In The Media

In Bogan v. Janet Scott-Harris,1 the Mayor and the City Council of Fall River, Massachusetts, passed a bill that eliminated the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), which was headed by Janet Scott-Harris, the first African American to work for the City. Janet Scott-Harris had been Fall River's first black administrator when she was hired in 1987 to head the DHHS. In 1990, Scott-Harris accused a long time City employee, Dorothy Biltcliffe, of repeatedly using racial slurs, including ca...

In 1980, a Dade County Grand Jury investigated the quality of health care in Florida’s nursing homes. The results were shocking. Sixty percent of the nursing home facilities investigated were found to provide "unacceptable or consistently very poor care." In fact, the investigation described "health hazards and deficiencies in patient care that allegedly have been allowed to continue for years." The Grand Jury further concluded that the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services ("HRS") l...

Imagine the scenario. Leona Helmsley procures an early release from her income tax evasion prison sentence. Unfortunately, she has developed physical ailments that require residence in a nursing home. She likes Florida's climate, and decides to move into one of approximately 623 nursing homes in operation here.1 Things go well in the beginning, and she flourishes in her new surroundings. She attempts to relax, but her entrepreneurial tendencies emerge. She begins to convene increasingly large...

The number of cases involving civil rights litigation as a result of alleged police misconduct has grown exponentially within recent years. The plethora of case law arising from this surge of litigation has made civil rights one of the most rapidly expanding areas of the law. This article will provide a brief overview of the law concerning liability of a sovereign in police misconduct cases brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. subsection 1983. The vast number of issues raised in civil rights action...