Due Process Violation

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Soraida Flores v. City of South Bend, et al.,

Case No.: 20-1603

Officials: RIPPLE, WOOD, and BRENNAN, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Due Process Violation

Erica Flores’s life came to an untimely end when Officer Justin Gorny of the South Bend, Indiana, police department careened through residential streets and a red light at speeds up to 98 mph to reach a routine traffic stop he was not invited to aid, crashed into Flores’s car, and killed her. Flores’s personal representative, Soraida Flores, sued Gorny and the City under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and associated state laws, asserting that Gorny violated Erica’s substantive-due-process rights and that the City was liable under Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978), for failing adequately to train its police officers. (We refer to Flores as the plaintiff without distinguishing between the victim and the estate representative unless the context otherwise requires.) The district court dismissed the action on the pleadings. We find, however, that Flores’s allegations plausibly state claims against both defendants, and thus that she is entitled to proceed with her case. We therefore reverse and remand.

Reversed and remanded

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Derek A Hawkins is Associate Corporate Counsel, IP at Amazon.