Area of Practice: Civil Rights Law

The Firm’s civil rights practice includes representation of both plaintiffs and defendants in employment discrimination, police accountability, racial profiling and public accommodation matters. In 2000, Mr. Bhalla brought a successful discrimination lawsuit against Fleet National Bank, resulting in a both a monetary settlement and non-monetary commitment to recognize and respect the religious rights of Sikh employees and customers. During this same year, he successfully represented an African-American in a false arrest claim against the Morristown Police Department and its officers.  More recently, Mr. Bhalla represented a gas station manager in an age discrimination claim against Amerada Hess Corporation.  The Firm currently represents plaintiffs in a civil rights litigation against a number of public and private entities.

In the post-9/11 context, Mr. Bhalla brought a racial profiling lawsuit against Delta Airlines that resulted in a satisfactory settlement between the parties. Most recently, Mr. Bhalla successfully represented a Sikh officer of the New York City Police Department who was terminated from his employment because of his religious practices.

Mr. Bhalla also represents public entities sued for violations of civil rights under state and federal law.   He has successfully defended municipalities, politicians, heads of police and fire departments, and individual police officers and other public officials that have been the target of litigation involving allegations of civil rights violations and employment discrimination.

Title 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, Civil Action for Deprivation of Rights

Section 1983 of Title 42 of the U.S. Code is part of the Civil Rights Act of 1871. This important law allows citizens to sue persons who, under color of federal, state or local law, deprive them of their constitutional rights. This law was originally passed to battle racial violence in Southern states at the end of the Civil War. Today, legal precedents have established Section 1983 as a means for enforcing the constitutional rights of all victims of police brutality.

Our attorneys at Law Offices of Bhalla & Cho have handled numerous cases under Section 1983, and can assist you with any of the following:

• Excessive force by police officers during arrests and in central booking facilities

• Failure to protect inmates from attacks/deliberate indifference/jail injuries

• Wrongful death, including jail suicide and police shootings

• Excessive force by corrections officers

• Prison rape by a corrections officer

• Racial profiling

• Sexual abuse and/or harassment by police and correction officers

• False arrest

• Malicious prosecution