Most encounters with law enforcement end without incident. When an officer uses force far beyond what the situation required, detains someone with no lawful basis, or ignores a person in medical crisis inside a jail cell, the harm is not only physical. The institution that was supposed to protect you is the thing that hurt you, and it has every resource to insist nothing went wrong.
Civil rights cases are among the hardest a Las Vegas civil rights attorney can take. The defendants are well funded and represented by experienced counsel. Legal doctrines exist specifically to shield officers. Juries often want to believe the police. And the evidence that would prove what happened is held by the agency you are suing, on a retention schedule that does not care about your timeline.
I take these cases anyway. I am Mitchell Bisson, and I represent people in Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas and across Clark County who were subjected to unconstitutional conduct by someone acting under color of law.
Why I take these cases
I have been litigating for 15 years and I have been licensed in Nevada for over 15 years. I am also licensed in Michigan, for about 10. I obtained a published reversal by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Rivera v. Corrections Corporation of America (CoreCivic), 999 F.3d 647 (9th Cir. 2021), and I was counsel of record when the Ninth Circuit affirmed the denial of qualified immunity to the officers in Zelaya v. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, 682 F. App’x 565 (9th Cir. 2017) (unpublished). Prior results do not guarantee, warrant or predict a similar outcome.
My Nevada civil rights work includes suits against police departments, jails and cities. My first civil rights case was the death of a young man who was tased on the side of a Las Vegas highway, and it is where I learned this work. More is on my selected experience page.
You deal with me, not an intake team. Big-Firm Power. Street-Level Grit.
Civil rights matters I handle in Las Vegas and across Clark County
- Excessive force, including strikes, takedowns, canine deployments, less-lethal munitions and police shootings
- Wrongful death by law enforcement, brought on behalf of the family and the estate
- False arrest and unlawful detention where officers lacked probable cause, or where a lawful stop was prolonged without justification
- Unreasonable searches and seizures, including warrantless entries, defective warrants and searches that exceed their authorized scope
- Deliberate indifference to medical needs in jails and detention facilities, including withdrawal, untreated injury and psychiatric crisis
- First Amendment retaliation, including retaliation for recording officers, for protected speech or for filing a complaint
- Failure to train, supervise or intervene, including claims against an officer who watched a constitutional violation and did nothing
- Municipal liability where an unconstitutional policy, custom or training failure caused the violation
How a section 1983 lawsuit works
Most police misconduct cases are brought under 42 U.S.C. section 1983, the federal statute that allows suit against state and local officials who violate constitutional rights while acting under color of law. Section 1983 does not create rights. It is the vehicle for enforcing rights that already exist in the Constitution, and most claims arise under one of three amendments. My post explaining section 1983 lawsuits against police covers who can be sued and what damages are available.
The Fourth Amendment governs arrests, searches and the use of force during a seizure, and it is the basis for most excessive force and false arrest claims. The Fourteenth Amendment governs the treatment of pretrial detainees, including conditions of confinement and access to medical care. The First Amendment protects speech, assembly, the right to record public officials, and protection from retaliation for using those rights.
A claim may be brought in federal court or Nevada state court. The choice of forum is a strategic decision that affects the jury pool, the procedural rules and the pace of the case.
The standard for excessive force: Graham v. Connor
Force claims are governed by the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Graham v. Connor, which asks whether the force used was objectively reasonable under the circumstances the officer faced. The test is judged from the view of a reasonable officer on the scene, not with hindsight, and it accounts for the split-second judgments officers sometimes make.
Courts weigh the severity of the crime at issue, because force suited to a violent felony arrest is not suited to a traffic infraction or a noise complaint. They weigh whether the person posed an immediate threat to officers or anyone else, which is usually the central question. And they weigh whether the person was actively resisting or trying to flee, and whether any resistance justified the specific force actually used.
The standard is deferential to officers, and it is meant to be. It is not unlimited, and it is where these cases are won. Force grossly out of proportion to any threat falls outside it. So can force that continues after a person is handcuffed, restrained, subdued or compliant, and force used against someone who is not resisting but is slow to comply because they are confused, intoxicated, disabled, deaf or in a mental health crisis.
Qualified immunity, the central obstacle
Understand this doctrine before you decide whether to pursue a claim, because it disposes of many cases before a jury ever hears them. Qualified immunity shields individual officials from liability unless their conduct violated a constitutional right that was clearly established at the time. In practice a plaintiff often has to identify prior decisions on sufficiently similar facts, and show that existing precedent had already made the violation clear to any reasonable officer. My post on qualified immunity in plain English walks through the test.
That is a serious hurdle, and I will not pretend otherwise. It is not an automatic bar. Egregious conduct can be so obviously unconstitutional that no closely analogous case is required. The doctrine has to be anticipated from day one, because how the facts are developed and pleaded determines whether it can be overcome. Handling immunity well is often the difference between a case that reaches a jury and one dismissed on a motion.
Suing the department: Monell liability
A city, county or police department is not automatically liable because it employed the officer who hurt you. Under Monell v. Department of Social Services, a government entity is liable under section 1983 only where an official policy, a widespread custom or practice, or a failure to train or supervise was the moving force behind the violation. Proving that means looking past your own incident to the institution.
I look at prior incidents involving the same officer or unit and how the agency responded. I look at internal affairs history: the complaints filed, how they were investigated, and how consistently they were sustained. I look at training records to see what officers were actually taught about force, de-escalation and encounters with people in crisis. And I compare written policy against actual practice, because an agency can have an excellent policy on paper and a custom of ignoring it. The custom is what matters.
Monell claims are demanding and document-heavy. They are also how systemic problems get corrected instead of merely compensated.
Jail and detention cases
Some of the most serious violations happen after the arrest, out of public view. Jails and detention facilities may not be deliberately indifferent to a detainee’s serious medical needs. Deliberate indifference is more than negligence. For pretrial detainees, the Ninth Circuit applies an objective standard: the officials made an intentional decision about the detainee’s conditions, the condition posed a substantial risk of serious harm, they did not take reasonable available steps even though a reasonable official would have seen the risk, and the failure caused the harm.
The recurring fact patterns are untreated alcohol or opioid withdrawal, ignored chest pain or stroke symptoms, denial of essential prescription medication, injuries from booking that go unexamined, and psychiatric crises met with restraint instead of care. These cases turn on records: booking documentation, medical request forms, cell-check logs, video, and the timeline of who knew what and when. The facility holds those materials, which is one more reason speed matters.
Two years, and the real deadline is much shorter
A section 1983 claim in Nevada generally borrows the state’s two-year personal injury limitations period. If a state-law claim is brought alongside it against a government entity, additional claim-filing provisions may apply, including a two-year provision in NRS 41.036.
The practical deadline is far shorter because the evidence is perishable and most of it belongs to the other side. Body-worn and dashboard camera footage sits on agency retention schedules that can be measured in weeks or months for encounters not flagged as significant. Jail surveillance video is frequently overwritten on a short cycle. Nearby private cameras at businesses, doorbells and parking structures keep footage only briefly. Dispatch and radio traffic is recorded but retained on a schedule. Witness memory fades, and bystanders are hard to find later.
Preservation letters and public records requests sent early are often what separates a provable case from your word against an officer’s. If something happened to you or someone in your family, the most useful thing you can do today is call, even if you are undecided about suing.
What you can recover
- Compensatory damages for medical expenses, lost income, physical pain, emotional distress, humiliation and loss of liberty
- Punitive damages against individual officers for conduct that is malicious, reckless or callously indifferent to your rights, which are not available against the municipality itself
- Injunctive relief, meaning court-ordered changes to policy, training or practice, which is often what clients care about most
- Attorney’s fees for a prevailing plaintiff under 42 U.S.C. section 1988, a provision Congress built into the civil rights statutes on purpose. Whether fees are awarded is the court’s decision, and I cannot promise it.
How I build a Nevada civil rights case
Preservation, immediately
Before anything else I move to lock down evidence. That means written preservation demands to every agency and private party that may hold video, and public records requests for body-camera and dashboard footage, dispatch audio, incident and arrest reports, use-of-force reports and jail logs. Agencies are not obligated to keep everything forever, and what is not preserved is gone. This alone justifies calling a lawyer within days, not months.
Independent investigation
I do not rely on the agency’s account of its own conduct. I locate and interview civilian witnesses, canvass for private surveillance cameras, obtain medical records documenting the injuries and their mechanism, and photograph the scene and injuries. Where the force involved a weapon, a canine or a restraint technique, I consult retained police practices consultants who can explain what generally accepted standards required.
The officer and the agency
I dig into the officer’s history, including prior complaints, prior lawsuits and disciplinary record, and into the agency’s training and policies. That can support a Monell claim against the municipality, and it often reveals a pattern that makes the individual claim much stronger.
Filing and the qualified immunity fight
The complaint is drafted with qualified immunity in mind from the first sentence, because how the facts are pleaded shapes whether the defense works. Expect a motion to dismiss and later a summary judgment motion, both raising immunity. If the court denies immunity on a question of law, the defendant can usually appeal right away, which is one reason these cases take longer than ordinary litigation.
Discovery, resolution or trial
Discovery is where agency records, training materials, internal affairs files and officer depositions come into the case. Many claims resolve once that material is on the table. Those that do not are tried, and I prepare for that from the outset.
If this just happened
- Get medical attention and be specific. Tell the provider exactly how each injury happened. Those records become the contemporaneous account of what happened to you.
- Photograph every injury, repeatedly. Bruising develops and changes over days, so shoot on day one, day three and day seven, with something for scale.
- Write down everything while it is fresh: times, locations, what was said, how many officers were present, badge numbers or names if you have them, and who else was there.
- Identify witnesses now. Names and phone numbers today are worth more than any effort a month from now.
- Back up your own recordings right away to cloud storage and a second device, and do not edit the original file.
- Do not discuss it publicly. Social media posts will be obtained and used.
- Do not give a statement to the agency, not to internal affairs and not to an investigator, without counsel present.
Related Nevada practice areas
Civil rights cases often run beside other proceedings. If you face charges from the same encounter, see my Las Vegas criminal defense lawyer page, including my Las Vegas DUI lawyer page for traffic stops that led to a DUI arrest. If you were injured, see my Las Vegas personal injury lawyer page. Other disputes may belong on my Las Vegas civil litigation attorney or Las Vegas business litigation attorney pages, and immunity rulings and judgments are handled on my Nevada appeals lawyer page. Property disputes are on my Las Vegas real estate attorney page. Short answers to common questions are on my Nevada legal FAQs page.
Hurt by police or in a jail in Clark County? Call me.
Law Offices of Mitchell S. Bisson, 625 S. 6th St., Ste. 505, Las Vegas, NV 89101. Call for a free initial consultation: (702) 602-4990 | MBisson@BissonLegal.com. Contact me 24/7 by text or WhatsApp at (616) 295-7414, a number for texts and WhatsApp that is separate from the office lines. Your Rights, My Fight!
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a Las Vegas civil rights attorney to sue the police?
These cases are hard to take on alone. The defendants are well funded, legal doctrines such as qualified immunity exist specifically to shield officers, and the evidence is held by the agency you are suing. A Las Vegas civil rights attorney, or police misconduct lawyer, can send preservation requests early, investigate independently, handle the immunity fight and decide whether the case belongs in federal court or Nevada state court. If a state-law claim against a government entity is involved, NRS 41.031 through 41.039 add another set of rules to manage. That is the work I do in Nevada police misconduct cases.
When is a police officer’s use of force excessive in Nevada?
Force is excessive when it is not objectively reasonable under the circumstances the officer faced, judged under Graham v. Connor. Courts consider the severity of the suspected offense, whether you posed an immediate threat, and whether you were actively resisting or fleeing. Force grossly out of proportion to any threat can be excessive, and so can force that continues after you are handcuffed, restrained or compliant, although the answer always depends on the facts. Whether what you said or did counts as active resistance depends on the facts, and I would want to go through exactly what happened with you.
What is qualified immunity, and will it end my case?
Qualified immunity protects individual officers unless they violated a right that was clearly established at the time, which often requires prior cases with reasonably similar facts. It is the single biggest obstacle in civil rights litigation, and it does end many cases. It is not absolute. Egregious conduct can be obviously unconstitutional without a matching precedent, and the doctrine can be planned for from the start. In a Nevada federal case I will tell you how it applies to your facts before you commit to anything.
Can I sue the police department, or only the individual officer?
Both are possible, but they take different proof. The officer can be sued directly for personal conduct. A department or municipality is liable under section 1983 only through Monell, so you must show an unconstitutional policy, a widespread custom, or a failure to train or supervise that caused the violation. Employing the officer is not enough. State-law claims against a Nevada city, county or the State run through NRS 41.031 through 41.039. I look at whether your experience reflects an institutional pattern, which often requires internal affairs and training records.
How long do I have to bring a civil rights claim in Nevada?
Generally two years, because section 1983 borrows Nevada’s two-year personal injury limitations period. If you are also bringing state-law claims against a government entity, separate claim-filing provisions under NRS 41.031 through 41.039 may apply, including a two-year provision in NRS 41.036. Video and records sit on retention schedules far shorter than two years, and waiting is the most common way these cases are lost.
Is there body camera footage of what happened to me?
Often there is, from body-worn cameras, patrol vehicle cameras, jail surveillance, nearby casinos and businesses, or bystander phones. Agencies, including Las Vegas Metro and the jail, retain footage on internal schedules, and material not flagged as significant can be overwritten. Private cameras keep footage only briefly. That is the most urgent reason to contact a lawyer fast. A preservation demand and a public records request sent in the first days can secure evidence that later effort cannot recover.
I was arrested but never charged, or the charges were dismissed. Do I have a claim?
Possibly. A false arrest claim turns on whether officers had probable cause at the moment of arrest, not on whether the district attorney later filed charges. A conviction for the offense you were arrested for can bar the claim, so how your case ended matters. Dropped charges do not by themselves prove the arrest was unlawful, but they do not defeat a claim either. I look at what the officers actually knew when they made the arrest. Related claims for malicious prosecution and unlawfully prolonged detention may also apply.
My family member was denied medical care in jail. Is that a civil rights violation?
It can be. Jails and detention facilities may not be deliberately indifferent to a detainee’s serious medical needs. That standard requires more than a mistake or ordinary negligence. If your family member is in custody, federal law generally requires use of the facility’s grievance process first under 42 U.S.C. section 1997e(a), so deadlines matter from day one. For pretrial detainees, the Ninth Circuit asks whether officials made an intentional decision, the condition posed a substantial risk of serious harm, and they failed to take reasonable available steps that a reasonable official would have seen as necessary. Untreated withdrawal, ignored cardiac or stroke symptoms, denial of prescribed medication and untreated psychiatric crisis are the recurring patterns. The proof comes from booking records, medical request forms, cell-check logs and video, so act fast.
Do I have to file a complaint with the police department first?
No. A complaint to internal affairs is not a prerequisite to a federal section 1983 lawsuit. Whether to file one is a strategic question to discuss with counsel first, because anything you say in that process can be used later and internal investigations rarely favor the complainant. Speak with an attorney before giving any recorded statement to the agency you are complaining about, whether that is Metro, a city department or a jail.
Can I record the police in Nevada?
Generally yes. Courts have recognized a First Amendment right to record police performing their duties in public, provided you do not physically interfere. Officers who seize a phone, delete footage or arrest someone in retaliation for recording may be exposed to liability. In any Nevada encounter, keep your distance, keep your hands visible, say clearly that you are recording and not interfering, and back up the footage as soon as you can.
What if I was doing something wrong when this happened?
It usually does not defeat your claim. Being suspected of, or even guilty of, an offense does not forfeit your constitutional rights. The question is not whether the arrest was justified but whether the force used was reasonable, and excessive force stays excessive regardless of what you were suspected of. If you face charges in a Clark County court from the same encounter, tell me about them too, because the two cases affect each other. Tell me the whole story, including the unflattering parts. Surprises damage cases. Facts do not.
What can I actually recover?
Compensatory damages for your injuries, medical costs, lost income and emotional harm. Punitive damages against individual officers for malicious or recklessly indifferent conduct. Injunctive relief requiring changes in policy or practice. A prevailing plaintiff can also ask the court to award attorney’s fees against the defendant under 42 U.S.C. section 1988, though the award is the court’s decision.
How are legal fees handled in a Nevada civil rights case?
I explain my fee arrangement at the consultation, before you decide whether to hire me.
How long do Nevada civil rights cases take?
Longer than most litigation. A qualified immunity motion is common, and a defendant who loses on a question of law can usually appeal right away, which adds time. Discovery into agency records adds more. A straightforward case may resolve in a year or two, while a contested case with a Monell claim can take considerably longer. You should hear the timeline before you start, because the endurance required is part of the decision.
Someone in my family was killed by police. What are our options?
Two claims typically run together: a federal section 1983 claim for the violation of constitutional rights, and a Nevada wrongful death claim under NRS 41.085 on behalf of the heirs and the estate. These cases are painful and are heavily investigated by the agency before your family has a lawyer. The most important early step is preserving the scene evidence, the video, the dispatch audio and the autopsy materials, so families should speak with counsel quickly even while grieving.
Do I need to be seriously injured to have a case?
Not necessarily. Physical injury strengthens a case and raises its value, but constitutional violations are not measured by how badly you were hurt. An unlawful arrest, an unreasonable search or retaliation for protected speech can be actionable without significant physical harm, and damages can include emotional distress and loss of liberty. The more serious the harm, the more likely a case justifies the substantial cost and time these claims take, and I will tell you where yours stands.
The officer was cleared by internal affairs. Does that end it?
No. An internal investigation clearing an officer is not a legal ruling and does not bind a court or jury. Internal reviews apply the agency’s own policies instead of constitutional standards and are run by the agency itself. Your civil claim is independent. If reviews like this are inadequate as a pattern, that can become evidence supporting a Monell claim about how the agency handles misconduct.
What if the officer was not from Las Vegas Metro?
The analysis is the same. Section 1983 reaches state and local officials generally, including municipal police, county deputies, corrections and detention officers, school police and others acting under color of state law. What changes is which entity is the proper defendant, which records to request and which claim-filing provisions under NRS 41.031 through 41.039 may reach a state-law claim. Identifying the correct agency early matters, because requests sent to the wrong entity waste time you do not have.
This page provides general information about Nevada law and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws change and every case turns on its own facts. Consult a licensed attorney about your specific situation.