Case law

Howlett v. Warren, City of

District Court, E.D. Michigan · Sep 16, 2019

Qualified immunity protects state actors from liability unless they violate “clearly established” federal law at the time they acted. Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818 (1982). … Taking the second qualified immunity question first, Plaintiff had a clearly established constitutional right under the Equal Protection Clause not to be discriminated against by the City on the basis of race

Pachote v. County of Contra Costa

District Court, N.D. California · Nov 3, 2023

Qualified Immunity. 20 Nelson and Thomas also contend that they are entitled to qualified immunity on Pachote’s 21 Section 1983 claims. … The doctrine of “qualified immunity shields individual officers from 22 liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct did not violate clearly established constitutional 23 rights of which a reasonable person

Ochser v. Funk

225 Ariz. 484 · Court of Appeals of Arizona · Sep 28, 2010

Qualified immunity protects government officials from civil liability if a reasonable government official could have believed his actions to be lawful, in the light of clearly established law and the information he possessed … Officials are entitled to the protections of qualified immunity, unless “the law clearly proscribed the actions” that were taken. Mitchell v.

Fort Wayne Community Schools and Jacalyn Butler v. Steffanie Haney, for next friend and minor daughter, M.H.

94 N.E.3d 325 · Indiana Court of Appeals · Feb 5, 2018

And the burden is on the plaintiff to demonstrate the violation of a clearly established right. Id. … immunity because there were clearly established doctrines at the time as to what actions a caseworker must take when conducting an investigation)

Carnell v. Grimm

74 F.3d 977 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Jan 30, 1996

When a law enforcement officer asserts qualified immunity from liability, “the district court must determine whether, in light of clearly established principles governing the conduct in question, the officer objectively could … The second step of analysis for a qualified immunity determination is whether under the clearly established law a reasonable officer could have believed that his conduct was lawful. Act Up!/Portland, 988 F.2d at 871 .

Greg Moore v. Sean Garnand

83 F.4th 743 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Sep 29, 2023

Because Plaintiffs fail to show that Defendants’ conduct violated clearly established law, Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity on the First Amendment claims. … “[I]n the absence of binding precedent, we look to whatever decisional law is available to ascertain whether the law is clearly established for qualified immunity purposes . . . .” Id.

Carrillo v. Rostro

114 N.M. 607 · New Mexico Supreme Court · Aug 28, 1992

Applying this proposition to a request for qualified immunity, we examine whether the opposing party has presented evidence to support a violation of clearly established law, so as to require a trial on the merits. … Finding that plaintiff had this clearly established right, however, does not quite dispose of the qualified-immunity issue in this case, because in order to determine whether defendants unconstitutionally infringed her right

Hydrick v. Hunter

Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Aug 30, 2007

To defeat qualified immunity, “the right allegedly violated must be defined at the appropriate level of specificity before a court can determine if it was clearly established.” Wilson v. … Thus, there are two bodies of law from which we might draw “clearly established” law for qualified immunity pur- poses: first, where the SVPs claim a violation of a right that is clearly established even in the prison context

Gawloski v. Dallman

803 F. Supp. 103 · District Court, S.D. Ohio · Mar 16, 1992

QUALIFIED IMMUNITY Prison officials performing discretionary duties are entitled to qualified immunity if their actions do not violate clearly established constitutional law of which a reasonable prison official would have … Once a defendant raises a qualified immunity argument in a motion for summary judgement, a plaintiff must satisfy a two prong test: “First, the allegations must state a claim of violation of clearly established law.

Fred Watson v. Eddie Boyd, III

2 F.4th 1106 · Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · Jun 30, 2021

or statutory right; and (2) the right was clearly established at the time of the deprivation.’” … Accordingly, because of the district court’s incomplete analysis on both the constitutional violation and clearly established prongs, we can neither affirm nor reverse the denial of qualified immunity.

Brodie Faughn and Billy Colvin v. Alfred Kennedy and Wayne Kennedy

2019 Ark. App. 570 · Court of Appeals of Arkansas · Dec 4, 2019

Qualified immunity protects an officer from liability in an excessive-force case unless the officer’s conduct violates a clearly established constitutional or statutory right of which a reasonable person would have known … The second step of the qualified-immunity inquiry—whether the constitutional or statutory right was clearly established at the time of the defendant’s alleged misconduct— requires the victim to point to a previously decided

Cody Marble v. Heather Smith

687 F. App'x 587 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Apr 18, 2017

Qualified immunity should not be available to Defendant Heather Smith for violating Marble’s clearly established due process right to question the witness upon which the allegation of a parole violation was based. … His clearly established right to a hearing was effectively vitiated. Applying the doctrine of qualified immunity in this situation serves no legitimate purpose.

Dontrell Stephens v. Ric Bradshaw

879 F.3d 1157 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Jan 10, 2018

the allegedly violated right was clearly established by governing case law. … Yet, Deputy Lin would still be entitled to qualified immunity if the law were not clearly established.

Ascent Energy, LLC v. Reach Wireline, LLC

District Court, D. New Mexico · Aug 18, 2021

to dismiss that attack the Court’s jurisdiction or motions for summary judgment which raise qualified immunity, would be contrary to the disfavored status of stays. Id. at 5 (citing New Mexico ex rel. … Courts do routinely stay discovery for summary judgment motions on the basis of qualified immunity, and for motions to dismiss on jurisdictional grounds. See, e.g., Workman v.

Back v. Schrader

Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Aug 11, 2008

But the court denied the defendants’ request for qualified immunity on Back’s political-affiliation claims, holding that Back had adequately alleged a clearly established constitutional violation. … P. 12(b)(6), so we review an assertion of qualified immunity to determine only whether the complaint “adequately alleges the commission of acts that violated clearly established law,” Mitchell v.

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.

Town of Southwest Ranches v. Kalam

980 So. 2d 1121 · District Court of Appeal of Florida · Mar 12, 2008

a clearly established right). … As Kalam’s complaint fails to show that the town officials’ conduct violated his rights in light of clearly established law, the individual defendants are entitled to qualified immunity from suit.

Williams v. Mississippi Department of Public Safety

District Court, S.D. Mississippi · Jul 7, 2025

Reaching only the first element, the Court finds Williams has not sufficiently rebutted qualified immunity “by establishing that [Tindell’s] allegedly wrongful conduct violated clearly established law.” , 117 F.3d … Reaching only the first element, the Court finds Williams has not sufficiently rebutted qualified immunity “by establishing that [Tindell’s] allegedly wrongful conduct violated clearly established law.” , 117 F.3d at 872

the Estate of Emzie Allen, Gloria Brown, Ind., and on Behalf of All Wrongful Death Beneficiaries v. Polly Ryon Hospital Authority D/B/A Polly Ryon Memorial Hospital and Suklesh Dandona, M.D.

Texas Court of Appeals, 1st District (Houston) · Mar 3, 2005

purported expert is qualified. … that the person rendering the opinion . . . is a qualified medical expert.”)

Keith Hardesty v. Waterworks District 4 of Ward

621 F. App'x 771 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Jul 14, 2015

“[A] defendant cannot be said to have violated a clearly established right unless the right’s misconduct through the lens of the “objective reasonableness”/”clearly established law” prong of the qualified immunity analysis … the Board Defendants qualified immunity.