U.S. Supreme Court to hear Ohio inmate sexual assault case

An Associated Press article this morning reports that the Supreme Court has agreed to consider reinstating a $625,000 judgment against Ohio prison officials who did nothing to prevent a guard's sexual assault of an inmate and then punished the victim.

Justices said Monday they would review a federal appeals court decision from last year in a case that actually began back in 1996. After having been sexually assaulted while an inmate at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, Michelle Ortiz had filed, an won, jury verdicts for the above-mentioned amount – which the defendants then appealed. The Sixth Circuit had then decided that the defendants were entitled to "qualified immunity" which negated the money award.

Conflicting holdings of eleven federal circuits regarding the conditions, if any, under which a party may appeal the denial of summary judgment after trial, Ortiz's petition professes. "There are two independent splits among the circuits on this point. First, the circuits are divided whether such appeals are permissible if the party raises a question of law… Second, the circuits are divided whether such appeals---even when raising a question of law—are permissible if the party chose not to immediately appeal the denial of summary judgment…. The Sixth Circuit's decision here falls on the wrong side of both splits, and it illustrates the impropriety of permitting such an appeal in both contexts. This Court can resolve both conflicts and clarify an important question that has left the federal courts (and numerous state courts that look to them for guidance) in confusion about a fundamental issue recurring in courts across the Nation.."

Ortiz v. Jordan and Bright, 09-737

Petition for certiorari
Brief in opposition