Case law

John Hodorowski and Jeraldine Hodorowski v. Ann Ray, Mary Ellen Burns and Texas Department of Human Resources, Defendants

844 F.2d 1210 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Jun 14, 1988

“Qualified immunity shields only that conduct not violative of clearly established constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known. … More importantly, we note that qualified immunity protects executive officials as long as their actions do not violate “clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.

Holloman Ex Rel. Holloman v. Harland

370 F.3d 1252 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · May 28, 2004

judgment on qualified immunity grounds. … Consequently, once we deny defendants summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds because the plaintiff has alleged violations of clearly established rights, the defendants may not later attempt to re-assert qualified

Cybernet, LLC v. Jonathan David

954 F.3d 162 · Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · Mar 24, 2020

This standard works in harmony with the law of qualified immunity, which shields government officials “from civil liability so long as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights … Specifically, to defeat a qualified immunity defense, a plaintiff must show that “(1) the defendant violated the plaintiff’s constitutional rights, and (2) the right in question was clearly established at the time of the

Ronald Hunter, Jr. v. Leeds, City of

941 F.3d 1265 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Nov 1, 2019

The Alabama Supreme Court has largely equated qualified immunity with discretionary-function immunity, and so the same facts which establish an entitlement to qualified immunity may also establish that the officers are … By the same token, the same facts that establish that Kirk is not entitled to qualified immunity also establish that he is not entitled to discretionary-function immunity.

Theresa St. George v. Pinellas County

285 F.3d 1334 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Mar 21, 2002

The motion to dismiss will be granted if the “complaint fails to allege the violation of a clearly established constitutional right.” Id. (citing Williams v. Ala. State Univ., 102 F.3d 1179, 1182 (11th Cir. 1997)). … George by Mitchell, June 23, 1997, the law was clearly established that an excessive force claim against a police officer must 6 be analyzed under the Fourth Amendment and its

Sweetin v. City of Texas City

48 F.4th 387 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Sep 2, 2022

The court held that even if there was a genuine dispute of material fact about whether Wylie unconstitutionally seized Sweetin and Stefek, the law was not clearly established enough to survive qualified immunity. … (2) the right was “clearly established at the time.”

Norman L. Berthiaume v. Jean Caron, Betty B. Clark, James D. Bivins and William T. O'DOnOhue

142 F.3d 12 · Court of Appeals for the First Circuit · Apr 21, 1998

immunity for officials who do not violate clearly established rights. … In section 1983 cases, the classical formulation is that an official is immune if his or hér actions did not violate the plaintiffs “clearly established” constitutional rights. Harlow v.

Fredrick Waid v. County of Lyon

87 F.4th 383 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Nov 21, 2023

III 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 person would … COUNTY OF LYON 19 IV Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity on the Fourth Amendment claim because plaintiffs’ rights were not clearly established.

Billie Thompson v. Lance Cope

900 F.3d 414 · Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · Aug 14, 2018

Step 2: Clearly Established Law We have appellate jurisdiction to review the legal issue at the second step of qualified immunity analysis: whether the constitutional right that Heishman’s estate asserts was clearly established … In Hope, the Court denied qualified immunity and held that handcuffing a prisoner to a hitching post violated clearly established law. Hope teaches that a case directly on point is not required.

Paul L. Gabbert v. David Conn Carol Najera Leslie Zoeller Elliot Oppenheim

131 F.3d 793 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Dec 8, 1997

Qualified Immunity Alternatively, Conn and Najera claim they are entitled to qualified immunity. … The final step in a qualified immunity analysis is whether a reasonable official could have believed the conduct at issue was lawful under that clearly' established law. See Mendoza, 27 F.3d at 1362 .

Jackson v. Gilday

District Court, D. South Carolina · Jul 11, 2025

established” and Defendants are therefore entitled to qualified immunity. 2. … In the absence of clearly established authority recognizing the specific rights asserted by Plaintiff, Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity. I.

Phillip Turner v. Driver

Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Feb 27, 2017

The court reasoned that Turner failed to meet his burden of showing that the defendants were not entitled to qualified immunity because he failed to show that their actions violated any of his clearly established statutory … doing violates that right.” 17 Thus, the right must already be clearly established “at the time of the challenged conduct.” 18 When considering whether a defendant is entitled to qualified immunity, the court “must ask whether

Carvel Bright Frank Ledford v. Harold McClure Individually and in His Official Capacity, a Clerk of the Superior Court of Clay County, North Carolina

865 F.2d 623 · Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · Jan 17, 1989

Public officials, such as the defendant, are clothed with qualified immunity in the performance of discretionary functions when the action does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which the … The finding that the doctrine of qualified immunity was applicable warranted dismissal of the claims against the defendant in his individual capacity. IV.

Department of Educ. v. Roe

679 So. 2d 756 · Supreme Court of Florida · Jul 18, 1996

her motion for summary judgment based on the defense of qualified immunity. … DOE argues that the public policy that animates sovereign immunity is similar to the public policy that animates qualified immunity.

Morales v. CITY OF OKL. CITY EX REL. OKL. CITY POLICE DEPT.

230 P.3d 869 · Supreme Court of Oklahoma · Feb 9, 2010

City of Oklahoma City, 21 in which we said, *876 “To construe § 155(4) as providing blanket immunity to political subdivisions for any claim arising from law enforcement would not conform to established precedent. … This much stands clearly recognized in the state’s criminal law.

Patricia Hagans v. Franklin Cnty Sheriff's Office

695 F.3d 505 · Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Aug 23, 2012

Because the officer did not violate clearly established law by using the taser in this setting, qualified immunity protects him from this lawsuit. … Page 5 does not carefully define the right, it risks collapsing the two qualified-immunity inquiries into one, permitting the constitutional-violation inquiry always to answer the clearly established inquiry.

Bobby Bland v. B. Roberts

730 F.3d 368 · Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · Sep 18, 2013

In determining whether a defendant is entitled to qualified immunity, a court must decide (1) whether the defendant has violated a constitutional .right of the plaintiff and (2) whether that right was clearly established … Rather, in consider *394 ing whether constitutional rights were clearly established for qualified-immunity purposes, we view the issue from “the layman’s perspective,” Ross v.

Cortes-Reyes v. Salas-Quintana

608 F.3d 41 · Court of Appeals for the First Circuit · Jun 17, 2010

- 16 -  Qualified immunity protects government officials "from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional … Moreover, as we explain below, that very uncertainty is critical to our analysis of the clearly established prong of the qualified immunity doctrine.

Wooley v. City of Baton Rouge

211 F.3d 913 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · May 11, 2000

defendants qualified immunity on this claim.” … The district court concluded that the officer was not entitled to qualified immunity because the plaintiffs had alleged a clearly established denial of due process. 56 Smith v.

Elizabeth Carley v. Romeo Aranas

103 F.4th 653 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Jun 3, 2024

Aranas was entitled to qualified immunity because no clearly established law rendered the HCV policies unconstitutional at the time of the alleged violation. … immunity because they violated no clearly established law”).