Harrigan v. Rodriguez, No. 15-10251 (11th Cir. 2020)
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Plaintiff filed suit against a Miami-Dade police officer under 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging that the officer shot him without provocation while his truck was stopped at a red light. Plaintiff is presently incarcerated, after a Florida state jury convicted him of aggravated assault and fleeing to elude among other crimes.
The Eleventh Circuit held that plaintiff has not waived this appeal by failing to object to the report and recommendation, because it did not inform plaintiff of all of the consequences on appeal for failing to object. On the merits, the court held that Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994), does not bar plaintiff's lawsuit and the district court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of the officer. In this case, the officer focuses on just two of plaintiff's state court convictions -- for aggravated assault and fleeing to elude, conceding as he must that plaintiff's remaining convictions could not be negated if his section 1983 action were to succeed. Therefore, the entry of a judgment in plaintiff's favor on his section 1983 excessive force suit would not necessarily imply the invalidity of his state court convictions. The court remanded for further proceedings.
This opinion or order relates to an opinion or order originally issued on December 23, 2015.
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