Case law

Mayfield v. Texas Department of Criminal Justice

529 F.3d 599 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · May 30, 2008

The district court held that both sovereign and qualified immunity prevented Mayfield from pursuing his claims. … First, we consider the district court’s conclusions as to sovereign and qualified immunity.

Brett Horvath v. City of Leander, Texas

Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Jan 13, 2020

The qualified immunity doctrine imposes a similar “clearly established” standard in § 1983 cases—but without any corresponding textual basis. … Yet two federal courts held that it was not “clearly established” at the time of the violation and granted qualified immunity. Id.

Richardson v. Oldham

12 F.3d 1373 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Jan 28, 1994

Defendant Harrell and the "Qualified Immunity" Question The Richardsons have sued Harrell in his individual capacity. … "Qualified immunity cloaks a police officer from personal liability for discretionary acts which do not violate well-established law".34 Harrell has qualified immunity if his actions "could reasonably have been thought

James E. Hernandez v. City of Lafayette

643 F.2d 1188 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · May 1, 1981

Since this court is unaware of any well-established tradition of municipal immunity from damages to compensate for uncompensated takings, 19 we cannot read *1198 into § 1983 an absolute immunity from damages for the City … it would not accord absolute immunity to municipal legislators because “[i]t would be anomalous to establish a greater degree of immunity for municipal officials than is given to the city itself.”

Meadowbriar Home for Children, Inc. v. Gunn

81 F.3d 521 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Apr 10, 1996

“In assessing qualified immunity, we engage in a two-step analysis. First, we determine whether a plaintiff has alleged the violation of a clearly established constitutional right under the current state of the law.” … Because the City of Houston is not entitled to the benefit of qualified immunity, Babb v. Dorman, 33 F.3d 472, 475 n.5 (5th Cir. 1994), Meadowbriar need not allege the violation of a clearly established right.

Phillip Wayne Zuccarello, David Zuccarello, Allison Zuccarello, Brian Zuccarello, and Iva Faye Smith Zuccarello v. Exxon Corporation

756 F.2d 402 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Apr 1, 1985

We hold that the court’s finding that Exxon qualified as the statutory employer of the decedent under § 23:1061 was not clearly erroneous and we therefore affirm. I. … The Findings of the District Court Are Not Clearly Erroneous Undisputed evidence in the record establishes that at the time of Zuccarello’s accident, Saia was installing electric control and communication lines in covered

Gwendolyn Daniel v. Univ of TX SW Health Systems

960 F.3d 253 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Jun 2, 2020

The Texas Legislature has established both the University of Texas and the UT 1 System. See TEX. EDUC. CODE §§ 65.01–65.461, 67.01–67.62. … Ct. 1327, 1333 (2012) (“A foundational premise of the federal system is that States, as sovereigns, are immune from suits for damages, save as they elect to waive that defense” or Congress has clearly abrogated immunity via

Scotch v. Letsinger

593 F. App'x 276 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Nov 14, 2014

Letsinger and the County asserted the defense of qualified immunity. The district court stayed discovery pending its resolution of the qualified immunity defense. … “[Wjhen a defendant invokes the defense of qualified immunity, the burden is on the plaintiff to demonstrate the inapplicability of the defense.” 7 To determine whether qualified immunity applies, we consider (1) whether

Melton v. Phillips

837 F.3d 502 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Sep 14, 2016

The Hampton court denied qualified immunity to the single officer who actually prepared the affidavit in support of a warrant and presented it to the judge. Id. at 364 . … However, citing Michalik , the court granted qualified immunity to the other officers because they neither signed the affidavit nor prepared the warrant application.

John C. Walter v. Ruben M. Torres

917 F.2d 1379 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Nov 29, 1990

On the other hand, one defendant in the case was held to have qualified immunity because he was charged with “failure to establish adequate rules and policies for preliminary parole revocation hearings,” which, as an administrative … activity, afforded only qualified immunity.

Isiah Carl Green v. Dan v. McKaskle Acting Director, Texas Department of Corrections

788 F.2d 1116 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · May 5, 1986

Furthermore, the Ruiz order may bear on a qualified immunity defense. A remedial decree affirmed on appeal might be important for purposes of providing notice to prison officials of clearly established rights. … A prison official is entitled to the defense of qualified immunity “insofar as [his] conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.”

Renata Singleton v. Leon Cannizzaro, Jr., e

956 F.3d 773 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Apr 21, 2020

Instead, he is given the same immunity a police officer would have: qualified immunity. Id. … identified suspect, not to identify a suspect or establish probable cause.”

Lempar v. Collier

710 F. App'x 231 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Jan 31, 2018

established law that overcomes a qualified immunity defense, Pearson v. … A denial of qualified immunity must identify factual disputes tied to a particular defendant that overcome the immunity defense. Meadours v. Ermel, 483 F.3d 417, 422 (5th Cir. 2007).

Reyes v. City of Richmond TX

287 F.3d 346 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Mar 28, 2002

Officer Cox moved for summary judgment based on qualified immunity. … Importantly, even when all objective facts are viewed in a light most favorable to the Plaintiffs, qualified immunity is clearly not overcome. The court thus has jurisdiction. . . .”

George Farias v. Bexar County Board of Trustees for Mental Health Mental Retardation Services

925 F.2d 866 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Apr 12, 1991

The Original Answer gave Farias notice of the defenses of qualified and sovereign immunity as did the Pre-Trial order signed by his attorney. … QUALIFIED IMMUNITY AND THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES In this point of error, Farias complains the district judge applied the wrong legal standard in exonerating the individual defendants from liability on the basis of qualified immunity

Castorena v. Zamora

684 F. App'x 360 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Mar 31, 2017

immunity.” 6 “In conducts ing the qualified immunity analysis, we ‘may not resolve genuine disputes of fact in favor of the party seeking summary judgment.’ ” 7 *364 III. … When properly applied, it protects ‘all but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law.’ ” 8 “The basic steps of our qualified-immunity inquiry are well-known: a plaintiff seeking to defeat qualified immunity

Jose Bueno, Leon Trevino and Victor Alegria, Cross-Appellants v. City of Donna, Cross-Appellees

714 F.2d 484 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Sep 12, 1983

Qualified Immunity The defendants next argue that the trial court erred in not submitting its proposed instruction on the affirmative defense of qualified, or good faith, immunity to the jury. … Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 102 S.Ct. 2727 , 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982), the Supreme Court “adjusted” the qualified immunity standard established by its earlier decisions and dispensed with the subjective test of official good faith

Goodson v. City Of Corpus Christi

202 F.3d 730 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Feb 24, 2000

Qualified Immunity 21 In considering Gaines and Perez's qualified immunity claim, we must remain cognizant of the fact that the "qualified . . . immunity doctrine was established to reconcile two competing interests. … First, we must examine whether the "plaintiff has alleged a violation of a clearly established right." Fontenot v.

Milton Batiste v. Paul v. Burke

746 F.2d 257 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Nov 12, 1984

Given this, Burke argued, he was entitled to immunity because his actions violated no “clearly established statutory or constitutional [right] of which a reasonable person would have known.” … Batiste responded to the motion, arguing as to the affirmative defense of immunity only that his constitutional rights were, in fact, clearly established.

LA Real Estate Appraiser Board v. FTC

976 F.3d 597 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Oct 2, 2020

Drawing an analogy with principles that animate interlocutory appeals of government officials’ claims of absolute or qualified immunity, or the Eleventh Amendment, this court reasoned that making a “state or state … or subdivision [of the state] acted pursuant to a clearly articulated and affirmatively expressed state policy.’”