Montgomery Co. police officer appeals denial of immunity in Legal Aid free speech lawsuit. [Judge] Grimm also found some of the county’s arguments on the subject “just plain silly,” accusing the government of unpersuasively attempting to distinguish their situation from case law.

A Montgomery County police officer facing a civil suit for issuing a no-trespass order to Legal Aid employees who attempted to visit migrant farmworkers at a local farm is appealing a federal judge’s denial of qualified immunity protection.

The county and officer also asked Friday for proceedings to be stayed until the appeal is resolved.

The lawsuit was filed last year by Nohora Rivero, a Legal Aid law graduate who attempted to visit employees of Lewis Orchards in Dickerson with a summer law clerk on Aug. 18, 2015 to inform the workers about their rights and refer them to legal and other social service providers.

Rivero alleges in the lawsuit the farm’s owners confronted them, ordered them to leave and called the county police, according to U.S. District Judge Paul W. Grimm’s memorandum opinion on the motion to dismiss, issued May 3. Officer Alexander Kettering responded and issued no-trespass warnings to the Legal Aid employees, barring them from returning to the property for one year...

http://thedailyrecord.com/2017/06/13/legal-aid-migrant-worker-lawsuit/