Case law

Schroeder v. Kochanowski

311 F. Supp. 2d 1241 · District Court, D. Kansas · Mar 31, 2004

The defense of qualified immunity shields government officials performing discretionary functions from individual liability under § 1983 unless their conduct violates “clearly established statutory or constitutional rights … reasonable in light of clearly established law.

Pastore v. Catron County Sheriff's Office

District Court, D. New Mexico · Nov 17, 2021

Qualified Immunity The doctrine of qualified immunity protects officials from civil liability as long as they do not “‘violate clearly established statutory or constitutional … Regarding the clearly established law prong of a qualified immunity test, courts must not define the relevant constitutional right “at a high level of generality.” White v.

Fambrough v. City of East Cleveland, Ohio

District Court, N.D. Ohio · Mar 19, 2025

“The doctrine of qualified immunity provides that ‘government officials performing discretionary functions generally are shielded from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established … Although Smedley was not entitled to qualified immunity at the motion to dismiss stage, the record before the Court on summary judgment establishes he is entitled to qualified immunity.

Brown v. Harris 6034

District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania · Mar 2, 2023

Qualified immunity protects officers when the law underlying the alleged violations is not clearly established. … Accordingly, the relevant right was not clearly established and Defendants are shielded by qualified immunity.

STEFANOV v. MCINTYRE

District Court, S.D. Indiana · Feb 14, 2023

"A state official is protected by qualified immunity unless the plaintiff shows: (1) that the official violated a statutory or constitutional right, and (2) that the right was clearly established at the time of the challenged … Stefanov has failed to establish that the constitutional right that he claims was violated was clearly established, Officer McIntyre is entitled to qualified immunity on Mr.

Perkins

District Court, M.D. Alabama · Feb 3, 2026

Qualified Immunity Qualified immunity shields government officials from personal liability “for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established … Thus, Plaintiff also must show that the right allegedly violated by Commissioner Hamm was clearly established to overcome qualified immunity.

The Estate of Roosevelt Holliman v. Turner

District Court, N.D. Mississippi · Feb 10, 2023

constitutional right, and (2) that the right was clearly established at the time of the challenged conduct.” … Once qualified immunity has been “raised as a defense by a defendant, … the plaintiffs have the burden of establishing the proof and arguments necessary to overcome it.” Strickland v. City of Crenshaw, 114 F.

Orona v. Board of Commissioners for Bernalillo County

District Court, D. New Mexico · Feb 21, 2020

Constitutional Violation was Not Clearly Established. Alternatively, the Court concludes that Plaintiffs failed to satisfy their burden on the clearly established prong of qualified immunity. … Here, Defendant Sena-Henderson asserted qualified immunity and specifically the clearly established prong.

Jennings v. Alexander

District Court, D. Maryland · Jul 17, 2025

Qualified Immunity Defendants assert that if Plaintiff has stated a viable claim, they are entitled to qualified immunity because it was not clearly established at the time … established for any future qualified immunity cases involving similar circumstances.”

Gillespie v. Boudreau

District Court, N.D. Illinois · Sep 29, 2025

denied qualified immunity because it was clearly established— as of 1987—that prosecutors violate the Constitution when they fabricate evidence introduced at trial. 682 F.3d at 585–86 (emphasis added); see also Smith v. … clearly establish the right).

J.M. v. Parlier Unified School District

District Court, E.D. California · Nov 10, 2021

Qualified Immunity 14 Qualified immunity applies when an official’s conduct does not violate clearly established 15 statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable … City of Roseville, 882 F.3d 843, 856-57 (9th Cir. 2018) (noting that Ninth Circuit 27 precedent is sufficient to meet the “clearly established” prong of qualified immunity).

Vorobyev v. Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania

District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania · Oct 31, 2022

Moreover, we find that the law was not clearly established at the time of Wolfe’s alleged violative act; therefore, Wolfe is shielded by the doctrine of qualified immunity. … the right was clearly established.

(PC) Rico v. Ducart

District Court, E.D. California · Feb 6, 2020

Qualified Immunity 4 Government officials enjoy qualified immunity from civil damages unless their conduct 5 violates clearly established statutory or constitutional rights … immunity where their conduct did not violate clearly 5 | established law.

Jeffers v. Albright

District Court, S.D. West Virginia · Feb 28, 2023

Thus, if the WVRJCFA is shown to have “violated a clearly established right or law with respect to training, supervision, or retention of [the correctional officer], the WVRJCFA is not entitled to immunity … Va. 2017) (“qualified immunity is broad and protects all but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law” (internal quotation marks and citations omitted)).

Cuomo

District Court, N.D. New York · Mar 24, 2026

Wright, 386 F.3d 432, 434, 436 (2d Cir. 2004) (describing a defendant’s burden of establishing a qualified immunity defense in a Rule 12(b)(6) motion as a “formidable hurdle”). … Sept. 17, 2013) (denying motion to dismiss on qualified immunity grounds where the defendant “only include[d] the legal standard for establishing qualified immunity and, in a conclusory manner, state[d] that the claims

Brown

District Court, E.D. Arkansas · Mar 2, 2026

Ernst, 933 F.3d 975, 979 (8th Cir. 2019); Morgan, 920 F.3d at 523 (in determining whether an officer has qualified immunity, courts must answer whether the officer violated a clearly established right). … For all of these reasons, Brown did not violate Nelson’s clearly established rights.

Chaaban v. City of Detroit

District Court, E.D. Michigan · Sep 2, 2022

On the other hand, the Crawford court held that the general preference to not grant motions to dismiss on qualified immunity “might have more vitality in the clearly established context” where “the application … Indeed, the court stated, “[d]ismissing for qualified immunity on [the clearly established prong] is sometimes difficult because the . . . inquiry may turn on case-specific details that must be fleshed out in discovery.

EFIRD v. ROCKINGHAM COUNTY SHERIFF SAMUEL SCOTT PAGE

District Court, M.D. North Carolina · Mar 31, 2025

Further, under Fourth Circuit precedent, where an officer is denied qualified immunity, he is likewise not entitled to public official immunity. See Bailey v. … Kennedy, 349 F.3d 731, 742 (4th Cir. 2003) (noting that North Carolina public official immunity is “unavailable to officers who violate clearly established rights”); Cooper v.

Dyjak v. Miller

District Court, C.D. Illinois · Mar 29, 2024

and (2) whether the right alleged to have been violated was clearly established. … Liebel, 877 F.3d 346 (7th Cir. 2017) (affirming qualified immunity, and holding that Turner merely creates a generalized framework to analyze claims and cannot create clearly established law

Pretzman v. Mayorkas

District Court, District of Columbia · Aug 20, 2024

“The United States is generally immune from suit unless there is explicit statutory waiver of its sover- eign immunity.” Lewis v. D.C. Police Dep’t, 271 F. … Supp. 3d 18, 23 (D.D.C. 2022) (“The Privacy Act provides a waiver of sovereign immunity, but the waiver is limited in scope: the Act only waives sovereign immunity for ‘actual damages.’ . . .