Nathan Rinne v. Camden County, No. 21-3858 (8th Cir. 2023)
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In March 2021, the Camden County Commission voted to ban Plaintiff from county property for one year because he allegedly disrupted and harassed county officials and employees. Plaintiff sued Camden County, the Camden County Commission, and Commissioner (collectively, “Defendants”), claiming that Defendants retaliated against him for exercising his rights under the First Amendment.
Defendant sought a preliminary injunction against Defendants and a damages claim against the Commissioner. The District Court granted the preliminary injunction over the Commissioner’s qualified immunity defense, finding that Plaintiff adequately alleged a violation of clearly established rights. However, the court determined Defendants’ appeal of the injunction was moot because it would have expired in March 2022.
Court Description: [Colloton, Author, with Shepherd and Grasz, Circuit Judges Civil case - Civil rights. After defendants banned him from county property for one year because he allegedly disrupted and harassed county officials and employees, plaintiff brought this suit arguing the defendants had retaliated against him for exercising his First Amendment rights, seeking damages against defendant Hasty and a preliminary injunction; the district court entered the preliminary injunction and denied Hasty's motion to dismiss based on qualified immunity. Defendants appeal. Held: The complaint adequately alleged that Hasty violated plaintiff's clearly established rights, and the district court did not err in denying the motion to dismiss. With respect to the preliminary injunction, the ban would have expired on its own terms in March, 2022, and the appeal from the order granting the injunction is moot; this is not a case where the challenged action is capable of repetition yet evading review, and that exception to mootness does not apply.
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