Augustin v. City of Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA (December 5) – The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania announced today that it has settled two lawsuits against the city of Philadelphia after police unlawfully retaliated against people who recorded them carrying out their duties. The litigation stemmed from two separate incidents in 2012 and 2013 but were argued together in federal court, leading to a landmark ruling in July from the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit that there is a First Amendment right to record the police in public.

It’s been almost three years now since Commissioner Charles Ramsey issued a directive to Philly Police, letting them know that it’s entirely legal for the public to record officers doing their work and making arrests — as long as the photographer doesn’t interfere with that police work.

Job applicants to Rite Aid Corp. won a round in their fight over the company’s pre-employment background checks, when a Pennsylvania federal judge on Wednesday denied the company’s motion to strike the designation of the putative class action as related to a similar case, saying both suits share a central core of common facts.

PHILADELPHIA – The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and co-counsel filed a federal lawsuit today on behalf of Christopher Montgomery, a Philadelphia resident who was arrested for using his cellphone to record an arrest.

Shannon Duffy covers LGD’s successful representation in Buck v. Stankovic, in a page one article entitled No Wedding Bell Blues in The Legal Intelligencer. A federal judge ruled that a county official cannot deny a marriage license to a couple simply because an applicant does not have a current visa or green card.