Case law

Helen J. Guercio v. George Brody (88-2013) and John Feikens (89-1137)

911 F.2d 1179 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Aug 13, 1990

[was] clearly established law at the time of Ms. Guercio’s firing.” … “[Defendants] have qualified immunity unless plaintiffs’ ‘rights were so clearly established when the acts were committed that any officer in the defendant’s position, measured objectively, would have clearly understood that

Danny Ray Heggen v. Gary Lee, Hopkins County Sheriff, in Both His Individual and Official Capacities, Hopkins County, Kentucky

284 F.3d 675 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Mar 20, 2002

Defendant also argues that even if Plaintiffs state a valid claim, he is entitled to qualified immunity because the right of deputy sheriffs in Hopkins County to be protected from patronage dismissals was not clearly established … Defendant argues that he is entitled to qualified immunity because when Plaintiffs were discharged, the law was not clearly established that deputy sheriffs in Hopkins County were protected from patronage dismissals.

Harris v. City of Cleveland

7 F. App'x 452 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Mar 26, 2001

Under the doctrine of qualified immunity, a law enforcement official performing a discretionary function may be immune from civil liability in a Bivens action if his conduct does not violate clearly established statutory … In particular, a plaintiff must establish with particularity that a defendant himself has violated some clearly established statutory or constitutional right in order to strip that person of the protection of qualified immunity

Estate of Kenneth G. Dietrich v. Richard W. Burrows

167 F.3d 1007 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Apr 23, 1999

If the constitutional right “the government official allegedly violated was clearly established at the time of the challenged conduct, ‘the immunity defense ordinarily should fail, since a reasonably competent public official … The law has been clearly established since at least the Supreme Court’s decision in Carroll v.

Patti Cahoo v. SAS Analytics Inc.

912 F.3d 887 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Jan 3, 2019

Plaintiffs’ clearly-established due process rights. … The Court will now address the second component of the qualified immunity analysis—whether Plaintiffs’ due process rights were clearly established.  Nos. 18-1295/1296 Cahoo, et al. v.

Cory Driscoll v. Montgomery Cnty. Bd. of Comm'rs

Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Apr 23, 2026

I thus would grant Smiley qualified immunity because our precedent did not clearly establish that she violated the Fourth Amendment at the time she acted. I respectfully dissent. … If unpublished decisions cannot clearly establish the law for qualified-immunity purposes, I doubt that abrogated decisions may do so. Cf. Campbell v. Riahi, 109 F.4th 854, 861 (6th Cir. 2024).

Jeff Courtright v. City of Battle Creek

839 F.3d 513 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Oct 14, 2016

Page 4 “When a defendant appeals the denial of a motion to dismiss based on qualified immunity, we review de novo whether the complaint alleges violation of a clearly established constitutional right.” … established right for purposes of qualified immunity.”

Sova v. City of Mt. Pleasant

142 F.3d 898 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Apr 24, 1998

LaLone and Officer Shell are entitled to qualified immunity. Police officers are afforded qualified immunity for their discretionary functions, Pierson v. … “Unless the plaintiffs allegations state a claim of violation of clearly established law, a defendant pleading qualified immunity is entitled to dismissal before the commencement of discovery.”

See v. City of Elyria

Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Sep 19, 2007

facts are as asserted by the defendant, the defendant’s actions violated clearly established law and are therefore not within the scope of the qualified immunity. … Page 5 legal question of qualified immunity, i.e., whether a given set of facts violates clearly established law.’” Farm Labor Org. Comm. v.

Estate of Tori Carter Brenda Chambers v. City of Detroit, Donald Hollins, Lieutenant

408 F.3d 305 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · May 27, 2005

Finally, to complete the qualified immunity analysis, this right was clearly established at the time of Hollins’s violation. … The right that Hollins violated was therefore clearly established. Under the facts alleged by the Estate, Hollins is not entitled to qualified immunity.

Allen Quigley v. Tuong Thai

707 F.3d 675 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Feb 21, 2013

Merits of Thai’s qualified-immunity claim The qualified-immunity doctrine shields government officials performing discretionary functions from civil liability unless their conduct violates clearly established rights … The estate has established that Thai violated a constitutional right and that the right was clearly established. Thai is therefore not entitled to qualified immunity. D.

Ashly Romero v. City of Lansing, Mich.

Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Feb 12, 2026

officer] violated the Fourth Amendment [because the officer] was at least entitled to qualified immunity.”); White, 580 U.S. at 78–81 (addressing only the clearly established prong); Mullenix, 577 U.S. at 11 (“We address … Some of our cases have limited the apparent presumption against qualified immunity to the clearly established prong of qualified immunity. See Hart v. Hillsdale Cnty., 973 F.3d 627, 635 (6th Cir. 2020).

Anthony Novak v. City of Parma

932 F.3d 421 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Jul 29, 2019

Page 5 Officers Riley and Connor are entitled to qualified immunity “unless (1) they violated a federal statutory or constitutional right, and (2) the unlawfulness of their conduct was clearly established at the … They do not bear on the qualified immunity analysis above because, as with most interesting legal issues, the law is not clearly established. Issue 1.

Kathleen Cope and Teresa D. Davis v. Devra S. Heltsley, Individually and in Her Official Capacity as Hopkins County Court Clerk

128 F.3d 452 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Dec 16, 1997

Heltsley was entitled to qualified immunity because a reasonable officer presented with the facts known to her would not have believed that she was violating any clearly established constitutional right of the plaintiffs … Ill Under the doctrine of qualified immunity, as explained by the Supreme Court in Harlow v.

55 Fair empl.prac.cas. 338, 51 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 39,294 William D. Crutcher, Marion L. Madry v. Commonwealth of Kentucky, Appeal of H. David Owens

883 F.2d 502 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Aug 30, 1989

whether Owens violated clearly established constitutional rights, and *504 whether Madry sustained her burden of producing direct evidence of racially-based animus. … In remanding this issue, we note a confusion that has arisen at oral argument on this qualified immunity appeal.

Martin v. Heideman

106 F.3d 1308 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Feb 14, 1997

Because most legal rights are “clearly established” at some level of generality, immunity would be impossible to obtain if a plaintiff were required only to cite an abstract legal principle that an official had “clearly” … Auger, 842 F.Supp. 25 (D.Me.1994)(cries of pain caused by too-tight cuffs; qualified immunity denied).

Harris v. City of Circleville

583 F.3d 356 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Oct 2, 2009

The Court, however, retains jurisdiction over the legal question of qualified immunity, i.e., whether a given set of facts violates clearly established law. Id. … Under the doctrine of qualified immunity, government officials performing discretionary functions generally are shielded from liability from civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate *365 clearly established

Mary Stewart v. City of Euclid

970 F.3d 667 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Aug 14, 2020

Further, even if Rhodes violated Stewart’s constitutional rights, it held those rights were not clearly established as required to deny qualified immunity. … established and that, therefore, Rhodes is not entitled to qualified immunity.

Edward H. Flint, Individually, as Father, Next of Kin, Administrator and Personal Representative of the Estate of Robert Flint v. Kentucky Department of Corrections Jack C. Lewis, Commissioner, Kentucky Department of Corrections Dewey Sowders, Deputy Commissioner, Kentucky Department of Corrections C. Tony Williams, Interim Warden Michael Whisman Tommy Eldridge Richard Gray Sue Montgomery, in Her Capacity as Guardian for James H. Montgomery, James Edgar Underwood Jim Montgomery, Print Shop Supervisor

270 F.3d 340 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Oct 26, 2001

before trial whether the defendant did acts that violate clearly established rights." … were violating a clearly established right of Flint's.Williams, 186 F.3d at 691 .

Kishna Brown v. Bradley Lewis

779 F.3d 401 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Feb 26, 2015

“Qualified immunity protects government officials performing discretionary functions unless their conduct violates a clearly established statutory or constitutional right of which a reasonable person in the official's position … Second, the officers seem to interpret Dorsey as establishing additional deference for law-enforcement decision-making, beyond the constitutional and clearly-established prongs of the qualified-immunity