Case law

Worley v. Ewing

District Court, S.D. West Virginia · Aug 12, 2020

established right to overcome qualified immunity, purpose rather than knowledge is required...”). … Because Worley’s Amended Complaint fails to state a plausible violation of any clearly established constitutional right by these defendants, I FIND that they are entitled to qualified immunity on Worley’s claims against

Russell v. Butcher

District Court, S.D. West Virginia · Jul 17, 2020

Barring a showing by Plaintiff that Defendants violated a “clearly established right or law” with respect to hiring, training, and developing procedures, Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity on claims involving … ” ; , 556 U.S. at 677 (“[i]n the context of determining whether there is a violation of a clearly established right to overcome qualified immunity, purpose rather than knowledge is required...”).

Fitzpatrick v. McKnight

District Court, S.D. West Virginia · Jul 3, 2025

which could be characterized as fraudulent, malicious, or oppressive,” (ECF No. 15 at 7), but evidently forgot that he is not entitled to qualified immunity if his act was “in violation of clearly established statutory … If the plaintiff demonstrates the violation of a clearly established right or law, the employee is not immune from liability. Jd. at 767.

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)).

Walker v. Donahoe

District Court, S.D. West Virginia · Sep 27, 2019

Qualified immunity protects government officials from civil damages in § 1983 actions “insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would … the qualified immunity analysis.

Durstein v. Alexander

District Court, S.D. West Virginia · Sep 20, 2022

Qualified Immunity Although qualified immunity is expansive, a government official “who performs an act clearly established to be beyond the scope of his discretionary authority … However, “in considering whether constitutional rights were clearly established for qualified-immunity purposes, we view the issue from ‘the layman’s perspective.’” Bland v.

Marcum v. Moles

District Court, S.D. West Virginia · Jul 15, 2022

Qualified immunity is an affirmative defense to Section 1983 that applies when an officer’s “conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights known to … Moles violated Marcum’s Eighth Amendment rights, the court must now resolve whether those rights were “clearly established” sufficiently to defeat Corporal Moles’ raising of qualified

Durstein v. Alexander

District Court, S.D. West Virginia · Dec 13, 2019

Qualified Immunity Although qualified immunity is expansive, a government official “who performs an act clearly established to be beyond the scope of his discretionary authority” is not entitled … Qualified Immunity In contrast to Count One, Count Three involves a public employer’s well-established authority to limit employees’ speech, so qualified immunity applies.

Douglas v. Galloway

568 F. Supp. 966 · District Court, S.D. West Virginia · Jul 25, 1983

The Governor bases his immunity claim on two different doctrines: the qualified immunity accorded state executive officials in § 1983 cases, as enunciated in Harlow v. … If the law was clearly established, the immunity defense ordinarily should fail, since a reasonably competent public official should know the law governing his conduct.

Pethtel v. West Virginia State Police

568 F. Supp. 2d 658 · District Court, N.D. West Virginia · Jul 29, 2008

Qualified immunity is abrogated only upon a showing that the officer’s conduct violated a constitutional right and that such right was clearly established at the time the conduct occurred. Id. … Furthermore, even if the plaintiff had established a constitutional injury, the supervisors are entitled to qualified immunity because, as discussed above, such injury was not clearly established at the time. E.

Better Government Bureau, Inc. v. McGraw

904 F. Supp. 540 · District Court, S.D. West Virginia · Oct 16, 1995

This is so because there is no requirement that the ‘exact right allegedly violated’ be previously ‘specifically recognized by a court’ in order for it [to] be held ‘ “clearly established” for qualified immunity purposes. … established” for qualified immunity purposes, but is also perhaps one of the more well-settled principles of constitutional jurisprudence.

Gant v. United States Probation Office

994 F. Supp. 729 · District Court, S.D. West Virginia · Feb 13, 1998

In contrast to absolute immunity, qualified immunity shields a government official from liability for civil monetary damages if the official’s conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights … First, the court finds that Gant has failed to allege the violation of a clearly" established right.

Gilmore v. Bostic

659 F. Supp. 2d 755 · District Court, S.D. West Virginia · Sep 22, 2009

in a prison’s sex offender treatment program is not clearly established. … immunity from personal liability for official acts if the involved conduct did not violate clearly established laws of which a reasonable official would have known.

Pennington v. Teufel

396 F. Supp. 2d 715 · District Court, N.D. West Virginia · Aug 26, 2005

Because Plaintiffs have not alleged and cannot show that any of these Defendants violated any clearly established federal law, the Court agrees that the individual Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity. … of clearly established law, a defendant pleading qualified immunity is entitled to dismissal before the commencement of discovery’ ”) (quoting Mitchell v.

Finley v. Trent

955 F. Supp. 642 · District Court, N.D. West Virginia · Feb 28, 1997

The Court finds that the right to prompt medical attention for a serious medical need was clearly established in 1994. … Summary judgment based upon qualified immunity is inappropriate “where what actually happened ... need[s] to be resolved by the trier of fact in order to reach a decision on the applicability of qualified immunity.”

Young v. Lacy

District Court, S.D. West Virginia · Sep 28, 2018

See Pearson, 555 U.S. at 243 (holding that “petitioners [were] entitled to qualified immunity because [they] . . . did not violate clearly established law.”). … establish, it is unnecessary for this court to analyze this portion of the qualified immunity inquiry.

Rhodes v. Smithers

939 F. Supp. 1256 · District Court, S.D. West Virginia · Sep 15, 1995

Qualified Immunity. … Qualified Immunity.

Blankenship v. Manchin

410 F. Supp. 2d 483 · District Court, S.D. West Virginia · Jan 18, 2006

Clearly Established Law The question under this second and final step in the qualified immunity analysis is “whether a reasonable [official] could have believed [the challenged conduct] to be lawful, in light of clearly established … It is important to note that the law is clearly established for qualified immunity purposes not only when “the very action in question has previously been held unlawful,” but .also when “pre-existing law” makes the “unlawfulness

Bosley v. Lemmon

656 F. Supp. 2d 582 · District Court, N.D. West Virginia · Aug 31, 2009

Federal Qualified Immunity Standard Qualified immunity shields government officials “insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have … so, whether that constitu *592 tional right is clearly established.

Jones v. Price

696 F. Supp. 2d 618 · District Court, N.D. West Virginia · Mar 17, 2010

Qualified Immunity Price also has argued that good faith qualified immunity shields him from liability in this action because his conduct did not violate a clearly established right held by Jones. … Here, Price has failed to establish that he is shielded by qualified immunity.