Ameil Kenkare '21 argues before Ninth Circuit panel on behalf of Civil Rights Clinic

On Nov. 19, Ameil Kenkare ’21 argued on behalf of a Civil Rights Clinic client before a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The clinic represents William Stafford, a patient at the Coalinga State Hospital who sued after he contracted Valley Fever in 2014.

The Ninth Circuit appointed the clinic to represent Stafford through its Pro Bono Program, and ordered the parties to include in their briefing on the issue of whether the case was barred by qualified immunity. Ninth Circuit Judges Johnnie Rawlinson and Danielle Hunsaker and Judge Richard Linn of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit comprised the panel that heard the appeal.

Lyla Bugara ’20 drafted the briefs for this case while enrolled in the Civil Rights Clinic during the past academic year. Nicholas Lee ’20 assisted with the reply brief. The oral argument was originally scheduled to take place in April 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professors Gabriel “Jack” Chin and Brian Soucek, along with David Porter '86 of the Sacramento Federal Defender’s office, assisted Kenkare in preparing for this argument. Professor Carter White, director of the Civil Rights Clinic, oversaw the students' work on the appeal. Watch a video of the oral argument