone when the permit was granted and the other was mistakenly thought to be outside the zone due to a rather inconspicuous strip of land. The 7th Circuit reviewed the dismissal of the suit and affirmed in an opinion that those not knowing Detroit might find illuminating for its description of the history of the city and its allure - including: "Among other recognitions, the City has been named one of world's greatest places to explore. See Sarah Bence, Detroit: Newfound Glory, Time (July 12, 2022, 7:10 AM), https://time.com/collection /worlds-greatest-places-2022/6194455/detroit/<https://time.com/collection%20/worlds-greatest-places-2022/6194455/detroit/>". The City added evidence that other comparators were similarly treated and any disparities had idiosyncratic facts to support the different treatment. Thus, substantive due process claims failed as did the equal protection claims. From afar, I have to say it seems as though the Detroit legal team did a remarkable job handling this case. Congratulations! Green Genie vs. Detroit 23a0050p-06.pdf (uscourts.gov)<https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/23a0050p-06.pdf> 7th Circuit - Probable Cause - Wrongful Arrest - Qualified Immunity So a guy walks into a liquor store and gets into an argument with the clerk. The guy walks next door through an alley and while doing so claims the clerk came out and pointed a gun at him and called him racial epithets. A friend, next door, hearing the story tells him to call 9-1-1. He does. The police respond, interview him, and immediately believe he's lying about the incident. They go to the store and the clerk denies that he did any such thing as alleged and the police view videotape from the store supporting the clerk's story, but do not review other videotape available or walk outside the back door (because when they opened the door they felt that it was such a mess the clerk wouldn't have gone out that way). The officers arrest the guy for making a false report. He spends a couple weeks in jail. Charges dismissed, so begins the 1983 lottery. The lower court denied qualified immunity to the officers (but dismissed the claim against the city and a detective who reviewed the reports and forwarded the complaint to the prosecutor). 7th Circuit panel affirms in what I frankly believe proves once again that law schools fail to teach analytical thinking. Here's the court's analysis - officers don't believe the guy as soon as they arrive at the scene. Therefore, there couldn't have been probable cause because the follow up investigation only sought to prove their initial conclusion that the guy was lying. To me that might make sense if the clerk's story wasn't borne out by the video or if they ignored evidence to the contrary. Pretty scary to think that someone cand claim a lack of probable cause simply because initial assumptions are supported by investigation before an arrest is made. Because this case involves Saginaw, I'm wondering if the 7th Circuit after its ludicrous tire chalking decision has something against the city. Harris vs. City of Saginaw 23a0047p-06.pdf (uscourts.gov)<https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/23a0047p-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! IMLA's 2022 Mid-Year Seminar<https://imla.org/seminars/>, April 8-11, 2022 in Washington, D.C.! IMLA's 2022 Annual<https://imla.org/annual-conference/> Conference, October 19-23, 2022 in Portland, OR! 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.