Case law

Tom Shullaw v. Grant McMullen

Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Mar 5, 2026

The qualified-immunity inquiry “turns on the objective legal rea- sonableness of the action, assessed in light of the legal rules that were clearly established at the time it was taken.” Pearson v. … Nonetheless, we cannot say that this conduct violates clearly established law. “We have emphasized that fair and clear notice to government officials is the cornerstone of qualified immunity.”

Sherrie Jones v. Jacob Rieben

Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Aug 6, 2024

The district court held that the officers were enti- tled to qualified immunity because Jones did not show the officers violated a clearly established right. Jones appealed. … The district court granted the officers qualified immunity on the exces- sive force claims because Jones did not show a violation of a clearly established right, and on the false arrest claims because

Jimmie Burden, Jr. v. Walter Zant, Warden, Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center

24 F.3d 1298 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Jun 15, 1994

Sullivan, 446 U.S. 335 , 100 S.Ct. 1708 , 64 L.Ed.2d 333 (1980). 11 To establish a Sixth Amendment claim, a criminal defendant “must establish that an actual conflict of interest adversely affected his lawyer’s performance … As a result, Kondritzer’s pretrial representation of Burden was clearly compromised. The facts of this case are strikingly similar to those in Ruffin v.

McBride v. Houston County Health Care Authority

658 F. App'x 991 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Sep 30, 2016

Clearly Established Constitutional Right Next, we must decide whether McBride’s constitutional right was clearly established at the time of Johnson’s conduct; if not, Johnson is entitled to qualified immunity. … clearly established constitutional right, and thus the claim against McCory must be dismissed on qualified immunity grounds.

Vickie Alday v. Marlon L. Groover

601 F. App'x 775 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Jan 29, 2015

Qualified immunity protects government officials sued in their individual capacities if “their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known … of this court are relevant to the issue of whether the lesser conduct in the instant case violated clearly established constitutional law. 1 For this reason, Groover is entitled to qualified immunity.

Adams v. Sheriff of Palm Beach County

658 F. App'x 557 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Nov 22, 2016

Even assuming a constitutional violation, Defendant is entitled to qualified immunity unless Plaintiff can show that Adams’ Fourth Amendment rights were “clearly established” at the time of the shooting. … The law being clearly established, Plaintiff has shown that both prongs of the qualified immunity test are met.

Wheeler v. City Of Pleasant Grove

833 F.2d 267 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Dec 1, 1987

The court based its refusal to award damages on its determination that all the defendants were shielded by a qualified immunity defense. 6 On appeal, a panel of the former Fifth Circuit held that Ordinance No. 216 had no … Assuming that such damages would otherwise be proper in a case of this kind, we conclude that the district court's finding that the plaintiffs failed to establish such damages was not clearly erroneous.

39 Fair empl.prac.cas. 1656, 38 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 35,526 Andrew L. Hill, Roosevelt Coleman, Jr., Joe L. Lock, Walter J. Jones and Freddie Lee, Plaintiffs-Appellants-Cross-Appellees v. Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Company, Defendant-Appellee-Cross-Appellant

767 F.2d 771 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Aug 2, 1985

This court will reverse the district court's finding on intentional discrimination only if that finding is clearly erroneous, or is based on clearly erroneous subsidiary findings of fact, or a mistaken view of the law. … A plaintiff may establish a prima facie case of employment discrimination by proving that he is a member of a protected minority, was qualified and applied for the promotion, was rejected, and other employees who were not

Jeffery Gardner v. City of Camilla, Georgia

186 F. App'x 860 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Jun 21, 2006

allegedly violated had been clearly established. … and, because there is no clearly established right under the Equal Protection Clause to be free from retaliation, Scott and Irwin are entitled to qualified immunity as to those claims.

Thais Cardoso Almeida v. Amazon.com, Inc.

456 F.3d 1316 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Jul 18, 2006

The majority of federal circuits have interpreted the CDA to establish broad “federal immunity to any cause of action that would make service providers liable for information originating with a third-party user of the service … Federal 3 The language of section 230(c)(2) is clearly inconsistent with state law that makes interactive service providers liable based on their efforts to screen content.

Eric Watkins v. Fort Lauderdale Police Officer

Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Mar 25, 2025

To overcome the defense of qualified immunity, a plaintiff must establish: (1) “the defendant’s conduct violated a statutory or con- stitutional right,” and (2) “the violation was clearly established.” … But Bigwood is an unpublished decision, and thus it cannot clearly establish the law for qualified immunity pur- poses. J W by & through Tammy Williams, 904 F.3d at 1260 n.1.

Latonya Griffin v. Eric Aden

Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Jun 24, 2026

Qualified immunity protects government employees from individual liability for discretionary conduct unless they violate clearly established law of which a reasonable person would have known. … The qualified-immunity inquiry “turns on the objective legal rea- sonableness of the action, assessed in light of the legal rules that were clearly established at the time it was taken.” Pearson v.

Sharese M. Wells v. Cullen Talton

695 F. App'x 439 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · May 30, 2017

Qualified Immunity “Qualified immunity protects . . . officers from liability in § 1983 actions as long ‘as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable … Ct. 808, 816 (2009) (“Qualified immunity is applicable unless the official’s conduct violated a clearly established constitutional right.”).

Johnny L. Claridy v. Jason M. Golub

632 F. App'x 565 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Nov 30, 2015

their conduct violates ‘clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.’” … Clearly Established Law To be clearly established, the contours of a right must be “sufficiently definite that any reasonable official in the defendant’s shoes would have understood that he was violating it.”

Kimel v. State of FL Bd. of Regents

139 F.3d 1426 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Apr 30, 1998

Like qualified immunity, a decision on this issue after trial would defeat the State’s right to be immune from trial. The Eleventh Amendment provides the States with immunity from suit, not just immunity from damages. … a standard of review by establishing a standard different from the one previously established by the Supreme Court.”

Robert G. Swofford, Jr. v. Donald Eslinger

395 F. App'x 559 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Sep 1, 2010

The deputies moved to dismiss the complaint based on qualified immunity, which the district court denied. We review de novo the denial of summary judgment based on qualified immunity. Skop v. … A reasonable jury could find that Morris and Remus violated Swofford’s clearly established constitutional rights. The denial of qualified immunity is AFFIRMED. 3

Danner Construction Co., Inc. v. Hillsborough Cty.

Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Jun 9, 2010

In Parker, the Supreme Court established a general immunity from antitrust liability for state governmental actors acting pursuant to state law, a concept now often denominated “Parker immunity” or “state action immunity … These sections do clearly establish the county’s authority to regulate rates charged by these “facilities,” but nowhere do they speak of the county’s obligation to set rates for those who collect and take the waste to

Kenneth R. Cate, Esquire, and Maher, Overchuck, Langa & Cate, a Florida Association v. Gordon G. Oldham, Jr., and State of Florida

707 F.2d 1176 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Jun 2, 1983

Accordingly, the appellant has established irreparable injury and the district court’s finding to the contrary was an abuse of discretion. … In the instant case there clearly is state action by State Attorney Oldham in instituting the malicious prosecution action.

Walter Gomez v. USA

601 F. App'x 841 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Feb 11, 2015

Qualified Immunity “Qualified immunity protects government officials performing discretionary functions from suits in their individual capacities unless their conduct violates ‘clearly established statutory or constitutional … Because Officer Doe did not violate a clearly- established right, he was entitled to qualified immunity as to Gomez’s temporary- detention claim. 12 C.

Oqueshia Andrews v. Carmel Biggers, Jr.

996 F.3d 1235 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · May 7, 2021

And since our decision in Manders, Georgia courts have reiterated that “[s]heriffs clearly perform governmental services on a local level[.]” See Channell v. … Georgia law likewise clearly differentiates between responsibility for control over state correctional facilities on the one hand and county jails on the other.