Haynes v. Stephenson

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that filing disciplinary charge is actionable under Section 1983 if done in retaliation for inmate filing grievance, because retaliatory disciplinary charge strikes at heart of constitutional right to seek redress of grievances
• filing of a disciplinary charge in retaliation for inmate filing a grievance is adverse for purposes of § 1983 claim
• filing of lawsuit is protected First Amendment activity (citing Lewis v. Jacks, 486 F.3d 1025, 1029 (8th Cir. 2007)
• affirming 2,500:1 punitive damages ratio where jury awarded $1 in nominal damages
• to sustain a retaliation claim, there must be facts suggesting retaliation was the actual motivating factor for the adverse action
• “To establish the third element of the prima facie case for retaliatory discipline, that exercising the protected right 10 motivated the discipline, an inmate must show that but for a retaliatory motive the prison official would not have filed the disciplinary report.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).