Filing in federal court
Most police abuse cases are filed in federal court, against the individual officers in their personal capacity and against the city or county that employs them, with the federal claim under Section 1983 and the state-law claims in one complaint. The case can be filed in state court instead, but a defendant can remove it to federal court within 30 days. This page explains the choice, who is named, what the complaint has to plead against a municipality, the waiting periods that come before filing, and what happens once the defendants answer.
Current as of September 2026. We re-check this page every quarter and after any change in the law.
The complaint is the document that turns an incident into a case. It names the defendants, states the claims, and pleads the facts each claim needs. Getting the names and the claims right at the start is most of the work, because a defendant who is not named when the clock runs is not a defendant, and a claim against the City that does not plead what Monell requires is dismissed before discovery. If a criminal charge is pending, talk to your defense lawyer before describing the arrest to anyone; the complaint is usually filed after the criminal case ends, and the criminal case and civil case page explains why.
Federal court or state court
A Section 1983 claim can be brought in either. State courts have concurrent jurisdiction over federal civil rights claims, and the Supreme Court held that New York could not strip its own courts of Section 1983 damages suits against corrections officers (Haywood v. Drown, 556 U.S. 729 (2009)). So a complaint with a federal claim, state tort claims and a claim under the City's 2021 law can be filed in Supreme Court, Kings County, and heard there.
Whether it stays there is up to the defendants. A defendant may remove a state-court case that includes a federal claim to federal court within 30 days of receiving the pleading (28 U.S.C. § 1446(b)(1)), and the City's Law Department usually does. That is one reason most of our cases begin in federal court: the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn for an incident in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island or Long Island, the Southern District in Manhattan for Manhattan, the Bronx and the northern counties, the District of New Jersey, and the Southern or Middle District of Florida. Appeals go to the Second Circuit for New York, the Third for New Jersey and the Eleventh for Florida (28 U.S.C. § 41), and each circuit's qualified immunity law is the law of the case.
Where the state claims go when the federal claim goes to federal court
The state-law claims travel with the federal one. A federal complaint in a police abuse case pleads the Section 1983 claims against the officers and the municipality, the state torts (assault, battery, false arrest and imprisonment, malicious prosecution, negligence) against the officers and the municipality as employer, and, for an NYPD case, the claim under the City's 2021 law (N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 8-803), all in one document. The state claims carry the notice-of-claim requirement with them; the federal claim does not (Felder v. Casey, 487 U.S. 131 (1988)).
Who is named
The officers, in their personal capacity
Section 1983 makes liable "every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State" deprives another of a federal right (42 U.S.C. § 1983). The officers who made the arrest, used the force, conducted the search or wrote the complaint are named individually, in their personal capacity, which means the judgment runs against them and punitive damages are available against them (City of Newport v. Fact Concerts, 453 U.S. 247 (1981)). Officers who stood by are named for failure to intervene. Where names are not yet known they are pleaded as unidentified officers and substituted when the department identifies them, which is one more reason the Right to Know business card and the footage request matter in the first week.
The city or county, under Monell or under state law
A municipality is a "person" under Section 1983, but it is not liable for its employees' acts simply because it employs them; there is no respondeat superior. It is liable only where an official policy or custom caused the violation (Monell v. Dep't of Social Servs., 436 U.S. 658 (1978)). That is the federal route, and it is the hard one. The state-law route is the easy one: under state law the City answers for what its officers did within the scope of employment, provided the notice of claim was served within 90 days (N.Y. Gen. Mun. Law §§ 50-e, 50-i). And for an NYPD case the City's 2021 law creates a claim against the employer directly, with no qualified immunity defense (N.Y.C. Admin. Code §§ 8-803, 8-804). The Monell page explains the federal route.
Never the State itself
A State and its agencies are not "persons" under Section 1983, and a state official sued in an official capacity for damages is the State (Will v. Michigan Dep't of State Police, 491 U.S. 58 (1989)). So a case against State Police troopers or DOCCS officers names them in their personal capacity only. The claim against the State as employer is a state-law claim in the Court of Claims, with its own 90-day clock (N.Y. Court of Claims Act § 10(3), (3-b)). The New York page goes through it.
What the complaint must plead against the City
In the Second Circuit a Monell claim must plead "(1) an official policy or custom that (2) causes the plaintiff to be subjected to (3) a denial of a constitutional right" (Lucente v. County of Suffolk, 980 F.3d 284, 297 (2d Cir. 2020)). Isolated acts of excessive force by non-policymaking employees are generally not enough to show a custom (Jones v. Town of East Haven, 691 F.3d 72 (2d Cir. 2012)). A failure-to-train theory requires that the failure "amounts to deliberate indifference to the constitutional rights of persons with whom the police come into contact" (City of Canton v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378 (1989)), and "a pattern of similar constitutional violations by untrained employees is ordinarily necessary" to show it (Connick v. Thompson, 563 U.S. 51 (2011)). In practice that means the complaint pleads the officers' prior complaints and discipline, the department's known practice, and the public record of similar incidents, which is where the disciplinary records opened by the 50-a repeal and the CCRB's public data are used.
The waits before filing
The federal claim can be filed the day after the incident. The state claims cannot. In New York, at least 30 days must pass after service of the notice of claim before suit on the state claims, and the action must be commenced within one year and 90 days of the event (N.Y. Gen. Mun. Law § 50-i(1)); the City's 50-h examination usually falls in that window (§ 50-h). In New Jersey, suit on a Tort Claims Act claim may not be filed until six months after the notice (N.J.S.A. 59:8-8). In Florida, the agency's failure to dispose of the written claim within six months is treated as a denial, and suit waits for that (Fla. Stat. § 768.28(6)). Because the federal and state claims go in one complaint, the filing date is usually set by the state claim's waiting period and by the criminal case, and it must land inside every limitation period at once. The deadlines page has each clock.
| Defendant | Federal claim | State-law claim | Pre-suit step |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual officers | Section 1983, personal capacity; punitive damages available | Assault, battery, false arrest, malicious prosecution; NYPD: the 2021 city law | None for the federal claim; notice of claim for the state torts |
| City, county, town or village | Section 1983 through Monell: policy or custom | Employer liability for acts within the scope of employment; NYPD: the 2021 city law | Notice of claim within 90 days; 30-day wait (NY); 6-month wait (NJ, FL) |
| State of New York, New Jersey or Florida | None (Will v. Michigan); officers personally only | NY: Court of Claims. NJ: Tort Claims Act. FL: § 768.28, capped | NY: claim or notice of intention within 90 days. NJ: notice within 90 days. FL: written claim within 3 years |
After the complaint is filed
The defendants are served and have a set time to respond. They answer, admitting or denying each paragraph and raising their defenses, qualified immunity among them, or they move to dismiss, arguing that the complaint does not state a claim even if every fact in it is true. A motion to dismiss the Monell claim is routine; the individual officers' claims usually survive to discovery, because whether there was probable cause or the force was reasonable is a question of fact. Qualified immunity can be raised at this stage too, and a court may decide whether the right was "clearly established" first, without deciding whether it was violated at all (Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223 (2009)). If the case survives, the court sets a discovery schedule, and the discovery page picks up there.
Suing the City under Monell
Policy, custom, failure to train, and what the complaint has to plead to keep the City in the case.
Monell →Qualified immunity
The defense the officers raise at every stage, in plain English, with the 2026 decisions.
Qualified immunity →Discovery and depositions
What each side gets, the officers under oath, and the summary judgment motion where most cases are decided.
Discovery →Common questions
Federal or state court?
Both have jurisdiction over a Section 1983 claim. We usually file in federal court, in the Eastern or Southern District of New York for a city case, because the judges see these cases constantly and the procedure is predictable. A case filed in state court with a federal claim in it can be removed by the defendants within 30 days of service, so the choice is often theirs anyway.
Can I sue the State of New York under Section 1983?
No. A State and its agencies are not persons under the statute, and a state official sued in an official capacity for damages is the State. State troopers and state corrections officers are sued in their personal capacity. The claim against the State as employer is a Court of Claims claim under state law.
Why is the City harder to sue than the officer?
Because a municipality is liable under Section 1983 only for its own policy or custom, not for its employees' acts. The complaint has to plead a policy or custom that caused the violation. Under state law, by contrast, the City answers for what its officers did within the scope of employment, which is why the state-law claims and the 90-day notice of claim matter.
How long after the notice of claim can we file?
In New York, at least 30 days must pass after the notice is served, and the state-law action must be commenced within one year and 90 days of the event. In New Jersey and Florida, suit on the state claim cannot be filed until six months after the notice. The federal claim has no waiting period, but the complaint is usually filed once the state claim is ripe so that everything goes in together.
Tell us what happened.
One conversation with an attorney, in your language. We tell you which claims the facts support, which deadline runs first for the agency involved, what evidence to preserve this week, and whether a pending criminal case changes the timing. If it is not a case we can take, we say so and tell you where to go.
(718) 484-7510If a criminal charge is still open, talk to your defense lawyer before you describe the arrest to anyone, including us. English, Russian and Spanish in-house; an interpreter for any other language. Contingency fee, confirmed in writing before we begin.