6 ms·

In the USA? Where you can be sued if someone slips on your sidewalk? Can't you sue the gvmt?

• toast0 1y ago
  You can sue the government, but the grounds for winning are much narrower. Meerly suffering harm from government action is not sufficient. Having property impounded as part of an investigation, pursuant to a warrant, is likely not actionable, unless there was malice involved. Using slim evidence isn't really actionable.
• Muromec 1y ago
  Why would you be able to sue the government for conducting a search authorized by a judge? It's expected that result of some searches is "Oopsie doopsie nothing found".
  • TimorousBestie 1y ago
    It’s even worse than that, in the US police have broad latitude to destroy property, kill pets, seize any cash or assets (theoretically related to the crime, but very easy to abuse) and etc. while executing a search, with little to no recourse.
    • dylan604 1y ago
      Not just kill pets, but kill people. Even if they raided the wrong home.
      • TimorousBestie 1y ago
        Yeah, it’s true.
  • colechristensen 1y ago
    You could sue if they made some major mistakes or were fabricating evidence or some other significant malpractice. It's a pretty high bar.
    • behringer 1y ago
      You can but chances are you'll still lose.
  • deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  • ulrikrasmussen 1y ago
    I think it's fair to expect that the authorities must have a very good probable cause to perform a search of your home, and that any search that turned out to be unwarranted results in a big compensation and a public announcement stating that the specific police department and judge violated the right to privacy.
  • whycome 1y ago
    I'm guessing search should still happen in a way to limit damage (physical, psychological) to other parties (in this case, the kids present).
• SJC_Hacker 1y ago
  > In the USA? Where you can be sued if someone slips on your sidewalk? Can't you sue the gvmt? Sure you can sue anybody for anything. Whether your case actually gets heard or not is another consideration. And even if it gets heard, the judge can simply dismiss it for a variety of reasons before proceeding to trial. Also, state and the federal governments have sovereign immunity and qualified immunity. Basically the government has to allow itself to be sued. True this doesn't apply to counties or cities, however there is still a much higher bar for tort even for local police. Generally if they are operatikng within the law, like executing a valid search warrant, the standard is much higher than it would be for an average citizen.
• sleepyguy 1y ago
  The government has endless resources; you would go bankrupt unless a law firm saw a huge payout in taking your case. The system is rigged in favor of the government. They could have burned down his house and the neighbor's house, and not been responsible. Land of the free, God Bless America......
  • DFHippie 1y ago
    Also, there is almost no deterrent effect. The people who authorized or perpetrated the abuse are not punished if you sue and win a settlement. They don't even have to hire and pay the lawyers. The payment comes out everyone's taxes, perhaps with interest if the government has to pay by issuing debt. When the police abuse their power, it's the community that pays their salaries that feels the pain.
  • mulmen 1y ago
    This was in Australia but your point stands.
• BLKNSLVR 1y ago
  Australia. We looked into anything that could be done to minimise the chances of such a thing happening to innocent parties, but the only option was to make a complaint about an individual officer. There's no (easy, obvious) way to question the system they use to determine "validity" of raids or due diligence prior to requesting a warrant, or evidence required to justify a warrant. The whole thing just felt to me like it was blindly rubber stamped all the way through because "protect the children". Pity my daughter was a child and absorbs such experiences... My son was also a child, but he's less affected by such things.
  • behringer 1y ago
    It's good for children in the US to learn early that they can't trust the police.
    • codr7 1y ago
      Same goes for almost any other country I've been to. But the US does seem to be one of the worst places from what I see online.
    • rdtsc 1y ago
      In which country can the children trust the police?
      • slaw 1y ago
        China?
      • more_corn 1y ago
        Japan, England
        • giantg2 1y ago
          Can they? I've heard of police in Japan pinning murder cases on people they don't like. I believe there has been some reporting on this related to why thy have such high clearance rates. Don't the police in the UK still have a lot of sexual misconduct scandals?
• deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
• grokgrok 1y ago
  If your downspout is draining onto the sidewalk and turning it into an invisible ice rink...