Judge Rules That Orleans Sheriff's Policy "Necessarily Results" In Overdetention

In Orleans Parish, after people were sentenced in court, the Sheriff had a policy that his staff would load the sentencing paperwork into a van and drive it to the DOC in Baton Rouge - but only once a week.

This week, the Eastern District of Louisiana ruled in a lawsuit brought by Most & Associates that the policy "necessarily results in the overdetention of inmates who are eligible for immediate release upon sentencing."

This is an important step towards holding the Sheriff and DOC accountable for the thousands of people who are held past their release dates in Louisiana each year.

Watch the WDSU coverage of the ruling here.

Read the court’s order here.

New York Times Highlights Work of Most & Associates

Today, Marie Fazio of the New York Times covered the work of Most & Associates, explaining that:

A former New Orleans police officer with a history of behavioral complaints who was dispatched to help a 14-year-old rape victim get medical attention last year later raped her himself, the girl’s mother claimed in a lawsuit.

After he took the girl to a hospital for evaluation, the officer, Rodney Vicknair, groomed the girl for months before he eventually sexually assaulted and raped her, according to the lawsuit, which was filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

The piece quotes Most & Associates attorney Hope Phelps:

Hope A. Phelps, a lawyer representing the girl and her mother, said the lawsuit was intended to hold Mr. Vicknair accountable, as well as the New Orleans police for “sending him to the hospital that night.”

“For our client and her young daughter, it’s going to take years of counseling,” Ms. Phelps said. “This was very damaging to them emotionally, and they’re still suffering from it.”

Read the full story at: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/05/us/rodney-vicknair-new-orleans.html

Attorney David Lanser Calls Out NOPD's Pattern of Illegal Vehicle Chases

Today The Lens reported that the majority of 2019 NOPD officer vehicle pursuits violated both department policy and also a federal court order.

In one incident, five people were injured after NOPD officers chose to engage in an illegal vehicle chase - over suspected shoplifting. In another, three people died after officers turned off their cameras and then engaged in a chase they knew was illegal. Most & Associates represents the family of one of the children who died in that chase.

Attorney David Lanser of Most & Associates called out this repeated misconduct: "Either NOPD is failing to train and supervise its officers or the officers know they will not suffer consequences for breaking policy,” he said. “Or both.”

Read more here: https://thelensnola.org/2021/02/10/despite-nopd-policy-most-2019-police-vehicle-pursuits-occurred-in-response-to-non-violent-violations/

Law Office Sues Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office for Death of 16 Year Old Child With Severe Autism

We are proud to represent Dr. Donna Lou and Dr. Daren Parsa in suing the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office for the death of their only son, Eric Parsa.

One year ago, Eric experienced a meltdown caused by his severe autism in a Metairie parking lot. One JPSO deputy arrived and then others joined him, and together they subdued Eric. They did so by placing Eric facedown on the cement, sitting on him, and then handcuffing his hands behind his back.

But even after Eric was subdued - and according to the deputies, the situation “was calm, everything was fine” - the deputies failed to take their weight off Eric or roll him onto his side so he could breathe. One deputy and then another sat on Eric for a total of nine minutes and six seconds. They sat on Eric until he stopped breathing and died.

Dr. Lou and Dr. Parsa have shown enormous courage in telling Eric’s story. “Never did we ever think that our 16-year-old son with special needs would die in front of our eyes at this age and in the hands of law enforcement,” said Dr. Lou. They ask that Eric’s story be told so as to reduce the risk that any other family will lose a child the way they did.

You can read more about Eric’s story here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/15/us/eric-parsa-death-police.html

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/15/us/teenager-autism-dies-louisiana-sheriff-lawsuit-trnd/index.html

https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/article_9e1b9612-569b-11eb-84db-cb6250a14479.html

After Law Office of William Most Uncovers Pattern of Louisiana Overdetention, U.S. Department of Justice Announces State-Wide Investigation

After a series of lawsuits brought by the Law Office of William Most and co-counsel, the U.S. Department of Justice announced this week that it has "opened a statewide civil investigation into Louisiana’s prisoner release practices." The investigation is a joint effort of the Civil Rights Division’s Special Litigation Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Louisiana.

The U.S. DOJ says it "will examine the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections’ policies and practices for ensuring the timely release of state prisoners in the custody of the Louisiana Department of Corrections who are incarcerated in state and local correctional facilities, including practices related to prisoners who are eligible for immediate release."

On WWL-TV, attorney William Most pointed out that the result of the DOC’s mismanagement is: “‘Missed holidays, missed birthdays, missed Christmases, missed Thanksgivings, family time that these people will never get back.”

Watch the WWL-TV coverage here.

Victory in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals

Our team, in collaboration with Casey Denson Law, won an important victory in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The case is Ellis Ray Hicks v. Department of Public Safety & Corrections, and involves a Louisiana man who was held in prison at least 60 days past his court-ordered release date. In a recorded phone call, a prison official was caught on tape explaining why - because he believed “judges have no say whatsoever to us applying our time comp laws.” He also said “anyone who messes with me gets more time.”

The Court of Appeal held that the described conduct was “objectively unreasonable“ and so denied qualified immunity to the prison official.

The court also made clear that Secretary LeBlanc, the head of the Louisiana Department of Corrections, could be held liable for the “failure to process a prisoner’s release or immediately compute an inmate’s sentence after being sentenced to time served” - which is the exact subject of several of our other cases.

You can read the full opinion here.

First Amendment Victory in the Louisiana Supreme Court

In an amicus brief before the Louisiana Supreme Court, the Law Office of William Most represented the Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project, the Pennsylvania Center for the First Amendment, and Professor Eugene Volokh. The brief was filed in Donald Logan v. State of Louisiana, a case brought by an inmate who had been denied access to the records that would show whether he was convicted by means of an unconstitutional non-unanimous jury verdict.

Our clients argued pointed out that the “public has a common-law and First Amendment right to inspect and copy judicial records” and argued that the “search for truth in [Mr. Logan’s case] would be advanced by the right of access to court records here.”

Today, the Louisiana Supreme Court agreed, ordering that Mr. Logan be granted access to his court records. It is an important First Amendment victory, and one we are proud to have helped with.

Read the Court’s opinion here: https://www.lasc.org/Opinions/2020/19-1911.KH.PC.pdf

Victory Against Uber in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

William Most, in his capacity as Of Counsel to the ATA Law Group, represents four clients who are suing Uber for its refusal to provide wheelchair-accessible vehicles in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Jackson, Mississippi.

Uber appealed a lower court decision to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, arguing that our clients did not have standing to sue under the Americans With Disabilities Act. Uber also argued that our clients should be forced into compliance with Uber’s arbitration agreement - even though our clients had never seen, signed, or agreed to those terms.

Today, in a unanimous opinion, the Court of Appeals denied every single one of Uber's arguments for why the case should not move forward.

“All I want is to take an Uber, just like everyone else. This ruling by the Ninth Circuit is a step in the direction of equality. Hopefully, Uber will do the right thing by offering wheelchair-accessible vehicles in New Orleans – just like Uber does in other cities.” 

–  Francis Falls, a plaintiff in Namisnak v. Uber 

Read the opinion here: https://www.publicjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Namisnak-v.-Uber-9th-circuit-opinion.pdf

"Preston's Gone"

The Law Office of William Most is proud to have represented the family of Preston Thornton, an Army veteran who was shot and killed by law enforcement in Red River Parish, Louisiana.

His story is featured in the 2020 PBS Short Film Festival. You can watch it here: https://www.pbs.org/filmfestival/films/prestons-gone

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$52 million class action settlement with Facebook on behalf of U.S.-based content moderator class.

Effective May 11, 2020, a legal team made up of the Law Office of William Most, Burns Charest LLP, and the Joseph Saveri Law Firm, Inc., submitted a class action settlement of $52 million with Facebook for approval by the California Superior Court, San Mateo County. This team represents a class of content moderators who worked for Facebook vendors by reviewing disturbing, graphic content for the social media giant. According to the complaint, content moderators were required to view, as a filtration mechanism, posts containing “videos, images and livestreamed broadcasts of child sexual abuse, rape, torture, bestiality, beheadings, suicide and murder,” as part of the content moderators’ duties. Since 2018, the firm has been fighting to obtain improved work conditions and medical treatment related to psychological trauma their work conditions caused.

The funds will provide monetary relief in the amount of $1000 to each of the class members. And class members who submit proof of a qualifying diagnosis will receive funds designed to cover their treatment costs and, depending on the amount remaining after treatments, serve as additional damage awards of up to $50,000. In addition to funding the settlement, Facebook has also agreed to make changes to improve the safety of its U.S.-based content moderators by improving review tools and making counseling by trained, licensed professionals available.

When and if the Court approves the proposal, class members will receive notice of the settlement and plaintiffs will file a motion for final approval on a schedule set by the Court.

A copy of the settlement agreement can be found HERE. And a copy of the motion for preliminary approval can be found HERE.

The lawsuit is Scola v. Facebook Inc. and Pro Unlimited Inc., No.18-CIV05135, filed in Superior Court of the State of California.

Law Office Obtains Dismissal of Defamation Case Against International Non-Profit

This past week, the Law Office of William Most obtained the dismissal of a defamation lawsuit against our client, an international non-profit organization based in Uganda.

The majority-female, majority-African team of professionals based in Kampala, Uganda sought our help last year after being sued for their advocacy work. With our help, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit - without our clients having to pay the plaintiffs a single dollar.

Our clients wrote: “When we put the word out about needing a lawyer back in September, some of you recommended this firm to us and we can not say enough about how awesome William, Amanda and Sarah have been to us.”

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"That Man Can't Breathe": Video Catches Sheriff's Deputy Choking Our Handcuffed Client

Two press organizations, Buzzfeed News and The Appeal, report on the discovery of footage of a East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s deputy choking a client of the Law Office of William Most to unconsciousness.

“An inmate at a Louisiana prison was choked by a sheriff’s deputy and appeared to lose consciousness later in the struggle, according to video footage obtained by BuzzFeed News. The inmate says it was retaliation for repeatedly requesting medical assistance for symptoms commonly associated with the novel coronavirus.”

“This disturbing video lays bare two dangerous epidemics in our country – police brutality and COVID-19 – both targeting black Americans in alarming numbers,” said attorney Sarah Chervinsky. “It is unacceptable for three law enforcement officers to participate in choking an unarmed man into unconsciousness, especially when that man has COVID-19 symptoms and requested medical help."

In Uber Lawsuit, Judge Rules in Favor of Law Office of William Most's Clients

In one of our lawsuits against Uber, a federal judge issued a major ruling in our clients' favor. The judge ruled that:

"Uber’s claim that it is 'not a transportation company' strains credulity, given the company advertises itself as a 'transportation system.'"

As a result, our clients will be able to continue in their case against Uber, which seeks to hold Uber accountable for failing to provide wheelchair-accessible vehicles in New Orleans.

Read the full decision here: https://www.scribd.com/document/451664736/R-Doc-102-Order-Denying-Uber-s-Motion-to-Dismiss

"They're left in jail days, weeks, even years past their sentences and it's costing us millions"

WWL-TV featured the work of the Law Office of William Most last night. According to WWL-TV,

Officials have known about the over-detention problem for years. An internal DOC audit in 2012 showed that more than 2,000 inmates were held an average of 71 days beyond their release dates. The problems is not just a burden for inmates. Taxpayers shell out more than $3.6 million annually to care for inmates beyond their release dates, according to the 2012 report.

Watch the TV story here, and read our court filing that broke the story here.

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"State corrections overdetention woes, known since 2012, cost state millions"

The Law Office of William Most’s work was featured on the front page of the Time-Picayune and Advocate today.

As the article explains, “The Louisiana Department of Corrections has known for years that its flawed process for calculating prisoners' release dates often leads to people being incarcerated for longer than they should. But new court filings released Thursday show the department's knowledge of the problem extends back farther than previously revealed — to 2012.”

Our court filing that broke the whole story can be read here.

And the DOC does not deny any of this. As the highest official in the DOC testified:

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