Contact the Law Office of David F. Rutledge today to speak with a constitutional attorney!
The Law Office of David F. Rutledge, LLC handles constitutional law claims including: excessive force and the First Amendment.
Excessive force claims are extremely complicated and difficult to litigate due to immunity clauses such as "qualified immunity." Qualified immunity is a controversial protection that is afforded to government officers (usually the police) that protects them from liability even when their actions violated your constitutional rights. Qualified immunity is controversial because it is not found in the constitution and it is not the result of a law passed by the US Congress. It is also controversial because its power to shield government officers from liability for their actions has expanded greatly over the past two decades, so much so that many have argued that it has become an absolute shield which has contributed to an increase of violations on the public by government officers.
The idea is that if government officers are free from liability regardless of their actions then that only emboldens them to become more harmful to the public they are sworn to protect and serve. The overwhelming majority of government officers are working hard to protect and serve the public. Thus, it is difficult to navigate a case to justice when a government officer does in fact violate your rights. This is why having an experience attorney is important when it comes to excessive force claims that sadly sometimes have resulted in a death.
Constitutional Rights protect people from certain acts performed by federal and state governments, including local governments and agencies. Therefore, it is important to understand that generally a violation of an individual's constitutional right(s) is only triggered when the government or governmental agency is the one doing the act or doing the censoring, not when it is being perpetrated by another individual or private company/entity.
