Civil Rights · § 1983

Do I Have a § 1983 Case? A 10-Question Self-Screen

Prisoner Legal Aid

Every week we hear from families asking one question: is this a case? Here is the same screen our intake team applies, in plain language. It isn't legal advice about your specific situation — it's the map of what a lawyer will look for under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the statute that lets people sue state and local officials for constitutional violations. Answer honestly; the goal is a real assessment, not a hopeful one.

The ten questions

1. Who did it? § 1983 reaches people acting "under color of state law" — guards, jail staff, police, prison medical providers. (Federal officers and federal prisons follow different routes, like the FTCA — a claim isn't dead, it's just a different lane.)
2. What right was violated? The strongest prison cases usually involve excessive force, deliberate indifference to serious medical needs, unconstitutional conditions of confinement, failure to protect from violence, or retaliation for using the grievance system or courts.
3. Is there a real injury? Physical injury, serious medical harm, or death. The PLRA sharply limits suits for purely emotional injury from inside, so this matters more than people expect.
4. Can you prove what happened? Grievances, medical records, incident reports, witness names, photos, letters written at the time. Cases run on records, not memories alone.
5. Was the grievance process exhausted? For claims arising in custody, an unfinished grievance process can end the case before it starts. Gather every grievance and every response.
6. How old is the incident? § 1983 borrows the state's personal-injury limitations period — often two or three years, but it varies by state. Older than a year? Treat it as urgent.
7. Does the claim attack the conviction itself? Claims that would imply a conviction or sentence is invalid generally belong in habeas, not § 1983. Mixing the two is a common and costly mistake.
8. Who exactly would be sued? "The prison" usually isn't the answer. Cases are built against specific people who did specific things, and sometimes the municipality behind a policy.
9. Is there damage a court can remedy? Medical bills, permanent injury, lost life. Blunt but true: recoverable damages are what allow a contingency lawyer to take the case at zero upfront cost.
10. Are you ready for the long haul? Civil rights litigation takes months to years. The families who win are the ones who stay organized and reachable.

Scoring it

If you answered strongly on the first six, stop reading and contact us — that is precisely the case our attorney network was built for, and the review costs nothing. If you hit trouble at questions 5 or 6, call anyway, and soon: deadlines and exhaustion problems sometimes have answers, but only while there's still time to act. And if the screen shows a § 1983 suit isn't the right vehicle, we'll say so honestly and point you at the lane that is.