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Split in the Circuits May Force SCOTUS to Revisit Kingsley

3/14/19

By: Ali Sabzevari 

In Kingsley v. Hendrickson, 135 S. Ct. 2466 (2015), the Supreme Court held that a pretrial detainee may prevail on a § 1983 excessive force claim if he or she shows that the force used was objectively unreasonable, regardless of whether the officer had a subjective intent to cause the detainee harm. In reaching this decision, the Court granted more protection to pretrial detainees under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause than is given to convicted prisoners under the Eighth Amendment, which still requires proof of a subjective intent to cause harm before there is a constitutional violation. This make sense because a pretrial detainee is innocent until proven guilty, and so the detainee cannot be subjected to any form of punishment. On the other hand, it is well-settled that a convicted prisoner may be punished so long as the punishment is not “cruel and unusual” under the Eighth Amendment.
Recently, we have seen an uptick in cases whereby pretrial detainees are contending that the holding in Kingsley applies to any and all § 1983 claims, not just those founded on allegations of excessive force. But this is not the holding in Kingsley. Nevertheless, the Ninth Circuit in Castro v. County of Los Angeles, 833 F.3d 1060 (9th Cir. 2016) applied such an interpretation, opening the door for this creative argument. Other circuits, such as the Eleventh Circuit, have denied such an extension despite recent opportunities to do so. Johnson v. Bessemer, 741 F. App’x 694, 699 n.5 (11th Cir. 2018).
The fact remains that the Supreme Court has not ruled on whether to extend this objective reasonableness standard of review to cases of pretrial detainees which do not involve the use of excessive force, e.g., cases challenging medical treatment or conditions of confinement. The current circuit split could mean that the issue might be back in front of the Supreme Court at any time.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Ali Sabzevari at asabzevari@fmglaw.com.