Overview

As the remedial machinery for enforcing individual federal constitutional rights against municipalities, state and local officials, and other defendants who acted under color of state law, Section 1983 of Title 42 of the U.S. Code is a fundamental part of American law. Professor Emeritus of Law Martin A. Schwartz, one of the nation’s leading experts on Section 1983 litigation, examines the essential aspects of Section 1983 law in Schwartz on Section 1983. Carefully organized to follow the progression of Section 1983 litigation, the comprehensive and incisive discussions provide practitioners with the guidance they need to successfully deal with all aspects of litigation. Throughout the chapters, the author provides invaluable “Practical Commentary” in which he shares personal observations from over 50 years of litigating, consulting, teaching, and writing about the law of Section 1983, as well as advice through each step of litigation, including in:

  • Determining whether to assert a claim in federal or in state court
  • Determining whether to name an official in her personal or official capacity, or in both capacities
  • Evaluating false arrest, malicious prosecution, and other related claims
  • Understanding the standard of judicial review governing the plaintiff’s equal protection claim and the litigation significance of that standard
  • Evaluating whether a claim has factual or legal basis or a realistic chance of success to name a municipal entity as a defendant
  • Understanding the separate issues of supervisory liability and municipal liability
  • Understanding the various abstention doctrines that provide defendants’ attorneys with a wide array of potential defenses that can lead to dismissal of a federal court action and a stay of federal court proceedings
  • Understanding the law governing remedies
Providing essential insight into the complex statute and accompanying case law, Schwartz on Section 1983 is an indispensable resource for practitioners.
Publication Date: January 2021
Last Updated: October 2024
ISBN: 9781402435720
Page Count: 910 pages
Number of Volumes: 1
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Contents
  • Chapter 1: Section 1983 Litigation: Meaning, Interpretation, and Functional Role
  • Chapter 2: Fundamentals of Section 1983 Litigation
  • Chapter 3: Pleading Section 1983 Claims and Jurisdiction
  • Chapter 4: Section 1983 Plaintiffs and Defendants and Capacity of Claim
  • Chapter 5: Constitutional Rights Enforceable Under Section 1983
  • Chapter 6: Due Process Claims
  • Chapter 7: Excessive Force Claims
  • Chapter 8: False Arrest, Malicious Prosecution, and Related Claims (Pretrial Detention, Fabricated Evidence, Brady Violations, and Police Interrogations)
  • Chapter 9: Prisoner and Detainee Conditions of Confinement Claims
  • Chapter 10: First Amendment Retaliation Claims
  • Chapter 11: Equal Protection Claims
  • Chapter 12: Enforcement of Federal Statutory Rights
  • Chapter 13: Color of State Law and State Action
  • Chapter 14: Causation
  • Chapter 15: Municipal Liability
  • Chapter 16: Liability of Supervisory Officers
  • Chapter 17: Relationship Between Personal Liability and Municipal Liability Claims
  • Chapter 18: State Liability: Eleventh Amendment and the State “No Person” Rule
  • Chapter 19: Personal Capacity Claims: The Absolute Immunities
  • Chapter 20: Personal Liability: Qualified Immunity
  • Chapter 21: Exhaustion of State Remedies (Including the Preiser/Heck Doctrine)
  • Chapter 22: The Abstention Doctrines
  • Chapter 23: Res Judicata and Collateral Estoppel
  • Chapter 24: Statute of Limitations
  • Chapter 25: Survival and Wrongful Death Claims
  • Chapter 26: Monetary and Equitable Relief
  • Chapter 27: Statutory Attorney’s Fees: 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b)
  • Appendix A: Model Jury Instruction: Section 1983—Elements of Claim—Action Under Color of State Law
  • Appendix B: Model Jury Instruction: Fourth Amendment Excessive Force Claim
  • Appendix C: Model Jury Instruction: Eighth Amendment Prisoner Excessive Force Claim
  • Appendix D: Model Jury Instruction: Fourth Amendment False Arrest Claim
  • Appendix E: Model Jury Instruction: Municipal Liability—General Instruction
  • Appendix F: Model Instruction: Municipal Liability—Inadequate Training
  • Appendix G: Model Jury Instruction: Compensatory Damages
  • Appendix H: Model Jury Instruction: Punitive Damages
  • Table of Cases
  • Index