Robins Kaplan Secures Historic $12.2 Million Settlement in a Section 1983 Jail Deliberate Indifference Case - Scott County Jail officials failed to report detained man’s injuries and allowed video evidence to be deleted. ...more
The First District Court of Appeal has upheld the termination of a certified correctional officer who tested positive for marijuana metabolites, but who possessed a medical marijuana card. The ruling clarifies the Florida...more
On February 15, 2023, Gov. J.B. Pritzker gave his annual state of the state and fiscal year (FY) 2024 budget address. The FY 2024 budget proposal raises $49.994B in General Funds revenues and spends $49.642B. The Governor’s...more
How far does an employer’s judgment about essential functions take you? In Larry Tate v. Thomas Dart, the Seventh Circuit examined an employee’s claim that his employer’s refusal to promote him because it could not...more
The Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment – Division of Environmental Quality (“DEQ’) and the Arkansas Department of Corrections (“ADC”) entered into a July 22nd Consent Administrative Order (“CAO”) addressing alleged...more
On January 6, 2022, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois erred in denying class certification to putative subclasses of unsuccessful Black job applicants...more
At 1:35 a.m. on October 30, the Tennessee General Assembly adjourned its COVID-19-focused extraordinary session. Out of over 80 bills filed, only a handful passed both chambers. Despite that low figure, the effects are...more
CFPB Initiates Inquiry into Big Tech Payment Platforms - On October 21, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ordered six large technology companies—Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Square, and PayPal—to...more
Mootness, as one of the big three justiciability requirements, is a jurisdictional requirement on which judges do not normally postpone adjudication. But in a recent putative class action of transgender inmates, the D.C....more
Staying in touch with loved ones has become more important today than ever before. While technology offers many ways to stay in contact, incarcerated individuals face barriers to communication. Several prisons have paused...more
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (“TDEC”) and Tennessee Department of Correction (“Correction”) entered into a December 7th Consent Order and Assessment (“Consent Order”) addressing alleged violations...more
In a rare binding opinion, the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor (PAC) opined that certain information in the sole possession of a vendor that had contracted with the Illinois Department of Corrections...more
On Wednesday, June 10, 2020, Governor Janet Mills issued a proclamation extending Maine’s state of civil emergency through July 10, 2020. This is the third proclamation renewing the state of civil emergency....more
The density of prison environments, lack of access to adequate healthcare, and other considerations are placing prisoners at particularly high risk for contracting and spreading the COVID-19 virus. On March 22, 2020, New...more
On April 10, 2020, the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) issued guidance clarifying certain employers’ recording requirements regarding cases of COVID-19. Under the new guidance,...more
In a follow-up to measures taken by the New Jersey Supreme Court last month when it released low-level county jail inmates, on April 10, 2020 New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed Executive Order 124, which creates a process...more
On January 13, 2020, the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB or Board) issued an en banc affirmation of its July 31, 2018 Opinion and Decision After Reconsideration and gave the California Administrative Director of the...more
This month's key California employment law cases involve disability discrimination, wage and hour, and arbitration agreements enforcement. Doe v. Dept. of Corrections & Rehabilitation, No. E071224, 2019 WL 6907515 (Cal....more
People with disabilities have legal protections under both federal and state law. California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) prohibits an employer from taking adverse actions against a person because of a person’s...more
An agency’s failure to maintain a historic building—“demolition by neglect”—is not a “project” subject to CEQA. Lake Norconian Club Foundation v. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, No. A154917 (First...more
Prison healthcare litigation has been on the rise throughout the country. Private healthcare providers for state prison systems are often caught up in class actions or complex injunctive-relief litigation targeting both the...more
February was a busy month for decisions about the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA” or the “Act”). ...more
HIPAA and several other privacy laws do not include a private right of action. This is cold comfort for healthcare providers, health plans and other members of the healthcare industry if a patient is able to demonstrate that...more
In Sipple v. Connections Community Support Programs, Inc., the Delaware Superior Court rejected a breach of contract claim filed by a former prison inmate who claimed that he received substandard medical care while...more
In November 2017, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania issued an opinion concerning an arbitrator’s reinstatement of a state correctional officer (“CO”). The CO was responsible for monitoring inmates who worked on the...more