Illinois Town “Issue[s] 62 Tickets to an Elderly Couple for Having Lawn Chairs in Their Front Yard”

Michael Cozzi then asked about his broken window. That didn’t go over well.

When it came to expletives, Mayor Serpico still had some gas left in the tank: “I give a f*ck about your window. Like I worry about your f*cking house when I drive past it. Now do me a favor and go sit down and shut up.”

At that point, one might have thought that Mayor Serpico had gotten his point across. But the Mayor apparently thought otherwise. To cement the point, Mayor Serpico told him what he really thought: “Yeah, because you live like a piece of sh*t. You’re like a f*cking hillbilly. You’re like a hillbilly!”

Even by contemporary standards, such as they are, that outburst was an extraordinary display of profanity and aggression. It suggests a deep level of personal animus. And it shows a willingness to abuse one’s position as a public servant. It was not the finest hour in the annals of public service.

The tirade may not have creative value, but it did have evidentiary value. Look again at the words that Mayor Serpico used. (And not just the profanity.) He told the Cozzis that they “live like a piece of sh*t.” He said that Michael Cozzi lived like a “hillbilly.” Id. He revealed both knowledge and contempt for how the Cozzis kept their home.

The meeting took place in January 2021, in the midst of the barrage of tickets about the lawn furniture. And the outburst came as Michael Cozzi attempted to express concern about the treatment of his elderly parents.

Reading the complaint as a whole, it takes a small step not an inferential leap to conclude that Mayor Serpico personally orchestrated the campaign of punitive tickets that rained down on the Cozzi family. The complaint paints a picture of state-sanctioned bullying at the hands of the Mayor, who implemented a policy of punishing dissent and compelling compliance. Overall, the allegations support the inference that Mayor Serpico implemented a policy to punish, harass, and intimidate the Cozzi family.

In the end, the allegations of the complaint may or may not pan out. It depends on the facts, and the parties need to gather the facts in discovery. And it is possible that the evidence will support a Monell claim on the other prongs, too. That is, maybe the record will include evidence of an express policy, or a widespread practice that is a custom or practice. But Plaintiffs would need to build a record.

That’s a question for another day. Today’s question is simply whether the complaint alleges enough to state a Monell claim. And by a wide margin, it does&.

Congratulations to Cass Thomas Casper, Gianna Rochelle Scatchell, and Navarrio Douglas Wilkerson of Disparti Law Group, P.A. on their success at this stage of the case.

via reason.com

Sometimes it must be fun to be a judge.