On the call yesterday, we talked about an interesting case that will be argued in November in the Tenth Circuit. The gist of the issue as I understand it (apologies to all if I get it wrong) is that a Plaintiff has a claim to denial of access to the courts under Section 1983 if officers cannot remember facts about a Plaintiff's interaction with them. In this case the Plaintiff claims to have some injuries that arose during an arrest and there is a so-called "disinterested" witness who saw certain events that the officers do not recall (at least the officers who have been asked by the Plaintiff). The District Judge denied summary judgment to a number of officers and the city. On appeal to Tenth Circuit the Circuit stayed the scheduled trial until the appeal is decided. Attached are the briefs from this case which will no doubt do a better job of explaining the fact situation and the issues. If you have similar cases let us know and if you have any helpful authority please pass it along. Please also remember that IMLA can be an amicus in a federal circuit court case that looks like it could affect the membership (we need brief writers and that could be our sole reason for limiting our role). If you have a case where you may want help from an amicus, let us know as early as possible (even at the trial stage) so that we can try to find a brief writer and get approval to file an amicus. I believe if this case goes above the Tenth Circuit that IMLA would be interested in participating as an amicus. Also, on the call yesterday we discussed what policies local governments have to deal with transgender arrestees, particularly those who have not gone through their change completely. If you have policies, please send them around. I will be asking other lists if they have access to any such policies and if you would like me to forward them to you let me know and if enough of you are interested I'll just forward them to the list. If you have any other issues, let me know. Chuck From: Shapiro, Stuart L. - Department of Law [mailto:Stuart.Shapiro@denvergov.org] Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2012 8:06 PM To: Chuck Thompson Subject: 10th Circuit - right of access to courts case Chuck - briefs attached. Stuart Shapiro Assistant City Attorney 720-913-3292 This e-mail and any attachments are intended only for use by the addressee(s) named and may contain legally privileged or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail and any attachments thereto is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify me immediately at 720-913-3292 and permanently delete the original and destroy any copies or printouts.