Court considers who is a ‘person’ under Sec. 1983

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted November 3, 2021 11:03 AM

Is an unincorporated association a “person” under Civil Rights Act of 1871 (a.k.a. the Ku Klux Klan Act and codified as 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983)? No, according to a 2006 decision from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. And in a new case where Fort Lauderdale Food Not Bombs — an unincorporated association that wants to distribute food to homeless people in Fort Lauderdale’s Stranahan Park as an exercise of “expressive conduct” — sued the city for allegedly violating the First Amendment by blocking food-distribution events, …

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