Case law

Powell v. Georgia Department of Human Resources

114 F.3d 1074 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · May 29, 1997

In order to strip the appellees of their qualified immunity defense, Powell must demonstrate that the appellees violated clearly established constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known. … Because the appellees have invoked the defense of qualified immunity, Powell must prove a violation of a clearly established constitutional right.

Bartlett v. City of Winona

District Court, N.D. Mississippi · Sep 11, 2024

on violations of clearly established law. … This court is far from alone in expressing concerns regarding the qualified immunity doctrine, in particular its “clearly established” prong.

Sykes v. Rutgers

308 N.J. Super. 265 · New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division · Feb 23, 1998

We need not grapple with this issue because we have concluded that regardless of Rutgers’ entitlement to Tort Claims Act immunity, it is clearly entitled to the common law immunity established in Miehl v. … In the absence of a clearly established landlord-tenant relationship, our courts have previously rejected attempts by slip and fall plaintiffs to classify a particular public entity as akin to a commercial landlord in order

Micah Jessop v. City of Fresno

936 F.3d 937 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Sep 4, 2019

Assuming that to be true, however, the City Officers are entitled to qualified immunity because that right was not clearly established. … As the panel opinion acknowledges, the lack of clearly established law at the time of the incident compels the conclusion that the City Officers are entitled to qualified immunity.

Wren v. Towe

130 F.3d 1154 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Dec 30, 1997

Qualified immunity shields government officials performing discretionary functions from personal civil liability "insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory … There is a two-step analysis for determining the existence of qualified immunity. First, has a clearly established constitutional right been violated? Mangieri v.

Bruning v. Pixler

949 F.2d 352 · Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit · Nov 15, 1991

Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800 , 102 S.Ct. 2727 , 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982), the Court adopted an objective standard for qualified immunity. … that law was clearly established when the alleged violation occurred.”

Spencer v. Pistorius

605 F. App'x 559 · Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · Mar 25, 2015

Beyond this, the court added, the undisputed evidence establishes that the two officers had acted reasonably and thus were entitled to qualified immunity. II. … As a fallback these defendants invoke qualified immunity, but their argument is feeble.

Ramirez v. Escajeda

District Court, W.D. Texas · May 31, 2022

’s conduct was, “as a matter of law,” “objectively unreasonable in light of clearly established law,” Cantrell, 666 F.3d at 921; Kinney v. … Bay City, Tex., 227 F.3d 316, 320–24 (5th Cir. 2000) (addressing whether there was clearly-established law). But see Colston v.

Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission v. Bowen

410 Md. 287 · Court of Appeals of Maryland · Aug 26, 2009

Although Dawkins did not expressly delineate legislative immunity, such immunity claims clearly fall within the language in Dawkins of “any other type of immunity.” … When a qualified immunity claim is not defeated by malice or some other factor which might defeat qualified immunity, the two types of immunity claims are the same and are reviewable on appeal from an adverse final judgment

Kimberlin, Brett C. v. Quinlan, Michael J.

207 F.3d 667 · Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit · Dec 28, 1999

qualified immunity issue. … to qualified immunity.

Jennifer Johnson v. Joe Phillips

664 F.3d 232 · Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · Dec 22, 2011

In determining whether a government official is entitled to qualified immunity, we ask (1) whether the facts alleged establish a violation of a constitutional or statutory right and (2) whether that right was clearly established … Holloway, 316 F.3d 777 (8th Cir. 2003), this court held that an official acting outside the clearly established “scope of his discretionary authority is not entitled to claim qualified immunity under § 1983.”

People of Michigan v. Dametrius Benjamin Posey

Michigan Supreme Court · Jul 31, 2023

immunity rather than complete immunity applies where the prosecutor is acting as a police officer and not in the role of an advocate) (quotation marks and citation omitted). … The lead opinion does not address this important qualifier.

David Hopper v. Phil Plummer

887 F.3d 744 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Apr 12, 2018

Qualified immunity shields public officials from civil liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 unless their actions violate clearly established rights “of which a reasonable person would have known.” Harlow v. … was clearly established at the time of the challenged conduct.”

Robert Anthony Carter v. Gary L. Johnson, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division

110 F.3d 1098 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Apr 9, 1997

Therefore, the determination of the state court represented neither an unreasonable interpretation of the facts nor an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law. V. … Mindful that we must honor this determination unless it constitutes an “unreasonable application” of clearly established federal law, we conclude that Carter’s confession was voluntary.

Rocky Lynn Thompson v. Timothy Zimmerman and D.F. Peninger, Benton County Jailors, in Their Official and Individual Capacities

350 F.3d 734 · Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · Dec 1, 2003

We further conclude that the constitutional right asserted by Thompson — the right to be free from excessive force — was clearly established on the date of Thompson’s arrest and alleged beating. See Guite v. … Accordingly, we reverse the district court’s grant of summary judgment based on qualified immunity, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Hunter v. Smith

District Court, E.D. Texas · Aug 14, 2025

As plaintiff failed to present competent summary-judgment evidence showing that defendants violated a clearly established constitutional right, the magistrate judge found that defendants were entitled to qualified … Fite, 47 F.4th 402, 408 (5th Cir. 2022) (granting qualified immunity when plaintiff “fails to iden- tify a single case to support” a clearly established right (quotation marks omitted)).

STILE v. HOLLINGSWORTH

District Court, D. New Jersey · Jan 29, 2021

assuming Plaintiff’s allegations to be true and determining whether the claim was supported by clearly established law. … Ed. 2d 463 (2017) (explaining that clearly established law, for purposes of qualified immunity, must make apparent the unlawfulness of the conduct that violates the Constitution).

Henry v. Purnell

Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · Sep 24, 2010

PURNELL may propound clearly established law for purposes of deter- mining qualified immunity. … clearly established.

Anderson v. Creighton

483 U.S. 635 · Supreme Court of the United States · Jun 25, 1987

action is a violation) violates a clearly established right. … As we noted before, Harlow clearly expressed the understanding that the general principle of qualified immunity it established would be applied “across the board.”

Kenneth L. Erickson v. United States of America Bryon Simon Douglas Hebert Kenneth Ingleby Charles Hill

976 F.2d 1299 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Oct 7, 1992

In addition, the individually named defendants would be qualifiedly immune as there was no clearly established constitutional principle prohibiting the acts alleged by the plaintiff.” … We have divided the qualified immunity analysis into three inquiries: (1) the identification of the specific right allegedly violated; (2) the determination of whether that right was so “clearly established” as to alert a