Holding Judges Accountable in San Mateo County

Horton v. Rangos. In 2022, we filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of individuals detained at Allegheny County Jail against three Allegheny County judges, as well as other county, jail, and probation department officials.

Holland v. Otero. On January 29, 2025, Civil Rights Corps filed a lawsuit against 6 Houston Police Department officers on behalf of Houston resident Terrence Holland. Mr. Holland has multiple physical, cognitive, and psychological disabilities, including PTSD, hearing impairments, and a traumatic brain injury. The complaint alleges that defendant HPD officers used overwhelming and excessive force on Mr. Holland when they repeatedly hit, kicked, punched, and tased him during a minor traffic stop.

Civil Rights Corps v. LaSalle. In response to the filing of the first Accountability NY complaints in 2021, NYC Corporate Counsel sent a letter to the Grievance Committees claiming that the professors had engaged in “misuse and indeed abuse of the grievance process" that "should not be countenanced.” In November 2021, we filed a federal lawsuit and won a big victory for transparency in June 2022, when the court granted our motion for partial summary judgment.

Rise v. Bagshaw. In 2024, Civil Rights Corps filed a landmark lawsuit challenging alleged police brutality in Washington, DC, against the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and the United States Capitol Police (USCP).

McWashington v. Rodgers. Mr. McWashington, a Black man, was pulled over for slow rolling through stop signs in Houston. Our lawsuit alleges that, despite the fact that Mr. McWashington complied with commands to get out of the car – at one point laying on the ground with visibly empty hands – Houston Police Department officers released an out-of-control K9 on him, which mauled and harmed him grievously.

Harrington v. Lancaster. In January 2024, Civil Rights Corps filed a federal lawsuit against three members of the Harris County Constables, Precinct 2 on behalf of Harris County resident Tyler Harrington. The complaint alleges that officers James Lancaster, Nathaniel Cano, and Jared Lindsay conducted a warrantless no-knock entry into Mr. Harrington’s home in the middle of the night and held him at gunpoint. The complaint raises several claims against the defendants, including violations of the Fourth Amendment for unlawful entry, unlawful search, unlawful seizure, and excessive force.

Lewis v. District of Columbia. Our lawsuit alleges that, on two separate occasions, Malaika Lewis and her minor daughter, N.L., were subjected to horrendous treatment at the hands of police officers. After Ms. Lewis contacted police for help locating her older daughter, the lawsuit alleges that police officers separated Ms. Lewis from her younger daughter, N.L., for hours while attempting to illegally search her apartment based on one officer's unfounded hunch that she was somehow hiding a boyfriend who had committed an unspecified crime.

Ramos v Erwin. In 2023,  Civil Rights Corps filed a lawsuit against 5 Houston Police Department officers on behalf of Houston resident Alberto Ramos. The complaint alleges that defendant HPD officers racially profiled, hogtied, and arrested Mr. Ramos without probable cause.

Thomas v. Bruss. In February 2023, Civil Rights Corps brought suit on behalf of Kerry Lee Thomas against three then-deputies of the Harris County Constables’ Office, Precinct 1. In February 2023, Civil Rights Corps Attorney Shirley LaVarco and Deputy Director Brittany Francis brought suit on behalf of Kerry Lee Thomas against three then-deputies of the Harris County Constables’ Office, Precinct 1.  The lawsuit alleges that Defendants subjected Mr. Thomas to a brutal K-9 attack while he lay prone on the ground with his arms outstretched. Shortly thereafter, the K-9’s handler, then-Sergeant Robert Johnson cracked gruesome jokes about the attack, namely that his dog was “full” and “satisfied” after tearing the flesh from Mr. Thomas’s right arm. Mr. Thomas further alleges that deputies Eric M. Bruss and Wayne Schultz not only failed to intervene, but also helped cover up the attack by falsifying records and reports. In addition, Mr. Thomas’s lawsuit cites important historical evidence that modern day police K-9 units have their roots in chattel slavery and anti-Black terror. That evidence is summarized as follows: Mr. Thomas is far from the first Black man to be brutalized in this way. Even before the proliferation of modern “K-9 units,” dogs have long been used to terrorize Black people. Throughout the United States, and especially in the South, dogs were bred and groomed to maul enslaved Black people for running away or otherwise angering their enslavers. Historians have drawn a straight line from this gruesome antebellum practice to the modern use of attack dogs by policing agencies like the Harris County Constable. On August 15, 2023 U.S. District Court Judge Lee H. Rosenthal denied Defendants’ motion to dismiss. In a powerful opinion, the Court underscored its concern about the misconduct alleged here: “The court does not understand the reason for commanding a police dog to bite and severely injure a suspect, the subject of a noise complaint, who had been compliant, prone, and visibly unarmed for four minutes." The court also denied the bystander officers' claim of qualified immunity, finding that Mr. Thomas plausibly alleged that Bruss and Schultz had sufficient notice of the constitutional violations underfoot but nonetheless failed to intervene, despite ample opportunity.