Police Misconduct: A Practitioners Guide to Section 1983 is the first book you should buy and the last one you will need on the topic. Written by a practitioner for practitioners on both the plaintiff s and the defense side, for judges and legal advisors, this book of over 1,500 pages is more than a treatise and more than just a handbook. Citing hundreds of cases, with Appendices of dozens of forms, this work will be the most used and useful in the field. <P> Police Misconduct: A Practitioners Guide to Section 1983 combines 18 substantive chapters covering the law with 12 on practice. There are chapters on the Fourth, Fourteenth and First Amendments, on Qualified Immunity, Municipal Liability, Procedural Defenses and Damages, digesting hundreds of cases in high frequency and high exposure areas. The book discusses the latest Supreme Court cases, covers best practices, and offers practice chapters on the complaint, discovery and evidence, dispositive motions, trial and post-trial, including attorney s fees--all with checklists, practice tips, and dozens of forms. <P> The first 18 chapters cover the substantive law, both high frequency and high exposure cases: Fourth Amendment searches, arrests, deadly and non-deadly force; Fourteenth Amendment duty of protection; First Amendment; individual, supervisory and municipal liability; qualified immunity; claims against state and federal officials; procedural defenses; damages; and common law claims and defenses to bring along with § 1983 claims. The substantive law chapters also feature hot topics, the latest thinking from police organizations, and Circuit-by-Circuit comparisons on important issues. The 12 practice chapters of Police Misconduct: A Practitioner's Guide to Section 1983 begin with investigation, representation and initial pleadings; discovery in depth regarding plaintiffs and defendants; motions practice, including dispositive motions and motions in limine; and dozens of evidentiary issues in alphabetical order for quick reference. Using hypothetical fact patterns, chapters cover trial from the plaintiff s and the defense perspectives, with tips on jury selection, opening and closing, order of witnesses and pattern examinations, how to handle the qualified immunity issue at trial, jury instructions, special verdict forms, post-trial motions, and attorney s fee awards for prevailing plaintiffs. With free annual supplements, this is the only book you will need for a successful police misconduct practice.
Wayne Cartwright Beyer is an experienced trial lawyer, author, presenter, and former administrative appeals judge. Mr. Beyer has been lead counsel in over 300 police misconduct and corrections cases and many jury trials as assistant corporation counsel (later called assistant attorney general) for the District of Columbia, and before that as outside counsel to New Hampshire s Property and Liability Insurance Trust. He is the author of law review and magazine articles on police misconduct; has been a presenter on § 1983 at national programs for Georgetown University Law Center, the Defense Research Institute, the American Bar Association, and the Federal Judicial Center (for District and Magistrate Judges), and dozens of webinars. He is a member of the N.H. and D.C. Bars, and the Police Executive Research Forum, International Association of Chiefs of Police, and National Sheriffs Association. Mr. Beyer holds degrees from Dartmouth College and Harvard University, and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.
