Section 1983 Civil Rights Law

Section 1983 of Title 42 of the U.S. Code is part of the Civil Rights Act of 1871. This important law allows citizens to sue persons who, under color of federal, state or local law, deprive them of their constitutional rights. This law was originally passed to battle racial violence in the Southern states at the end of the Civil War. Today, legal precedents have established Section 1983 as a means for enforcing the constitutional rights of all victims of police and prison brutality.

Some previous Section 1983 cases our attorneys have handled include:

• Excessive force by police officers;

• Excessive force by corrections officers;

• Prison rape by corrections officers;

• Sexual abuse and/or harassment by police and corrections officers;

• Failure to protect inmates from attacks/deliberate indifference/jail injuries;

• Wrongful death, including jail suicide and police shootings;

• False arrest, malicious prosecution, and fabrication of evidence by police and prosecutors;

• First Amendment Violations;

• Workplace discrimination and retaliation claims for members of protected classes, including race and LGBTQ, and whistleblower claims.

We handle cases in the federal and state courts covering the boroughs of New York City, including Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island, as well as Long Island, Westchester, upstate New York, and New Jersey.