Federal Appellate Success

Bartlett LLP is pleased to report that the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently affirmed the dismissal of the plaintiffs’ civil rights claims brought against our clients, a local municipality and several of its officials, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

Partner Steven E. Snair, Co-chair of our Appellate Practice, and Associate David Roy Carey persuaded the Second Circuit to affirm the District Court’s orders that had dismissed the Plaintiffs’ claims on both procedural and substantive grounds. Plaintiffs had alleged that their civil rights were violated when municipal officials entered onto the Plaintiffs’ property on three separate occasions.  The Second Circuit affirmed District Court’s ruling that an objectively reasonable firefighter or building inspector could have believed that an immediate search of the premises for hazardous conditions was necessary to protect the public from an exigent risk of fire.

This decision reaffirms the fundamental principle that public officials who act reasonably and in good faith are entitled to the protections of the law, such that they may perform their duties and serve their communities. Bartlett LLP is proud to help safeguard that principle.