Case law

McBride v. Village of Michiana

100 F.3d 457 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Nov 14, 1996

After remand, the defendants then filed a motion for summary judgment, this time seeking dismissal of McBride's claims on the basis of qualified immunity because of their belief that "there was no clearly established law … Ct. 1400 (1995), this court then stated that the "right of free speech was `clearly established' for qualified immunity purposes.

International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers Of America, Local 737 v. Auto Glass Employees Federal Credit Union

72 F.3d 1243 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Feb 23, 1996

Because in the plaintiffs' view these rights were clearly established under the NLRA, Carver was not entitled to qualified immunity. … Once a government official raises the defense of qualified immunity, the plaintiffs must plead and prove with some particularity the existence of a clearly established right that the official is alleged to have violated.

Michael Hoover v. Justin Due

Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Sep 17, 2025

To overcome Due’s qualified immunity defense, Hoover must establish that (1) Due violated his federal statutory or constitutional right, and (2) the unlawfulness of Due’s conduct was clearly established at the time of the … Clearly established law. To satisfy the second prong of the qualified immunity analysis, Hoover must show that Due’s unconstitutional conduct violated clearly established law. See Williams v.

Genora Jones v. Scott Byrnes

Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Nov 9, 2009

The first question in the qualified immunity analysis is whether the plaintiff has established a prima facie case of a constitutional violation. … Except in the most overwhelmingly egregious case, an officer that crosses the Fourteenth Amendment’s threshold likely still would be entitled to qualified immunity because it was not clearly established that his specific

Walker v. Wilson

67 F. App'x 854 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · May 7, 2003

Defendants could be denied qualified immunity only if they violated a clearly established constitutional right in such a manner that they must have understood that they were violating that right. Stack v. … In this case the Walkers cited no clearly established constitutional right in their complaint.

Cherrington v. Skeeter

344 F.3d 631 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Sep 24, 2003

or has violated “clearly established constitutional rights of which custodian has been placed under arrest. … City of Akron, 326 conclude that the individual Defendants are entitled to F.3d 702, 710 (6th Cir. 2003) (applying a deliberate qualified immunity on the “clearly established

Erin Kosch v. Traverse City Area Pub. Schs.

Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Jul 26, 2024

Qualified immunity protects government officials “from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights.” Harlow v. … Clearly Established Law Separately, even if Kosch established that she was deprived of her continuing tenure, she has not met her burden under qualified immunity’s clearly-established-law prong.

McPherson v. Kelsey

125 F.3d 989 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Oct 1, 1997

B Under the doctrine of qualified immunity, government officials “performing discretionary functions generally are shielded from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory … We conclude that his actions were reasonable and that Sowle was entitled to qualified immunity. Judge Hocking, in our view, was also entitled to qualified immunity.

Angela Lee Williams, a Minor, by Her Father and Next Friend, William Hardy Williams v. Jerald M. Ellington

936 F.2d 881 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Jun 24, 1991

The question of qualified immunity in cases involving the fourth amendment rights of students is predicated upon rights that are “clearly established” by the Supreme Court and courts within this circuit; however, such courts … Based upon the rights that were “clearly established” at the time of the search in question, we grant qualified immunity to Defendants sued in their individual capacity. As articulated in New Jersey v.

Lamonte Jackson-Gibson v. Reginald Beasley

Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Oct 15, 2024

Qualified immunity shields government officials from civil damages under § 1983 “insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known … a constitutional right; and (2) the right was clearly established.”

Lane v. City of LaFollette

490 F.3d 410 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Jun 6, 2007

“Under the doctrine of qualified immunity, ‘government officials performing discretionary functions are shielded from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or … We cannot, however, determine whether the law clearly established the illegality of Plaintiff’s termination without further factual development.

Richard Silver Silver Construction Company v. Franklin Township, Board of Zoning Appeals

966 F.2d 1031 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Jun 4, 1992

The court held that the doctrine of qualified immunity defeated Silver’s takings and substantive due process claims because “there was no clearly established constitutional right to proceed with this form of [ ] development … Under the doctrine of qualified immunity, government officials performing discretionary functions are afforded immunity from individual liability as long as their actions do not violate clearly-established statutory or constitutional

Hidden Village, LLC v. City of Lakewood, Ohio

734 F.3d 519 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Oct 30, 2013

statutory right and (2) the right was clearly established when the conduct occurred. … But that decision came out in 2009; it did not clearly establish anything in 2006 or 2007.

Byron Black v. Ricky Bell

664 F.3d 81 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Dec 15, 2011

A state-court decision is contrary to clearly established federal law “if the state court applies a rule that contradicts the gov *91 erning law set forth in [the Supreme Court’s] cases” or “if the state court confronts a … established federal law.

Mcpherson v. Kelsey

125 F.3d 989 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Oct 1, 1997

and qualified immunity. … B 26 Under the doctrine of qualified immunity, government officials "performing discretionary functions generally are shielded from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established

Gardner v. Williams

56 F. App'x 700 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Feb 6, 2003

Williams appeals from this ruling, arguing that he is entitled to qualified immunity because there was probable cause to arrest Marvin or, in the alternative, because there was no “clearly established law” regarding the statutory … Furthermore, once a defendant asserts the privilege of qualified immunity, the burden shifts to the plaintiff “to establish that the defendant’s conduct violated a right so clearly established that any official in his position

Eugene v. Karman

889 F.2d 701 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Jan 22, 1990

Plaintiffs would be able to convert the rule of qualified immunity that our cases plainly establish into a rule of virtually unqualified liability simply by alleging violation of extremely abstract rights.... … The Supreme Court could have defined "clearly established" in the immunity context as the majority in this case has defined it, to mean "so clearly declared in existing case law that no court, advocate or legal scholar could

Heflin v. Stewart County, Tennessee

958 F.2d 709 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Jun 3, 1992

The defendants now argue that the court should have submitted their qualified immunity defense to the jury. That is clearly not the law. We stated in Poe v. … Further, I do not find a sufficiently particularized constitutional right of a suicide victim to be cut down immediately upon discovery to have been clearly established, and so would accord the individual defendants qualified

James Maben v. Troy Thelen

887 F.3d 252 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Apr 3, 2018

Finally, Thelen argued that he was protected by qualified immunity because Maben had not demonstrated that Thelen violated clearly established statutory or constitutional rights. … Under the doctrine of qualified immunity, “government officials performing discretionary functions generally are shielded from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory

Wendell Shane MacKey v. Dennis Dyke, Assistant Deputy Director of the Bureau of Correctional Facilities, Michigan Department of Corrections

29 F.3d 1086 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Jul 21, 1994

After finding that Mackey had established no constitutional violation, the magistrate judge found that even “[i]f a constitutional violation were stated, defendants would clearly be entitled to qualified immunity.” … trial whether the defendant did acts that violate clearly established rights.