Madsen Law P.A. successfully obtained the dismissal of two federal cases brought against its clients alleging violations of the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution. In Buekas v. Linaweaver et al., No. 14 Civ. 9457 (LAK)(FM) (S.D.N.Y.), we represented the warden of a federal prison in Manhattan in a lawsuit brought by current and former inmates who claimed that the warden and other prison staff members subjected them to harsh working conditions for approximately eighteen hours to repair a malfunctioning pump and to clean an unsanitary flood in the prison’s basement, posing an unreasonable and unjustifiable risk of harm to their health. Adopting the arguments put forth by Madsen Law P.A., U.S. Magistrate Judge Frank Maas recommended that the complaint be dismissed because, among other things, the warden was immune from suit pursuant to the doctrine of qualified immunity. U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan agreed and dismissed the lawsuit in its entirety.
In Gjini v. United States et al., No. 16 Civ. 3707 (KMK) (S.D.N.Y.), the estate of an inmate who committed suicide filed a lawsuit against our client, the psychologist of a federal detention center, alleging that the psychologist had been deliberately indifferent to the inmate’s medical needs. On June 15, 2017, U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Karas dismissed the lawsuit after Madsen Law P.A. argued in a motion to dismiss that its client had actively cared for the inmate and had acted promptly in attending to his mental health needs.