Michigan Civil Rights & Product Liability Law Blog

Many individuals, including several Michigan residents, have been wrongfully convicted on the basis of eyewitness identification evidence. This was the case for a 42-year-old New Orleans man who was released on June 27 after serving 17 years for an armed robbery he did not commit. A reexamination of fingerprint evidence led to his release.

The man had been sentenced to 49 years in prison on charges that he robbed a Burger King. One key piece of evidence was that of an employee, who misidentified the man two months after the robbery. New technology allowed a reanalysis of a cup the perpetrator held before the incident and found that the fingerprints did not belong to the man. Later, when the prints were matched against a database, they were found to be those of a 54-year-old man who had been convicted for several similar robberies.

E-cigarettes are very popular in Michigan and elsewhere, but they can also be extremely hazardous. Over the past decade, thousands of e-cigarette mods and/or batteries have suddenly exploded while someone was using them or storing them in their pockets, causing severe burns, shattered teeth and broken bones.

For example, a case study recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine describes an incident involving a 17-year-old boy who suffered a broken jaw, broken teeth and soft-tissue injuries when his e-cigarette exploded in his face. He required extensive reconstructive surgery to repair the damage and still needs to get dental implants to replace his missing teeth. A doctor who treated the boy said that consumers need to understand how dangerous the devices can be.

Two separate lawsuits against the Detroit Police Department claim that an officer engaged in illegal conduct that was motivated by race. In one case, a woman claims that the police officer broke her arm in May 2018. In the other, that same officer was seen making fun of a woman after her car was seized.

The first case involved a woman who called police after an incident involving the girlfriend of her child's father. She claims that she was forced to place her hands behind her back suddenly while holding her son. Another officer took the child prior to the woman being shoved against a vehicle. The woman alleges that her arm was then bent in an unnatural fashion resulting in the injury.

Law enforcement officers in Michigan are granted broad powers to perform their duties. They are limited, though, by the U.S. Constitution and other laws. When police officers violate the rights of citizens, those citizens may be able to turn to state or federal laws for recourse. Among the primary purposes of civil rights regulations is the protection of citizens from abuse by government officials. Recovery for victims of police misconduct often includes compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorneys' fees.

Police officers are generally immune from lawsuits related to the performance of their duties unless they have engaged in unreasonable willful conduct. Liability will not be established in cases where officers have merely failed to exercise due care, meaning negligence is not enough in most cases. The civil rights law most often relied upon by victims of misconduct is Section 1983 of Title 42 of the U.S. Code. It was originally part of the Civil Rights Act of 1871.