Case law

Glenn v. City of Tyler

242 F.3d 307 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Feb 22, 2001

QUALIFIED IMMUNITY Qualified immunity protects government officials who perform discretionary functions from liability “unless their conduct violates clearly established statutory or constitutional … established law.”

Walsh v. Ward

757 F. Supp. 959 · District Court, C.D. Illinois · Mar 1, 1991

Qualified Immunity Defendants’ final argument in support of their motion to dismiss is that, to the extent they are sued in their individual capacities, they are immune from liability pursuant to the doctrine of qualified … In short, the “qualified immunity analysis entails a purely objective inquiry to determine whether at the time of the alleged illegal act, the right asserted by the plaintiff was clearly established in the particular factual

Hydrick v. Hunter

449 F.3d 978 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Jun 1, 2006

Thus, there are two bodies of law from which we might draw "clearly established" law for qualified immunity purposes: first, where the SVPs claim a violation of a right that is clearly established even in the prison context … established" law for qualified immunity purposes: first, where the SVPs claim a violation of a right that is clearly established even in the prison context, and second, where the SVPs claim a violation of a right that is

Julius L. Finkelstein v. Louis P. Bergna

881 F.2d 702 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Aug 2, 1989

I An official is entitled to qualified immunity when the official’s conduct “does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.” Harlow v. … The district court correctly concluded that Finkelstein alleged a violation of clearly established law and we accordingly affirm the denial of qualified immunity on the liberty interest claim.

Morales v. Toledo

638 F. Supp. 2d 168 · District Court, D. Puerto Rico · Apr 27, 2009

Qualified Immunity 8 This Court will now discuss whether the doctrine of Qualified Immunity bars Plaintiffs claims against Colon. 9 Qualified immunity is a judge-made doctrine that “allows public officials to perform discretionary … taken violated that clearly established constitutional right.”

Christopher Lockhart v. Siloam Springs, Arkansas

Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · Jun 10, 2026

This is a two-pronged inquiry: “In a § 1983 action, an officer is entitled to qualified immunity unless: (1) the officer’s conduct violated a constitutional right, and (2) that right was clearly established.” … Emmons, 586 U.S. 38, 42 (2019) (“The clearly established right must be defined with specificity. This Court has repeatedly told courts not to define clearly established law at a high level of generality.”

Claude E. Woods v. Larry Smith

60 F.3d 1161 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Aug 15, 1995

whether the plaintiff has asserted the violation of a clearly established constitutional right. … Although the Court recently emphasized that denials of eleventh amendment immunity, like denials of qualified immunity, fall within the limited category of cases that warrant collateral review under Cohen v.

Anna Mustafa v. City of Chicago

442 F.3d 544 · Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · Mar 23, 2006

The defendants were protected by qualified immunity. … Qualified immunity protects officers performing discretionary functions from civil liability so long as their conduct does not violate dearly established statutory or constitutional rights that a reasonable person would know

Preschooler II v. Clark County School Board of Trustees

479 F.3d 1175 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Mar 20, 2007

of clearly established law. … Government officials do not enjoy qualified immunity from civil damages if their conduct violates “clearly established constitutional or statutory rights of which a reasonable person would have known.” Harlow v.

K. J. v. Jackson

127 F.4th 1239 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Feb 11, 2025

Defendants were not entitled to qualified immunity because the unlawfulness of their conduct was clearly established in Goss v. Lopez, 419 U.S. 565 (1975). … We hold that Defendants are not entitled to qualified immunity because the unlawfulness of their conduct was clearly established in Goss.

Shoop v. Dauphin County

766 F. Supp. 1327 · District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania · Jan 22, 1991

Courts have granted public officials performing discretionary functions qualified immunity from civil liability “insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights which a reasonable … Shoop’s arrest, the facts which are established without contradiction do not establish probable cause or reasonable belief in probable cause on the part of the deputies sufficient to award qualified immunity for the arrest

Benefield v. C.O. McDowall

241 F.3d 1267 · Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit · Mar 5, 2001

upon which relief can be granted and on qualified immunity grounds. … A denial of qualified immunity that accepts the plaintiff’s version of the facts and concludes that given those facts, the defendant violated clearly established law is immediately appealable because it presents for appellate

Thomas v. Nicholson

21 V.I. 561 · Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands · Sep 20, 1985

; rather, he was only eligible for qualified immunity. … Even where the assistant commissioner was in the position of acting commissioner, he was still not deemed by the Court to be a “superior executive officer” and, therefore, could only claim a qualified immunity.

M.C. ex rel. Crawford v. Amrhein

598 F. App'x 143 · Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · Jan 26, 2015

The district court denied the defendants’ motions to dismiss on qualified immunity grounds. … While M.C. may well have a remedy under state law, 3 we hold that qualified immunity *150 bars his federal constitutional claims because the defendants did not violate M.C.’s clearly established rights.

Timothy Ryan v. Burlington County, New Jersey, and Burlington County, Harold Colburn, Jr., Michael J. Conda, Catherine A. Costa, Henry J. Metzger, Robert C. Shinn, Michael J. Hogan, and Burlington County Solicitor's Office, Defendants/third Party v. Maurice Scott, Third Party and John Bradman, Individually and Officially as Warden of Burlington County Jail, Defendants/third Party v. Maurice Scott, Third Party Appeal of Harold Colburn, Jr., Michael Conda, Catherine H. Costa, Henry J. Metzger and Robert C. Shinn, Jr

889 F.2d 1286 · Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · Nov 21, 1989

If the law was clearly established, the immunity defense ordinarily should fail, since a reasonably competent public official should know the law governing his conduct. 24 Harlow, 457 U.S. at 818 , 102 S.Ct. at 2738 . 25 … , then those officials must be held accountable for instances where their actions violate clearly established rights.

Johnson v. Johnson

385 F.3d 503 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Sep 8, 2004

immunity on the ground that Johnson had not alleged violations of rights that were clearly established. … Moreover, they would be entitled to qualified immunity unless clearly established law showed that their response was insufficient.

Jim Maxwell v. County of San Diego

697 F.3d 941 · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Sep 13, 2012

Qualified immunity protects government officers “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 … To determine whether an officer is entitled to qualified immunity, we ask, in the order we choose, (1) whether the alleged misconduct violated a right and (2) whether the right was clearly established at the time of the alleged

Greer v. Baker.

137 Haw. 249 · Hawaii Supreme Court · Feb 22, 2016

presiding over a lawsuit”), with id. at 868 (Qualified immunity is “[i]mmunity from civil liability for a public official who is performing a discretionary function, as long as the conduct does not violate clearly established … “The nature of qualified immunity doctrine bears on the difficulties of the problem, because [qualified] immunity frequently depends on the specific facts of a particular case.” 15A Wright & Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure

Hill v. Dekalb Regional Youth Detention Center

40 F.3d 1176 · Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Dec 27, 1994

Swain is entitled to qualified immunity because she violated no clearly established Eighth Amendment law in August, 1987. … Importantly, for qualified immunity purposes, Swain cannot be held responsible for knowledge of Barfield , decided by this court in September, 1989, because it was not clearly established law in August, 1987.

Fernando C. HARVEY, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Thorne BLAKE, Defendant-Appellant

913 F.2d 226 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Oct 1, 1990

Cater in her individual capacity under the doctrine of qualified immunity. The district court declined, however, to grant Ms. Blake qualified immunity, reasoning that Ms. … which were clearly established at the time, qualified immunity should have been given.