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Time-barred

By: Derek Hawkins//April 15, 2019//

Time-barred

By: Derek Hawkins//April 15, 2019//

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7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Paul Regains v. City of Chicago

Case No.: 15-2444

Officials: EASTERBROOK and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges, and PEPPER, District Judge.

Focus: Time-barred

The Illinois Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA) requires sex offenders to register with the police. Because he did not have a permanent address (he was homeless), Paul Regains followed the instructions of officers who directed him to a local homeless shelter (which they listed on his registration as his permanent address), and to return for re‐registration in ninety days. When he appeared to report three months later, Chicago police officers arrested Regains on an “investigative alert,” because other officers had not been able to locate Regains at the address provided. Regains remained in custody seventeen months before the Illinois trial court found him not guilty of failing to a report a change of address.

Regains sued the City of Chicago under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, claiming that it violated his rights under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The district court dismissed the case under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), finding that either the claim was time‐barred under Illinois’ two‐year statute of limitations for personal injury claims, or that it was barred by this court’s decision in New‐ some v. McCabe, 256 F.3d 747, 751 (7th Cir. 2001), abrogated by Manual v. City of Joliet, 137 S. Ct. 911 (2017) (“Manuel I”). The district court also found that the amended complaint lacked sufficient factual details to give the City fair notice, and that because Regains did not specifically identify a particular constitutional violation, the City could not be held liable under Monell v. Dep’t. of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 692 (1978).  We reverse the district court’s decision that Regains’ claim was time‐barred, and remand for further proceedings.

Reversed and remanded

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Derek A Hawkins is trademark corporate counsel for Harley-Davidson. Hawkins oversees the prosecution and maintenance of the Harley-Davidson’s international trademark portfolio in emerging markets.

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