Thursday, March 08, 2018

No Reasonable Suspicion to Detain Based on Legal Possession of Shotgun

Stoedter v. Gates, 704 F. App'x 748 (8/3/17) (Utah) (unpub'd) - In this ยง 1983 civil rights case, the 10th holds it was clearly established the officers had no reasonable suspicion to detain Mr. Stoedter based on a tip that he was seen taking a shotgun from his car into his house. It was not against the law in Utah to possess a shotgun. The 10th affirms the nominal damage award of $1. As the 10th points out, this is meaningful because it means the defendants have to pay Mr. Stoedter's attorney fees.