Case law

John Meyers v. City of Cincinnati, Scott Johnson, Individually and as City Manager David E. Rager, Individually and as Director of Safety

979 F.2d 1154 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Nov 12, 1992

This immunity is premised upon sound policy grounds: where governmental officials have duties that “legitimately require action in which clearly established rights are not implicated, the public interest may be better served … Our reasoning in that opinion establishes that the contours of public employee speech were by no means “clearly established” in early 1988. Rather, we referred to the “current somewhat imprecise standard.”

Kim Brown v. Muhlenberg Township

269 F.3d 205 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · Oct 11, 2001

IV. 65 Let me amplify my earlier analysis explaining the second prong -- the clearly established prong-- of the qualified immunity doctrine. … the clearly established element of the immunity doctrine.

John Leslie Chapman v. Wyoming Department of Corrections, Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution, Robert O. Lampert, Director, Steve Hargett, Warden, Kelli Dolan, CPL Property Officer

2016 WY 5 · Wyoming Supreme Court · Jan 15, 2016

Qualified immunity is applicable unless the official’s conduct violated a clearly established constitutional right. Id., 555 U.S. at 232, 129 S.Ct. at 815-16. … Summary judgment was therefore appropriate. [¶23] Again, using the analysis for qualified immunity above, Chapman fails to show there is clearly established law that would put Cpl.

Engleman v. Adkerson

District Court, N.D. Georgia · Mar 1, 2024

“Qualified immunity offers complete protection for government officials sued in their individual capacities if their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a … Plaintiff devotes no section to her failure-to-intervene claim but simply says Adkerson is not entitled to qualified immunity because it is clearly established that a person cannot be arrested without a

Phillip Fry, Susan Fry v. Olin Melaragno, David W. Otto, Mark Barnes, Mark Pendery

939 F.2d 832 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Jul 29, 1991

Therefore, [u]nless the plaintiff’s allegations state a claim of violation of clearly established law, a defendant pleading qualified immunity is entitled to dismissal before the commencement of discovery.... … Nor do they suggest that Melaragno acted in a way which he should have known was clearly unlawful. Melar-agno is entitled to qualified immunity from suit.

Buonocore v. Harris

134 F.3d 245 · Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · Jan 14, 1998

Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818-19 , 102 S.Ct. 2727, 2738 , 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982), the Supreme Court held that when, as here, the law is clearly established, the qualified immunity defense “ordinarily should fail, since a reasonably … A public official who fails to follow legal advice obviously cannot rely on that advice to establish entitlement to qualified immunity.

Gorman v. Bishop

919 F. Supp. 326 · District Court, W.D. Missouri · Mar 26, 1996

“In other words, to decide whether an official is entitled to qualified immunity, a court must determine whether the official’s action was objectively legally reasonable in light of the legal rules that were clearly established … Accordingly, Bishop is entitled to summary judgment based on qualified immunity. C.

Limone v. Condon

372 F.3d 39 · Court of Appeals for the First Circuit · Jun 14, 2004

Qualified immunity is a judge-made doctrine. … Having erected this straw man, the appellants then shred it: although Brady was decided prior to 1967, they assert that it was not clearly established then (indeed, it may not be clearly established today) that the

Frank Snider, III v. Matthew Peters

752 F.3d 1149 · Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · May 30, 2014

Qualified immunity shields government officials from liability and the burdens of litigation in a § 1983 action unless the official's conduct violates a clearly established constitutional or statutory right of which a reasonable … ; and (2) the right was clearly established at the time of the deprivation."

Smyser v. City of Peoria

215 Ariz. 428 · Court of Appeals of Arizona · Jun 12, 2007

Nothing in Clouse suggests that the legislature had authority to grant either absolute or qualified immunity only to the state; clearly, the opinion upholds the legislature’s authority with respect to “public entities and … He noted that "common law immunity of the state’s subgovernmental units was not recognized or established *434 for all units or for all purposes.

Jerry Hollingsworth and Kenneth Anderson v. Kim Hackler, Individually and as Next Friend for C. H., a Minor, and Steve Hackler, Individually and as Next Friend for C. H., a Minor

Texas Court of Appeals, 2nd District (Fort Worth) · Dec 31, 2009

of qualified immunity shields an official performing discretionary functions from individual liability for civil damages under ' 1983 if the official = s A conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional … = s conduct violated a clearly established statutory or constitutional right. [18] A right is A clearly established @ when its contours are A sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what he is

Thompson v. Grida

656 F.3d 365 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Sep 8, 2011

Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 202 (2001) (“The relevant, dispositive inquiry in determining whether a right is clearly established is whether it would be clear to a reasonable officer that his conduct was unlawful in the situation … Appellants cite a number of cases to support their qualified immunity argument that the right not to be arrested in the circumstances presented in this case is not clearly established.

Parker v. Board Of Regents Of Tulsa Junior College

981 F.2d 1159 · Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit · Dec 17, 1992

Id.; Patrick, 953 F.2d at 1243 . 10 Once a defendant asserts qualified immunity, "[t]he plaintiff carries the burden of convincing the court that the law was clearly established." … Accordingly, they maintain that plaintiff's action is barred by the doctrine of qualified immunity. 14 To determine whether plaintiff's action is barred by qualified immunity, we first consider whether she was deprived of

Braxton v. Matthews

883 F. Supp. 1068 · District Court, W.D. Virginia · Apr 28, 1995

QUALIFIED IMMUNITY Next the Court must examine whether Defendant is protected from suit by the doctrine of qualified immunity. In Wiley v. … if the officer’s ‘conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.’

Sarah Doe v. Jerald Neveleff

751 F.3d 383 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · May 6, 2014

“[E]valuating qualified immunity is a two-step process, and the burden is on the plaintiff to prove that a government official is not entitled to qualified immunity.” Wyatt v. … Even if we were to construe the Fifth Amendment to extend so far, no established authority at the time of the assaults would have enabled Plaintiffs to overcome qualified immunity.

Moore v. Evans

124 N.C. App. 35 · Court of Appeals of North Carolina · Oct 15, 1996

Generally, qualified immunity protects public officials from personal liability for performing discretionary functions to the extent that such conduct “ ‘does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights … In order to establish the existence of an official’s right to the defense of qualified immunity, one must (1) identify the specific right allegedly violated; (2) determine whether that right was clearly established; and (

Nelson v. Correctional Medical Services

583 F.3d 522 · Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · Oct 2, 2009

immunity, arguing their actions did not violate any of Nelson’s clearly established constitutional rights. … Qualified immunity may protect government officials from liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 , but not if their conduct violated “clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have

Boyer v. Mohring

994 F. Supp. 2d 649 · District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania · Jan 10, 2014

‘clearly established’ at the time of the challenged conduct.” … was clearly established at the time of the challenged conduct.

Richard

District Court, D. Connecticut · Dec 31, 2025

immunity. … Hollins, 297 F.3d 108, 113 n.1 (2d Cir. 2002) (Once a court “decide[s] that there is no constitutional violation, there typically is no need to address whether defendants are also protected by qualified immunity.”).

Yeasin v. Durham

224 F. Supp. 3d 1194 · District Court, D. Kansas · Dec 1, 2016

plaintiff shows (1) the defendant’s violation of a constitutional right; and (2) that the right the official violated was “clearly established” at the time of the challenged conduct. 35 Accordingly, the qualified immunity … immunity from a claim of a First Amendment violation as such rights were not clearly established); Bell v.