Case law

Jerry Newmaker v. City of Fortuna

842 F.3d 1108 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Nov 22, 2016

Summary Judgment Is Inappropriate The district court granted summary judgment because of qualified immunity. Qualified immunity analysis entails a two-pronged inquiry. Tolan v. Cotton, 134 S. Ct. 1861, 1865 (2014). … Plaintiffs maintain that Officer Soeth violated Newmaker’s clearly established Fourth Amendment rights by using excessive, and ultimately deadly, force.

Billington v. Smith

292 F.3d 1177 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Jun 21, 2002

Detective Smith appeals denial of his motion for summary judgment based on qualified immunity. … 7 If not, then “there is no necessity for further inquiries concerning qualified immunity.” 8 If so, then “the next, sequential step is to ask whether the right was clearly established.” 9 A constitutional right is clearly

Ybarra v. Reno Thunderbird Mobile Home Village

723 F.2d 675 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Jan 10, 1984

He also contends that a genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether Malloy is entitled to even qualified immunity. … He argues that Malloy is entitled to only qualified immunity because the release of the mobile home was not a quasi-judicial act.

Ybarra v. Reno Thunderbird Mobile Home Village

723 F.2d 675 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Jan 10, 1984

He also contends that a genuine issue of .material fact exists as to whether Malloy is entitled to even qualified immunity. … He argues that Malloy is entitled to only qualified immunity because the release of the mobile home was not a quasi-judicial act.

Jonathon Castro v. County of Los Angeles

785 F.3d 336 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · May 1, 2015

The doctrine of qualified immunity shields government officials from civil liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 if “their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person … To determine whether an officer is entitled to qualified immunity, a court must evaluate two independent prongs: (1) whether the officer’s conduct violated a constitutional right, and (2) whether that right was clearly established

Bernstein v. Lopez

321 F.3d 903 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Mar 4, 2003

We hold that no further facts need to be determined and that as a matter of law the defendants are protected by qualified immunity because the plaintiffs have no clearly established right to continue in their administrative … They contend they are entitled to qualified immunity because the plaintiffs cannot have a clearly established right based on documents that are trumped by state law. 21 The majority accepts this argument noting that the terms

McSherry v. City of Long Beach

560 F.3d 1125 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Mar 30, 2009

Qualified immunity is a two-part test. … [3] As a result, Turley is not entitled to qualified immunity.

Cooper v. Dupnik

963 F.2d 1220 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · May 5, 1992

Qualified immunity protects officials from suits under § 1983 for violations of rights which are not “clearly established at the time of the challenged actions....” Mitchell, 472 U.S. at 528 , 105 S.Ct. at 2816 . … We conclude *1251 that the relevant legal standards were clearly established in 1986, and that the members of the Task Force cannot avail themselves of the doctrine of qualified immunity.

Los Angeles Police Protective League v. Gates

907 F.2d 879 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Jul 3, 1990

Had the former been clearly established, then the latter probably would not have sufficed to protect the appellants from liability. … Of course, the fact that the individual appellants are entitled to qualified immunity does not demonstrate that the City itself is not liable for the violation. Cities are not entitled to qualified immunity.

Los Angeles Police Protective League v. Gates

907 F.2d 879 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Sep 18, 1990

Qualified Immunity. 41 The individual appellants sought immunity from the imposition of liability for their involvement in the administrative search warrant. … Had the former been clearly established, then the latter probably would not have sufficed to protect the appellants from liability.

John Ellins v. City of Sierra Madre

710 F.3d 1049 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Mar 22, 2013

To determine whether a government official is entitled to qualified immunity, we ask two questions: whether the official violated a statutory or constitutional right, and whether that right was clearly established at the … It is true that if Diaz “could ... have reasonably but mistakenly believed that ... her conduct did not violate a clearly established constitutional right, [s]he is entitled to qualified immunity.” Hunt v.

Genzler v. Longanbach

410 F.3d 630 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Jun 7, 2005

The supervisory defendants also moved for summary judg- ment based on absolute and qualified immunity. … If the former, they are absolutely immune. If the latter, they are entitled only to qualified immunity.

Charfauros v. Board of Elections

249 F.3d 941 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · May 10, 2001

Government officials performing discretionary functions are entitled to qualified immunity when “their conduct *952 does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would … To defeat the Board’s claim of qualified immunity, Ap-pellees must establish that (1) the alleged conduct set out a constitutional violation and (2) the constitutional standard was clearly established at the time in question

O'Connor v. Terhune

32 F. App'x 314 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Mar 4, 2002

We reverse and remand with instructions to enter judgment for the defendants dismissing this case on the ground of qualified immunity. We review the denial of qualified immunity de novo. Branch v. … Nowhere is it clearly established that a prisoner may not be moved from a lesser classification to a higher classification because of some abstract increase in danger.

Pierce v. Multnomah County

76 F.3d 1032 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Feb 14, 1996

The availability of qualified immunity “generally turns on the ‘objective legal reasonableness’ of the action, assessed in light of the legal rules that were ‘clearly established’ at the time it was taken.” Anderson v. … Clearly Established Law The threshold issue in determining whether an officer’s conduct is objectively legally reasonable is whether the law regarding the right that the plaintiff claims has been violated was “clearly established

Meyer v. Fidelity Savings

944 F.2d 562 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Sep 13, 1991

The issue of qualified immunity should not have been submitted to the jury because Pattullo violated no clearly established law. See Schwartzman v. … Valenzuela, 846 F.2d 1209, 1211 (9th Cir.1988) (question of clearly established right is question of law). Thus, any error in the qualified immunity instruction was harmless.

Gloria Franklin and Johnny Curry v. Derrick Foxworth

31 F.3d 873 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Aug 2, 1994

In my opinion, the officers are clearly not entitled to immunity, qualified or otherwise. … The question whether qualified immunity applies in this case, like all other questions of qualified immunity, “turns on the objective legal reasonableness of the action assessed in light of the legal rules that were clearly

96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 240, 96 Daily Journal D.A.R. 368 Marie Pellegrino, as Administratrix of the Goods, Chattels and Credits Which Were of John Pellegrino Marie Pellegrino, Individually and Joseph Pellegrino v. United States of America United States Department of the Treasury, Customs Service Nicholas Brady, as Secretary of U.S. Department of the Treasury Carol B. Hallett, as Commissioner of U.S. Customs Service Paul Andrews, as District Director of U.S. Customs Service in California Stephen A. Fanter and Jeffrey Woods, Marie Pellegrino, as Administratrix of the Goods, Chattels and Credits Which Were of John Pellegrino Marie Pellegrino, Individually and Joseph Pellegrino v. United States of America, and Stephen A. Fanter

73 F.3d 934 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Jan 10, 1996

Both parties appeal; Fanter from the district court's order denying him qualified immunity and the Pellegrinos urging that the facts do not justify qualified immunity protection for either agent. I. … A determination of qualified immunity turns "on the resolution of the essentially legal question whether the conduct of which the plaintiff complains violated clearly established law." Id. at 526 , 105 S.Ct. at 2815 .

Youth 71five Ministries v. Williams

Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Aug 18, 2025

The panel affirmed the district court’s dismissal of 71Five’s claims for damages because 71Five did not allege any violation of a clearly established right, and therefore defendants were entitled to qualified immunity. … Because 71Five does not allege any violation of a clearly established right, we also hold that the Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity and affirm the dismissal of 71Five’s claims for damages.

Ward v. Day

107 F. App'x 727 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Jul 21, 2004

As to the additional question whether the law was clearly established as to these defendants, which would defeat qualified immunity, we agree with the district court that a jury here should decide whether a reasonable officer … Under the circumstances of this case, because relevant factual issues were raised, a summary judgment granting qualified immunity to defendants was not warranted. See Saucier v.