Today, in a suit against the City Attorney, the 8th Circuit reversed a lower court's decision to deny immunity on a First Amendment retaliatory enforcement claim. The operator of a motel disputed claims of non-payment of lodging taxes and had a running dispute going on with the city. A neighboring owner sent pictures to the city depicting conditions at the motel. Code Enforcement got a warrant and the fire marshal and code officials concluded there were violations. The fire marshal discussed the conditions with the city attorney who directed the officials to condemn the property despite there not being life threatening conditions. Long story short, the 8th Circuit discussed its precedent on retaliatory enforcement claims and concluded that the law was not settled as to whether a claim of retaliatory enforcement could overcome probable cause. There being probable cause for the enforcement, qualified immunity applies. http://media.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/17/08/162404P.pdf Charles W. Thompson, Jr. Executive Director and General Counsel International Municipal Lawyers Association, Inc. 51 Monroe Street Suite 404 Rockville, Maryland 20850 202-466-5424 x7110 Direct: 202-742-1016 Cell: 240-876-6790 Plan ahead: IMLA's Annual Conference October 14- October 18, 2017 - Niagara, Ontario, Canada (Passport required) To register, go to: http://imla.org/events/conferences#registration IMLA's Annual Seminar and Section 1983 Defense Conference - April 20- April 23, 2018 Washington, DC