On July 19, 2024, Kibler Fowler & Cave LLP’s Appellate Litigation practice group secured an appellate victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit where KF&C acted as court-appointed amicus curiae tasked by the Court to argue for reversal of the district court’s order entering summary judgment in favor of two defendant police officers. The officers were accused in a pro se complaint of violating the plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment rights by accosting him while he was seated in his own car in his own driveway, detaining and frisking him without reasonable suspicion, and searching his car without probable cause.
Following oral argument, the Fourth Circuit reversed the district court’s finding that the officers were justified in conducting a Terry stop of the plaintiff and vacated the district court’s subsequent ruling that the officers were entitled to qualified immunity. In vacating the district court’s judgment, the Court adopted nearly all the arguments that were presented in KF&C’s brief. The precedential opinion concluded that that the officers lacked sufficient reasonable, particularized suspicion as to the plaintiff and should not have seized him or searched his vehicle. The Court’s decision noted that an anonymous call regarding a nearby alleged stabbing provided limited information about the alleged crime and offered no details about any assailants, and that the officers targeted the plaintiff merely because his car was running, and used his innocuous conduct to justify escalating the encounter by detaining him at gunpoint. The Court found that under a reasonable interpretation of facts, their officers’ actions were neither necessary nor justified.
The KF&C team includes Counsel Stephen Raiola (who argued the appeal). The Fourth Circuit’s Amicus Curiae appointment was the second Amicus appointment of KF&C by a federal court of appeal. Last year, Stephen Raiola was appointed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to present arguments regarding the constitutionality of a New Jersey law.
The Fourth Circuit’s decision can be found here.
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