Appellate Victory

Lowis & Gellen Appellate Practice attorneys recently prevailed on behalf of three Will County Correctional Officers. A Department of Corrections inmate brought a federal civil rights action against the three officers alleging violations of his civil rights under the First, Fourth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, as well as state law claims of assault and battery. The plaintiff alleged that when he was a pre-trial detainee the defendants illegally searched his mail and used excessive force against him. The trial court dismissed the claims on the basis that the plaintiff had failed to demonstrate that he had exhausted his administrative remedies. The Third District Appellate Court did not allow oral argument on the matter but relied entirely on the strength of the appeal briefs. Joan M. Kubalanza and Melissa Dakich argued in the officers' brief that the plaintiff could not cure on appeal the defects in his underlying complaint and the Court subsequently affirmed the trial court's decision.