Interesting en banc opinion

 It's not every day that you see an en banc opinion authored by two judges on the 11th Circuit.  Even rarer is for that combination to be Chief Judge Pryor and Judge Martin.  But they team up in this case, with Judge Newsom dissenting.

From the joint en banc intro:

WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, and MARTIN, Circuit Judge, delivered the opinion of the Court, in which WILSON, JORDAN, ROSENBAUM, JILL PRYOR, GRANT, LAGOA, BRASHER, and BLACK, Circuit Judges, joined. 

WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, and MARTIN, Circuit Judge:

In 2013, Conraad Hoever was incarcerated at the Franklin Correctional Institution (FCI) in Carrabelle, Florida. According to Mr. Hoever’s complaint, correctional officers there subjected him to harassment and threats of physical violence in retaliation for his filing grievances about his mistreatment. Proceeding on his own (without counsel), Mr. Hoever successfully defended against the officers’ attempts to dismiss his case, and he was ultimately able to present his claim of First Amendment retaliation to a jury. After a three-day trial, during which the jury heard testimony from Mr. Hoever, the defendant officers, and witnesses who corroborated the threats, the jury returned a verdict in Mr. Hoever’s favor. But vindication of Mr. Hoever’s constitutional rights was limited. That is because this circuit has interpreted the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(e), as barring punitive damages for a prisoner’s civil action where no physical injury is shown. The jury, therefore, awarded Mr. Hoever only one dollar in nominal damages.

Our circuit stands alone in enforcing § 1997e(e) as a complete bar to punitive damages, no matter the substantive claim, in the absence of physical injury. Because our interpretation runs counter to the text of the statute, today we correct our course. We now recognize that §1997e(e) permits claims for punitive damages without a showing of physical injury. 

And here's how the dissent starts:

NEWSOM, Circuit Judge, joined by BRANCH, Circuit Judge, and joined in Parts I and III by LUCK, Circuit Judge, concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part:

There is a subtle but important difference in how the Court and I read 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(e). In the phrase “civil action . . . brought . . . for mental or emotional injury suffered while in custody,” the Court sees a distinction between requests for compensatory damages, which it says are covered, and requests for punitive damages, which it holds are not. I can’t find that compensatory-punitive divide in the statutory text. As I read it, § 1997e(e) doesn’t distinguish between different forms of monetary relief, but rather between different forms of harm. In particular, the dispositive question, to my eye, is simply whether an inmate-plaintiff ’s action concerns “mental or emotional injury,” as opposed to some other kind of injury. To the extent that it does, I would hold—contra the Court—that § 1997e(e) precludes him from recovering either compensatory or punitive damages unless he has made the statutorily required showing of “physical injury.” To the extent, by contrast, that the inmate’s suit alleges injuries that are not“mental or emotional,” I would hold that § 1997e(e) permits him to seek both compensatory and punitive damages.

Bonus Podcast Episode of For the Defense with Judge Jed Rakoff

 I'm excited to let you know that we have a bonus episode of For the Defense that has been released this morning. It's an interview with Judge Jed Rakoff about his book: Why the Innocent Plead Guilty and the Guilty go Free.  The book is a fascinating set of essays that Judge Rakoff wrote about the craziness of our criminal justice system.  We discuss those essays, including the trial tax, sentencing, the death penalty, how to get the system back on track, and other really great issues during our talk. 

You can check out the bonus episode on Apple, Spotify, and Google,  All other platforms, including a regular desktop player, can be accessed on our website. And you can pick up a copy of Judge Rakoff's book here.






It's also not too late to catch up on Seasons 1 and 2 of For The Defense.  If you have a friend that would like to receive these updates, please have them sign up here.

 

Hosted by David Oscar Markus and produced by rakontur

Sandra Feuerstein, judge in EDNY, dies in Boca car crash

 This is just awful.  The driver was a woman named Snape, who said she was Harry Potter.  

CNN covers the tragedy here:

A woman has been arrested in connection to a hit-and-run accident that killed federal judge Sandra Feuerstein and injured a 6-year-old in Boca Raton, Florida, on Friday.
Nastasia Andranie Snape was arrested Saturday and faces charges of vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of a crash involving death and leaving the scene of a crash with injury, according to jail booking records from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
CNN has been unable to determine if Snape is represented by an attorney who would comment on her behalf.
Feuerstein was a judge for the US District Court in the Eastern District of New York.

More from the Sun-Sentinel:

Snape didn’t stop until she reached Delray Beach, where officers found her unconscious inside her vehicle, which had crashed at an intersection, arrest documents state.
As a Delray Beach Police officer approached the crashed car, “he could see Snape begin to convulse and have seizure-like movements,” the report said.
Snape came to shortly thereafter, but was unable to make eye contact or hold conversation. Once inside an ambulance, she “began to scream and fight with medics stating that she was ‘Harry Potter,’” the report read.

The paramedics had to give Snape 400 milligrams of Ketamine to calm her down. At the hospital, officers found a designer drug known as “T” in her purse, the report said.

Jury trials continued until July

 So says Chief Judge Moore in the latest administrative order.  I've heard chatter that this will be the last extension and I've also heard some people saying that there will be at least one more.  Who knows! I guess it depends on how these pilot trials go.

RIP Alcee Hastings, a true legend

 This is very sad news.  He was a great guy and public servant.  RIP.

The Sun-Sentinel has the sad news here:

Congressman Alcee Hastings, whose life was marked by perseverance, calamity and a comeback, has died. He was 84.

Hastings crusaded against racial injustice as a civil rights lawyer, became a federal judge who was impeached and removed from office, and went on to win 15 congressional elections, becoming Florida’s senior member of Congress.

He died Tuesday morning, a longtime friend said.

In late 2018, Hastings was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. For much of the ensuing two years, he continued public appearances between medical treatments, but more recently he hadn’t been in public. In recent days, he had been in hospice care.

More to follow.