Lyons v. City of Seattle

Lyons v. City of Seattle

Amicus brief in U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit arguing that the government bears the burden of showing individualized evidence of probable cause for an arrest, even in the context of a mass arrest.

An unpublished decision was issued on December 21, 2006, holding that the police did have probable cause to justify the arrests of protesters for failing to disperse, but it did not directly address the argument made by Public Justice’s amicus brief. Tyler Weaver and Steve Berman of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP in Seattle wrote the brief, with input from Public Justice’s Vicky Ni and Arthur Bryant.