Practice Areas

Union-Side Labor Law | Criminal Defense | Civil Liberties/Civil Rights Litigation
Worker’s Compensation | Social Security Disability | Individual Employment Law

Civil Liberties/Civil Rights Litigation

The United States Constitution guarantees that people shall be free from certain unwarranted government intrusions.  Among these fundamental civil rights are the freedoms of speech, religion, assembly, and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances (1st Amendment); the rights to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures (4th Amendment); cruel and unusual punishments (8th Amendment); the right to due process and the equal protection of the laws (14th Amendment); and the right to vote (15th, 19th & 24th Amendments).  In addition, federal, state and/or local statutes have been enacted to prevent discrimination based on a person's race, sex, religion, age, physical limitation, national origin, and in some instances sexual preference.  Despite all this, not all government intrusions into personal liberty are violations of your civil rights and liberties.  If you feel that your civil rights have been violated, please call 412-391-7711.

For over 25 years, Healey & Hornack, P.C. has worked to ensure civil rights and liberties for all, including cases involving:

• Government misconduct – excessive force/police misconduct, deadly force, false arrest/illegal detention, racial profiling, illegal search & seizure, resisting arrest/assaulting an officer, jail neglect/abuse, “contempt of cop” cases;

• First Amendment – the right to canvas, picket, demonstrate, leaflet, protest, engage in anonymous political speech, report police or government misconduct without fear of retaliation; and

• Due Process/Equal Protection – a public employees right to a hearing before or after termination or discipline, a public school students right to a hearing before or after suspension or expulsion, the rights of all to equal treatment by the government regardless of race, religion, gender, etc.

• Election Protection – We work to ensure that all citizens have the right to vote.

Representative Cases:

• Whitfield v. Chartiers Valley School District, 707 F.Supp.2d 561 (W.D. Pa. 2010)
• Service Employees International Union, Local 3 v. Municipality of Mt. Lebanon, 446 F.3d 419 (3d Cir. 2006)
• People Against Police Violence v. City of Pittsburgh, 520 F.3d 226 (3d Cir. 2008)

FIRM NEWS:

• Since November 2010 Jay Hornack has written a weekly column called “Panic Street Lawyer” for Ipso Facto, the online legal blog for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  The column can be found here. 

• Mike Healey was named to the Board of Directors of Action United.

• Mike Healey was named to the Board of Directors of the ACLU of Pennsylvania.

• Jules Lobel was named President of the Board of Directors of the Center for Constitutional Rights.

• AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka appointed Mike Healey to the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee Board of Directors  in May of 2010.

• The PA labor History Society presented Mike Healey with its Mother Jones Award at its annual dinner on September 9, 2010, for his work on behalf of working people but particularly on behalf of the United Mine Workers.

• In 2010, Jay Hornack was appointed to be on the initial Board of Directors for StartUptown, a nonprofit corporation created to function as an urban incubator for technology and social innovation in the Hill/Uptown area of Pittsburgh.

• On September 23, 2010, Glen Downey co-hosted a panel discussion at the National Lawyer’s Guild Conference in New Orleans with attorney David Milton of Boston.  The topic of the discussion was “Strategies and Risk Assessment in Documenting Police Abuse: Video and Audio Taping Police Misconduct.”

OUR FIRM IN THE NEWS:

• Pitt OKs Settlement in Lawsuit Over Arrest: The University of Pittsburgh will pay $48,500 in damages because one of its police officers arrested Elijah David Matheny, 29, of the Hill District for recording the incident. Read More.

• Rainelli Case Transferred: A false reports criminal case against a nephew of Blair County District Attorney Richard A. Consiglio has been transferred to the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office. Read More.

• Judge to Decide if DA has a Conflict: A Blair County judge must decide if it is a conflict of interest for Blair County District Attorney Richard A. Consiglio's office to prosecute criminal charges against one of his nephews. Read More.

• Woman who threw bike during G-20 accepts probation: A Mount Washington woman accused of throwing her bicycle at a police officer during the G-20 Summit entered an Allegheny County court program this morning that will allow all the charges against her to be dismissed provided she successfully completes a nine-month period of probation. Read More.

• Probation given to 1 in G-20 protest: A Mt. Washington woman who gained Internet notoriety because of video footage that appeared to show her throwing a bike at a police officer during the G-20 summit demonstrations will spend nine months on probation, an Allegheny County judge ordered Friday. Read More.

• Global Village of the Damned: It's hard to remember now, but in the weeks leading up to last September's G-20 summit, officials warned that as many as 10,000 protesters might descend on Pittsburgh. Any number of them, breathless media accounts fretted, might come with feces to fling at police, or worse. Read More.

• ACLU Sues City Of Pittsburgh Over G-20 Mass Arrests: The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed a federal lawsuit today on behalf of 25 people who were swept up in a mass arrest of demonstrators, observers, and passersby in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh hours after the G-20 Summit ended on September 25, 2009. Read More.

• City sued over G-20 arrests: The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a federal suit against the city of Pittsburgh, Police Chief Nate Harper and more than 15 other police officers for allegedly violating the First Amendment rights of 25 people arrested on the final day of last year's G-20 summit. Read More.

• ACLU Sues Pittsburgh Over G-20 Police Conduct: The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit alleging police wrongly arrested and mistreated people during peaceful demonstrations at the G-20 economic summit in Pittsburgh last year. Read More.

• Chartiers Valley board OKs Whitfield settlement: A divided Chartiers Valley school board has approved a $205,000 settlement agreement with former assistant superintendent Tammy Whitfield, who is now superintendent of the Blairsville-Saltsburg School District in Indiana County.  Read More.

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