Court Allows Citizens To Sue Abusive Cops
By Bob Egelko
The 1987 law provides for damages of at least $25,000 for violations of constitutional rights as defined by state or federal law. The court, unanimously rejecting Los Angeles County's argument that the law applied only to acts motivated by bigotry, ruled that it could be used in a suit claiming false arrest and illegal searches by sheriff's deputies during a June 1998 investigation of alleged auto theft.
Officers can also be sued under federal law for violating civil rights. But Robert Mann, an attorney for the plaintiffs in Monday's case, said the California law had advantages for private citizens because the government agency -- the county, in this case -- was automatically responsible for officers' wrongdoing, without the need to prove that policy-making officials authorized or condoned the action
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