Case law

Hensley v. Wilson

850 F.2d 269 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Jun 20, 1988

Mitchell stated the rule that: *273 Unless the plaintiff’s allegations state a claim of violation of clearly established law, a defendant pleading qualified immunity is entitled to dismissal before the commencement of discovery … We conclude, therefore, that defendants are entitled to qualified immunity under Mitchell , because any violations they committed were not of “clearly established law.”

Spears Ex Rel. Estate of McCargo v. Ruth

589 F.3d 249 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Dec 10, 2009

The defendants timely filed motions for summary judgment asserting various defenses including qualified immunity. … Government officials are immune from civil liability unless, in the course of performing their discretionary functions, they violate the plaintiffs clearly established constitutional rights. See Hills v.

John James Tribell v. David G. Mills, Warden Norma Jean Eggers Gordon R. Miler, Counselor, Jim Morrow, Counselor Donley Shillings, Counselor

25 F.3d 1050 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Jun 1, 1994

Accordingly, we must now consider the appellants' qualified immunity claim. 3 Qualified Immunity 27 In Rich v. … for more than twenty days without a hearing (in violation of rights clearly established by Hewitt ), the appellants are not immune from Tribell's 42 U.S.C.

Richard Kalish v. Liberty Mutual/liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston

419 F.3d 501 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Aug 18, 2005

Brown Ex Rel. Estate of Brown v. Chapman

814 F.3d 447 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Feb 19, 2016

Qualified immunity “shields officials from civil liability so long as their conduct ‘does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.’” Mullenix v. … A qualified-immunity inquiry involves two questions: whether defendants violated a constitutional right and whether that right was clearly established. Pearson, 555 U.S. at 232.

Thacker v. City Of Columbus

328 F.3d 244 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Apr 30, 2003

Qualified immunity shields government officials performing discretionary functions from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which … we have concluded that no constitutional violations occurred in this case, even assuming that such a violation did occur, defendants would be entitled to qualified immunity because they did not violate any clearly established

Vaughn v. United States Small Business Administration

82 F.3d 684 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Apr 23, 1996

. -, 115 S.Ct. 2151 , 132 L.Ed.2d 238 (1995), that appeal from the denial of a motion to dismiss or a motion for summary judgment on grounds of qualified immunity is impermissible when the issue turns on a dispute of fact … They did not argue that beating the plaintiff would not have violated, a clearly established right of the plaintiff.

Vance v. Wade

Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Nov 17, 2008

“According to 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 … the defendant did acts that violated clearly established rights.”

United States v. Hunt

521 F.3d 636 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Apr 11, 2008

sufficient evidence to conclude that Hunt intentionally contributed to the commission of health care fraud by causing claims to be submitted on the false pretenses that they had been determined to be medically necessary by a qualified … And a factual determination is necessarily clearly erroneous where a jury has previously found to the contrary beyond a reasonable doubt.

Dorothy Chappell v. City of Cleveland

Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Nov 4, 2009

Qualified immunity shields government officials from liability for civil damages if their actions did not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known. … Page 7 was violated or that the right was clearly established, she will have failed to carry her burden.

Causey v. Bay City

Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Mar 29, 2006

, and (2) whether that right was clearly established.”2 Id. … Thus, the officers violated the plaintiffs’ clearly established Fourth Amendment rights by proceeding without a warrant and are not entitled to qualified immunity. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.

Glenda Smith v. City of Wyoming

Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · May 18, 2016

It is sufficient to hold that, even viewing the facts in the light most favorable to Smith, Officer Riggs did not violate clearly established law, and he therefore was protected by qualified immunity. … Turning to the clearly established law question, we must first ask whether the Ohio law defining obstruction of official business is clearly established. We conclude that it is.

Russell Marcilis, II v. Township of Redford

693 F.3d 589 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Sep 6, 2012

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 … To determine whether an official is entitled to qualified immunity, we must answer two questions: whether a defendant violated a constitutional right and whether the right was clearly established.

Lowe v. Hamilton County Department of Job & Family Services

610 F.3d 321 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Jul 1, 2010

Causey, 521 F.3d 544, 554 (6th Cir.2008) (finding that the issue of municipal liability was inextricably intertwined with a qualified-immunity determination because the municipality could be liable only if its employees committed … This scheme is clearly distinguishable from the statutory scheme considered in Ernst .

Achterhof v. Selvaggio

886 F.2d 826 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Oct 6, 1989

The district court found that in continuing to contact Karen Achterhof, Selveggio had not violated any “clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.” … It may be the case that the defendants’ qualified immunity cannot be resolved on the pleadings.

Karim Koubriti v. Richard Convertino

Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Feb 3, 2010

The court suggested that Convertino would only have qualified immunity for these claims. It did not analyze the claims under the qualified immunity standard, however. … On the other hand, government officials generally enjoy a presumption of qualified immunity from civil lawsuits, such that they are “shielded from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly

Randall Mills v. Weakley Barnard

869 F.3d 473 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Aug 28, 2017

Qualified Immunity. … Brady violations are, of course, clearly established violations of constitutional rights.

Miles Guptill v. City of Chattanooga, Tenn.

Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Nov 26, 2025

Qualified Immunity Gunn argues that he is entitled to qualified immunity on Guptill’s § 1983 excessive force claim. … Qualified immunity protects government officials performing discretionary functions “from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights.”

Akers v. McGinnis

352 F.3d 1030 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Dec 1, 2003

“In civil suits for money damages, government officials are entitled to qualified immunity for discretionary acts that do ‘not violate clearly established [federal] statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable … While this disposes of this question, we note that for a plaintiff to defeat a defense of qualified immunity, he must not only prove the violation of a right, but of a clearly established right.

Washington v. Starke

855 F.2d 346 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Aug 26, 1988

or not qualified immunity exists. … clearly established law.'