Case law

Steven Melton v. City of Forrest City, Arkansas

Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · Aug 13, 2025

immunity fails.”); Burnham, 119 F.3d at 680 (holding that the employer’s “failure to establish workplace disruption . . . is fatal to his claim of qualified immunity under a Pickering analysis”). … Sexton, 210 F.3d at 914 (holding that the constitutional violation was clearly established despite having to conduct the Pickering balancing).

Harris v. District of Columbia

932 F.2d 10 · Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit · May 10, 1991

This obligation, according to the court, was clearly established and appellants were therefore not entitled to qualified immunity. See id. at 17-19. … The concurrence also affords qualified immunity "on the additional ground that, even if the right was clearly established, the facts ... do not make out a violation of that right.” Concurring op. at 363.

Ken Mouille, Leroy Liberda v. The City of Live Oak, Texas, Mark E. Jackley, Douglas Faesler, and Timothy Britt

977 F.2d 924 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Jan 15, 1993

Liberda appeals certain jury instructions and Britt reasserts the affirmative defense of qualified immunity. We find that Britt is enti-tied to qualified immunity. … Qualified Immunity — Britt Britt answers Liberda’s Section 1983 claims with the affirmative defense of qualified immunity. Qualified immunity determinations implicate a multi-faceted framework.

Williams v. Hansen

326 F.3d 569 · Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · Apr 22, 2003

clearly established in February 1996. … Because the plaintiffs have made out valid claims for the denial of a clearly established constitutional right, the district court correctly denied Hansen's motion for summary judgment on the basis of qualified immunity.

Begin v. Drouin

908 F.3d 829 · Court of Appeals for the First Circuit · Nov 16, 2018

An exception applies when such an order rejects a qualified immunity defense tendered in response to a claim of official malfeasance in violation of section 1983. … What the law does or does not clearly establish for purposes of assessing a qualified immunity defense is itself a question of law. See Morse v.

Thompson v. Reuting

968 F.2d 756 · Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · Jul 7, 1992

Briggs, 475 U.S. 335 , 106 S.Ct. 1092 , 89 L.Ed.2d 271 (1986), the Supreme Court held that police officers seeking arrest warrants are entitled to qualified immunity for their actions unless “the warrant application is so … We therefore affirm the District Court’s dismissal of Thompson’s complaint on the ground that Reuting was entitled to qualified immunity for his actions. III.

Hanrahan v. Doling

331 F.3d 93 · Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit · May 30, 2003

and Magistrate Judge below. 10 In evaluating whether a right is clearly established for purposes of the second prong of the qualified immunity inquiry, the court looks to both "the clarity of the law establishing the right … It would defy logic to analyze qualified immunity, as defendants urge, in terms of unpredictable subsequent events, and courts have repeatedly declined to frame the clearly established inquiry through the "20/20 vision of

Lindsey v. Storey

936 F.2d 554 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · Jul 23, 1991

Qualified immunity shields law enforcement officers performing discretionary functions from suit for all violations except those of clearly established law. Harlow v. … But, again, Storey is entitled to qualified immunity unless he clearly lacked the reasonable suspicion necessary to justify the search.

Betty Willingham, Plaintiff-Appellee-Cross-Appellant v. James Loughnan, Brian Buecler, Defendants-Appellants-Cross-Appellees

321 F.3d 1299 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Feb 18, 2003

The Officer Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity for their acts unless they — -given the circumstances — violated a “clearly established statutory or constitutional right[] of which a reasonable person would have … And we, in the absence of particularized caselaw, have acted to deny qualified immunity to officials whose use of force clearly exceeded the “hazy border” surrounding acceptable force.

Caldarola v. Calabrese

298 F.3d 156 · Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit · Jul 31, 2002

Qualified Immunity A. "Qualified immunity is `an entitlement not to stand trial or face the other burdens of litigation.'" Saucier v. … If the law was clearly established that the officer's conduct violated a constitutional right, qualified immunity is inappropriate.

Harbert International, Inc. v. James

157 F.3d 1271 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Oct 14, 1998

clearly established law. … clearly established law, the doctrine of qualified immunity protects him.

Iko v. Shreve

535 F.3d 225 · Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · Aug 6, 2008

Shreve can still enjoy qualified immunity from suit if he can show that this constitutional right was not clearly established at the time of Iko’s death. … SHREVE pepper spray was clearly established, preventing an award of qualified immunity to Lt. Shreve on the facts before us.11 B.

Robert Wilk v. Dwight Neven

956 F.3d 1143 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Apr 23, 2020

The court held that defendants were entitled to qualified immunity because Wilk’s evidence, even if true, did not establish an Eighth Amendment violation. … Law is “clearly established” for the purposes of qualified immunity if “every reasonable official would have understood that what he is doing violates th[e] right” at issue. Taylor v.

Minpeco, S.A. v. Conticommodity Services, Inc. Nelson Bunker Hunt

844 F.2d 856 · Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit · Apr 19, 1988

BUCKLEY, Circuit Judge: This case presents questions of congressional immunity under the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause. … Thus, the process by which a committee takes statements and prepares them for publication clearly qualifies as an activity “within the ‘legislative sphere.’ ” See also Browning v. Clerk, U.S.

Pickens v. Hollowell

59 F.3d 1203 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Jul 31, 1995

In order for the law to be clearly established for purposes of qualified immunity, "the law must have earlier been developed in such a concrete and factually defined context to make it obvious to all reasonable government … Malley and Garmon clearly establish that a police officer is not protected by qualified immunity if he applies for an arrest warrant where "a reasonably well-trained officer ... would have known that his affidavit failed

Crawford-El v. Britton

523 U.S. 574 · Supreme Court of the United States · May 4, 1998

clearly established law, which is an “essentially legal question.” … The immunity standard in Harlow itself eliminates all motive-based claims in which the official’s conduct did not violate clearly established law.

Estate of Lopez Ex Rel. Lopez v. Gelhaus

871 F.3d 998 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Sep 22, 2017

Step Two—Whether the right was clearly established. … The • court therefore discussed only step two in its separate section on qualified immunity. It concluded that the law was "clearly established” that Gelhaus's conduct was unconstitutional.

C v. Ex Rel. Villegas v. City of Anaheim

823 F.3d 1252 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · May 25, 2016

The panel nevertheless held that defendants were entitled to qualified immunity because it was not clearly established on January 7, 2012, that using deadly force in this situation, even viewed in the light most favorable … Alternatively, the district court held that Bennallack was entitled to qualified immunity because it was not clearly established that his conduct violated the Fourth Amendment.

Matthew Glass v. Allen Kerr

Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · Jan 10, 2023

(on appeal of denial of summary judgment on issue of qualified immunity, this court has jurisdiction to consider abstract issues of law, such as whether right allegedly infringed was clearly established). … of particular conduct was clearly established).

Michael McDonald v. Marico Flake

814 F.3d 804 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Feb 29, 2016

Officer Flake argues that he is entitled to qualified immunity. … Qualified immunity shields government officials in the performance of discretionary functions from standing trial for civil liability unless their actions violate clearly established rights. Harlow v.