The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently upheld the grant of summary judgment to an Iowa city and several police officers in their individual capacity in a Section 1983 suit brought by a street preacher. The case, Sessler v. City of Davenport, Iowa, arose from interactions between the plaintiff and Davenport police officers during the city’s “Street Fest” in 2018, an event organized by the local chamber of commerce.
Street Fest included several blocks of fenced-off downtown streets with designated entry and exit points. Vendors paid for spaces within this area and agreed to noise and interference limitations. Admission to the event was free and open to the public. The summary judgment was contested, resulting in an opinion from Judge Michael J. Melloy, a concurrence by Judge Lavenski R. Smith, and a dissent by Judge Ralph R. Erickson.
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