Civil Rights

The firm, along with co-counsel ACLU-NJ, now represents the clients in their lawsuit against the City of Paterson and several of its officers, asserting claims for wrongful arrest and violations of their rights to free speech and association. In late 2023, the court held that our clients had presented enough evidence for the case to go to trial to determine whether the police had probable cause to arrest the activists, had intentionally singled them out for arrest, or had otherwise disregarded established law and police protocols. The evidence included conflicting accounts of what happened during the protest, as well as changes in the sworn testimony of one of the arresting officers. The court also took note of multiple complaints filed against Paterson police officers in recent years about falsifying police reports, part of a pattern of misconduct that had led the New Jersey attorney general’s office to seize control of the police department in March 2023.

Ultimately, the court held that the arresting officers and the acting Chief of Police could not establish their entitlement to a defense of qualified immunity, which is a doctrine that protects law enforcement officers from personal liability unless the law they violated was “clearly established” at the time of the violation. The city responded by asking the court to reconsider and reverse its decision. We opposed, and the court denied the motion and reaffirmed its prior decision. Several next steps are possible: the city may appeal, or it may at last engage in serious settlement discussions; if neither of those things happens, the case will eventually head to trial.