Extra! Extra! Read All About It: What A Plaintiff "Knows Or Should Know" Based On Officials' Statements And Media Coverage of Police Misconduct For Notice of a § 1983 Municipal Liability Claim

Authors

Jenny Rivera, City University of New York School of Law at Queens College

Keywords

accrual period of §1983 claim, Monnel Claims, Municipal Liability Claims, timeliness of §1983 claim

Abstract

The article argues that the Second Circuit's recent decisions in Clinton v. City of New York and Monzon v. City of New York reduce the effectiveness of a §1983 claim against a municipality. The article highlights that the element of subjectivity required to determine the accrual period of a §1983 claim restricts the utility of the claim because it adopts a cultural standard at odds with a racialized societal reality. The author discusses whether consideration of plaintiffs' testimony, statements of state and local police officials, and media coverage of municipal and state employee actions should factor into determining the accrual of a §1983 claim. The article concludes suggesting that courts adhere to a theory of notice of a §1983 claim founded on facts connecting the municipal action to the plaintiff's injury, instead of basing notice on inferences regarding connections between individual municipal actors and the municipality.

Recommended Citation

Jenny Rivera, Extra! Extra! Read All About It: What A Plaintiff "Knows Or Should Know" Based On Officials' Statements And Media Coverage of Police Misconduct For Notice of a § 1983 Municipal Liability Claim, 28 Fordham Urb. L.J. 505 (2000).
Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ulj/vol28/iss2/3