Mckesson v. Doe
U.S. Supreme Court · decided November 2, 2020 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Decided
- November 2, 2020
- Term
- October Term 2020
- Vote
- 7–1
- Issue area
- Private Action
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Unspecifiable
Opinion excerpt
Cite as: 592 U. S. ____ (2020) 1 Per Curiam SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES DERAY MCKESSON v. JOHN DOE ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT No.19–1108. Decided November 2, 2020 PER CURIAM. Petitioner DeRay Mckesson organized a demonstration in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to protest a shooting by a local police officer. The protesters, allegedly at Mckesson’s direc- tion, occupied the highway in front of the police headquar- ters. As officers began making arrests to clear the highway, an unknown individual threw a “piece of concrete or a sim- ilar rock-like object,” striking respondent Officer Doe in the face. 945 F.3d 818 , 823 (CA5 2019). Officer Doe suffered devastating injuries in the line of duty, including loss of teeth and brain trauma. Though the culprit remains unidentified, Officer Doe sought to recover damages from Mckesson on the theory that he negligently staged the protest in a manner that caused the assault. The District Court dismissed the negli- gence claim as barred by the First Amendment. 272 F. Supp. 3d 841 , 847–848 (MD La. 2017). A divided panel of the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Cir- cuit reversed. As the Fifth Circuit recognized at the outset, Louisiana law generally imposes no “ ‘duty to protect others from the criminal activities of third persons.’ ” 945 F.3d , at 827 (quoting Posecai v.…
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