Case law

Debrew v. Auman

354 F. App'x 639 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · Nov 25, 2009

“[T]he qualified-immunity defense shields government agents from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would … Because the complaint failed to disclose whether the defendants’ actions did not violate a clearly established constitutional right, dismissal on qualified immunity grounds was premature.

Brooks v. Andolina

826 F.2d 1266 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · Aug 17, 1987

The prison officials contend, however, that they are entitled to qualified immunity. … Government officials performing discretionary functions are entitled to qualified immunity “insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would

Ziccardi v. City of Philadelphia

288 F.3d 57 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · Apr 30, 2002

This is an appeal from a district court order denying a motion for summary judgment based on qualified immunity in an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 . … a violation of a clearly established constitutional right. 4 See Eddy v.

Kenneth McClure Young, II v. Warren Kann and Jane Doe

926 F.2d 1396 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · Mar 5, 1991

It is important to note that Kann is entitled to qualified immunity from a Bivens action if the procedural requirement of a federal regulation is not based upon a "clearly established” constitutional right. … Block, 799 F.2d 1248, 1250-51 (8th Cir.1986) (federal officials do not lose qualified immunity from Bi *1405 vens action unless violation of federal regulation bears upon or implicates a clearly established constitutional

Czurlanis v. Albanese

721 F.2d 98 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · Nov 9, 1983

In contrast to the County, the individual defendants are entitled to qualified immunity if they can show that their conduct did not violate “clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person … If the law was not clearly established, the defendant will prevail on summary judgment on the basis of the qualified immunity defense, id. at 818, 102 S.Ct. at 2739, unless the plaintiff claims that the official actually

State of Texas v. Walker

142 F.3d 813 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · May 28, 1998

See id. 18 Qualified immunity shields a public official exercising discretionary functions from liability for civil damages unless the public official's conduct violated clearly established constitutional or statutory rights … This court reviews a claim of qualified immunity under a two-part analysis. First, it must be determined whether the plaintiff alleged the violation of a clearly established constitutional right.

Kim Brown v. Muhlenberg Township

273 F.3d 390 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · Nov 15, 2001

I regret that the Court has not seen fit to amplify and clarify the qualified immunity standard particularly as it pertains to the second prong of that analysis, i.e., the "clearly established" prong. 4 My dissenting panel … of a constitutional right has been "clearly established?"

Parkhurst v. Trapp

77 F.3d 707 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · Feb 23, 1996

To determine reasonableness, a reviewing court must ask “whether a reasonable person could have believed the defendant’s actions to be lawful in light of clearly established law and the information he possessed.” … established law of Good, the magistrate judge erred in holding that the individual defendants enjoyed qualified immunity- We hold that the second search of the Parkhurst residence violated the Fourth Amendment and the police

Woodwind Estates, Ltd. v. W. J. Gretkowski

205 F.3d 118 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · Feb 28, 2000

Accordingly, the defense of qualified immunity is not available to the supervisor defendants in the instant matter. See, e.g., Blanche Rd. Corp. v. … Nonetheless, we conclude that the planning commissioners are not entitled to qualified immunity for similar reasons as those discussed above.

Reese v. Nelson

598 F.2d 822 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · May 2, 1979

After reviewing the trial record, we conclude that the evidence indisputably establishes a qualified immunity for the defendants which required the entry of directed verdicts for them. … As Navarette makes clear, the immunity defense should not be rejected if at the time that the act was committed there was no clearly established constitutional right and there was no malicious intention to deprive the plaintiff

Martinez-Sanes v. Turnbull

318 F.3d 483 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · Jan 28, 2003

Qualified Immunity of the Governor The District Court granted injunctive relief only, and reserved for later disposition all damages issues. … To the extent that the District Court denied the Governor’s assertion of qualified immunity, the orders appealed from will be affirmed.

Schieber v. City of Philadelphia

320 F.3d 409 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · Feb 20, 2003

Township of Lower Merion, 313 F.3d 144 (3d Cir.2002): we may “review whether the set of facts identified by the district court is sufficient to establish a violation of a clearly established constitutional right,” but we … immunity, we must first determine whether the plaintiff has properly asserted a deprivation of a constitutional right; then we can consider whether the right was clearly established at the time of the alleged violation.

Kovalev v. City of Philadelphia

362 F. App'x 330 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · Jan 26, 2010

immunity, as Ko-valev failed to establish that any of them had violated a clearly established constitutional right in the performance of their jobs. … immunity.

Derick G. Justice, Roy Redmond, and Shane B. Wellington, Cross-Appellees v. Town of Blackwell and Jennie Henkel, Defendants-Third Party Cross-Appellants v. Kevin B. Cronin, Counsel, State of Wisconsin Election Board, Third-Party

820 F.2d 238 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · May 29, 1987

Her appeal arises not from the denial of a claim of qualified immunity but from the denial of a motion to amend the answer to include the defense of qualified immunity. … violating clearly established Wisconsin election law, Wis.Stats.

Christy v. Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission

54 F.3d 1140 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · Jul 13, 1995

Metcalf & Eddy, Inc., — U.S. —, —-—, 113 S.Ct. 684, 687-89 , 121 L.Ed.2d 605 (1993) (Eleventh Amendment immunity); footnote 4, infra (qualified immunity). … their motions for summary judgment based on qualified immunity.

Jack Hidahl and Cindy Hidahl, Individually and as Next Friends on Behalf of Tore Hidahl and Tad Hidahl v. Gilpin County Department of Social Services, Susie Lala, Individually and as an Employee of the Gilpin County Department of Social Services, Jane Felix, Individually and as an Employee of the Gilpin County Department of Social Services, Mary Mason, Individually and as an Employee of the Gilpin County Department of Social Services, Gilpin County Sheriff's Office, John Bayne, Individually and as Deputy Sheriff for the Gilpin County Sheriff's Office, the Board of County Commissioners of the County of Gilpin and the Board of Social Services for the County of Gilpin v. The City of Central, Third Party

938 F.2d 1150 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · Jul 16, 1991

No. 6, 784 F.2d 340, 342-43 (10th Cir.1986), we stated that in a Sec. 1983 action, where the defense of qualified immunity is raised, it becomes the plaintiff's burden to convince the court that the law was "clearly established … immunity rules apply in suits against state officers under Sec. 1983") 4 A constitutional or statutory right is "clearly established" if "[t]he contours of the right [are] ... sufficiently clear that a reasonable official

Cruz Martinez-Sanes Vernita Charles Vivian Furet Maude Akins Faustina Richardson Rosalia Sackey Lenore Safe Eileen Jackson Patrick Sprauve v. Gov. Charles W. Turnbull, ph.d. Government of the United States Virgin Islands (d.c. Civil No. 99-Cv-00031) Miriam Dejesus Cecile Phillip-Thomas Herbert L. Schoenbohm Margaret Sumter v. Gov. Charles W. Turnbull, ph.d. Government of the United States Virgin Islands (d.c. Civil No. 99-Cv-00045) Laura Hassell Marilyn Stapleton Riise Richards Alicia Torres-Gustave Audrey Callwood Edgar Phillips Dwayne Benjamin Daryl Lewis Bianca O. Maynard Ana Bertrand Jeremiah Lee Joseph Farrington Francisco Jarvis Franklin Lawrence Everard Potter Maxwell George v. Gov. Charles W. Turnbull, ph.d. Government of the United States Virgin Islands (d.c. Civil No. 99-Cv-00053) Vivian Ebbesen-Fludd v. Charles Turnbull, ph.d. Individually and in His Capacity as Governor of the Virgin Islands Government of the United States Virgin Islands and Does 1 Through 10 (d.c. Civil No. 99-Cv-00056) Government of the Virgin Islands and Charles W. Turnbull, Individually, Laura Hassell Marilyn Stapleton Riise Richards Alicia Torres-Gustave Audrey Callwood Edgar Phillips Dwayne Benjamin Daryl Lewis Bianca O. Maynard Ana Bertrand Jeremiah Lee Joseph Farrington Francisco Jarvis Franklin Lawrence Eileen Jackson Patrick Sprauve Maxwell George v. Gov. Charles W. Turnbull, ph.d. Government of the United States Virgin Islands Does 1 Through 10, Individually and in Their Capacities as Employees of the Government of the Virgin Islands Governor Charles W. Turnbull, ph.d., Individually and in His Official Capacity and Government of the United States Virgin Islands

318 F.3d 483 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · Jan 28, 2003

Qualified Immunity of the Governor 37 The District Court granted injunctive relief only, and reserved for later disposition all damages issues. … To the extent that the District Court denied the Governor's assertion of qualified immunity, the orders appealed from will be affirmed.

Wise v. Ranck

340 F. App'x 765 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · Aug 10, 2009

In the course of evaluating Ranck’s argument for qualified immunity, the District Court followed Saucier v. … There, the Court announced that courts evaluating qualified immunity no longer have to first determine whether a constitutional violation occurred before determining whether the constitutional right was clearly established

Norbert J. Dotzel, Jr., D/B/A Dotzel Trucking Joanne Dotzel, D/B/A Dotzel Trucking v. Ernest Ashbridge John R. Bower Darren Crispin Salem Township

438 F.3d 320 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · Feb 14, 2006

mean that “an order denying qualified or absolute immunity, to the extent that the order turns on an issue of law, is immediately appealable under the collateral order doctrine.” … Most executive officers, by contrast, are entitled to only qualified immunity, under which they can be sued for acts which are clearly illegal — in other words, which a reasonable officer would have known were illegal.

Capone, Umberto v. Marinelli, Detective Robert and Volpe, John, Individually and in His Official Capacity Chief of Police of Plymouth Township, Individually and in His Official Capacity and O'neill, Corporal Rodney M. And Bambi, William, Individually and in His Official Capacity, Chief of Police of Norristown, Individually and in His Official Capacity v. Capone, Laura Hargrove. Appeal of Corporal Rodney M. O'Neill and Chief William Bambi

868 F.2d 102 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · Feb 23, 1989

Because we find that the Appellants reasonably relied upon a bulletin establishing the existence of a warrant for arrest, they are entitled to qualified immunity as a matter of law. … Id (footnote omitted). 8 In this case, the district court erred by not focusing on the "clearly established law" before denying the motion for summary judgment.