Regains v. City of Chicago

Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Section 1983 Action
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 15-2444
Decision Date: 
March 13, 2019
Federal District: 
N.D. Ill., E. Div.
Holding: 
Reversed and remanded

Dist. Ct. erred in dismissing as untimely plaintiff-former pretrial detainee’s section 1983 action alleging that defendant-City violated his due process rights, where: (1) plaintiff was initially arrested on charge of failing to report change of address as required for sex offenders under Ill. Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA); and (2) plaintiff remained incarcerated for 17 months before Ill. trial court found him not guilty on said charge. Ct. of Appeals construed as malicious prosecution claim plaintiff’s allegation that defendant’s police officers used improper process when steering homeless sex offenders to shelters that caused plaintiff to violate SORA’s sex offender registration requirements. As such, plaintiff’s complaint was timely, since it was filed within two years of his acquittal on SORA charge. On remand, plaintiff will need to show that high-ranking members of police force knew of differing practices of registering sex offenders and allowed them to continue. Moreover, basis for any constitutional violation is 4th Amendment, rather than due process rights under 14th Amendment.