Maine v. United States Environmental Protection Agency

concluding that reckless conduct can trigger the protections of the Due Process Clause, but that gross negligence cannot | concluding that reckless conduct can trigger the protections of the Due Process Clause, but that gross negligence cannot | deciding that even assuming a violation of state statutes, no § 1983 action can be ensued based solely on that basis | fire department dispatcher’s refusal to send rescue squad after two requests by telephone was not reckless in the constitutional sense so as to support a section 1983 action | “A person is reckless or acts recklessly, when he consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that circumstances exist or that a result will follow.” | illegality of official action under state statute can neither add to nor subtract from its constitutional validity | no § 1983 liability for failure to provide requested emergency services | "An act is reckless in the pertinent sense when it reflects complete indifference to risk--when the actor does not care whether the other person lives or dies, despite knowing that there is a significant risk of death." | “A statement that logically refers to a particular person may be actionable.” | no § 1983 liability for failure to provide requested emergency services | “The affirmative duty to protect arises not from the State’s knowledge of the individual’s predicament or from its expressions of intent to help him, but from the limitation which it has imposed on his freedom to act on his own behalf.” | “An act is reckless in the pertinent sense when it reflects complete indifference to risk — when the actor does not care whether the other person lives or dies, despite knowing that there is a significant risk of death.” | no section 1983 liability for failure to provide requested emergency services | opportunity to obtain redress in state court is due process | failure to provide timely rescue services