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City of St. Louis, Missouri v. Meier

Petition for certiorari denied on March 30, 2020

Docket No. Op. Below Argument Opinion Vote Author Term
19-797 8th Cir. N/A N/A N/A N/A OT 2019

Issue: (1) Whether a municipality, whose officers issued a "wanted" report supported by probable cause to believe that an automobile was an instrumentality or evidence of a crime, resulting in the seizure of an automobile by officers of another jurisdiction, can be held liable for a violation of the Fourth and 14th Amendments, in an action by the vehicle"s owner under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for seizure of the automobile; and (2) whether the "rigorous standards" of causation and culpability governing municipal liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 permit such liability against a municipality to be predicated on the conduct of a non-governmental actor in retaining property seized by police, on the basis of the non-governmental actor"s own policy or custom of enforcing "wanted" bulletins from law enforcement agencies, without any other connection with the municipality against which the Section 1983 action is brought.

SCOTUSblog Coverage

DateProceedings and Orders (key to color coding)
12/19/2019Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 22, 2020)
01/06/2020Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 22, 2020 to February 21, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
01/07/2020Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including February 21, 2020.
02/21/2020Brief of respondent Mary Meier in opposition filed.
03/09/2020Reply of petitioners City of St. Louis, Missouri, et al. filed.
03/11/2020DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/27/2020.
03/30/2020Petition DENIED.