Heck bar

Definition

A rule from Heck v. Humphrey that prevents someone from bringing a Section 1983 civil rights lawsuit if winning that lawsuit would necessarily call into question the validity of an existing criminal conviction. The plaintiff must first get the conviction overturned through other legal channels.

Examples

• •The Fifth Circuit applied the Heck bar to dismiss Olivier's 1983 suit because declaring the ordinance unconstitutional would imply his conviction was invalid

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