Prisoner’s civil rights case argued by King Hall students wins in Ninth Circuit court

The King Hall Civil Rights Clinic won a case that two law students argued in April 2018.

In Kimbro v. Miranda, No. 16-16038 (9th Cir. May 2), a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the trial court should not have dismissed a prisoner’s civil rights claims for excessive force and supervisory liability, as well as those under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The appellate court also ruled that the lower court erred in dismissing the clinic client’s medical claims for failure to exhaust administrative remedies.

Wesley Cheung ’18 and Megan McMahon ’18 presented oral argument to Chief Judge Sidney R. Thomas, Judge Michelle T. Friedland, and Fernando M. Olguin, a district judge from California’s Central District. Cheung and McMahon, along with Kritika Thukral ’18, coauthored the appellate briefs in the case. Carter White, director of the Civil Rights Clinic, supervised the students in their work on the case.

Several faculty members assisted in preparing the students for this argument, including Professors Gabriel “Jack” Chin, Ed Imwinkelried, Irene Joe, Carlton Larson, Brian Soucek, Aaron Tang, and Trial Advocacy Adjunct Stewart Katz. King Hall faculty spent many hours reading briefs and judging practice arguments.

The King Hall Civil Rights Clinic was founded in 1993 and will celebrate its 25th anniversary this fall. Professor Margaret Z. Johns ’76 wrote the original grant application that established the Civil Rights Clinic. In addition to its active docket of civil rights cases in the United States District Courts, the clinic, throughout its history, has handled at least one case per year in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.