Parma Man Who Parodied Police Fails In His Civil Rights Action

The U.S. Supreme Court this week declined to hear the appeal of a Parma man, Anthony Novak, who sued the city’s police department after being arrested for creating a fake police Facebook page that lampooned the department (2023 WL 2123743).

Novak sued the city after his acquittal, arguing the city violated his First Amendment rights to free speech. The Sixth Circuit sided with Parma, (33 F.4th 296), saying that qualified immunity shielded the city from civil liability.

The Supreme Court’s decision will allow the lower courts’ decisions to stand.