Case law

Thomas Wilkinson, Benjamin Wilkinson, by Next Friend Thomas Wilkinson and Jonathan Wiegand v. Caroline S. Russell, James Adams and Gerald Jeffords

182 F.3d 89 · Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit · Jun 17, 1999

Under the Vermont qualified immunity standard, then, Russell is entitled to qualified immunity in her communications with Shanley unless Russell reasonably should have known that those communications violated clearly established … In the event that this threshold determination reveals a possible constitutional violation, “ ‘[a] qualified immunity defense is established if (a) the defendant’s action did not violate clearly established law, or (b) it

Harris County, Texas G. Young D. Gehring and J. Cavitt v. Shirley Nagel, Individually and as Representative of the Estate of Joel Don Casey

Texas Court of Appeals, 14th District (Houston) · Aug 25, 2011

Identification of the clearly established law is not a question of fact to be established by evidence. … This would not be qualified immunity, but absolute immunity.

Farrington v. Poole

Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit · Aug 6, 2026

Qualified Immunity “Qualified immunity shields government officials from liability for civil damages if ‘their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable … Second, the doctrine of qualified immunity required the district court to apply only clearly established law to the defendants’ conduct.

African Trade & Information Center, Inc., Mohamoud D. Ahmed, and Alan W. Gates v. James F. Abromaitis

294 F.3d 355 · Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit · May 23, 2002

The First Amendment Claim The doctrine of qualified immunity shields government officials from liability for civil damages when their conduct does not violate “clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which … Even if a district court decision could “establish” a right for the purpose of the qualified immunity inquiry, A.F.C.

Phyllis J. May v. City of Nahunta, Georgia

846 F.3d 1320 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Jan 19, 2017

In evaluating a government actor’s entitlement to qualified immunity, the Supreme Court has developed an objective-reasonableness test wherein “the official’s actions must be evaluated against ‘clearly established law,’ … Second, we determine whether that right was clearly established at the time of alleged conduct. Id.

Picariello v. Commonwealth

54 Pa. Commw. 252 · Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania · Oct 15, 1980

However, plaintiff’s complaint clearly contradicts that claim, by alleging that the Secretary acted as a Commonwealth agent. 6 The guidelines established in DuBree v. … Defendant shall file an answer, possibly with new matter addressing the issue of qualified official immunity, if desired.

Sheryl J. Howard v. Jan Dickerson, and Charles Milton, Keith Purdue

34 F.3d 978 · Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit · Sep 7, 1994

The Martin court upheld the denial of qualified immunity because Garcia clearly established pretrial detainees share the same protection from deliberate indifference to serious medical needs as convicted inmates. … When a defendant raises the issue of qualified immunity on a summary judgment motion, the plaintiff must demonstrate the alleged conduct constituted a violation of law and the law was clearly established at the time of the

Ruttenberg v. Jones

464 F. Supp. 2d 536 · District Court, E.D. Virginia · Dec 13, 2006

Thus, a defendant’s entitlement to qualified immunity must be resolved “at the earliest possible stage in litigation.” Id. The Supreme Court has established a two-part qualified immunity inquiry. … Meeker, 415 F.3d at 320 ("Only if a plaintiff alleges the violation of a clearly established constitutional right does his complaint survive a motion to dismiss on qualified immunity grounds.”).

Jamila Russell v. Superior Court of the Virgin I

905 F.3d 239 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · Sep 25, 2018

plead a violation of clearly established law. … the right at issue was “clearly established” at the time of the defendant’s alleged misconduct.’”

Suboh v. District Attorney's Office

298 F.3d 81 · Court of Appeals for the First Circuit · Aug 1, 2002

The district court then concluded that Murphy was not protected by qualified immunity because Suboh's claim "lies at the core" of a clearly established right to familial integrity, id. at 140, and that, as the case was … not clearly established at the time.

Baptiste v. MacDonald, et al.

2017 DNH 140 · District Court, D. New Hampshire · Jul 17, 2017

Baptiste’s Objection Based on the facts alleged in the complaint and the defendants’ motion to dismiss, the court concluded that the defendants were entitled to qualified immunity because there was no case that established … More importantly, in the context of qualified immunity from liability for an alleged constitutional violation, corrections officers are protected unless they violated an inmate’s clearly established 2 Baptiste mistakenly

Sudler v. City of New York

689 F.3d 159 · Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit · Aug 7, 2012

Qualified Immunity 4 Qualified immunity protects government officials from liability where the 5 officials’ conduct was not in violation of a “clearly established” constitutional right. 6 See, e.g., Doninger … it is “‘clearly established’ in the qualified immunity context, which governs the conduct 18 of government officials who are likely neither lawyers nor legal scholars.” 616 F.3d 19 100, 106 (2d Cir. 2010).

Bates v. Harvey

518 F.3d 1233 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Mar 4, 2008

immunity from this claim because the law was clearly established that he could not enter Mrs. … . . can clearly establish the law.”

Hansen v. Town of Smithtown

342 F. Supp. 3d 275 · District Court, E.D. New York · Oct 24, 2018

City of New York , 45 F.3d 653 , 663 (2d Cir. 1995) (noting that under qualified immunity, "a government official may claim immunity from suit only when in light of clearly established law and the information the official … The Supreme Court has explained that "officers are entitled to qualified immunity under § 1983 unless (1) they violated a federal statutory or constitutional right, and (2) the unlawfulness of their conduct was 'clearly established

Garrett Brock Trapnell v. George Ralston J.A. O'Brien Joseph Petrowkey and A.W. Bayles

819 F.2d 182 · Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · May 18, 1987

On the other hand, if a defendant’s conduct 1 violated clearly established constitutional or statutory rights of which a reasonable person would have known, the defendant is not shielded by qualified immunity. … Accordingly, appellants are shielded by qualified immunity from the burden of defending appellee’s procedural due process claim.

Lopez v. Robinson

914 F.2d 486 · Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · Sep 17, 1990

the qualified immunity inquiry. … The prison officials are entitled to qualified immunity from this claim.

Douglas v. Condon

419 F.3d 1097 · Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit · Aug 16, 2005

The district court found that no clearly established Fourth Amendment right had been violated by ADA Dobbs in the search of Douglas’s prescription records and that qualified immunity applied. … 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 established statutory

Francine Solomon v. Auburn Hills Police Department, a Municipal Corporation, Officer David Miller

389 F.3d 167 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Nov 10, 2004

Kiefer, 310 F.3d 937, 944 (6th Cir.2002) (recognizing that “right to be free from ‘excessively forceful handcuffing’ is a clearly established right for qualified immunity purposes”); Turek v. … Constitutional Right Clearly Established Once a potential violation of a plaintiffs constitutional right has been established, we next decide whether that right was clearly established.

McGowan v. United States

825 F.3d 118 · Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit · Jun 7, 2016

The issue of qualified immunity was presented in the district court, has been fully briefed on appeal, and turns on *124 the purely legal question of whether McGowan alleged a violation of a clearly established right. … Thus, in light of the absence of authority clearly establishing the claimed right, we are constrained to hold that Rivers is entitled to qualified immunity from McGowan’s Bivens claim.

Dickerson v. Mertz

547 N.W.2d 208 · Supreme Court of Iowa · Apr 17, 1996

agents] from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known....” … Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640-41 , 107 S.Ct. 3034, 3039-40 , 97 L.Ed.2d 523, 531-32 (1987) (concluding federal bureau of investigation agent is entitled to qualified immunity from money damages lawsuit if he can establish