Case law

Blankerhorn v. City of Orange

Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · May 7, 2007

“Whether a right is ‘clearly established’ for purposes of qualified immunity is an  BLANKENHORN v. … Saucier’s requirement that the plaintiff’s asserted right be clearly established “does not mean that the very action at issue must have been held unlaw- ful before qualified immunity is shed.” Wall v.

California Attorneys for Criminal Justice v. Butts

195 F.3d 1039 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Nov 8, 1999

The defendants contend, however, that they are nevertheless entitled to qualified immunity because reasonable officers in their position could have believed that their interrogation did not violate “clearly established rights … The Right is Clearly Established To be “clearly established” for the purpose of overcoming qualified immunity, “[t]he contours of the right must be sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what

Maria Sandoval v. Peter Hish

461 F. App'x 568 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Dec 12, 2011

The use of physical restraints, moreover, also would have violated the decedent’s clearly established right to be free from excessive force at the time of the incident. … Defendants, therefore, were not entitled to qualified immunity. AFFIRMED. 3

Scott Emerson Felix v. Daniel J. McCarthy Director of the Department of Corrections P.J. Morris J. Campoy Daniel Vasquez Morris, Lt.

939 F.2d 699 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Jul 10, 1991

The guards assert that they are entitled to the defense of qualified immunity because it was not clearly established in March 1985 that the guards’ conduct would violate Felix’s clearly established constitutional rights. … Qualified Immunity The guards argue that they are entitled to qualified immunity because they did not violate any clearly established constitutional right of which a reasonable person would have known.

Levine v. City of Alameda

525 F.3d 903 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · May 13, 2008

Qualified Immunity The district court properly found that Flint was not personally liable for violating Levine’s due process rights based on qualified immunity. … Under the defense of qualified immunity, a government official is immune from civil damages unless his conduct violates a clearly established right of which a reasonable person would have known. Long v.

Sydney Rieman v. Gloria Vazquez

Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Apr 2, 2024

The panel held that defendants were not entitled to qualified immunity from suit for failing to provide notice of the hearing. Ms. Rieman had a due process right to such notice and that right was clearly established. … immunity because they did not violate any clearly established constitutional rights.

Pedro Rivera v. Don Bell

509 F. App'x 628 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Feb 19, 2013

The district court properly granted summary judgment on Rivera’s excessive force claim under the doctrine of qualified immunity because Rivera failed to raise a genuine dispute of material fact as to whether defendant used … Callahan, 555 U.S. 223, 231-32 (2009) (defendants were entitled to qualified immunity where there is no violation of plaintiff’s constitutional right or the right at issue was not “clearly established”).

Diana G. Schlegel and Central Pacific Freight Lines, an Oregon Corporation v. William Bebout and Bob Russell

841 F.2d 937 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Mar 8, 1988

The Court pointed out that the right to due process of law is quite clearly established by the Due Process Clause, and thus it could follow that any action that violates that clause violates a clearly established right regardless … Based upon these principles, appellants are entitled to immunity if they can prove that a reasonable PUC official could have believed that the action taken was lawful, in light of clearly established law.

Ross W. Sorrels v. Ronald McKee David Buss Cly Evans Archie Grant Loreli, Cruthers Kay Walter Jim Blodgett Joseph Lehman

290 F.3d 965 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · May 17, 2002

The officials defended on grounds of qualified immunity, arguing that until the Ninth Circuit upheld the district court decision in Crofton , the law with respect to the “no gift publication” policy was not “clearly established … The law would be clearly established and defendants’ qualified immunity defense would fail.

Natia Sampson v. County of Los Angeles

974 F.3d 1012 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Sep 9, 2020

But, critically, the 2011 case did not reach the clearly established prong of the qualified immunity analysis and said nothing about whether the right was clearly established prior to 2011. See Glenn, 673 F.3d at 870. … Therefore, because the same clearly established right at issue in Capp is also at issue here, the cases that supported denial of qualified immunity in Capp also compel us to deny qualified immunity in the instant case. 4

Anthony Perez v. City of Fresno

98 F.4th 919 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Apr 15, 2024

The panel held that the law-enforcement officers were entitled to qualified immunity. At the time of Perez’s death in 2017, the law did not clearly establish, nor was it * The Honorable Danny J. … The district court likewise granted Anderson qualified immunity because existing law did not clearly establish, nor was it obvious, that Anderson’s conduct in providing medical care was unconstitutional.

98 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 4057, 98 Daily Journal D.A.R. 5623 Nathaniel Watkins v. City of Oakland, California Joseph Samuels, Jr. Craig Chew E. Lewis, Officer T. Chu

145 F.3d 1087 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · May 29, 1998

"When a law enforcement officer asserts qualified immunity from liability for Fourth Amendment violations, the district court must determine whether, in light of clearly established principles governing the conduct in question … established for purposes of determining whether the officers have qualified immunity. 25 Id. at 1362 .

United States v. Abel Casarez-Bravo, D.C. No

181 F.3d 1074 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Jun 22, 1999

B Although the 1986 conviction did not-qualify as a predicate conviction, the district court only needed to find two qualifying predicate convictions for Casarez-Bravo to be considered a career criminal under the Sentencing … United States, 511 U.S. 485 , 114 S.Ct. 1732 , 128 L.Ed.2d 517 (1994). 1 In addition to the statutory definition, we may also examine “ ‘documentation or judicially noticeable facts that clearly establish that the conviction

Kennedy v. City of Ridgefield

439 F.3d 1055 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Mar 7, 2006

Southwest Airlines, 124 F.3d 1103, 1107 (9th Cir.1997) ("[W]e have jurisdiction over an interlocutory appeal from the denial of qualified immunity where the appeal focuses on whether the defendants violated a clearly established … I would hold that, taking into account the "specific context of th[is] case," the right was not clearly established at the time Officer Shields acted, and Shields is thus entitled to qualified immunity.

Lundgren v. Freeman

307 F.2d 104 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Jun 27, 1962

Civ.P., which provides that: “findings of fact shall not be set aside unless clearly erroneous * * Therefore, we may not substitute our judgment if conflicting inferences may be drawn from the established facts by reasonable … Like the issue of wrongful purpose, we feel that the issue as to the existence of quasi-arbitrators’ qualified immunity is a question of fact.

Salvador Reza v. Russell Pearce

806 F.3d 497 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Aug 18, 2015

To overcome Senator Pearce’s qualified immunity defense, Reza must establish both that Senator Pearce violated his First Amendment rights, and that this violation was of a “clearly established statutory or constitutional … In evaluating the question of qualified immunity, we must be careful not to define “clearly established” at a “high level of generality.” City & Cnty. of San Francisco v.

Watkins v. City of Oakland

145 F.3d 1087 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · May 29, 1998

Although the use of excessive force in effecting an arrest is a clearly established violation of the Fourth Amendment, Watkins’ legal right cannot be so general as to allow him to “convert the rule of qualified immunity . … established for purposes of determining whether the officers have qualified immunity.

Patricia Thorsted Stephanie Thorsted v. Tim Kelly

858 F.2d 571 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Oct 3, 1988

Government officials performing discretionary functions are entitled to qualified immunity unless their conduct violates “clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known … First, they contend that qualified immunity was unavailable to Kelly because it was clearly established that the fourth amendment prohibited arrests without probable cause and the use of unreasonable force by police.

James Carey v. Nevada Gaming Control Board Gregory Spendlove State of Nevada

279 F.3d 873 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Feb 4, 2002

If we had only the Supreme Court's precedents to guide us, we might also conclude that the right was not clearly established. … We think this is sufficient to clearly establish the right in our circuit.

Keshone Owens v. James Dzurenda

Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · May 16, 2023

but did not address whether the law was clearly established). 3 has begun to run.” … We reverse the district court’s denial of qualified immunity and remand with instructions to grant Appellants’ motion to dismiss based on qualified immunity.