Mitchell v. City of Elgin

Dist. Ct. erred in dismissing plaintiff’s section 1983 action alleging that defendants-police officials violated plaintiff’s 4^th Amendment’s rights by arresting her without probable cause on charge of electronic communication harassment, where Dist. Ct. based dismissal on case law foreclosing claims for unlawful detention after initiation of formal legal process. While Supreme Ct. subsequently found in Manual, 137 S.Ct. 911 that plaintiff had potential 4^th Amendment cause of action, remand was required to determine timeliness of plaintiff’s 4^th Amendment claim, where: (1) applicable 2-year limitation period starts when plaintiff’s detention ended; (2) plaintiff was released on bond shortly after her arrest, which was more than two years prior to filing instant lawsuit; and (3) record failed to identify conditions of her bond so as to know one way or another as to whether her conditions of her bond imposed significant restrictions on her liberty to demonstrate that she was still “in custody” until she was exonerated at trial on her charge.