Case law

Wood v. State of Utah

District Court, D. Utah · Jan 3, 2025

qualified immunity. … Qualified Immunity Qualified immunity shields state officers from civil liability if their conduct “does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights

David Carter v. Timothy Filbeck

821 F.3d 1310 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · May 3, 2016

An official like Filbeck, who asserts entitlement to qualified immunity, must first establish that he was acting within the scope of his discretionary authority. … Overcoming the official’s qualified-immunity defense requires a plaintiff to establish both that the officer’s conduct violated a constitutionally protected right and that the right was clearly established at the time

Wooten v. Campbell

49 F.3d 696 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Apr 6, 1995

Under the qualified immunity standards, Wooten fails to demonstrate that the defendants violated a clearly established right. It was not  I. … Under the qualified immunity defense, the defendants are immune from liability if Wooten's complaint fails to state a violation of a "clearly established statutory or constitutional right[ ] of which a reasonable person

Hamilton

District Court, D. Oregon · Feb 17, 2026

“Qualified immunity attaches when an official’s conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.” White v. … Tucker, 28 F.4th 54, 64 (9th Cir. 2022) (“A government officer is nevertheless entitled to qualified immunity if the plaintiff’s rights were not clearly established at the time of the alleged misconduct.”).

Diane Zion v. Samuel Nassan

556 F. App'x 103 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · Jan 30, 2014

Officials benefit from qualified immunity unless their conduct violates clearly established law. Ashcroft v. al-Kidd, 131 S. Ct. 2074, 2080 (2011). … We must therefore determine whether it was clearly established that if the facts alleged by the plaintiffs are true, the officers’ actions were unconstitutional.

Makris v. Salem, NH

District Court, D. New Hampshire · Oct 29, 1998

established under the Fourth or Fourteenth Amendments, the police officers are entitled to qualified immunity. … Like the Aversa court, this court will bypass the issue of qualified immunity because current law forecloses the claim on the merits, making it unnecessary to engage in qualified immunity analysis. 3.

Nicholas Roberson v. James Torres

770 F.3d 398 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Oct 21, 2014

We have jurisdiction over this question on interlocutory review because it asks whether the facts, as alleged, indicate a violation of clearly established law, such that the denial of qualified immunity was appropriate. … , and (2) whether that right was clearly established.”

Cromer v. Brown

88 F.3d 1315 · Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · Jul 15, 1996

The doctrine of qualified immunity would provide Sheriff Brown, in his individual capacity, with a full defense to Cromer's § 1983 charges if Brown's conduct did not "violate clearly established statu- tory or constitutional … If the law supporting the allegedly violated rights was not clearly established, then immunity must lie.

Springer v. Placer County

338 F. App'x 587 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Jun 18, 2009

We follow a two-pronged approach when analyzing qualified immunity. … Morris confronted that her conduct was unlawful under clearly established law.

Logan Vanderhoef v. Maurice Dixon

938 F.3d 271 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Aug 21, 2019

Dixon Page 2 verdict, ruling that Dixon was entitled to qualified immunity because no clearly established law put him on notice that doing what he did was unconstitutional. … The rights violated must have been clearly established at the time—the second prong of the qualified-immunity analysis. Bletz, 641 F.3d at 750. “Clearly established  No. 18-5993 Vanderhoef v.

Clifford George v. Thomas Edholm

752 F.3d 1206 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · May 28, 2014

The panel further held that the police officers were not entitled to qualified immunity on the Fourth Amendment claim. … Qualified Immunity Even if Officers Freeman and Johnson violated George’s Fourth Amendment rights, they are entitled to qualified immunity if those rights were not “clearly established” at the time of the search.

Sodaro v. City and County of Denver

District Court, D. Colorado · Oct 7, 2024

“Officers named in a § 1983 action may raise a defense of qualified immunity, which shields public officials . . . from damages actions unless their conduct was unreasonable in light of clearly established law.” … Woodward, 912 F.3d 1278, 1299 (10th Cir. 2019) (holding all defendants, including supervisors, were entitled to qualified immunity where Fourth Amendment § 1983 claim failed at clearly established law prong).

Harlow v. Fitzgerald

457 U.S. 800 · Supreme Court of the United States · Jun 24, 1982

On summary judgment, the judge appropriately may determine, not only the currently applicable law, but whether that law was clearly established at the time an action occurred. 32 If the law at that time was not clearly established … If the law was clearly established, the immunity defense ordinarily *819 should fail, since a reasonably competent public official should know the law governing his conduct.

Stoot v. City of Everett

582 F.3d 910 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Sep 18, 2009

We nonetheless affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment to defendants on the Fourth Amendment claim on the basis of qualified immunity, as the pertinent law was not clearly established at the time of the violations … Qualified Immunity Even if Jensen did violate Paul’s Fourth Amendment rights by seizing him without probable cause, Jensen may still be entitled to qualified immunity if his conduct “ ‘[did] not violate clearly established

Watson v. Pearson

338 F. Supp. 3d 711 · District Court, E.D. Tennessee · Sep 6, 2018

Qualified Immunity Qualified immunity protects government officials from liability for civil damages when their conduct does not violate a clearly established statutory or constitutional right. Greer v. … Whether the Rights at Issue Were Clearly Established Although defendants violated plaintiff's Fourth Amendment right, they are entitled to qualified immunity because that right was not clearly established.

Booher v. Wakefield

District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania · Aug 26, 2025

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 … the right was clearly established.

Henderson v. DeRobertis

940 F.2d 1055 · Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · Aug 15, 1991

In its judgment, the district court said it could not “find the right plaintiffs asserted under the facts of this case to have been clearly established in 1982 to remove defendants’ qualified immunity.” … The district judge’s post-verdict finding of a lack of any clearly established constitutional right under the facts of this case was erroneous, as was his resulting grant of the protection of qualified immunity to the defendants

Andrade v. Board of County Commissioners of the County of Bernalillo

District Court, D. New Mexico · Jul 15, 2020

established prong of qualified immunity. … Therefore, Plaintiffs have failed to put forward factually analogous precedent to overcome the clearly established prong of qualified immunity.

Correll Thomas v. C. Dillard

818 F.3d 864 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Apr 5, 2016

Because it was not clearly established at the time, that the perceived domestic violence nature of an investigation was .insufficient to establish reasonable suspicion, however, we hold Dillard is entitled to qualified immunity … He contends it was clearly established that Dillard’s conduct was unconstitutional when the events took place in September 2010, and.Dillard therefore is not entitled to qualified immunity.

Gustafson v. Jones

117 F.3d 1015 · Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · Jun 27, 1997

Public officials performing discretionary functions are entitled to qualified immunity from civil damages “insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory *1021 or constitutional rights of which a … The court’s comments simply noted an undeniable fact about balancing tests, which is that they produce a wide gray area between the clearly legal and the clearly illegal, and the rules of qualified immunity require giving