On July 31, 1995, Plaintiff filed this lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the City of New York in the United States Court for the Southern District of New York, Foley Square. Plaintiff, represented by private counsel, alleged that her Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights had been violated. Specifically, plaintiff claims that detention by courthouse personnel and a strip search in a semi-private bathroom violated her constitutional rights.

On August 1, 1994, plaintiff, a landlord's attorney, was at Housing Court in the Bronx. Plaintiff grew impatient and repeatedly petitioned the Court for an immediate decision in her case, at which point the court officers handcuffed her. After holding her for two hours they released her, and she returned to the courtroom to address the court. She was then arrested and brought to a 'semi-private' bathroom and strip-searched. She was then arrested, taken to the criminal court, and released without being held.

On October 7, 1996, the Court (Judge John Keenan) denied the Defendant's motion to dismiss, finding that if the plaintiff's allegations were true, it would constitute unlawful imprisonment and an unreasonable search.

On April 20th, 1998, the case went to trial. The jury found that a search had occurred, but that it was objectively reasonable. They awarded the plaintiff nominal damages. The Court denied a motion for new trial on the issue of damages only on June 12, 1998. Plaintiff appealed.

On April 1, 1999, in a per curiam opinion, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (Judge Joseph McLaughlin, Judge Damon Keith, Judge John Walker) affirmed the jury's verdict and the denial of the motion for a new trial on the issue of damages. The case was closed.

Blase Kearney - 05/07/2012


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