United States Seventh Circuit

In a suit against a municipality and a police officer alleging that the plaintiffs were subject to an unlawful seizure and were denied due process rights, summary judgment for defendants is reversed where: 1) there was a genuine issue of material fact concerning whether the officer had probable cause to arrest the defendants; 2) the officer was not entitled to qualified immunity; 3) the deprivation of the plaintiffs' property by the officer was random and unauthorized, and the plaintiffs lacked an adequate state law remedy; and 4) a trier of fact could find that the actions of the officer shocked the conscience for substantive due process purposes. Dismissal of the municipality is affirmed where the officer was not a final policymaker for the town.

Appellate Information

• Argued 02/08/2007
• Decided 08/15/2007
• Published 08/15/2007

Judges

• RIPPLE, Circuit Judge., Before RIPPLE, MANION and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Seventh Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Christopher C. Myers (argued), Myers & Associates, Fort Wayne, IN, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.


• For Appellees:
  
• Diana C. Bauer (argued), Carson Boxberger, Fort Wayne, IN, for Defendants-Appellees.