civil rights

Sarah Leyrer

Hi, your question is not specific, but you may benefit from looking at the webpage of the Seattle Office for Civil Rights. You can also contact that office and file a discrimination complaint.

Good luck.

Anthony John Colleluori

Civil rights violations are usually handled in Federal court. Jurisdiction is founded under 42 USC 1983 and the surrounding statutes. There is a fee switching statute which allows a successful litigant to collect fees from the loser. It is found in 42 USC 1988.

State claims can be handled by the federal court if there is a valid federal claim through the pendant jurisdiction of federal courts. Likewise if your claims are brought in state court, that court can also hear the 1983 claim as well.

Typical civil rights claims stem from false arrest and malicious prosecution refusal to treat classes of people equally, housing discrimination, election fraud, and other types of discrimination. Discrimination based on disability is found in a different section and is called ADA cases.

1983 actions are not generally brought against non state actors. That means that to sue under 42 USC 1983, the people you are suing must be acting on behalf of the local or federal government and any entity you sue must be a local or federal govenment.

You cannot sue the state in federal court under 42 USC 1983 as it is a soverign entity but you can sue it in State court of claims or in the trial court of the state in question on the grounds of a violation of the section.

Good Luck.

ghostofcwheeler

Your wrong, private citizens and corperations can be held accountable in Title 42, 1983 actions.

Although § 1983 can only be used to remedy deprivation of rights done under the color of law, a private actor can be liable "under § 1983 for conspiring with state officials to violate a private
citizen's right[s]. . . . " Dossett v. First State Bank, 399 F.3d 940, 950 (8th Cir. 2005).
The key inquiry is whether the private party was a willful participant in the corrupt
conspiracy. DuBose v. Kelly, 187 F.3d 999, 1003 (8th Cir. 1999).

This is from:
EIGHTH CIRCUIT Western District of Missouri
07-1002, 1166 White v. McKinley
Submitted: October 19, 2007
Filed: January 30, 2008

Here is a corperation in a Title 42, 1983 action:

The private defendants can be subject to a § 1983 action only if
they conspired with the state actors to violate Johnson’s
civil rights. The conspiracy allegations are clearly sufficient
against McMahon and Rayburn. The corporate defendants require a bit more attention.
Both claim to be sued solely under a theory of respondeat
superior or vicarious liability. Like public municipal
corporations, they cannot be sued solely on that basis:
a “private corporation is not vicariously liable under § 1983
for its employees’ deprivations of others’ civil rights.”
Iskander v. Vill. of Forest Park, 690 F.2d 126, 128 (7th Cir.
1982); see also Jackson v. Illinois Medi-Car, Inc., 300 F.3d
760 (7th Cir. 2002). However, like a municipality, a private
corporation can be liable if the injury alleged is the
result of a policy or practice, or liability can be “demon-
strated indirectly ‘by showing a series of bad acts and
inviting the court to infer from them that the policymaking
level of government was bound to have noticed
what was going on and by failing to do anything must have
encouraged or at least condoned . . . the misconduct of
subordinate officers.’ ” Woodward v. Corr. Med. Servs., 368
F.3d 917, 927 (7th Cir. 2004). As to municipalities,
we have said that “the complaint must allege that an
official policy or custom not only caused the constitutional
violation, but was ‘the moving force’ behind it.” Estate of
Sims ex rel. Sims v. County of Bureau, 506 F.3d 509, 514
(7th Cir. 2007), quoting City of Canton, Ohio v. Harris,
489 U.S. 378, 389 (1989). A policy may be found if the
constitutional injury was caused “by a person with final
policymaking authority.” Sims, at 515.
The allegations against Allstate are that, after Johnson
raised issues of bad faith, the “criminal prosecution of . . .
JOHNSON, was instigated, in part, by . . .
ALLSTATE . . . .” There is also reference to the Allstate
investigation of the fire. And more tellingly, there is an
allegation that Allstate paid for the expert witnesses to
testify at Johnson’s criminal trial. These are direct allegations
against the company.

This is from:
Johnson v. Allstate, et. al.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.
No. 06 C 787/No. 06-2950
ARGUED DECEMBER 3, 2007—DECIDED FEBRUARY 12, 2008