Case law

Brisk v. City of Miami Beach, Fla.

726 F. Supp. 1305 · District Court, S.D. Florida · Dec 15, 1989

For instance, if the plaintiff’s allegations do not state a claim of violation of clearly established law, a defendant pleading qualified immunity is entitled to dismissal before the commencement of discovery. … of violations of clearly established law. 13 Accordingly, the case proceeded to *1309 trial with the qualified immunity issue unaddressed and hence unresolved.

Brown v. City of Clewiston

644 F. Supp. 1417 · District Court, S.D. Florida · Sep 22, 1986

Summary Judgment Standard and Qualified Immunity In order to prevail on the qualified immunity defense (described, infra), PEREZ must show that there exists no genuine issue of material fact and that he is entitled to judgment … Stated succinctly, an officer was only entitled to qualified immunity if he established his reasonable, good faith belief that his actions were lawful and within the scope of his authority. See, e.g.. Barker v.

Abella v. Simon

831 F. Supp. 2d 1316 · District Court, S.D. Florida · Nov 28, 2011

Therefore, the burden shifts to Abella to demonstrate that Simon violated a clearly established statutory or constitutional right to overcome the qualified immunity defense. … Therefore, the burden again shifts to Plaintiff to demonstrate that Defendants violated a clearly established statutory or constitutional right to overcome the qualified immunity defense.

Gioia v. Bradshaw

District Court, S.D. Florida · Aug 8, 2025

Florida Department of Probation, filed August 19, 2024 (separate § 2254 habeas petition challenging guilty plea of 1 I note that there may also be qualified or absolute immunity defenses for the various Defendants Plaintiff … Baldwin County, 835 F.3d 1338, 1343-44 (11th Cir. 2016) (“qualified immunity protects government officials performing discretionary functions from liability if their conduct violates no clearly established statutory or

Samedi v. Miami-Dade County

134 F. Supp. 2d 1320 · District Court, S.D. Florida · Jan 26, 2001

White’s qualified immunity insulates him from suit. … was clearly established at the time of the alleged violation.

Davis v. Bradshaw

District Court, S.D. Florida · Sep 25, 2020

Pridmore, 961 F.3d 1135, 1145-46 (11th Cir. 2020) (stating that identification of a broad, clearly established principle is one way to show that a defendant’s conduct violated a clearly established constitutional right … Davis has not carried his burden to show that Deputy Jones is not entitled to qualified immunity. See Keating v.

Wright v. 15th District Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office

District Court, S.D. Florida · Aug 4, 2025

Lastly, the Court agrees with the Report that Deputy Di Orsini is entitled to qualified immunity, because Count 5 fails to allege any constitutional violations, let alone any “clearly established” constitutional violations … App’x 870, 875 (4th Cir. 2004).], none of that would signal a violation of a “clearly established” constitutional right in this Circuit as would be required to overcome qualified immunity. See Chesser v.

Moulton v. Prosper

District Court, S.D. Florida · Sep 11, 2019

To overcome the qualified immunity defense, a plaintiff must show that the officer deprived him of a constitutional right that was “clearly established” at the time of the alleged offense. See Saucier v. … To circumvent the Defendant’s entitlement to qualified immunity, the Plaintiff therefore bears the burden of establishing that the officers violated his “clearly established” constitutional right to be free from the

Connelly v. Hall

District Court, S.D. Florida · Apr 15, 2025

Once qualified immunity is raised by a defendant, and it is established that the government official was acting within his/her discretionary authority, the burden shifts to the plaintiff to show that qualified immunity … Therefore, Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity and the Court need not address whether the law was clearly established. IV.

Sherrod v. SCHOOL BD. OF PALM BEACH COUNTY

703 F. Supp. 2d 1279 · District Court, S.D. Florida · Mar 18, 2010

Qualified Immunity Qualified immunity operates to ensure that “before they are subjected to suit, [public] officers are on notice their conduct is unlawful.” Hope v. … Thus, qualified immunity shields government officials performing discretionary functions from liability for civil damages unless their actions violate “clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable

Belizaire v. City of Miami

944 F. Supp. 2d 1204 · District Court, S.D. Florida · Apr 16, 2013

Belizaire has failed to satisfy her burden of alleging the violation of a clearly established constitutional right, the Court finds that the officers are entitled to qualified immunity. First, Ms. … Belizaire fails to allege the violation of a clearly established right, Expósito is entitled to qualified immunity. See Bailey v.

Heller v. Plave

743 F. Supp. 1553 · District Court, S.D. Florida · Jul 18, 1990

Qualified Immunity Qualified immunity insulates government officials from personal liability for actions within their discretionary authority. Harlow v. … Whether an official is entitled to qualified immunity requires two inquiries: (1) whether the law was clearly established at the time of the alleged misconduct; and, (2) whether the alleged misconduct violated that clearly

Rodriguez v. Tisch

688 F. Supp. 1530 · District Court, S.D. Florida · Jul 19, 1988

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 … “Unless the plaintiff's allegations state a claim of violation of a clearly established law, a defendant pleading qualified immunity is entitled to dismissal before the commencement of discovery.” Mitchell v.

Weinstein v. City of North Bay Village

977 F. Supp. 2d 1271 · District Court, S.D. Florida · Sep 26, 2013

“Under the doctrine of qualified immunity, government officials acting within their discretionary authority are immune from suit unless the official’s conduct ‘violates clearly established federal statutory or constitutional … The Alleged Constitutional Violations Were Clearly Established For Weinstein to avoid qualified immunity, he must allege that Schwartz violated a clearly established law. See Keating, 598 F.3d at 762 .

McKally v. Perez

87 F. Supp. 3d 1310 · District Court, S.D. Florida · Feb 6, 2015

Once the affirmative defense of qualified immunity is asserted, “unless the plaintiffs allegations state a claim of violation of clearly established law, a defendant pleading qualified immunity is entitled to dismissal before … Alvereze, 498 Fed.Appx. 867, 872 (11th Cir.2012) (noting “a defense of qualified immunity may be addressed in a motion to dismiss, which will be granted if the complaint.fails to allege the violation of a clearly established

Von Stein v. Brescher

696 F. Supp. 606 · District Court, S.D. Florida · Oct 5, 1988

, their conduct violated “clearly established law.” … Scherer, 468 U.S. 183, 194-95 , 104 S.Ct. 3012, 3019-20 , 82 L.Ed.2d 139 (1984), any claim to qualified immunity would not be lost merely for the violation of the clearly established law embodied in that statute.

Adams v. Lindsey

759 F. Supp. 795 · District Court, S.D. Florida · Feb 14, 1991

A Clearly Established Seizure: In Anderson, supra, the Court explained that the relevant legal rule under which the qualified immunity issue is judged must be fact specific. … ’ entitlement to qualified immunity.

Venisee v. Miami-Dade County

District Court, S.D. Florida · May 28, 2025

To qualify as clearly established, a legal principle “must be established with obvious clarity by the case law so that every objectively reasonable government official facing the circumstances would know that the official … was clearly established well before the night of the shooting in 2012.”).

Hoefling v. City of Miami

17 F. Supp. 3d 1227 · District Court, S.D. Florida · May 6, 2014

“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.” Behrens v. … On a motion to dismiss, “[t]o evaluate claims of qualified immunity, the Court considers whether (1) the plaintiff has alleged a violation of a constitutional right; and (2) whether the right was ‘clearly established’ at

SOL v. City of Miami

776 F. Supp. 2d 1375 · District Court, S.D. Florida · Apr 11, 2011

The City submits that the contribution claim against Estevez is barred by qualified immunity unless Fritzler can demonstrate Estevez violated a clearly-established constitutional or statutory right. … He claims he already pled everything necessary to overcome qualified immunity: i.e., that Estevez did, in fact, violate maritime navigation rules, and that those navigation rules were clearly established.