Case law

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.

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.

Charles Wade v. Gordon Lewis

13 F.4th 1217 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Sep 17, 2021

Thus, he contends that the law was not clearly established, and the district court erred in denying him qualified immunity. … In reversing the district court’s denial of qualified immunity and analyzing whether there was clearly established law, we distinguished Aldridge.

Gena Duckworth etc. v. Bart Saracino etc.

Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · Jul 19, 2007

right allegedly infringed was clearly established”). … The next step in the qualified immunity analysis “is to ask whether the right was clearly established . . . in light of the specific context of the case.” See Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 201 (2001).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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 .

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.

Punsky v. City of Portland

54 F.4th 62 · Court of Appeals for the First Circuit · Nov 29, 2022

Qualified Immunity Public officials are immune under the doctrine of qualified immunity if sued in their individual capacities unless "(1) they violated a federal statutory or constitutional … right, and (2) the unlawfulness of their conduct was 'clearly established at the time.'"

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.

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.

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.

Hixon v. Durbin

560 F. Supp. 654 · District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania · Mar 31, 1983

Unfortunately, in announcing the new test for qualified immunity in Harlow , the Supreme Court expressly declined to define what criteria a rule of law would have to meet in order to be deemed “clearly established.” … Presumably, every principle of law which is essential to the conclusion that the defendant violated plaintiff’s rights must be “clearly established” for the qualified immunity defense to fail.

Opinion No. (1991)

Oklahoma Attorney General Reports · May 6, 1991

Grubbs, 841 F.2d 1512 (10th Cir. 1988) (officials qualifiedly immune from liability under 42 U.S.C.A. 1983 if their conduct does not violate clearly established rights of which a reasonable person would have known). ¶ 13 … applicable decisions of the United States Supreme Court, and a public official's enforcement of such a statute may well deprive that official of qualified immunity from liability under 42 U.S.C.A. 1983 .