WOMAN ATTACKED BY POLICEMAN LOSES APPEAL OVER DAMAGE AWARD

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court today refused to reinstate a $452,000 award
won, and then lost, by a woman who was sexually assaulted by a Florida
policeman.

The court, without comment, turned down the woman's argument that the town
of Lake Hamilton should be held responsible for the police officer's
actions.

The court also turned away a pair of appeals that urged it to decide
whether, or when, states can tax on-reservation commercial activities
tribes enter into with non-Indians. Instead, the justices let Arizona
continue taxing the revenues of a hotel located on the Yavapai-Prescott
Indian Tribe's reservation.

In the Florida case, Heather Ann Sewell was stopped for speeding early one
morning in May 1991 in Lake Hamilton by police officer Paul Stines.

Stines claimed to have found marijuana in the woman's car, although she
said she never used illegal drugs. Sewell said the officer took her to the
vacant police station and repeatedly told her she must submit to a strip
search or he would arrest her on a drug charge.

Sewell said she undressed and that the officer molested her. He let her
leave, and she reported the incident to authorities the next day. Stines
was arrested, convicted and sent to prison.

Sewell sued the town in federal court, seeking damages for violations of
her civil rights. She said the town failed to properly train and supervise
Stines, and that a complaint about him from another woman motorist that
same night had been mishandled.

A jury awarded her $452,000 in damages, but last July the 11th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals threw out the verdict.

The appeals court said the town could not be held responsible for Stines'
actions when the proper conduct would have been obvious to anyone even
without training or supervision.

In 1978, the Supreme Court said local governments can be held responsible
for violating a person's constitutional rights, but only if the injury
flows from an official practice. In 1989, the court said governments can be
forced to pay damages if "deliberate indifference" leads to inadequately
trained employees violating someone's rights.

But last year, the justices seemed to water down that ruling by making it
harder to sue local governments over excessive force by police officers.

In the appeal acted on today, Sewell's lawyers said the 11th Circuit
court's ruling means that "the more egregious the employee's conduct," the
less likely the municipality will be held responsible.

The case is Sewell vs. Town of Lake Hamilton, 97-651.