Case law

Frias v. Demings

823 F. Supp. 2d 1279 · District Court, M.D. Florida · Oct 14, 2011

Qualified Immunity Qualified immunity protects government officials performing discretionary functions from individual liability as long as their conduct does not violate “clearly established statutory or constitutional rights … The second step in determining whether qualified immunity applies is whether the law was “clearly established.” Gonzalez, 325 F.3d at 1234 .

Greene v. Knight

564 F. Supp. 2d 604 · District Court, N.D. Texas · Jan 29, 2008

demonstrating that the official’s conduct violated clearly established law. … Conversely, an official’s conduct is not protected by qualified immunity if, in light of clearly established pre-existing law, it was apparent the conduct, when undertaken, would be a violation of the right at issue.

Megan McGuire v. Cory Cooper

952 F.3d 918 · Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · Mar 6, 2020

“Summary judgment ‘determinations are appealable when they resolve a dispute concerning an abstract issue of law relating to qualified immunity–typically, the issue whether the federal right allegedly infringed was clearly … Qualified immunity is a doctrine that “shields a government official from liability unless his conduct violates ‘clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.’”

Omar v. Casterline

288 F. Supp. 2d 775 · District Court, W.D. Louisiana · Sep 11, 2003

In considering the defendants’ qualified immunity claim, we must remain cognizant of the fact that the “qualified ... immunity doctrine was established to reconcile two competing interests. … that the official’s actions violated clearly established federal law.

COWAN v. SCHARFENBERG

District Court, D. New Jersey · Aug 4, 2025

Div. 2024). 20 Defendants argue that qualified immunity also bars Plaintiffs’ malicious prosecution claim. … Evanson, 615 F.3d 197, 223 (3d Cir. 2010) (stating that the defendant bears “[t]he burden of establishing entitlement to qualified immunity”). 28 future event . . .

Lawmaster v. Ward

125 F.3d 1341 · Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit · Sep 18, 1997

violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." … We would be placing an impracticable burden on plaintiffs if we required them to cite to a factually identical case before determining they showed the law was "clearly established" and cleared the qualified immunity hurdle

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.

Andrade v. Board of County Commissioners

Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit · May 3, 2021

Where, as here, the defendants have asserted a qualified-immunity defense, the plaintiffs must show “(1) that the official violated a statutory or constitutional right, and (2) that the right was clearly established at … to qualified immunity.”

Ajala v. Tom

658 F. App'x 805 · Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · Jul 22, 2016

shown that their conduct violated clearly established law in 2007. … On appeal Ajala argues that the district court erred in granting qualified immunity to the Defendants because, he says, it was clearly established by 2007 that using restraints to inflict prolonged, unnecessary pain on a

RITSCHEL v. City of Fountain Valley

40 Cal. Rptr. 3d 48 · California Court of Appeal · Feb 28, 2006

Here, the court had heard the bulk of the evidence during the qualified immunity defense phase. … When a court determines “no constitutional right would have been violated were the allegations established, there is no necessity for further inquiries concerning qualified immunity.” (Ibid.)

David H. Haynes v. City of Circleville, Ohio

474 F.3d 357 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Jan 25, 2007

Qualified immunity When government officials are performing discretionary functions, their actions are generally, shielded from civil liability as long as their conduct “does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional … Haynes is a fortiori unable to satisfy the second prong of the qualified-immunity analysis — that the constitutional right was clearly established. C.

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.

Lassiter v. Alabama A & M University, Board of Trustees

3 F.3d 1482 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Oct 7, 1993

Since the contract was ambiguous, the court reasoned, it was not clearly established that the contract created a property interest. This decision reflects a misunderstanding of qualified immunity. … Because the law was clearly established, the qualified immunity doctrine cannot shield the individual capacity defendants from suit.

Pahls v. Thomas

718 F.3d 1210 · Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit · Jun 4, 2013

For instance, an allegation that Defendant A violated a plaintiff’s clearly established rights does nothing to overcome Defendant B’s assertion of qualified immunity, absent some … See Dodds, 614 F.3d at 1194 (“In conducting qualified immunity analysis . . . , courts do not merely ask whether, taking the plaintiff’s allegations as true, the plaintiff’s clearly established rights were violated.

Thomas Howell v. Town of Ball

827 F.3d 515 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Jul 1, 2016

Regarding the second prong of qualified immunity analysis, “a defendant cannot be said to have violated a clearly established right unless the right’s contours were sufficiently definite that any reasonable official in the … The court ultimately concluded that the Board defendants were entitled to qualified immunity because, at the time Howell was fired, it was not clearly established whether his involvement in the FBI investigation was protected

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.

Haggerty v. Texas Southern University

391 F.3d 653 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Nov 18, 2004

Jurisdiction over this Appeal “Denial of summary judgment on the ground of qualified immunity is immediately appealable to the extent that the question on appeal is whether the undisputed facts amount to a violation of clearly … established law.”

Martínez-Rodríguez v. Guevara

597 F.3d 414 · Court of Appeals for the First Circuit · Mar 1, 2010

First, they assume that Defendants are protected by qualified immunity rather than absolute immunity. … The qualified immunity doctrine protects federal and state officials from civil liability in the performance of "discretionary functions . . . insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or

Anthony C. Greene v. Jack Barber, Edward Hillyer, Victor Gillis, William Hegarty, and the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan

310 F.3d 889 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Nov 8, 2002

Qualified Immunity for the Arrest Mr. … “If no constitutional right would have been violated were the allegations established, there is no necessity for further inquiries concerning qualified immunity.”

Jones v. United States of America

934 F. Supp. 2d 284 · District Court, District of Columbia · Mar 31, 2013

Qualified Immunity Officer Kadiev asserts the defense of qualified immunity. Qualified immunity is “an immunity from suit rather than a mere defense to liability.” Hunter v. … Qualified immunity shields 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 would have