Case law

Abilio Hernandez v. Jason Boles

949 F.3d 251 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Jan 30, 2020

We therefore turn to whether the law was clearly established. 2. Clearly Established Right This brings us to the clearly-established prong of the qualified immunity inquiry. … But, to overcome qualified immunity, the clearly established law must be specific enough “to put a reasonable officer on notice that the conduct at issue was unconstitutional.” Lewis, 779 F.3d at 417.

Jacob Doe v. The University of North Carolina System

133 F.4th 305 · Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · Apr 4, 2025

The two-part qualified immunity inquiry is well-settled. … We agree with the employee defendants that a right to cross-examination in this context has not, up to this point, been clearly enough established to deny them the protection of qualified immunity.

D.Z. Ex Rel. Thompson v. Buell

796 F.3d 749 · Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · Aug 6, 2015

Qualified Immunity “Qualified immunity protects public officials from liability for damages if their actions did not violate clearly established rights of which a reasonable person would have known.” … Neither party disputes that D.Z.’s constitutional right to be free from unreasonable seizure was clearly established at the time of the incident.

Wernecke v. Garcia

452 F. App'x 479 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Nov 7, 2011

Qualified immunity shields from civil liability government officials performing discretionary functions “insofar as them conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable … that right was clearly established.

Davis v. Holly

835 F.2d 1175 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Dec 30, 1987

Davis to have been clearly established in this jurisdiction. … Fitzgerald teaches that if a qualified-immunity defense is to be defeated on the ground that the constitutional violation was obvious, the constitutional rights in question must have been “clearly established” and must have

Howell v. Smith

853 F.3d 892 · Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · Apr 10, 2017

Qualified immunity shields federal and state officials from money damages unless a plaintiff demonstrates that the official violated a statutory or constitutional right and that the right was “clearly established” at the … established law.”

Kim Shultz v. Bryan Buchanan

829 F.3d 943 · Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · Jul 19, 2016

To defeat qualified immunity, the evidence must support a finding that Buchanan violated a clearly established constitutional right. … The entry thus did not violate Shultz’s clearly established rights.

Dennis J. Domegan v. Michael v. Fair

859 F.2d 1059 · Court of Appeals for the First Circuit · Oct 20, 1988

The defense is unavailable when an official has violated a “clearly established” right. Harlow, 457 U.S. at 819 , 102 S.Ct. at 2738 . … If plaintiff’s right to be free from the claimed harm was clearly established — and in this case, we think that is so — then the defendants do not enjoy Harlow immunity. See, e.g., Bonitz, 804 F.2d at 166-68 .

LSO, Ltd. v. Stroh

205 F.3d 1146 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Mar 6, 2000

Once the defense of qualified immunity is raised by the defendant, the plaintiff bears the burden of showing that the rights allegedly violated were “clearly established.” See Shoshone-Bannock Tribes v. … Thus, LSO’s right was “clearly established.” 3.

Michael Sheets v. Ozean Moore

97 F.3d 164 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Oct 4, 1996

The court also refused to grant qualified immunity, concluding that at the time Moore rejected plaintiffs mail, plaintiffs right to receive such mail was clearly established. … A state official is entitled to qualified immunity to the extent that his conduct “does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.” Harlow v.

Mary Lois Tillman v. Edward Coley, Jr., Individually and in His Official Capacity as Sheriff of Bleckley County, Ga.

886 F.2d 317 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Oct 18, 1989

The court reviews a district court’s denial of a summary judgment motion based on qualified immunity de novo. Waldrop v. Evans, 871 F.2d 1030 (11th Cir.1989). Qualified immunity is defined in Harlow v. … Sheriff Coley concedes that clearly established law requires probable cause to support an arrest, but he argues that the doctrine of qualified immunity shields government officials from civil liability “as long as their actions

Katherine Reynolds v. City of Anchorage, Leslie Watson, Jefferson County Officer

379 F.3d 358 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Aug 9, 2004

Under 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 or constitutional … Fitzgerald, Mitchell [was] immune unless his actions violated clearly established law.”).

Molina-Gomes v. Welinski

676 F.3d 1149 · Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · Apr 30, 2012

Qualified immunity protects government officials from liability under § 1983 unless their conduct violates "clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." Hope v. … The test for whether an officer is entitled to qualified immunity depends on: (1) whether the facts alleged by the plaintiff make out a violation of a constitutional right, and (2) whether that right was clearly established

D'Aguanno v. Gallagher

50 F.3d 877 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Mar 29, 1995

Therefore, to overcome defendants’ qualified immunity defense, plaintiffs must establish that defendants’ conduct violated “‘clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known … To overcome the qualified immunity defense, citing precedent which establishes a general right will not do.

Barham v. Salazar

556 F.3d 844 · Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit · Feb 20, 2009

United States, “[qualified immunity protects government officials ‘from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person … If that question is answered in the affirmative, the court then asks whether the constitutional right was clearly established. Ramsey, 434 F.3d at 572 (citing Saucier, 533 U.S. at 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151 ).

Billingsley v. St. Louis County

70 F.3d 61 · Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · Nov 14, 1995

It held that government officials are generally immune from suit in performing discretionary duties if “their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would … Accordingly, we cannot say that defendants should have known they were violating a clearly established right.

Estate of Young v. Martin

70 F. App'x 256 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Jun 26, 2003

of clearly established law.” … Thus, it is taught that the “threshold inquiry a court must undertake in a qualified immunity analysis is whether [the] plaintiffs allegations, if true, establish a constitutional violation.” 1 Hope v.

Ronnie Lee McKnight v. John Rees, Daryll Richardson and John Walker

88 F.3d 417 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Jul 10, 1996

After reviewing the two lines of cases discussed supra, the Williams court held that “[t]he instant case clearly falls within the class of cases in which qualified immunity may be raised by a private defendant.” … The court believed that the fact that the defendant was “performing duties that would otherwise have to be performed by a public official who would clearly have qualified immunity” weighed in favor of granting qualified immunity

Cohn v. New Paltz Central School District

171 F. App'x 877 · Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit · Mar 3, 2006

not clearly established as of April 2001, must fail. … Specifically, Derry asserts that “it cannot be reasonably argued that it was clearly established in April of 2001 (pre-Neilson) that ... the comparators were ... similarly situated to the respondent and that the decision

Myers v. Oklahoma County Board of County Commissioners

80 F.3d 421 · Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit · Apr 1, 1996

In their summary judgment motions, defendants asserted their defense of qualified immunity. … right that was allegedly violated was “clearly established.”