Fire Officer's Legal Handbook
Table of Contents
Chapter
1 Types and Sources of Laws
1.1
What Is “The Law”?
1.2
Where Do Laws come from?
1.2.1
Who or What Is “The Government”?
1.2.2 Supreme
Law: The U.S. Constitution
1.2.3 Balance
of Power
1.2.4
Congressional Organization and the Lawmaking Process
1.2.5 State
Constitutions
1.2.6
Local Charters
1.2.7
Beyond the Constitution: Statutory Law
1.2.8
Statutory Organization and Numbering
1.2.9
Ordinances
1.2.10
Beyond Statutes and Ordinances
1.2.11
Case Law
1.2.12
Common Law
1.2.13
Less Common Sources of Law
1.2.13.1 Court Orders
1.2.13.2 Contempt of Court
1.3
Standards and Codes
1.3.1
Where Do Standards Come From?
1.3.2
When Standards Become Law
1.4
Civil v. Criminal Law
1.5
Jurisdiction
1.5.1
Federal Jurisdiction
1.5.2
State Jurisdiction
1.5.3
Local jurisdiction
1.5.4 State Freedom to Pass Laws
Chapter
2 Courts and Court Systems
2.1
Introduction
2.2
Courts in general
2.2.1 Judges and Magistrates
2.3
Jurisdiction
2.4
Trial Courts and Appellate Courts
2.5
Evidence
2.5.1 Testimony
2.5.2 Hearsay Evidence
2.5.3 Admissions and Exceptions
to the Hearsay Rule
2.6
Anatomy of a Civil Lawsuit
2.6.1 Pleadings
2.6.2
Discovery
2.6.2.1
Depositions
2.6.2.2
Interrogatories
2.6.2.3 Requests for Production
2.6.2.4 Requests
for Admissions
2.6.2.5 Pretrial motions
2.6.3 Trial
2.6.3.1 Burden of Proof
2.6.3.2 The Merits of a Case
2.6.3.3 Juries
2.6.3.4 To Jury or Not to Jury
2.6.4 Appeals
2.6.4.1 Appeals
Limited to Issues Raised at Trial
2.6.4.2 Concurring and Dissenting Opinions
2.7
Federal Court System
2.8
State Courts
2.9
Stare Decisis and Precedence
2.10
How “Decisis” Is “Decisis”?
2.11
Lawsuits and the Media
2.12
The Role of Lawsuits in American Society
2.12.1 Introduction to the McDonald’s Case
2.12.2 The Facts
2.12.3 Does She Have a Case?
2.12.4 The Trial
2.12.5 From the Jury’s Perspective
2.12.6 Excessive Damages
2.12.7 The End: Social Change
2.13
Legal Research
2.14 Legal Arguments
Chapter
3 Types of Fire Departments
3.1
What is a Fire Department?
3.2
The Role of a Fire Department
3.3
Public Sector v. Private Sector
3.4
Types of Entities
3.4.1 Corporations
3.4.2 Corporate Existence
3.4.3 Associations
3.4.4 The Problem with
Unincorporated Associations
3.4.5 Corporate Name
3.4.6 Why Incorporate?
3.4.7 Limitations on Liability
Protection
3.5
Public Sector Fire Organizations
3.5.1
Municipal Fire Departments
3.5.2 County
Fire Departments
3.5.2.1 Transitional Situations
3.5.3 Fire Districts or Fire Protection Districts
3.5.4
Regional Fire Departments
3.5.5 Public
Safety Departments
3.5.6 State
and Federal Fire Departments and Related Entities
3.6
Private Sector Fire Organizations
3.6.1 Volunteer Fire Companies
3.6.1.1 Agreements Between
Volunteer Fire Companies and Jurisdictions Protected
3.6.1.2 Volunteer Fire Company Oversight Boards
3.6.1.3 Volunteer Firefighter Rights
3.6.2
Subscription Fire Departments
3.6.3
For-Profit Corporations
3.6.4
Industrial Fire Departments
3.6.5 Fire
Brigades
3.7
Conclusions on Fire Department Authority
3.8 Volunteer Fire Company Authority
Chapter
4 Administrative Agencies
4.1
Introduction
4.2
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
4.3
Getting the Job Done
4.4
OSHA Inspections
4.5
Occupational Safety and Health Administration Review Commission
4.6
OSHRC and OSHA
4.7
OSHA Violations and Sanctions
4.8
Administrative Agencies and Separation of Powers
4.9
Exhaustion of Remedies
4.10
OSHA Jurisdiction
4.11
State and Local Agencies
4.12
Administrative Lawmaking
4.12.1 Rulemaking
4.12.2 Judicial Review
4.13
OSHA and the NFPA Standards
4.14
Application of OSHA to Volunteers and Part-Time Personnel
4.14.1 Volunteers in
General
4.14.2 State and
Municipal Employee Exception
4.14.3 Private Volunteer Fire Companies
Chapter
5 Criminal Law
5.1
Introduction
5.2
Statutory and Common law Crimes
5.3
Federal v. State Jurisdiction
5.4
Crimes and Civil Infractions
5.4.1 Crimes
Must Be Specifically Declared to Be Criminal
5.4.2 Civil
Infractions
5.5
Felonies and Misdemeanors
5.6
Elements
5.6.1 Act
5.6.1.1 Omissions and the Duty to Act
5.6.1.2 Causation
5.6.1.3 Year-and-a-Day Rule
5.6.2 Mental State
5.6.2.1 Mental States and Culpability
5.6.2.2 Which Mental State Is Required
5.6.2.3 Concurrence of the Act and the Mental State
5.6.2.4 Transferred Intent
5.6.2.5 Strict Liability Crimes
5.6.3 Attendant Circumstance
5.7
Criminal Offenses
5.7.1 Homicide
5.7.2 Battery
5.7.3 Assault
5.7.4 False Imprisonment
5.7.5 Kidnapping
5.7.6 Assault, Battery, False
Imprisonment, Kidnapping, and Consent
5.7.7 Rape
5.7.7.1 Duty to Report
5.7.8 Larceny
5.7.9 Embezzlement
5.7.10 Obtaining Money Under
False Pretenses
5.7.11 Robbery
5.7.12 Extortion
5.7.13 Burglary
5.7.14 Arson
5.7.14.1 Act Requirement for Arson
5.7.14.2 Mental State Requirements for Arson
5.7.14.3 Attendant Circumstances for Arson
5.7.14.4 Building
and Prosecuting Arson cases
5.7.15
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
5.7.15.1 ABC Management Company Example
Chapter
6 Criminal Procedure
6.1
Introduction
6.1.1 What Is
an Arrest?
6.1.2 Authority to Make an Arrest
6.1.3 Jurisdictional Authority to Make Arrests
6.1.4
Asserting the Authority
6.1.5 False
Arrest
6.1.6
Firefighters and Arrest Powers
6.1.7 Arrest
Warrants
6.2
Criminal Procedure
6.2.1 Formal
Charges
6.2.2 Grand Jury Proceedings
6.2.3 Arraignments and Bail
6.3
Search and Seizure
6.3.1 Search Warrant Requirement
6.3.2
Exceptions to the Warrant Requirement
6.3.3 Fire
Scene Exception
6.3.3.1 Administrative Search Warrants
6.3.3.2 Search and Seizure after Tyler
6.3.3.3 Securing the Scene
6.3.3.4 Fire Scene Evidence Issues
6.3.4 Fourth Amendment and Modern Technology
6.3.5
Standing
6.3.6 State
Law Searches
6.4
Chain of Custody
6.5
Custodial Interrogations and Miranda Warnings
6.6
Accomplice Liability: Parties to a Crime
6.7
Conspiracy
6.8
Attempts
6.9
Criminal Defenses
6.9.1 Self-defense
6.9.2 Defense of others
6.9.3 Defense
of Property
6.9.4
Insanity
6.9.5
Entrapment
6.9.6 Statute
of Limitations
6.9.7 Necessity
Chapter
7 Civil Liability Issues
7.1
Introduction
7.2
Intentional Torts
7.3
Battery
7.3.1
Battery: Permitted Contact and Consent
7.3.2
Battery: Consent and Patient Treatment
7.3.3
Capacity to Consent
7.3.4 Implied
Consent
7.3.5
Treatment of Minors
7.3.6 Ability
to Consent for Others
7.3.7 Powers
of Attorney
7.3.8 Consent
Through Fraud or Duress
7.3.9
Obtaining Consent
7.3.10 Refusal of Consent
and Competency
7.3.11 Patient
Abandonment
7.3.12 Documentation of
Refusal of Treatment
7.3.13 Scope of Consent
7.4
Assault
7.5
False Imprisonment
7.5.1 Consent
and False Imprisonment
7.5.2 Right
of Refusal and Responder Liability
7.6
Intentional Infliction of Severe Emotional Distress
7.7
Trespass to Land
7.8
Trespass to Chattels
7.9
Conversion
7.10
Misrepresentation
7.11
Bad Faith
7.12
Defamation
7.12.1 Truth and
Privilege
7.12.2 Defamation of
Public Figures
7.13 Invasion of Privacy
Chapter 8 Negligence
8.1
Introduction
8.2 Elements of Negligence
8.2.1
An Act or Omission
8.2.2
A Legal Duty
8.2.3
Resulting in Damages
8.2.4
Breach of the Standard of Care
8.2.5
Professional Standard of Care
8.2.6
Evidence of the Professional Standard of Care
8.2.6.1 Expert Witnesses
8.2.6.2 Learned Treatises
8.2.6.3 Laws and Regulations
8.2.6.4 Industrywide Standards
8.3
Fire Service Negligence Cases
8.4
Emergency Medical Care and Negligence
8.4.1
Consent to Treat, Battery, and Negligence
8.4.2
Patient Abandonment
8.5 Beyond Negligence
8.6
Defenses to Negligence
8.6.1
Assumption of Risk
8.6.2
Contributory and Comparative Negligence
8.6.3
Rescue Doctrine
8.6.4
Last Clear Chance
8.6.5
Fireman’s Rule
8.7
Strict Liability
8.7.1 Keepers of Dangerous Animals
8.7.2
Workers Compensation
8.7.3
Strict Product Liability
8.7.4
Dram Shop Liability
8.7.5
Abnormally Dangerous Activities
Author’s
Commentary: Fire and Strict Liability
8.8
Respondeat Superior
8.9
Joint Liability
8.10
Wrongful Death
8.11
Lawsuits Against Fire Departments
Author’s Commentary: SOPs and SOGs
Chapter
9 Sovereign Immunity
9.1
Introduction
9.2
Tort Claims Acts
9.2.1 Understanding the Problem
9.2.2 Discretionary v. Functionary Actions
9.2.2.1 What Discretion?
9.2.2.1 Author’s Commentary: Drawing The Line
9.2.3 The
Other Distinction: Governmental v. Proprietary
9.3
Statutory Immunity
9.4
Liability Protection During Disasters
9.5
Volunteer Protection Act
9.6
Private Nonprofit Volunteer Fire Companies
9.7
Limitations on Immunity
9.7.1 Gross
Negligence, Recklessness, or Intentional Act Limitation
9.7.2
Insurance Waiver Limitation
9.7.3 Special
Duty Exception
9.8
The Flip Side of the Special Duty Exception: The Public Duty Doctrine
9.9 Concluding Thoughts on Civil Liability, Sovereign Immunity, and Tort Claims Acts
Chapter
10 Contract Law and Employment Issues
10.1
Introduction
10.2
Offer and Acceptance
10.3
Contract Formality
10.4
Breach and Damages
10.5
Authority to Contract
10.6
Void or Voidable Agreements
10.7
Promissory Estoppel
10.8
Fire Service Contracts
10.8.1 Mutual Aid
Agreements
10.8.2 Insurance Policies
10.8.3 Purchasing
10.8.4 Employment
Agreements
10.9
Due Process
10.9.1 Whether
10.9.2 How Much
10.9.3 When
10.9.4 Name Clearing
Hearing
10.9.5 Suspensions
10.9.6 State Law Due
Process Issues
10.9.7 State Action
Requirement
10.10
Workers’ Compensation
10.10.1 Scope of Workers’
Compensation
10.10.2 Exclusivity
10.10.3 Firefighters and
Workers’ Compensation
10.10.4 Exclusivity Protection for Fire Officers
Chapter
11 Labor Law and Collective Bargaining
11.1
Introduction
11.2
Public Sector Labor Relations
11.3
Public Sector v. Private Sector
11.4
Labor Relations Acts
11.5
Good Faith Bargaining
11.6
Scope of Bargaining
11.6.1 Categories of
Subjects for Bargaining
11.6.2 Impact Bargaining
11.6.3 Unilateral Changes
to Mandatory Subjects
11.6.4 Past Practices
11.6.5 Management Rights
Provisions
11.7
Impasse Disputes
11.7.1 Representational
Impasses--Who Can Join a Union
11.7.1.1 Supervisory
Employees
11.7.1.2
Managerial and Confidential Employees
11.7.2 Dispute Resolution
in Interest Bargaining
11.7.2.1 Mediation
11.7.2.2
Fact-Finding
11.7.2.3 Arbitration
11.7.2.4 Challenging
the Arbitrator’s Authority
11.7.2.5 Appeal of
Interest Arbitration Awards
11.7.3 Grievance Impasses
11.7.3.1
Arbitrability of Grievances
11.7.3.2 Whose
Grievance Is It?
11.7.3.3 Judicial
Enforcement and Review of Grievance
11.8
Union Security Provisions
11.9
Duty of Fair Representation
11.10
Strikes, Slowdowns, Picketing, and Concerted Job Actions
11.11
Weingarten Rights
11.12 Garrity Rights
Chapter
12 Employee Rights and Discrimination
12.1
Constitutional Rights
12.2
Civil Rights Laws
12.3
What is Discrimination?
12.4
Proof of Discrimination
12.4.1
Disparate Treatment
12.4.2
Disparate Impact
12.5
Standard of Review for Constitutional Claims of Discrimination
12.6
Defending Against Charges of Discrimination
12.7
Procedural Issues in Discrimination
12.8
Affirmative Action--Equal Opportunity
12.9
Americans with Disabilities Act
12.9.1 Key definitions
under the ADA
12.9.1.1
Individual with a Disability
12.9.1.2 Major Life Activities
12.9.1.3 Qualified
Individual with a Disability
12.9.1.4 Essential
Functions
12.9.1.5
Reasonable Accommodation
12.9.1.6 Undue
Hardship
12.9.2 Prohibited
Inquiries and Examinations
12.9.3 Drug and Alcohol
Use
12.9.4 Physical Abilities
Testing
12.9.4.1 Job Task Analysis
12.9.5 State Law
Disability Discrimination
12.10 Medical Requirements
12.11
Age Discrimination
12.11.1 Firefighters and
Mandatory Retirement Age
12.12
42 USC §1983 Actions Against Fire Departments
12.12.1 Firefighters and the Right of Free Speech
Chapter 13 Sexual Harassment and Other Forms of Employment Discrimination
13.1
Sexual Harassment
13.1.1 Quid Pro Quo Sexual Harassment
13.1.2 Hostile Work Environment Sexual Harassment
13.1.3 Scope of Sexual Harassment
13.1.4 Addressing Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
13.1.5 Sexual Harassment Policies v. Employee Rights
13.2
Pregnancy Discrimination
13.3
Religious Accommodation
13.4 Clothing, Uniforms, and Grooming Issues
Chapter
14 Fair Labor, Family Medical Leave, Residency, and Drug Testing
14.1
Introduction to the Fair Labor Standards Act
14.1.1 Who Is an Employee
for FLSA Purposes?
14.1.2 Volunteers
14.1.2.1
Volunteering By Career Personnel
14.1.3 Maximum Hours
14.1.4 Maximum Hour
Exemptions
14.1.4.1 Firefighters Exemption
14.1.4.2 Emergency Medical Exception to Firefighters Exemption
14.1.4.3 Public Safety Officers
14.1.4.4 Public Agency Requirement
14.1.4.5 Executive, Administrative, and Professional Exemption
14.1.4.6 Recent Changes to the Executive, Administrative, and Professional
Exemption for Firefighters
14.1.4.7 Small Fire Department Exemption
14.1.5 Calculation of Maximum
Hours
14.1.6 Substitutions
14.1.7 Detail Pay
14.1.8 Medical Attention
14.1.9 Compensatory Time
14.1.10 FLSA
Anti-Discrimination and Retaliation
14.1.11 FLSA Record Keeping
14.1.12 Enforcement
14.1.13 FLSA Statute of
Limitations and Damages
14.1.14 FLSA and Collective Bargaining Agreements
14.1.15 State Wage and Hour Laws
14.2
Family Medical Leave
14.2.1 FMLA Requests for
Leave
14.2.2 FMLA Enforcement
14.2.3 State Medical
Leave Laws
14.3
Residency Requirements
14.4
Drug Testing
14.4.1 Drug Testing Under State Law
14.5
Confidentiality of Medical Information
14.5.1 Historical Background
14.5.2 Medical Confidentiality Under State Law
14.5.2.1 Infectious Disease Exposures
14.5.2.2
Breaches of Confidentiality
14.5.3 HIPAA
14.5.3.1 Covered Entities
14.5.3.2 HIPAA Compliance
14.5.3.3 HIPAA Penalties
Chapter
15 Public Accountability Laws
15.1
Introduction
15.2
Conflicts of Interest and Ethical Codes
15.2.1
Conflict-of-Interest Laws
15.2.2 Ethics Codes
15.2.3 Ethics Commissions
15.2.4 Local Ethics
Commissions
15.2.5
Conflict-of-Interest Disclosures
15.2.6 Conflict of
Interest and Ethics Violations
15.2.7 Financial
Disclosure Laws
15.2.8 Contractual
Relationships with Public Employees
15.2.9 Surplus Government
Property
15.3
Open Government Laws
15.3.1 Open Meetings Laws
15.3.1.1 Volunteer
Fire Companies
15.3.1.2 Secret and
Informal Meetings
15.3.1.3 Modern
Technology and Open Meetings Laws
15.3.1.4 Open
Meetings Requirements
15.3.1.5 Public
Participation
15.3.1.6 Closed or
Executive Session
15.3.1.7 Penalties
for Open Meetings Violations
15.3.2 Open Records Laws
15.3.2.1 Records
Subject to Open Records laws
15.3.2.2 Exceptions
to Open Records Laws
15.3.2.3 Violations
of Open Records Laws
15.4
Whistle-Blower Acts and Provisions
Appendix
A Constitution of the United States of America
Appendix
B Chapters 1 - 15
Glossary
Acronyms
Index
of Cases
Index