Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-22-2009

Abstract

Defendants-appellants John S. Bates Jr., Sheriff of Schoharie County, New York, and Lt. Jim Hazzard, Administrator of the Schoharie County Jail (together, the "defendants") appeal from a Decision and Order entered in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York (Kahn, J.) denying their motion for summary judgment in an action brought against them by plaintiffs-appellees John Kelsey and Timothy Wright (together, the "plaintiffs"). Kelsey v. County of Schoharie, No. 1:04-CV-299, 2007 WL 603406 (N.D.N.Y. Feb.21, 2007). The County of Schoharie is also named as a defendant in the action and joined in the motion. The plaintiffs seek an injunction and damages, claiming that the clothing exchange procedure for newly admitted inmates at the Schoharie County Jail constitutes a strip search violative of the Fourth Amendment when executed without reasonable suspicion. The defendants, sued in their official and individual capacities, base their motion for summary judgment, inter alia, on the defense of qualified immunity. The learned District Court, identifying a possible constitutional violation, found "material facts" in dispute and therefore rejected the defense of qualified immunity, with leave to reassert the defense "at the proper time." Kelsey, 2007 WL 603406, at *8. For the reasons that follow, we reverse the Decision and Order of the District Court and remand with instructions to dismiss the action.

Comments

567 F.3d 54 (2009)

John KELSEY and Timothy Wright, both individually and on behalf of a class of others similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. The COUNTY OF SCHOHARIE, John S. Bates Jr., both individually and his official capacity as Sheriff of the County of Schoharie, and Jim Hazzard, both individually and in his capacity as Administrator of the Schoharie County Jail, Defendants-Appellants.

Docket No. 07-0893-cv. United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued: October 3, 2008.

Decided: May 22, 2009.

New York Law School location: File #3730, Box #153

Download

Share

COinS