Case law

Cheryl James v. Wilkes Barre City

700 F.3d 675 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · Nov 29, 2012

III The doctrine of qualified immunity insulates government officials who are performing discretionary functions ―from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory … The Supreme Court has established a two-part analysis that governs whether an official is entitled to qualified immunity. Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 201 (2001).

Price v. Federal Express Corp.

283 F.3d 715 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Mar 12, 2002

Second, he argues that by presenting evidence that he is clearly better qualified than Paone, he has effectively established pretext. … clearly))more qualified for the subject job.”

Margheim v. Buljko

855 F.3d 1077 · Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit · Apr 28, 2017

clearly established law.” … Having established that Mr. Margheim failed to make out a constitutional violation, we need not address the clearly established law inquiry of the qualified immunity analysis.

Edwards v. Oliver

31 F.4th 925 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Apr 19, 2022

“But, to overcome qualified immunity, the plaintiff’s version of those disputed facts must also constitute a violation of clearly established law.” Id. … And even putting all of this aside, one central problem remains: To overcome qualified immunity, Plaintiffs (and the panel majority) must demonstrate that the constitutional violation here was clearly established.

Belsito Communications, Inc. v. Decker

845 F.3d 13 · Court of Appeals for the First Circuit · Dec 23, 2016

ISSUES INVOLVING BLACKDEN On the qualified-immunity front, our combatants battle over whether Trooper Decker violated clearly-established Fourth- and First-Amendment law. … At qualified-immunity's second step, Blackden must show that clearly-established law in August 2010 would have put Trooper Decker on clear notice of his potential First-Amendment liability.

Matthews v. Leflore County, Mississippi

District Court, N.D. Mississippi · Sep 19, 2025

Clifton, 29 F.3d 1012, 1015 (5th Cir. 1994) (holding that law enforcement officers are entitled to qualified immunity “unless it is shown that, at the time of the incident, [the officer] violated a clearly established constitutional … Particularly considering that this case involves the invocation of a qualified immunity defense, the Court finds it appropriate to avoid attempting to piece together Matthews’ contentions.

Brent K. Hansen v. John Soldenwagner Raymond Malecki John Puleo, City of Sunrise

19 F.3d 573 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Apr 21, 1994

QUALIFIED IMMUNITY Qualified immunity protects government officials performing discretionary functions from civil liability if their conduct violates no “clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable … Here, as in all qualified immunity cases, the question is fact specific: in April 1990, was it clearly established in this circuit that it was unconstitutional for police officials to investigate and to suspend an officer

Estate of Miller, Ex Rel. Bertram v. Tobiasz

680 F.3d 984 · Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · May 24, 2012

Qualified immunity protects government officials from individual liability for actions taken while performing discretionary functions, unless their conduct violates clearly established statutory or con *989 stitutional rights … qualified immunity analysis; that the constitutional right must be clearly established.

Reichle v. Howards

566 U.S. 658 · Supreme Court of the United States · Jun 4, 2012

Judge Paul Kelly dissented from the court’s denial of qualified immunity. … S. 223, 236 (2009), we held that courts may grant qualified immunity on the ground that a purported right was not “clearly established” by prior case law, without resolving the often more difficult question whether the purported

Jean v. Collins

221 F.3d 656 · Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · Aug 15, 2000

Johnson, A., Aplt. v. Wetzel, J.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · Oct 1, 2020

“The doctrine of 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 … Rickard, 572 U.S. 765, 778 (2014) (“An official sued under § 1983 is entitled to qualified immunity unless it is shown that the official violated a statutory or constitutional right that was clearly established at the

Geils v. Patin

941 F. Supp. 2d 722 · District Court, N.D. Texas · Sep 25, 2012

Qualified Immunity Under the doctrine of qualified immunity, “government officials performing discretionary functions generally are shielded from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly … The clearly established requirement “does not mean that officials’ conduct is protected by qualified immunity unless the very action in question has previously been held unlawful.” Cantrell v.

Via, Tonisha v. LaGrand, Sandra

Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · Nov 17, 2006

See Jones, 425 F.3d at 460 (holding that a defendant is entitled to qualified immunity if the alleged constitutional right was not clearly established at the time of the alleged violation). … was not yet clearly established at the time of the investigation of Via.”

Martinez v. Texas Workforce Commission-Civil Rights Division

775 F.3d 685 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Dec 30, 2014

We have held that a plaintiff may establish pretext by demonstrating that he was “clearly better qualified” such that “the qualifications are so widely disparate that no reasonable employer would have made the same decision … Indeed, an employee’s “better education, work experience, and longer tenure with the company do not establish that he is clearly better qualified.” Price, 283 F.3d at 723.

Reverend Stephen Jarrard v. Sheriff of Polk County

115 F.4th 1306 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Sep 16, 2024

established” to over- come their qualified-immunity defense. … Hartop, 992 F.3d 492, 504–17 (6th Cir. 2021), but that case cannot clearly establish the law in this Circuit for purposes of qualified immunity. Gilmore, 111 F.4th at 1135–36.

Denno v. School Board of Volusia County

182 F.3d 780 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Jul 26, 1999

QUALIFIED IMMUNITY FOR THE INDIVIDUAL DEFENDANTS Qualified immunity shields government officials from both suit and liability if their conduct violates no clearly established right of which a reasonable person would … As indicated in our elaboration above of the qualified immunity standard, pre-existing law must clearly establish the alleged constitutional right.

Riggins v. Goodman

572 F.3d 1101 · Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit · Jul 10, 2009

Cline, 519 F.3d 1090, 1092 (10th Cir. 2008) (explaining that qualified immunity shields officials from damages actions unless their conduct was unreasonable in light of clearly established law). … clearly established constitutional rights.

David C. Skrtich v. Timothy Alvin Thornton

280 F.3d 1295 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Jan 29, 2002

Qualified immunity protects government officials acting within their discretionary functions from liability for civil damages as long as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights … Layne, 526 U.S. 603, 615 , 119 S.Ct. 1692 , 143 L.Ed.2d 818 (1999) (" 'clearly established' ” for purposes of qualified immunity does not mean that “ 'an official action is protected by qualified immunity unless the very

Shane Horton v. City of Santa Maria

915 F.3d 592 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Feb 1, 2019

CITY OF SANTA MARIA to qualified immunity so that “[g]oing forward, . . . the law is clearly established in this scenario”). … We therefore confine our inquiry to the second qualified immunity prong — whether the constitutional right at issue was “clearly established” at the time of the alleged violation. B.

Makin v. Colorado Department of Corrections

183 F.3d 1205 · Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit · Jul 12, 1999

Defendants contend they are entitled to qualified immunity because at the time of the relevant events, there was no clearly established law, that is, Supreme Court or Tenth Circuit authority, “which sets forth the parameters … City , 879 F.2d 706, 729 n.37 (10th Cir. 1989) (“[S]tructuring the inquiry [into what right must be clearly established] too narrowly would render the defense [of qualified immunity] available to all public officials except