The most common types of Section 1983 cases arise out of violations of the various rights guaranteed by the Constitution, such as:
- First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, press, assembly, petition, and religion;
- Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, including the use of excessive force during an arrest and detention;
- Fifth Amendment protections against the government taking private property without paying for it;
- Eighth Amendment protections against excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishment; and
- Fourteenth Amendment’s substantive and procedural due process, as well as equal protection claims.
Other burdens of proof may apply if punitive damages are sought under specific statutory authorization. For example, under the Federal Civil Rights Act (42 U.S.C § 1983) punitive damages are recoverable against an individual “…when the defendant’s conduct is shown to be motivated by evil motive or intent, or when it involves reckless or callous indifference to the federally protected rights of others.” (Smith v. Wade (1983) 461 US 30, 56; Dang v. Cross (9th Cir. 2005) 422 F3d 800, 806.)
Federal Civil Rights Act (42 U.S.C § 1983)
42 U.S. Code § 1983 - Civil action for deprivation of rights
Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer’s judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. For the purposes of this section, any Act of Congress applicable exclusively to the District of Columbia shall be considered to be a statute of the District of Columbia.
FOR THE PAST 20 + YEARS I HAVE BEEN DEPRIVED OF MY RIGHT TO PRIVACY Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer’s judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. For the purposes of this section, any Act of Congress applicable exclusively to the District of Columbia shall be considered to be a statute of the District of Columbia.- IN MY HOUSING AND IN MY RIGHTS UNDER THE ADA - I HAVE HAD MY FEDERAL BENEFITS CEASED AND WITHHELD FOR NO REASON EXCEPT TO CAUSE ME TO BE DEPRIVED OF THE SAME RIGHTS AND BENEFITS THAT I AM PLACED HERE TO SECURE AND PROTECT FOR OTHERS , YET THESE SAME BENEFITS HAVE BEEN WITHHELD FROM ME DUE TO OTHERS RACIAL-DISCRIMINATIONS , RELIGIOUS HATRED AND PURE IGNORANCE , HAVING TO DEAL WITH A HOSTILE LIVING CONDITION ON A NON-STOP CONSTANT BASIS BECAUSE THE "COVEN" FELT THAT THEIR RIGHT TO DEPRIVE ME OF MY FREEWILL - MY RIGHT AS A JOURNALIST TO FREE SPEECH AND TO NOT HAVE MY FREEDOMS CENSORED BY THOSE WHO WERE SENT TO BLOCK ME FROM BEING ABLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE WWW- OR TO BE TREATED AS A BLOGGER - OR A JOURNALIST - THESE SAME OPPRESSORS ALSO CAME TO WHERE I AM SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO EXPECT A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF PRIVACY WHICH IS MY BEDROOM , MY BED , THE TOILET AND THE BATHTUB WHICH THESE SAME BAD ACTORS HAD BEEN ILLEGALLY VIOLATING ME BY RECORDING ME WITHOUT MY PRIOR CONSENT AND ALSO MAKING MY PERSONAL NON-PUBLIC DAILEY LIFE EVENTS PUBLIC - EVEN DOING THESE ILLEGAL ACTS FOR A PROFIT. SETTING UP ILLEGALLY PLACED SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS TO RECORD MY INTIMATE MOMNETS WITH MY THEN LIFE PARTNER - AND SHARING THEM ON THE DARK WEB OF COURSE HOPING TO PROFIT OFF OF THEM AND I HAVE NEVER GIVEN ANY PRIOR CONSENT TO ANY OF THESE PREDATORS TO ABUSE MY RIGHTS AS A WOMAN TO MY OWN DIGNITY , I HAVEN'T EVER AUTHORIZED ANY OF THESE STALKERS TO SHARE MY NAME MY LIKENESS OF ANY OTHER IDENTIFIABLE ASPECT OF ME OR MY LIFE AND SHARE IT WITH ANYONE LET ALONE THE ENTIRE WORLD WIDE WEB, WHICH THEY HAD BEEN BLOCKING ME FROM BEING ABLE TO BE A JOURNALIST AND HAVE MY MATERIAL SEEN AND READ YET THEY THEN HAD THE NERVE TO TRY AND SLANDER MY GOOD NAME OR TO CAUSE ME TO BE SHAMED AND DEFAMED BUT ALSO TO BE DEPRIVED OF MY RIGHT TO BE GAINFULLY EMPLOYED OR EVEN MY RIGHT TO ACCESS TO THE RELIEF BENEFITS THAT I HAD WORKED TO ACCUMULATE AND HAD A RIGHT TO NOT BE DEPRIVED OF ESPECIALLY DURING COVID -19 - ALL OF THESE SAME ANGRY , ENVIOUS BAD AGENTS THEN MADE FALSE CLAIMS AGAINST ME WHILE UNDER OATH TO CONVINCE THE COURTS TO DEPRIVE ME OF THE INHERITANCE THAT HAD BEEN LEFT FOR ME TO COLLECT AND ACTUALLY HAVE A BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE , YET I AM NOW BEING FORCED TO LIVE IN THE SAME DEMEANING AND OPPRESSIVE LIVING CONDITIONS THAT THESE DOMESTIC TERRORISTS HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO COME ON A CONSTANT BASIS TO INTENTIONALLY COME AND NOT ONLY OPPRESS MY WORK , BUT EXPLOIT MY PERSONAL NON -PUBLIC LIFE AS IF I WAS NOT WORTHY OF THE SAME RESPECT THAT I PROTECTED FOR OTHERS TO BE ABLE TO RELY ON . I AM AT THIS TIME PLACING ALL OF THOSE WHO HAVE ANY LINK TO THESE CLAIMS ON NOTICE OF UPCOMING LAW SUITS FOR PUNITIVE DAMAGES AND FOR VIOLATIONS OF MY CIVIL RIGHTS UNDER THE FEDERAL CIVIL RIGHTS ACT (42 USC 1983-
42 U.S. Code § 1985 - Conspiracy to interfere with civil rights (2)Obstructing justice; intimidating party, witness, or juror
If two or more persons in any State or Territory conspire to deter, by force, intimidation, or threat, any party or witness in any court of the United States from attending such court, or from testifying to any matter pending therein, freely, fully, and truthfully, or to injure such party or witness in his person or property on account of his having so attended or testified, or to influence the verdict, presentment, or indictment of any grand or petit juror in any such court, or to injure such juror in his person or property on account of any verdict, presentment, or indictment lawfully assented to by him, or of his being or having been such juror; or if two or more persons conspire for the purpose of impeding, hindering, obstructing, or defeating, in any manner, the due course of justice in any State or Territory, with intent to deny to any citizen the equal protection of the laws, or to injure him or his property for lawfully enforcing, or attempting to enforce, the right of any person, or class of persons, to the equal protection of the laws;
