The opinion
United States Court of Appeals
For the Eighth Circuit
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Nos. 14-3527, 14-3529, 14-3533, 14-3537,
14-3539, 14-3540, 14-3542, 14-3543, 14-3600
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Jessica Leah Kampschroer; Cory Patrick Kampschroer
lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiffs - Appellees
v.
Anoka County, et al.
lllllllllllllllllllll Defendants - Appellants
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Appeals from United States District Court
for the District of Minnesota - Minneapolis
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Submitted: December 15, 2015
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No. 15-1488
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Patricia Mae Kerr Karasov
lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellee
v.
City of Minneapolis
lllllllllllllllllllll Defendant - Appellant
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Appeal from United States District Court
for the District of Minnesota - Minneapolis
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Submitted: December 16, 2015
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Filed: September 1, 2016
[Published]
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Before WOLLMAN, LOKEN, and BYE, Circuit Judges.1
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PER CURIAM.
The Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (“DPPA”), 18 U.S.C. § 2724(a), provides
that a person who knowingly obtains information from a motor vehicle record, for a
purpose not permitted, is liable to the individual to whom the information pertains.
Patricia Karasov and Jessica and Cory Kampschroer brought separate actions against
various Minnesota cities, counties, and law enforcement entities alleging DPPA
violations. In separate orders, the district court denied in part defendants’ motions
to dismiss, including claims by many defendants that they are entitled to qualified
immunity. The City of Minneapolis appeals the denial of qualified immunity in the
Karasov action, and numerous Minnesota counties appeal the denial of qualified
immunity in the Kampschroers action. For oral argument and submission, we
1
This opinion is being filed by Judge Wollman and Judge Loken pursuant to
8th Cir. Rule 47E.
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consolidated these appeals with numerous other appeals raising DPPA issues other
than qualified immunity. We have now resolved those appeals in a single opinion,
Tichich v. City of Bloomington, No. 14-3151 (8th Cir. September 1, 2016). In this
opinion, we review the denials of qualified immunity de novo and affirm. Bradford
v. Huckabee, 394 F.3d 1012, 1015 (8th Cir. 2005) (standard of review).
Appellants argue that they are entitled to qualified immunity because (1) the
verb “obtain[]” in the DPPA does not impose liability on a public official who merely
accesses and views a person’s motor vehicle record, and (2) even if there is liability
for such action, it was not clearly established at the time the information was accessed
in these cases. We have jurisdiction to consider this issue of law in an interlocutory
appeal, unlike the fact-intensive DPPA issues that precluded the interlocutory
qualified immunity appeal in Mallak v. City of Baxter, 823 F.3d 441 (8th Cir. 2016).
After the parties briefed these appeals, we issued our decision in McDonough
v. Anoka County, 799 F.3d 931 (8th Cir. 2015), cert. denied, 136 S. Ct. 2388 (2016),
which squarely addressed this qualified immunity issue: “Because the meaning of
‘obtain’ in this context is unambiguous, . . . [defendants’] contention that qualified
immunity applies to [their] conduct because the meaning of ‘obtain’ is unclear . . .
fails.” Id. at 944, n.6. We invited the parties in all the pending DPPA cases to submit
supplemental briefs on a different issue -- how we should apply the “plausibility
analysis” in our McDonough opinion to these appeals. Appellants did not take that
opportunity to submit a brief arguing footnote 6 in McDonough does not govern their
qualified immunity appeals. We conclude McDonough is controlling precedent. Our
decision that the statutory term “obtain” is unambiguous controls appellants’
additional argument that the rule of lenity entitles them to qualified immunity. See
Maracich v. Spears, 133 S. Ct. 2191, 2209 (2013).
The orders of the district court denying appellants’ motions to dismiss based
on the defense of qualified immunity are affirmed.
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