# Petta v. Rivera

> Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · June 30, 1998 · 143 F.3d 895

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9413803

## Case

- **Full name:** Melinda PETTA, as Next Friend of Nikki Petta and Cavin Petta, Minors; Nikki Petta, a Minor; Cavin Petta, a Minor, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Adrian RIVERA, Individually and in His Official Capacity as Texas Department of Public Safety Highway Patrolman, Defendant-Appellant, and Texas Department of Public Safety, Defendant
- **Court:** Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- **Decided:** June 30, 1998
- **Citations:** 143 F.3d 895; 1998 WL 303902
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Dennis
- **Judges:** Duhé, Dennis, Duval
- **Cited by:** 139 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9413803

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding that police officer’s use of force was excessive when, after plaintiff refused to exit the car after being pulled over for speeding, the officer “scream[ed] and curs[ed] her, tried to jerk her door open, ... attempted to smash her driver’s side window with his nightsti…
- recognizing that validity of excessive force claim based on violation of Eighth Amendment “must be judged by reference to the specific standard which governs [Eighth Amendment] right rather than by the more general substantive due process standard”
- explaining that Graham rejected the substantive due process standard “only in cases in which the alleged excessive use of force arguably violated a specific right protected under the Bill of Rights”
- concluding that the plaintiffs had “asserted a valid claim under § 1983 for a constitutional violation for excessive force under the Fourteenth Amendment”
- finding that a constitutional right under the Due Process Clause requires more than merely a nonphysical harm to give rise to a constitutional tort

## Opinion text

DENNIS, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
Athough I join in part III.A. of the per curiam opinion, I respectfully dissent from parts III.B. and IV of the opinion for the reasons expressed in my original dissenting opinion. Petta v. Rivera, 133 F.3d 330 , 346-58 (5th Cir.1998) (Dennis, J., dissenting).

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9413803. Public record. Not legal advice.