Judge dismisses lawyer's suit against courthouse deputy over cellphone tussle
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A federal judge has, for the second time, tossed an Atlanta lawyer’s lawsuit claiming she was injured when a courthouse deputy grabbed her cellphone after she refused to remove her jacket during security screening.
U.S. District Judge Richard Story of Atlanta dismissed (PDF) the case filed by lawyer Lisa West, finding that the deputy was entitled to qualified immunity because the law did not clearly prohibit his conduct at the time. The Daily Report has a story.
A federal appeals court had revived West’s Fourth Amendment claim in a September opinion, saying there is no minimum time period for a restraint to be a seizure for Fourth Amendment purposes. The court did not reach the qualified immunity issue.
West’s suit says the incident occurred as she was going through a security line at the Fulton County Courthouse in December 2010. After she triggered an alarm, a deputy asked her to remove her suit jacket. West replied that the jacket was part of her outfit and removing it would expose her undergarments, her suit says.
West pulled out her cellphone to make some calls when the deputy agreed to call a supervisor, West says. As she was speaking with her client, West alleges, the deputy ordered her to get off the phone, grabbed her hand and twisted her wrist, causing severe pain.
West’s lawyer, Craig Jones, told the Daily Report his client plans another appeal.
