Buchanan v. State of Maine, No. 06-1466, in an opinion that begins “Input Opinion En Banc if needed -- Press Alt/Enter” the court affirms the grant of summary judgement to the state of Maine in a Sec. 1983 case, which arose when, in “...In February 2002, Michael Buchanan, a mentally ill man, was shot to death inside his isolated Maine home when he repeatedly stabbed one of two deputy sheriffs who had gone to check on Buchanan's safety and welfare.” However, this wasn’t just a normal 1983 case, he also sued “the State of Maine and the County on the theory that they failed to reasonably accommodate Buchanan's need for mental health services as required by Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), see 42 U.S.C. §§ 12131, 12132, thus causing his death.”
As to the 4th amendment/1983 claim, the court holds that the officers were entitled to qualified immunity under Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194 (2001), the Court holds that the Congress did not abrogate the Maine’s Eleventh amendment immunity, because, after a case officer told the cops to check on him, resulting in the tragedy: “We cannot say the officers had fair warning under the law that if they entered the house when they did, they would violate Buchanan's Fourth Amendment rights. While there is no case directly on point, case law tended to support the officers' actions, not put them on notice of illegality.”
As to the ADA claim, applying United States v. Georgia, 126 S. Ct. 877 (2006), the court avoids the question of whether Title II is unconstitutional as applied to Maine, and concludes that the ADA doesn’t require that Maine provide a given level of service to Buchanan, and the plaintiff didn’t claim that he was discriminated against.
Disability Law Blog comments here.
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