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Civil Rights and Public Entity Law
Wood v. Beauclair, 692 F.3d 1041, 1049 (9th Cir. 2012). See also Landau v. Lamas, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47243 (M.D. Pa. 2022); Walker v. Cty. Of Gloucester, 581 F.Supp.3d 673 (D.N.J. 2022).
As the discussion of consent continues in popular culture, it will likely impact the availability of the consent defense in civil rights cases. Arguably, it has already been felt as, in less than ten years, consent as a full defense has gone from a majority to a minority rule and rebuttable presumption has become the majority rule. Accordingly, practitioners should be aware of the erosion of the consent defense, and pay particular attention to facts that would rebut a presumption of non-consent.
Jamie Jones is a partner with Friday, Eldredge & Clark, LLP in Little Rock, Arkansas. Contact her at: jjones@fridayfirm.com.
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FDCC ANNUAL INSIGHTS 2023