Federal Court Allows Lawsuit Against Putnam County for Illegal Task Force Searches to Proceed

Late last week, a federal judge denied the motion to dismiss filed by Putnam County, who had asked the Court to dismiss the first of several lawsuits filed against Putnam County for a pattern and practice of illegal searches by their “Special Enforcement Unit,” who were caught on video searching the inside of my client Dustin Elswick’s home, which you may have seen on Youtube.

Usually in federal civil rights lawsuit, you are required to sue the individual government employee or officer who engaged in the violation. However, under the Supreme Court’s ruling in Monell v. Dep’t of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658 (1978), counties and cities (i.e., political subdivisions) may be sued directly when they have adopted some policy or practice which authorizes a constitutional violation against citizens by police officers. These are known as “Monell Claims” and they are very difficult to prove, generally. So they are pretty routinely dismissed. I’m happy this one wasn’t. Presumably the other two cases just like it will also be allowed to proceed…..

Freedom is Scary, Episode No. 79.

You can read the memorandum opinion and order here:

https://thecivilrightslawyer.com/2021/11/05/federal-court-allows-lawsuit-against-putnam-county-for-illegal-task-force-searches-to-proceed/

You can learn more about the underlying case and watch the original youtube videos here:

https://thecivilrightslawyer.com/the-drug-task-force-burglary-caught-on-camera-case/